Page 161 of Elven Shadow

She snatched it out of his hand and turned the cold stone figurine over in her hands before sparing the shifter a quick glance. “Nope.”

He was too preoccupied with sniffing out and personally handling the rest of the package to give her response much thought. Which meant he was distracted enough not to notice the lie.

Rebecca knew exactly what this was, and now she was glad she’d decided to sit down before getting her hands on the thing.

The carving was crude, sure. A little amateur, even. Humans who found stuff like this lying around called them “primitive artifacts from ancient human peoples and cultures lost to time”.

She couldn’t blame them for it. They were working with what they had, and their collective knowledge of Xahar’áhsh, its magic, and the creatures who stemmed from it was remarkably lacking. For good reason.

This figurine wasn’t some random piece of art from an ancient human civilization. It wasn’t even from an ancient Xaharí tribe.

No, judging by its weight, the figurine had been cut, carved, and polished right here on Earth, on this side of the Gateway, quickly and with little attention paid to detail.

Because it wasn’t the details that mattered.

The figurine was just a symbol. An inside joke understood only by Xaharí old-worlders who’d lived in Xahar’áhsh and crossed over through the Gateway at one point in time. A mark from the old days of acceptance and acknowledgement paired with a well-earned advisement for any leader in power.

A message that the game was being played. That nothing lasted forever in the form it had been created to take. Not even stone.

“Maybe it wasn’t meant to be recognized,” Rebecca muttered with a shrug and placed the figurine on the far corner of the desk. “Maybe they’re assuming whoever took over after Aldous has the same knowledge he did. Or lack thereof. Was he Earthborn?”

The question made Maxwell look sharply up at her, his deep frown of concentration flickering for a moment before he returned his attention to the package. “I never asked.”

No, of course not. No one in this world really cared about a magical’s ties to the old world or the old laws, whether they were original Xaharí or a transplant or several generations removed from the birthplace of magic. It didn’t matter in this world. Not the way it mattered back home.

Shifters like Maxwell didn’t come from Xahar’áhsh, anyway. So of course he wouldn’t have thought to discuss detailed origins like that with Aldous.

The changeling could have been an old-worlder, but he certainly hadn’t acted like it. If he’d been Earthborn, though, that made this little figurine sitting on the edge of Rebecca’s new desk a lot more meaningful.

It turned the figurine into a personal message.

A promise.

Then it would mean whoever had sent this fun little gift basket knew enough aboutRebeccato know she wasn’t from Earth.

Which begged the question: How they this mystery sender possibly knowanythingabout Rebecca?

Well, that was something she’d have to uncover on her own. Once she figured out how to take a damn breath without Maxwell knowing about it.

Even without knowing who it was from or whether they had insider knowledge of Shade’s new leader, the figurine told her one thing for certain.

Thesenderwas an old-worlder. No doubt about it. They’d chosen to greet Rebecca as the new commander with all the pomp and formality required by old-world laws. Most likely, they didn’t give a shit about Rebecca personally or who’d been before stepping into this new role.

The sender was following the rules and warning her not to let the new position go to her head. Reminding her that she wasn’t the only player in the game.

How cute.

“Huh.” Maxwell shoved his hand and almost his entire arm into the box, rooting around with a whisper of shuffling contents until he pulled out his hand again with only a folded piece of paper to show for it.

“That everything?” Rebecca asked.

“Could’ve used a smaller box.” He unfolded the single piece of paper, scanned it for two seconds, then folded it again and handed it to her. “The only things in there were this and that little statue. The rest is just packing peanuts.”

“Not the biodegradable kind, I’m guessing?” Her smirk faded when she looked up to see only his perpetual scowl. “Oh, come on. You really need to lighten up, you know that?”

“I’ll take it under advisement.”

“Yeah, I bet you will,” Rebecca muttered, then focused fully on the neatly folded note that had been so thoroughly buried by packing peanuts with a single stone figurine.

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