Page 109 of Elven Shadow

No, she’d never gone on a mission with him. She’d never had a private conversation with him. But Hector exuded the kind of superiority that made her want to punch him in the face.

“But I do have to admit none of this turned out the way I’d expected,” Hector added.

“Ha! You’re not the only one. Please. I’m just as astounded by our Head of Security’s failures as you are. We all put our faith and trust in Hannigan. And now, in our hour of true need, what does he do? He lets us down.”

“Hannigan?” Hector’s hood turned toward Maxwell, but without being able to see his face, one could only assume he was also staring at the shifter.

Then a low, non-committal hum rose from the nurúzhe’s shadowy hood. “Really, Aldous. I couldn’t care less about the shifter you somehow believe is deserving of his elevated position. No, that’s not why I’m here.”

Aldous nodded vigorously, then stopped when his tiny brain caught up with the fact that Hector hadn’t agreed with him. “What’s that now? Did I just hear you say youdidn’tcare?”

“Not about the shifter.” Hector turned his body, his hood and shoulders hunched forward. As if it weren’t already clear where he’d focused his attention now, one hand lifted slightly to point with a black-gloved finger at a pile of severed homunculus parts lying beside him. “Butthisis interesting.”

“What the hellisthat?” Aldous barked, taking two quick steps backward as he finally seemed to notice the remains for the first time. “Is that a—”

“It was a test, really,” Hector replied. “I had hoped to root out some of the more promising candidates, though I’d be surprised if there was more than one.”

“What are youtalkingabout?” Aldous shrieked. “This compound is under attack!Iam under attack! Our best people can’t figure out who the fuck is doing the attacking, and you’re worried about—”

“I also imagine,” Hector continued, looking away from the homunculus parts to scan all the faces in the garage, “that only one of you could have possibly managed to do something likethat. So who was it?”

No one said a word.

If the tension hadn’t already been so thick to begin with, the task force would have held their silence anyway. Hector wasn’t particularly appreciated or admired by the rest of Shade’s members.

For the most part, he kept to himself. He rarely made an appearance, and when he did, it seemed all he wanted was to stir up strife among the others, with a healthy dose of condescension, and flaunt his own perceived superiority.

Honestly, he and Aldous deserved each other.

Being nurúzhe didn’t do him any favors in the popularity department, either.

That didn’t mean these magicals weren’t still afraid of him.

Three seconds later, Rebecca found herself as the target of dozens of gazes all at once. Some of them flickered away from her before eventually being drawn back. Others fixed on her and seemed stuck there.

Beside her, Zida roughly cleared her throat and scowled at the others all staring at Rebecca, but the effect wasn’t nearly as powerful as Hector’s question.

Which he had to have known.

Now, those light-sucking, all-black orbs of his settled directly on Rebecca’s face as well, and a low, sniveling chuckle filled the garage. “But ofcourse. You look like you’ve had quite the night already, elf.”

Rebecca glanced down at herself, every inch of her outfit dusted with specks of plaster and dirt. The same clung to her blonde hair spilling over her shoulders. Bits of stripped wiring and wood chips and exploded building materials coated her from head to toe.

Not to mention her disastrously scuffed pumps and the handprint of light gray encircling her left wrist, which had now darkened to a medium gray that almost matched the hue of the garage’s concrete floor.

Not really a good sign.

“You’re the one who did this, then?” Hector asked, pointing again at the decimated homunculus behind him as he moved toward her with slow, calculated steps. “Is that it?”

She said nothing.

“Hector!” Aldous barked before hurrying after the nurúzhe. “Enough screwing around. We’re under attack, and you’re the only one who could be—”

The changeling stumbled backward when Hector stopped abruptly and turned around to face Shade’s commander. He fixed those intensely creepy black eyes on him, then tilted his head—which was only made visible by one shoulder slumping down as his entire torso dipped to the side and his shadowy hood turned slightly skyward. “Arewe?”

Aldous’s mouth popped open, then he offered the nurúzhe a flabbergasted sneer. “Under attack? Of course we are! You heard the explosions and the alarm. There’s a breach somewhere in this building, and if you don’t find it right now—”

“I hear nothing.” Hector spun away from Aldous to continue his path toward Rebecca again. “You know, Ihadhoped to give you a bit of a more exciting challenge with the first one. Maybe even the second, but…”

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