Page 133 of Elven Shadow

What was Borthinking, leading the entire task force into first an old-world ritual like the huur-akíl and now in saluting her like she was some kind of wartime hero or the general of a bloodthirsty war party?

It wasn’t the first time she’d been shown this level of respect and loyalty by a group of soldiers, which was technically what Shade boiled down to at its core. But the last time she’d been shown honors like this?

Well, she had fully expected it to be the last time forever.

Yet here she was, with an entire room of operatives standing at attention and gifting her with the Xaharí equivalent of bending the knee and swearing fealty to a new monarch. Or a new warlord.

Neither of which Rebecca had any interest in becoming. She’d already been there and done that. It was old news.

Until, apparently, it wasn’t.

More than the surprise of this formal greeting and the awkwardness that always somehow accompanied it, however, was the understanding of what exactly she’d just walked into here.

This was real. They’d already made their decision to crown her commander. Which meant it was going to be a hell of a lot more difficult to get Shade as a whole to accept the results of the huur-akíl as a giant mistake that needed to be rectified as soon as possible.

Not when they’d all greeted her like that with raised fists and chest thumps and all the hallmarks of good little followers doing what was expected of them in the presence of their new leader.

It was already too late to change their minds, wasn’t it? Shit.

In her current state, it took her longer than it should have to recognize what this was and just how impossible it would be to reverse this unexpected new decision of leadership.

Others in the common room, however, were faster on the draw.

Like Diego, who leapt at the opportunity to insert himself as one more Shade member starting up the unnecessary battle cries when he followed in Earl’s footsteps and shouted far louder than necessary, “Give it up for Knox!”

The gathering erupted in a chorus of cheers, whistles, applause, and growing excitement, if that was even possible. The rest of the task force took to the cry like it was some kind of virus, a contagion that would forever leave its imprint upon the minds and hearts of those who carried it.

In seconds, everyone was cheering, and everyone was shouting Rebecca’s fake last name like they all thought it was real. Because they did.

Dammit, no way was she getting out of this now.

Maybe if she’d been conscious for the huur-akíl and given the chance to politely decline the new position into which she’d been unknowingly voted, things might have turned out differently. But that opportunity was gone now. Crumbled to dust.

Rebecca was stubborn, and she didn’t want any part of this, true. She also knew how to read a room.

Right now, the room was saying, “We chose you. We’re prouder of this decision than we’ve been of anything in a long time. The only way you can fuck this up is by trying to take it from us.”

She was screwed.

Somewhere amidst the celebratory outcry and the chanting of her fake last name that only lasted a few interminably long minutes, an explosion of activity burst through the common room. Magicals hurried this way and that, talking excitedly to each other, grinning in Rebecca’s direction every chance they got, hoping their new commander would notice and then offer time for a bit of a private conversation.

Almost everyone looked at her like this at one point or another, waiting for Rebecca to offer some kind of decree, maybe a speech, maybe some words of encouragement.

Unfortunately for them, Rebecca couldn’t even stand on her own, and now she was sure that if she took her hand off the wall of the entryway, she’d fall flat on her face and bring all the celebration to a standstill.

Worse than being voted in as Shade’s new commander against her will was the possibility of the entire task force realizing the magical they’d willingly selected for the job was entirely incapable of fulfilling it. If she disappointed them?

Well, that would mean she wasn’t right for the job, either. And now, thanks to her, Shade had the knowledge and experience of what it took to get rid of a disappointing commander, no matter the potential risks.

She did, however, have enough energy to look up across the room. She wasn’t specifically searching for anything, but of course her gaze landed on Maxwell, anyway.

Even after she’d almost died, killed their former leader, and been sworn in by the others as Shade’s new command, the shifter somehow still found a way to position himself front and center in her awareness, didn’t he?

He didn’t try to cover up the fact that he’d been staring at her, either. Also not a surprise. The Head of Security stood back against the far side of the common room closest to the kitchen’s service window, leaning against the wall with his arms folded and a perfectly blank mask of zero expression coating his features.

Rebecca couldn’t be a hundred percent sure, but from where she stood, it looked an awful lot like he was scowling at her.

Like he did not approve in any way of this new development within the task force he was used to running as their only experienced and mostly competent leadership.

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