Page 141 of Elven Shadow

No, she didn’t particularly enjoy the devious, warning look he gave her now, but maybe she could get used to hearing him call her Roth-Da’al directly.

She sat back in the chair again and fought against yet another wave of fatigue washing over her as the relatively short-lived effects of Zida’s special medicine completed another cycle toward wearing off.

“If we’re following the old laws for who to put in this chair,” she said, “we might as well keep following the old laws for everything else. So you can dispose of Hector’s body and his creations however you want. It’s your kill.”

“Fine,” he said tersely but didn’t move to pick up the box again.

There was something else he wanted from her, but the shifter was clearly hesitant to ask or even bring it up.

This was fun—Maxwell needing her nowwithoutbeing able to order her around.

“Was there something else on your mind?” she asked with a smirk.

He snorted and looked like it physically pained him to meet her gaze before he managed to reply. “You’re the one who took these other things down. I thought you might have some alternate suggestions for how to handle a body like this.”

“Itisa body,” Rebecca said. “I assume you know what to do with those.”

“Not when they don’t decompose like a regular corpse. They’re all just…here. Like this.”

Then the oddity of the situation fully hit her—and the surprise Maxwell must have felt to discover that Hector’s body, the body of a magical who had once been living and no longer was, acted more like the leftover husks of his crafted automatons than a true organic body.

Hector should have started to decompose by now. Like his homunculi, though, his remains didn’t even exude the natural scent of death.

In fact, there was no smell at all.

Rebecca stared at the box of remains. “Huh. Thatisan interesting problem to have, but no, actually. I have no idea what to do with body parts that don’t fall apart the way they’re supposed to. Sorry.”

The corner of his mouth twitched, like he was about to start laughing at her.

For the first time, she realized she didn’t remember seeing him smile even once. Did he even know how?

“Very well. As you command.” He stooped to grab the edges of the box before Rebecca remembered not every body was accounted for inside this oddly gift-wrapped offering.

“I guess it’s only fair I take care of mine too,” she said. “Where’s Aldous’s body?”

Maxwell’s gaze flickered up to meet hers as he stooped over the box of conjured parts. For a moment, he almost looked embarrassed and couldn’t hold her gaze for longer than a few seconds.

This just kept getting more and more interesting, didn’t it?

Then he fully stood, hefting the box along with him, and cleared his throat. “Aldous has already been taken care of.”

“Oh look at that. You take down one narcissistic leader in self-defense, and everyone starts doing all the work for you.”

It was meant as a joke, but clearly, Maxwell didn’t share her humor.

His frown pinched in darkening disapproval.

No, she really hadn’t expected him to find it funny at all, which just made this interaction that much more entertaining.

“Any particular reason he wasn’t saved for me to handle on my own once Zida let me loose?” she asked.

Tucking the box under his arm, Maxwell fixed her with a deadpan stare. “Summertime in Chicago. Can’t exactly leave a body down in the open parking garage. And as far as I know, we don’t have a freezer big enough to hold onto him until you’re ready to start pulling your weight.”

“Not if Bor’s freezer is anything like his walk-in fridge,” Rebecca muttered.

His eyebrows flickered together in the first expression of true confusion she’d seen on him yet. “What?”

“Never mind.” Rebecca shook her head. “Whoever took care of it for me, pass along my appreciation, will you?”

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