Page 53 of Elven Shadow

“No,” she replied firmly, folding her arms.

“Why the hell not?”

Goddamn, this was like pulling magical teeth.

So Rebecca attempted to explain her hands-off approach as if she were speaking to the child actually getting their teeth pulled, counting off each item on her fingers.

“Let’s see… First, there are security cameras posted throughout over half the compound. Aldous doesn’t go anywhere there isn’t a camera on him at all times.”

The others glanced at Maxwell for confirmation. The shifter narrowed his eyes and shrugged.

“Then there’s the fact that anyone who takes responsibility formurderingShade’s commander, even in a coup, would be serving themselves up on a silver platter. He’s a moron, yeah, but he’s a moron with friends. Which makes him almost untouchable.”

“Unless we served them up that silver platter ourselves,” Maxwell grumbled. “Show of good faith, maybe?”

She gestured toward him with a wave of her hand. “And there’s reason number three right there. I’m not suicidal.”

Diego snapped his fingers and pointed at her, his lips curling into a devious grin. “You’re perfect.”

“What?”

“Secret weapon in the back pocket.”

Leonard turned toward him with wide eyes, his hair flopping against his head as he nodded. “Ilikeit.”

“Hold on a second.” She reached toward them, distracted from the actual conversation by so many rebel gazes still watching her, like this whole thing was happening on a stage and no one had told her she’d gotten up with the other actors to play the role of herself. “Where did ‘secret weapon’ come into this? I didn’t agree to any—”

“You don’t have to, elf. We got everything we need now. You just let us take care of the rest.” Diego stepped back and spread his arms to address the rest of the meeting. “Show’s over! Everybody get the hell out.”

The library burst to life again with a flurry of movement, muttered voices, whispered conversations, and a few despondent groans.

“You know the drill, people!” Leonard shouted. “It’s happening. Just try not to fuck it up this time, all right?”

Thistime? What the hell was he talking about?

Rebecca watched the surge of activity as the other magicals moved around the library, disbursing from their meeting as if something had actually been accomplished.

If it had, she’d missed it completely.

“Leonard,” she called over the growing noise. “Hey!”

He spun away from Diego to face her and grinned. “Hold that thought, Knox.”

The fuck?

Still standing against the bookshelf, she tried to pick up pieces of the conversation around her, but even that was impossible to read. Mostly because everyone was following Diego’s orders now, leaving the library en masse.

Just not through the door.

A few outlying operatives cast quick, remedial transportation spells that erased them from the air with flashes of light to transport them somewhere else within the compound. Most of the others simply walked together toward other areas of the library, talking with their neighbors or frowning in contemplation, not watching where they were going because they didn’t have to.

Where they would have walked right into the solid library walls, they stepped completelythroughthem instead. Hair and shoes and a wayward tail flickered within the ripples of light spreading away from the exit sites only to wink out behind them seconds later.

Then the walls looked like normal walls again.

Six months Rebecca had spent with Shade, living and working out of this very compound, and this was entirely new.

How the hell had she not known this was a thing?

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