Page 115 of Elven Crown

Her Head of Security was not happy about her current decision, which also reflected in the attitudes of his security team when he’d ordered them to unload the contents of the eighteen-wheeler’s cargo trailer down in the parking garage and bring it all up to the training gym to prepare.

Rebecca had stayed out of the team’s way too, not wanting to piss anyone else off by making it feel like she was just rubbing it in while they did all the heavy lifting and she sat back to watch.

That was how Aldous had always made things feel, anyway. Even something as simple as normal maintenance and daily tasks around the compound.

She might have stepped into this role as Thon-Da’al far more quickly and easily than she’d expected, but the last thing she wanted was to become a repeat of the worst commander in Shade history.

Once Maxwell and his team had finished moving the weapons, they’d left, and Rebecca had slipped inside to find herself entirely alone.

Yes, she had the excuse of coming in to check the merchandise before letting her entire task force play with weapons that could have killed her and her small team during their last mission on the docks, but that was merely a surface excuse.

What Rebecca wanted was a moment’s peace, alone, without locking herself up in the office just to get away from literally everyone.

So she made her rounds in the training gym for a preliminary once-over of all the weapons, thinking she would appreciate the solitude and the silence. She hadn’t expected to become so uncomfortable here, with memories of Rowan lying on the floor in the center, with dark, web-like streaks of her magic dividing up his flesh while he seized and fought both her ownandhis own personal demons.

This wasnotthe break she’d hoped it would be.

Then laughter and rising voices echoed in the hallway, growing louder by the second, and she didn’t have to check her watch for the time.

For all Shade’s difficulties with Aldous in charge, these magicals still managed a surprising and often impressive punctuality.

Their Head of Security most likely had something to do with that.

Now Rebecca had to be on again for everyone, to put on a show, to act the part until maybe, someday, she felt worthy of playing it.

At least she’d had experience overseeing various forms of training, no matter how long ago that had been.

The gym’s double doors slapped open with a thump and squeal before Rowan entered behind another group, naturally making a big deal out of his own arrival. He let out a low, piercing whistle of appreciation that already grated on Rebecca’s nerves.

That wasn’t a good sign.

What was wrong with her? Since when did she get so jumpy or easily irritated?

Since the Blackmoon Elf she’d planned never to see again had popped back up into her business. That was when.

He moved across the training gym in a cocky strut, eyeing the walls and floor and ceiling as the rest of the task force spread out around the gym’s perimeter to await their instructions. Most of the others were far more interested in eyeing the giant crates of confiscated magitek weaponry they would soon get to know for themselves.

Rowan Blackmoon, however, moved around like he owned the place and just hadn’t been back to visit in a long time.

“Well, look at that,” he said, spreading his arms and turning in a slow circle. “Looks like a whole new world from the last time I was here. You guys have a decorating committee I don’t know about?”

That got him a round of easygoing laughter from the rest of the dock’s mission team. Nyx, Leonard, Diego, and Titus all seemed to have fostered a light-hearted, if not simultaneously wary, appreciation of their newest member, who joked around more than he did anything else but could also pull out some seriously effective badassery when needed.

“I mean it,” Rowan added. “Whoever you’ve got changing this place up, my hat’s off to ’em.”

Sure, because he’d spent so much time during The Striving focusing on the details of the room chat could very well have been the last room he ever entered.

Rebecca considered telling him Bor was responsible for all of it, but she had a feeling that would backfire when the old giveldi got too many unwanted compliments from Rowan. If that happened, something told her Bor was likely to put an extra unsavory surprise in her next meal for the trouble.

While the rest of the task force spread out among the crates, continuing their conversations in hushed tones and waiting to get started, Rowan meandered around the gym like he was on his own private tour.

He didn’t actually give a shit about any of this, and he wasn’t impressed. He’d made that perfectly clear on the docks the other night, but he always did have a knack for putting on one hell of a good show. At least when he had an unwitting audience.

Those who knew him, like Rebecca, understood what existed under all his posturing.

He was only playing along until he got what he wanted from her, and she had no intention of ever letting that happen.

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