Page 112 of Elven Lies

If she really did feel for him the way she felt for him now—if it wasreal—that could only mean one thing she hadn’t let herself believe until now.

It meant Rebeccacouldchoose her own destiny. That shedidhave a chance at living her own life the wayshewanted, and Blue Hells take anyone who said otherwise.

She almost let herself get excited about that prospect as the Shade vehicles finally closed in on their headquarters compound. But then one horrible thought entered her mind and changed it all.

She might have the ability and the freedom to choose her own destiny and live her life on her terms, regardless of what the Bloodshadow Court and the Agn’a Tha’ros elders insisted they claim from her. And shewantedMaxwell to be a part of her decision and part of her new story written out the way she saw fit.

But only if, once the shifter recovered, Rebecca could truly trust him enough to tell him the entire truth of who she was and where she came from. Of everything she would deny and reject in an instant if it meant sharing something more with him.

Because, she realized, shewouldhave to tell him the full truth eventually.

She’d just held death at bay to keep Maxwell with her in this world, and she’d done it with her Bloodshadow magic. No one was supposed to know she had that power, least of all him.

However unlikely, Rebecca still couldn’t imagine a viable scenario in which Maxwell didn’t remember what she’d done for him and how. And if he did, all bets were off.

She would have to tell him everything and hope he still wanted anything to do with her afterward. Once he had the truth he’d promised her he would one day discover.

Neither of them could have predicted it would be likethis.

33

No matter how much sleep she’d gotten or how many breaks she took, Rebecca couldn’t crawl out from under the overwhelm of information, tasks, duties, reports, and conversations assaulting her from all sides over the next two days.

Everything felt like it was happening all at once, and she could do nothing to stop it.

It felt like every hour, a member of her newly formed Shade council found Rebecca wherever she was, most of the time in her office, to apprise her of new developments and update her on previously established assignments.

But because she’d specifically requested updates of everything, even the tiniest detail, in the aftermath of Shade’s battle at Harkennr’s warehouse, she couldn’t very well change her mind and tell everyone to stop. She’d literally asked for it.

Now, she felt she had even less time to herself than before, if that was possible. She didn’t spend that time wondering aboutthe battle’s resolution and results. She’d been so concerned for Maxwell—praying to old gods and new and everything in between that he made it through the worst of his necessary recovery—she’d been oblivious to everything else happening around her that night. Her council helped her fill in the blanks.

In addition to the thirty abducted civilians they’d intercepted from the initial transport convoys that night as originally planned, they’d successfully liberated another one hundred and three from Harkennr’s warehouse. Now, they worked on planning and implementing new ways to help those civilians either leave the city to get back home or stay here in Chicago to rebuild their lives after enduring such a horrible ordeal.

The teams had also acquired a significant number of new magitek weapons from the warehouse, as well as various devices, machinery, and combat equipment they hadn’t seen before. Rick and Whit were quite busy now with their own selected teams, working to figure out how these acquisitions functioned and how best to put them to use within Shade operations.

On top of that, Rick brought her an intel report of anything and everything his team had picked up so far regarding public knowledge of the attack on the warehouse and Harkennr’s ensuing response to it, which was basically nothing.

Good news for Shade so far. Either Harkennr wasn’t yet aware of what had happened, or he knew and wanted to keep the blow to his operation silent amidst Chicago’s various magical channels for now.

It wouldn’t last long, though. Harkennr would eventually suspect Rebecca and Shade of such a daring move, if he hadn’t already confirmed it. It was just a matter of time before he decided on the best way to retaliate.

They had to be ready for his response, and they would be.

For the time being, though, all was quiet when it came to Kordus Harkennr. Rebecca intended to take advantage of however long this unexpected peacefulness lasted.

“We’re keeping an ear to the ground, though,” Rick added at the end of his report,. “Twenty-four-seven. If there’s any word out there about Harkennr, you’ll be the first to know, boss. I promise.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Rebecca leaned back in her office chair and nodded at the blackhorn standing on the other side of it. “Is there anything else?”

“Not for now.”

“Thanks for the update, Rick.”

“Anytime.” With a final dip of his head, Rick turned around to head for the door.

It seemed most of her operatives and everyone on her new council had gotten the hang of reading their Roth-Da’al’s cues. Rebecca rarely had to verbally dismiss anyone, which was what she preferred.

When Rick reached the door, though, a last-minute question popped into her mind and almost made her feel guilty for not having thought of it sooner. “Just one more thing.”

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