Page 81 of Elven Lies

Maybe he wouldn’t mention it again.

“How does Azyyt Ra’al play into all this?”

Dammit. Of course he wouldn’t leave that alone, either, and he wouldn’t move on to anything else until she offered an acceptable explanation.

“Because the little gang in the alley all had thrall brands,” she replied.

“All of them?”

She shot him a pert look.

Rowan grinned. “So you took their toy and killed them for it.”

“Hey,theystarted it.”

Why did she even feel like she had to defend herself?

“I’m sure they did,” he said. “I’m sure you gave them every opportunity to use their brains and get the hell out of there, too.”

Rebecca finally relented beneath the urge to smile, though she kept it small and contained. “Exactly.”

“Then they reallywerecomplete idiots.”

When the conversation died, Rebecca would have loved to believe Rowan was satisfied with her story, which contained more information than she’d given him since he’d broken through Shade security and refused to speak to anyone but “the elf.” But it wouldn’t last.

Once Rowan’s furious brainstorm died down, he’d be all over her again with even more questions.

The thought made her want to cringe.

Rebecca knew Rowan Blackmoon only too well.

“You got in a fight with an imbecilic gang of Azyyt Ra’al thralls,” he said, “dropped them all in a back alley, and stole the single most dangerous weapon from the old world anyone could have possibly gotten their hands on. Except you, of course.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh please.”

“This changes everything.” The rising pitch in his voice told her all she needed to know. There was no stopping him now. “Múrg dah’lás! You took the fucking Darkspawn right out from under them. And the Azyyt Ra’al is here, inthisworld.”

“In Chicago, at least,” she murmured.

“By the Blood.” Rowan gawked at her, then erupted with another gale of laughter as he skipped a little happy dance beside her on the sidewalk.

The thought of shoving him off the curb and under oncoming traffic flashed through her mind, making her snort.

“This changeseverything,” he mused.

“I don’t see how.”

“It’s Azyyt Ra’al. Azyyt Ra’al! How much better can it get?”

They clearly had two very different definitions of the word “better.”

“This is perfect for us,” Rowan continued. “I couldn’t have asked for a better surprise! That’s why you’ve been holding out on me this whole time, right?”

She wouldn’t have answered that even if he’d given her the time to respond.

Rowan clapped his hands together and skipped again on the sidewalk, barking out another laugh as the wheels turned non-stop in his devious mind. “Thinkabout it! If you already have a line on Azyyt Ra’al here, we can go after them onEarth. Wipe them off the board entirely before we ever step foot back home.

“What a leg up the Tha’rossa Clans would havethen, all with you and I still right here in this world. Not to mention how much an advantage the Darkspawn will undoubtedly serve us in the war to come—”

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