Page 86 of Elven Prince

Even when Whit clicked out of the file to return to his desktop screen and swiveled back in his chair to face her, Rebecca shock still hadn’t worked its way through her system.

Everything felt frozen. Ice-cold. The whole world closing in on her as implication after deadly implication bloomed through her mind in spiderwebbing connections, all of them screaming the same blood-curdling warning.

Thiswas the worst thing she’d faced—in Chicago, as Rebecca Knox, as the Roth-Da’al.

The biggest threat to her freedom and survival since she’d snuck through the Gateway to enter this world.

All because of the mess one incompetent changeling commander had left behind, Shade’s freshly improved efficacy as a privatized magical task force, and the hubris of a few Chicago crime lords blinding them to the complicated nuances of the truth.

They thought they had a new competitor to either keep fighting or ally with before gunning straight for Shade at the end.

They had no idea who they would really find behind the curtain once it was finally drawn aside to reveal the Bloodshadow Elf running the show.

Rebecca would never let them figure it out.

“Well, that’s it,” Whit said with a shrug, then turned back toward his monitor for a quick check, as if he thought he’d failed to close the video file that still captured Rebecca’s attention. “That’s what we got.”

The Security office remained unbearably silent.

“Uh…boss?” Rick asked, leaning forward in his own chair. “You good?”

Rebecca blinked, swallowed the cold lump in her throat, and still couldn’t pull her gaze away from the computer screen. But as the fluttering pressure of curiosity and concern pulsed across the side of her body, coming straight from Maxwell, she knew he was right there with her.

They were on the same page.

“You heard all that too,” she murmured.

“They think they’ve figured it all out.” The shifter wasn’t growling anymore, but his voice had dropped in volume and tone to match hers, as if the Roth-Da’al and her Head of Security had convened alone in this room for a private conversation.

It didn’t matter that the guys in the Security office could still hear them.

Rebecca and Maxwell had their own way of communicating, anyway.

“Half of our current enemies at a table together,” he added. “The other half mentioned by name. At least now we know they’re all different.”

“Except whoever’s already murdered dozens of civilians and put two of ours in infirmary beds.”

And except Azyyt Ra’al.

Rebecca hadn’t expected the old-world Xaharí faction to come into the picture anyway. Notthispicture. The only evidence of their presence in Chicago still revolved around a gang of thugs she’d left in piles of ash in the lot behind Underdark—and the thrall brand on the [hectorrace] Hector’s head, revealed only in death.

The Azyyt Ra’al were still here, but so far, they hadn’t caused Rebecca any more trouble than she could handle, and they hadn’t purposefully made themselves known.

All things considered, it was a small blessing Shade didn’t have to contend withthemas well as everyone else on their enemy list.

But if things keep going the awful way they were headed, Azyyt Ra’al would inevitably come into the picture. Theywouldget involved, and then they would eventually show themselves. They’d already hadHectoras a spy embedded in Shade, and getting rid of him hadn’t been part of the plan.

These underdogs in Chicago—Big Boss, Suit, Eduardo, Kordus Harkennr—were enough of a threat on their own, let alone combined. But with Azyyt Ra’al in the picture, Rebecca stood little to no chance of maintaining her anonymity in this world.

Theywere the ones who knew her, even more than Harkennr thought he did.

Theywere the ones who could not only unravel every thread she’d woven for herself in this world, but they also had the means to face and apprehend the Bloodshadow Heir wherever and whenever they wanted. Then they would use her for their own ends. Then the wars and the prophecies she’d left behind on Xahar-áhsh would become something entirely different.

Ifthey found her.

If Fate, or Fortune, or any old-world god or power on Earth ever smiled down on her, Azyyt Ra’al would never find her.

Before she let herself go too far down that never-ending rabbit hole, though, the most immediate issue had to be addressed first.

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