Page 14 of A Blade of Lies and Spirits

“Hi, Alys. You look terrible.” The flippant tone didn’t disguise Walker’s concern. He locked the door before approaching us.

“Wait,” Silver said. “Not done yet.”

A dimple appeared in Walker’s cheek as he sat in the guest chair and Silver turned to me again.

I spoke before he could. “I have to go back to DC. Someone’s eating the swampers; the same as in the Durgion territory. Are you listening, Silver?”

“Build your case,” he answered, ignoring my words.

“It hunts people Outside. Just now, the idea has been been reinforced that your ‘elected officials’,” I made air quotes to underscore the sarcasm in my voice, “couldn’t care less about squatters’ lives, compared to someone important, someone who contributes. They don’t care that it’s been hunting and the swampers have no other way to get protection and justice.” I couldn’t manage to deliver the venom the words deserved through the fog of tiredness that wrapped around me.

Despite my exhaustion, I continued. “All my research says there’s only one Wendigo. The spirits in DC contacted me; they want it gone too. They said it was the Wendigo. But it’s different; it was made out of shadows and it was patient. It goes to Durgion on a cycle, rather than trying to eat everyone there all at once. I think it’s fused with something or someone able to move between cities quickly and easily. Which means that person has money, power, or both. So I’m sure this investigation will be buried as soon as the emails percolate through the system, but I can’t let it.”

“No,” said Silver. “You and Walker are on that case now. I’ll get you a dedicated LawBook for it, since it’s likely to uncover sensitive information.”

The white haired rodent knew something, but I didn’t press because I was happy. Walker and I were on the case?Bothof us? I didn’t have to focus on some other nonsense case I didn’t care about,andI got to work with the man I liked? It was a surprise. A nice one, for once.

Walker settled further back in the chair. It creaked as he spoke, his voice amused. “Silver, if I wanted to be in a combat division, I would’ve joined the army.”

I laughed. “Because you really seem to hate working with mesomuch.”

The man seemed to claim that he liked his desk job, but everything I’d seen from him suggested that was the last thing he should be doing. With his magic, his calm head, and his empathy, he was the perfect person to help me on my missions.

If he kept in mind that I was always right.

“Besides, you two seem like a good… match, and Alys needs someone to save her from her own rashness,” Silver remarked, looking anywhere but at us.

A good match? Did he mean as partners or romantically? I couldn’t tell because he wouldn’t meet my gaze.

“That’s why you made the transfer permanent? To keep her alive?” Okay, so Walker was pretending the whole good match thing hadn’t been said either. Maybe I was reading too much into it.

“Yes.” Suddenly, Silver stared down at me. I glared up. When he spoke, his words were rimmed with frost.

“You’re a valued resource, and I won’t have you break yourself because you don’t bother to think. There’s a mind in there—use it for something other than insults and games.”

It was another lecture. I’d heard so many of them in various guises it was easy to let his words lull into the background in my mind as I thought about another roll in the hay with Walker. If I wasn’t hurting so badly, it’d be perfect.

“Alys! Pay attention! What are you thinking about?”

I made big eyes at him. “Whether I have the strength to fuck Walker.”

Silver’s laugh was surprisingly warm, given my experience with him. I didn’t expect him to find the truth funny. He turned to Walker. “This mind is what you’ll be working with. I want you to be aware of that, because according to everyone she’s ever worked with, she’s impossible. So if you go with her, I ask that you do so without eventually submitting a fifty-page statement on the reasons she should be placed into rehabilitation until she learns how to function in civilized society, like her previous partners. I have hopes it’ll work out, since you didn’t complain at all in your two previous reports.”

“I’ll try my best,” Walker muttered, grinning at me.

“I’ve transferred all the data we have that’s pertinent to this case to your comm. I’m assigning you to keep her alive until she recovers from her latest...” Silver groped for words, then shook his head.

“You’re competent enough and you have a clearance high enough to deal with her current case when it bites us all in the ass. You have the shadow fragment she captured. Find out who’s possessed. Find out what doors this thread runs under. Keep a good grip on her leash.”

The smile he sent my way bore many edges. “I’ll let the staff here know you’re assigned to watch the entire run of Judge Knights, since it’s a decent political primer. Try to pay attention, Alys. You need to know these things.” Silver walked out, and the door swished closed behind him.

Great. The man had punished me the only way he could, while keeping me alive in this bed. I would have to endurepolitics. Perhaps a beating would be better. Actually, it probably would. I knew a number of ladies who wouldn’t mind being spanked by Silver any day of the week, even though he wasn’t my type.

“A way with words, he has,” murmured Walker. “You’ve put him out of sorts.”

The mattress compressed to my right, and warm fingers settled on the back of my hand.

“Do you think I’m stupid enough not to think there’s something going on with you two?” I asked. Despite the tiredness, his touch lightened my mood. “Don’t you outrank him?”

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