“No, nothing’s that good,” he replied, his voice urgent, his expression beseeching. “Jane, I really don’t know what I…”
“Hey, Julian?” Ryu called from the other side of the room.
I watched with sadness as Julian wiped all emotion from his face, replacing it with the sedate, bland expression I now realized was the mask with which he confronted his existence.
“Yes, sir?” he called, turning toward Ryu.
“Can you come help us with this?”
Julian nodded at me, then headed to where a knot of technicians surrounded a dead computer. I frowned at his retreating back, wondering what he would have said had he the chance. It was enough to keep me musing for the next few hours.
By the time everyone was finished collecting evidence, it was already six o’clock and I, for one, was ready for dinner. And so was my stomach, as it made clear with a very loud, very angry roar followed by a series of petulant gurgles. Of course it waited until the room was almost cleared out, and everyone remaining was quietly packing up their things. I stared down at my belly, vowing revenge, as everyone turned to stare.
No doubt wondering where I’ve hidden the rabid Tasmanian devil, I thought, blushing at the attention and cursing my prodigious appetite.
“Hungry?” Ryu called from the other side of the room.
I gave an apologetic shrug, resisting the urge to shout, “No shit, Sherlock.” After all, Anyan and Ryu should have known by now that only two things could be depended upon in this investigation: Jarl was the culprit and Jane was hungry.
Ryu excused himself and walked toward me. When he came closer, I could smell balsam with that very faint, delicious undertone of musky cumin.
He may be a dick, but he’s still hot, my libido whispered regretfully. That said, my body didn’t stir at Ryu’s approach.
We’re done, I suddenly realized. Ryu and I are over, at least for me. At that thought, I felt an uncomfortable combination of relief and sadness sweep through me. Not least because, from the look in Ryu’s eyes, he hadn’t come anywhere near that conclusion.
“We should get you something to eat, Jane. Maybe I can take you to dinner? Whatever you want… We can talk.”
“I don’t think so, Ryu. Besides, I think I have to do that thing with Anyan and Julian…”
Ryu frowned. “I’m really not thrilled with the idea of you going off alone into Borealis. Who knows what those people want—”
“ ‘Those people’ are our hosts, and they’re letting you participate in this investigation against their better judgment,” growled Anyan’s rough voice as he put in his own two cents from where he was standing. Then he joined our little huddle, forcing Ryu to take a step away from me.
Anyan’s leather jacket smelled like lemon wax, and underneath that was the smell of cardamom I’d come to associate with the barghest.
“I know you trust these people, but I’m not comfortable allowing Jane to meet them by herself. Who knows what they want from her? Either you leave her with me or you take me with you.”
That sent Anyan off on a tirade about how “those people” only wanted to meet me and Julian, and I wasn’t Ryu’s to control, and Ryu was here only as a courtesy to begin with. Ryu replied by telling the barghest that if he thought representing the king and queen was a courtesy, Ryu would be happy to pass that message on to Orin and Morrigan. It all went downhill from there.
I listened to the two men argue, feeling more and more irritated. Part of it was simply because, truth be told, I hated conflict. I hated being around people who were arguing; I hated being around people who were stressed out. Why couldn’t we all just get along?
The scents of lemon wax and balsam, cumin and cardamom washed over me and my stomach rumbled again. I suddenly fancied a curry, and I was tired of, quite literally, being argued over. The two men were giving me a crick in the neck as I peered up at them while they fought.
“Anyan, Ryu, shut it!” I snapped. “I’m hungry, and this is pointless. Ryu, you just want to come along so you can spy. Anyan, why are you arguing? You know that’s what he wants, and you already know that despite what Ryu says, both Julian and I are going with you to this meeting.”
Both men stared down at me for a moment, surprised. Finally, Anyan nodded. “Sorry, Jane. Let’s get you something to eat. Julian?” He called to the other halfling, jerking his head to the door to tell Julian it was time to leave. “Ryu, you can get a ride back to the hotel with Enrique; he lives near Borealis. That okay, Enrique?”
The short, stocky man Anyan hollered at nodded his head, causing Ryu’s scowl to grow darker. I shrugged when he glared at me. Ryu should’ve known he wasn’t going to win this battle and left well enough alone.
Julian, Anyan, and I walked toward the exit and out into the parking lot, and this time there was no question about whose eyes were on us.
Just as we were getting into the car, Anyan’s cell rang. I got in the passenger’s side and belted myself in as I listened to his half of the conversation.
“Hello?… Hey, Cap… Yeah, we’re on our way… Cool, thanks for calling… See you in about forty minutes.”
Anyan grinned at me as we pulled out of the parking lot and took off down the main drag that led out of Plano. “That was Cappie; we’ll have dinner over there.”
I thought about the dinners at the Alfar Compound. They ran a short, intense gauntlet between formal and very, very formal.
“Do we need to change?” I asked Anyan, looking down at my black T-shirt, gray hoodie, jeans, and purple Converse. None of which were particularly clean after a long day in abandoned torture facilities.
Anyan eyeballed me from the driver’s seat. “Nope, you look perfect, Jane.”
I snorted at the word “perfect,” and his big mouth creased in a slight smile.
“I look perfect for running to the grocery store, Anyan. A really ghetto grocery store. Maybe a dollar store. I didn’t bring anything fancy, but I could still clean up…”
“I can take you to the hotel if you want, but honestly, you look fine.”
I studied the barghest’s stark profile, giving him my best skeptical look from the darkness of the passenger seat. He ignored me.
“This from the man wearing the Eukanuba shirt?”
Anyan chuckled. “I left the tux in my saddlebag, sorry.”
When I laughed, his iron-gray eyes flicked toward me, and I felt his gaze like a caress. My laughter stilled and tension sprang up in me like a small dog.
Anyan’s big hands also tensed on the wheel, and I wondered if he felt it, too, whatever was between us… and then he swore. Then laughed.
Confused, I finally noticed he was watching the rearview mirror. I turned in my seat but saw only headlights, and Julian, who was blinking at us in the dark.
Once again, I’d completely fucking forgotten he was there. I thought of my own life after Jason, and how I’d hidden in plain sight for so many years. We were both people used to hiding, it seemed, and that made me unaccountably sad.
“Oh, Ryu.” The barghest chuckled, bringing me back into the moment. “So predictable. Hold on, Jane, Julian. We’ve got to lose an Alfar spy…”
And with that, Anyan floored the SUV. The colossal car might have looked staid and decorous, but it kicked like a pissed-off mule.
We were darting down country roads that had grown dark, going way too fast. Anyan would turn the SUV on a dime, sending me crashing into either his big bulk or the car door to my right.
“Sorry,” he’d mumble each time I banged into him. But the barghest didn’t sound apologetic, he sounded gleeful.
At one point, I realized that Anyan was playing with Ryu. The engine wasn’t roaring like it had been, and I could see Anyan watching in the rearview as the car slowed.
“Oh, Ryu… Of all the cars there, why’d you steal Enrique’s piece of shit?” The barghest laughed.
I couldn’t believe it.
“Would you stop taunting him?” I chastised, using my best mom voice. “We have a dinner party. With important people. And you’re playing tag.”
Anyan attempted to look suitably chastened, although it didn’t reach his eyes.
“All right,” he grumbled. “I’ll put him out of his misery.”
Wrenching the wheel to the left, I smacked into him again as we made a series of complicated hairpin turns on an insanely curvy road. The next thing I knew, we were parked behind a barn, both the car and the lights off. The engine ticked, ticked, then fell silent just as another car whizzed past us on the dark road.
Anyan put a finger to his lips and waited a full minute before restarting the car. Leaving his lights off, he went back the other way on the curvy road before turning down another side lane.
We drove in silence for a while before hitting a real highway. At that point, Anyan turned his lights back on and joined the thin trickle of traffic.
“You enjoyed that, didn’t you?” I asked the barghest. He grinned at me, chuckling.
“Sorry, Jane. It’s immature. But yeah, I enjoyed that.”