Anyan looked up and caught my eye, giving me a tight smile in response. He’d mostly been avoiding me since the scene behind the shed. That whole, crazy moment had obviously been a product of adrenaline, stress, and profound irritation (his for me), and I knew I needed to forget whatever had happened between us.
Anyan obviously has, my brain intoned sadly.
I watched as Tryptich said their good-byes and made ready to stride off into the forest. They’d call Terk, and he’d apparate them back home. If any lingering purebloods felt the brownie’s First Magics, they’d probably think they were crazy.
But before they left, they had one last surprise.
“Julian?” Capitola called. “You ready?”
My fellow halfling was standing among his Boston crew, but when Capitola called for him he stepped away from them.
“Julian, what the fuck?” Ryu snarled, staring at his deputy as if Julian were tap-dancing naked.
“I’m sorry, sir. But I’m giving you my notice. I’m leaving.”
Ryu looked apoplectic, and I took a step backward even as Tryptich and Anyan took a step forward.
“How could you betray your people like this?” he snarled, his fangs elongated in rage.
The look Julian gave Ryu in return was both proud and sad.
“You have always treated me well, sir. As have you, Caleb, and you, Daoud. You have all treated me like an equal, always. But as long as I live in the Territory, I’m not an equal. I’ll always be just a halfling. One with a good power and one that people want around, but never an equal.”
Ryu looked like he was going to argue, but Caleb stopped Ryu by placing a hand on his shoulder.
“I’ve loved working for you, and I’ve been happy in the bubble we created in Boston. But it was just that: a bubble. The minute I left I was put back in my place. You’ve seen it happen, sir.”
Ryu’s fangs had slowly retracted, his shoulders slumping in defeat.
“I have,” he said finally, grudgingly.
“I’m tired,” Julian whispered, so quietly we had to strain to hear him. “And I want to feel at home.”
“And you felt at home, with them?” Ryu said, jerking his head toward Capitola and her friends.
“Yes.”
Ryu sighed, scrubbing a hand over his tired face, through his now longish, brassy hair.
“Then go. Keep in touch if you can,” he added resignedly.
“Thank you, sir. Please tell my mother… Tell her I love her. That I’ll see her again. That I’ll finally be free, and so will she. She’s looked out for me for so long… She has to be tired, too.”
Ryu nodded once sharply. “I’ll tell her. Good-bye, Julian. It’s been a pleasure to work with you.”
He stepped forward, his hand extended, and took Julian’s own proffered palm. After they’d shaken hands, Ryu backed away. He gave me a hard look before striding off toward where his car was parked. Then he drove away, leaving his deputies with us.
I had no idea where he was headed.
I felt someone nudge my elbow and saw that Anyan was beside me, holding out a red-paisley handkerchief. It was only then I realized that I was crying like a baby over Julian’s defection.
“It’s clean,” he murmured. “Ish.”
I took it delicately, making sure I wasn’t about to mop my face with barghest snot, before using it to wipe away my tears. Then I blew my own nose into it noisily.
Julian came and hugged me, told me he’d call me. Then he shook everyone else’s hands and went off into the forest with Capitola, Moo, and Shar. I was so happy for him. And even happier I now had a good excuse to keep in contact with the fabulous ladies of Tryptich.
“About ready to go?” came that rough voice from behind me. I turned to face the barghest.
“Yup.” I nodded, wiping the last of my tears away and giving my nose one last, thorough blow. Then I looked pointedly from the barghest to his handkerchief.
“You can keep that one, too.” He grinned, and I couldn’t help but return his infectious smile.
“What about the doctor?”
“He’s ready. Not happy at all about the idea of confronting his father or Jarl, but he’s gonna do it.”
“Like he’s got a choice.” I grinned, remembering my threats of castration.
“He does have a lot to atone for…”
“What are they gonna do with the rest of the prisoners?”
“Transport them. We’re rounding up some buses now.”
“What about the captives?”
“They’ll be sent to clinics like the one you saw, all over the Territory. Our healers are gonna be busy for a while. Did Iris leave already?”
I nodded glumly. That had been the hardest thing to do: say good-bye to Iris. The succubus hadn’t wanted to leave my side, and I hadn’t wanted her to leave. But she needed medical attention, and safety, not a crazy, possibly suicidal mission to attempt bearding Jarl in his own den.
So I’d hugged her, again and again, then watched as she got into a car with one of the local investigators. Dressed now in scrubs, rather than that horrible, filthy T-shirt, she looked so lost and vulnerable it had taken everything I had in me not to wrench her out of that car and take her home to Rockabill.
That would have been shortsighted, however. For this was going to be wrapped up, one way or another. We had an opportunity to grab Jarl by the short hairs, and we needed to act on it. Now was the time to end the Alfar second’s reign of terror.
So right before saying good-bye to the girls, I’d waved good-bye to my Iris, knowing she needed to be safe. After which I loaded our goblin doctor into a borrowed SUV, so we’d be ready to take off as soon as Tryptich made their getaway. The rental car I’d stolen was out of commission, so we’d acquisitioned new vehicles from local investigators. Daoud and Caleb were in one car; Anyan, the goblin, and I in the other. Ryu might have buggered off, but his deputies were seeing our mission through to its bloody end. Soon enough, however, they shot ahead of us, on their way to Boston where they’d pick up Camille and another vehicle. Then they’d meet us in Montreal, at which point we’d have three cars in our convoy.
But no more Team Halfling, I thought, both happy for Julian and sad he wouldn’t be here to see the mission come to its end. Oh well, he was rubbish in a fight anyway.
When we were all ready to go, Anyan took the driver’s seat and I settled myself next to him, on the passenger side, the goblin doctor in back. We were finally headed off to end it all at the place where it had begun: the Territory’s Compound outside Quebec, where we’d confront Jarl and his minions.
But first we were going to get some rest.
The mansion turned out to be a forlorn vestige of Pennsylvania’s industrial past, right outside Allentown. I never even thought to ask where we were until I saw a sign on the highway. As soon as we came across something relatively decent, we rented rooms in a hotel—one for me, one for Anyan and the goblin. First I took a long, very hot shower—trying to scrub away the filth of that place. I lay down warily, frightened of the dreams my sleeping brain would plague me with after all the horrors I’d seen in the past twenty-four hours. But to my surprise, I was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow, and I slept heavily and dreamlessly until very early the next morning.
After a quick breakfast and another superhot shower for me, we were off. The trip to Montreal was a bit surreal. I wasn’t all too comfortable in front of our captive, and Anyan didn’t seem to want to talk. So most of the time we were all silent, except for an occasional request for a pit stop or a short debate on which roadside restaurant to choose for lunch.
I kept telling myself it was just the presence of Avery that kept Anyan and me from talking to each other, but I knew it was more than that. He was barely even looking at me, and I could feel the tension between us.
Why is he so distant? my libido questioned plaintively. After what had happened behind the shed, it was convinced we’d be making out by now. Instead, we were barely speaking.
He never meant to react that way, I told myself, trying to batten down the surge of sadness I felt. And now he doesn’t know how to take it back. He doesn’t want to hurt me, but he doesn’t really feel the way he acted. We were all just stressed…
So I did what I normally do when someone doesn’t seem all that impressed with me: I pretended to sleep. It wasn’t hard, mostly because I think I did fall asleep. After all my recent shenanigans, I was exhausted. I also really needed a swim.
That evening found us in Montreal, at a swank hotel, waiting for our backup to arrive. Anyan still wasn’t really talking, and I was getting increasingly pissed off. I got it that he regretted his actions, but they were his actions. He didn’t have to be a dick to me just because he didn’t like his own behavior.
“Do you want dinner?” Anyan asked, trying to hand me the room service menu.
“Whatever,” I said, not taking it.
“Well, are you hungry?”
“Doesn’t matter to me,” I said. But my stomach betrayed my passive-aggression routine by yowling like a bobcat.