Shaedes of Gray: A Shaede Assassin Novel (26 page)

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Authors: Amanda Bonilla

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BOOK: Shaedes of Gray: A Shaede Assassin Novel
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Tyler smiled, a knowing expression, like he’d put me in checkmate. “It just so happens I’m representing my delegation at the PNT Summit as well. Mind if I ride along?”
Oh, great.
He turned his head in Xander’s direction but didn’t bother to look away from me. The king shared a silent exchange with Raif and sighed. He stepped through the parted crowd and climbed into his car.
I shouldered my way past Ty and ducked my head into the backseat of a sleek, black limo along with Raif and Xander. Before I could close the door behind me, Tyler jumped in and slid beside me, to make an already uncomfortable moment unbearable. He and I faced Raif and Xander, and not a single one of us spoke.
The king glowered at Tyler, and it should have burned a hole right through him. Raif seemed merely amused, while I opted to stare out the window and watch as we negotiated traffic. I’d been utterly embarrassed, and I didn’t think I could look any of them in the eye again. The car rolled along the city streets, while its company sat brooding. I was having an internal argument with no end in sight.
I didn’t know if I loved Tyler. At the moment, I didn’t even know if I liked him. Aside from his constant proclamation of
I’m yours
, I had no clue whatsoever to his true feelings. What the hell was that supposed to mean anyway?
I’m yours
. My what? My slave, my guardian angel, my own personal pain in the ass? Of course he cared about me. You don’t just give your life over to someone that you’re not particularly fond of. But what was this between us? I knew about as much about tender feelings as I did about my own Shaede nature. Would I even recognize love if it slapped me in the face?
“Darian, did you hear me?” Raif asked.
Shaken from my thoughts, I looked at Raif. “Sorry. What did you say?”
Tyler snickered beside me. I wanted to punch him in the face.
“I will sit beside the king and you will be posted at his left shoulder. Most of the representatives present will have security personnel, and they’ll be standing, like you. In the past, you would have been referred to as a shield bearer. It’s a formality for the most part, a long-standing one, and not usually performed by a king’s champion. But after this morning’s near miss, I think it’s better to be safe than sorry by having a formidable warrior stand at Xander’s back.”
“What near miss?” Tyler interjected before I could ask Raif what in the hell a king’s champion was.
“Mind your own business,” I said.
“You are my business.”
“Darian killed a Lyhtan attacker this morning,” Raif said, ending the discussion. “She stood like a true warrior and sent her enemy’s soul into the light. I might add, with no help from
you
, Jinn.”
I couldn’t help but smile that Raif thought so well of me. Tyler sank into the leather seat, pissed and pouting like someone had taken his lollipop.
Xander didn’t speak the entire ride. A couple of times I caught him staring at me, but when I met his gaze, he looked away. He might have been nervous about the Summit or upset that Tyler had tagged along. Whatever the reason, he was in a darker mood than I’d ever seen him, and I didn’t like it at all. He tapped his foot impatiently and folded his arms in front of his chest. A deep sigh escaped his lips and he glared in Ty’s direction.
We drove along the waterfront to the Industrial District, near Xander’s warehouse. The heavy, sea-tangy scent of Puget Sound made me think of Azriel. He loved the almost-musty odor, too thick for a deep breath. Where had he been hiding these past few months? He could’ve been right under my nose the entire time, for all the attention I’d paid. Because of his lies and misinformation, I’d all but lost myself in the populace. A virtual ghost, wary of making contact with anyone or anything, lest my true nature be discovered. But thanks to Raif and his obsessive-compulsive training tactics, I was ready. And when I got my hands on him, he’d damn well wish he’d stayed hidden.
Chapter 19
 
N
ot far from the building where I’d trained for nights on end with Raif, we arrived at the location of the Pacific Northwest Territories Summit. The commercial-sized warehouse looked like it had at one time been a storage facility for the large metal shipping containers sometimes seen on tankers. A few of the steel boxes remained, stacked neatly to the sides and rear of the complex. A chain-link fence, topped with curls of razor wire, guaranteed the place would be left alone. A metal mesh gate slid open on electronically controlled wheels, and the limo crept through the entrance, depositing us just outside a gaping maw of a door.
Rows of lights illuminated the central space of the building, and four long tables had been set end to end, forming a large square. In the center of the square sat a great, round brazier. Inside the shallow bronze bowl, bright orange flames danced and frolicked. An assortment of bodies milled around the warehouse space, some with their own entourages hanging unobtrusively behind.
Tyler walked right past me, winked, and joined a group of delegates directly across from where Xander had decided to settle in. My jaw dropped and I quickly snapped it shut, hiding my curiosity at Ty’s role in this strange meeting of mystical creatures. He inclined his head toward his neighbor and flashed a cheerful smile, then nodded to someone a few groups down. I’d never seen him look so comfortable, so immersed in his element.
“This is what you do?” I murmured as Raif came to stand beside me. “Walk around and bullshit?”
“Have you ever seen Congress in action? This is what the gallery looks like right before a voting session,” he said.
“I’ve never been to D.C.” I said. “Have you?”
His knowing smile was all the answer he’d give before he went to stand beside his brother.
As I contemplated the possibility that Raif had actually visited Washington, D.C., I fell into my role as a stoic man—well, woman—in black and tailed the king as he traveled from group to group. Raif was right; politics in the supernatural world were just like politics in the human world, with everyone jockeying for their views to be heard and backed up.
“Alexander!” A tall, drop-dead gorgeous woman approached, and I took a step forward, astonished at the protective instinct. Her red hair was streaked with gold and cascaded down her back in curling locks that shone with an unworldly light. Creamy peach flesh and golden eyes complemented a silk dress of peacock blues and greens. Her refined features were good enough for any fresco. Hell, Botticelli would have wept at the sight of her. My skin tingled as waves of energy emanated from her, the power seeping into my pores.
“Gods above!” she exclaimed, planting a kiss on Xander’s cheek. “Your entourage reeks of gin.”
Wait just a damn second!
Indignation flushed my cheeks; I had not been drinking. Xander chuckled, and the blood drained from my face. Not gin.
Jinn
.
Oh, give me a fucking break!
“Yes, well, my new security team leader has a little pet, my dear Luna. I hadn’t realized you didn’t favor the Jinn.”
Luna pulled her eager gaze from Xander’s face long enough to give me a sneering appraisal that would have made Anya proud. “It’s not that I don’t favor them. But have you heard what their delegation is proposing on the Shape-Shifter Initiative? Surely, you won’t be voting . . .”
I’d blocked her out once I realized Luna liked the sound of her own voice almost as much as Xander did his. Besides, if I’d had to listen to her disparage the Jinn delegation for a moment longer, I may have been persuaded to try out my fist on her perfectly shaped nose. But the king listened like a devoted admirer, nodding and hanging on every word. If it came to a vote, of course he’d consider her stance on the issue, and, yes, he would be honored if she’d return the favor to his issues as well.
Spare me! Next group, please!
As if he’d heard my mental urgings, Xander kissed Luna’s hand and continued on his stroll. “Shape-Shifter Initiative?” I asked Raif as he fell back to walk with me.
“Politics.” He shrugged. “It never changes. The shifters are asking for the embargo to be lifted on their hunting grounds. The pheasant population in northern Idaho has diminished over the years, and the bird happens to be sacred in one of their coming-of-age ceremonies. They want to be allowed to hunt before the harvest moon and the autumnal equinox. It’s up for vote in a few months.”
“You mean the supernatural community actually makes environmental-impact decisions?” My brain reeled as it fought to soak up all of this new information. Levi would shit a brick if he could’ve been there to hear it all!
“Why wouldn’t we?” Raif said. “We inhabit this world, just like the humans. We must make decisions to protect natural resources, enact laws and policies. This is not chaos, Darian. We are not ungoverned animals.”
Hands tucked behind my back, I followed Xander as he paced from group to group. From the corner of my eye I watched as Tyler did the same, his hands flashing in animated gestures as he talked, sometimes emphatically with a stern expression on his face. I wondered as I watched,
What
is
his stance on the Shape-Shifter Initiative?
“Darian,” Xander said as we approached a small group comprised of men in tailored business suits, “I’d like you to meet Dylan McBride. He owns a consulting firm out of Portland. Though didn’t I hear, Dylan, that you’re considering moving your headquarters to Seattle?”
I tried to discern any pattern of energy coming from Dylan as I studied him top to bottom. Graying salt-and-pepper hair, fine lines at the corner of his eyes when he smiled. Dylan seemed as average as any guy walking down the street. “I am, in fact, planning a move. We’ll be anchored here by spring.” He turned his attention fully to me and took my hand. A firm but not unusual grip.
“What kind of consulting do you do, Mr. McBride?” I couldn’t help but ask. Maybe he advised pixies on the best brand of magic dust to buy.
“I’m a financial consultant. I also manage business ventures for clients who have an issue with blending into normal society. Estate sales, acquisitions, stocks, bonds—I pretty much do it all.”
Dylan’s gray eyes sparkled, and I looked to Raif, who mouthed the word
human
. Sure, why not? Everyone else seemed to be here. Why not a human or two? I needed a drink.
“Nice to meet you, Dylan,” I said, stepping back behind Xander. Dylan clapped the king on the back and moved on, smiling and chortling with his cohorts as they passed.
“Surprised?” Xander asked with a sideways glance in my direction.
“You have no idea,” I said, sour and not afraid to show it.
His arrogant laughter sent chills down my spine. I hated the way he affected me, made me want to silence him for good. “What now?” I asked, my mood taking a dive. “More meet and greet, or are we going to get this show on the road?”
“I have one more person I’d like to speak with. By then, I believe we’ll be ready to start.”
Xander plowed ahead, Raif beside him and me trailing behind, trying to look like I had my shit together. But I so didn’t. Not even close.
Son. Of. A. Bitch.
How in the hell could I have been so blind? I was walking through a supernatural pep rally with hundreds of attendees, by my estimation. How had I never noticed them before? Or was it like Levi had said, and the supernatural population had suddenly shifted their focus on Seattle and the brewing conflict between Xander and his heir? I felt like throwing up.
We approached a man and a woman, both tall and unusually thin. Their pale skin appeared luminescent against the warehouse lighting, an aura of pinkish light hovering around them. With features too similar to ignore, they had to be related. Faun-colored hair, straight and fine, trailed down the woman’s back, while the man’s had been clipped short. Their eyes, the lightest blue and hauntingly empty, only made their faces look more ethereal. As we came near, identical smiles graced their mouths—a baring of teeth that could only be described as predatory. They were a frightening pair, and I rested my hand near my dagger, ready to defend if need be.
“Sidhe,” Raif whispered close to my cheek. “The oldest living creatures in the Fae lineage. Older than recorded time. Do not look them in the eye.”
Okay, easy enough.
Just a glance in their direction made my skin crawl. Literally. A powerful energy, greater even than what I’d felt from Luna, crept out from where they stood, slithering over my skin like rough-skinned snakes.
“Alexander, I bring greetings from your father’s father,” the woman said. “To you as well, Raif.”
Raif bowed his head, and Xander followed suit. My own gaze I kept toward the floor, but I felt an urge to drop lower, as if invisible hands pushed me down. I looked up, just enough to see the man staring at me, his pleased smile telling me he was the one pushing my buttons. And I refused to let him. Without looking him straight in his eyes, I focused my gaze at his hawkish nose, fighting his influence with all I was worth. It felt like I was squatting five hundred pounds, but I resisted the power flooding from him as well as the urge to kneel at his feet.
His sneer faded into amusement, and still I would not meet his eyes.
I don’t bow for anyone. Period.

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