Oh, Lord, the ‘my lady’ bullshit.Sara and Daniel considered that normal—or they seemed to.“Just Liv,” she muttered, and stepped right to where the otherliraihad pointed.“Okay.”
Erik moved slightly in front of her, and Robert neatly to her left.A faint sound was oiled sharpness leaving a sheath; Erik held one of their strange crystalline knives in his right hand, the blade along his forearm.Robert followed suit, and a fluttering queasiness filled Liv’s belly.
Daniel straightened.“Are you ready?”All trace of levity was gone, and he looked at least ten years older now.His two trios had taken their places like well-oiled machines, and a few of them drew knives as well.
Does it matter?“No.”Might as well be honest.
“Good,” the otherliraisaid.
It happened all at once.Daniel leaned forward, feet planted and his torso slightly inclined.His eyes widened, floppy hair moving as if brushed by invisible fingers.
A solid wall of invisible force thundered across the space between them, smacking against Liv’s entire body.Her hair blew back, her eyes watered, her black sweater flapped, but her shoes were stuck fast.Her hands jumped free, palms out, and the invisiblewhooshsnapped neatly aside, cracking against a wooden rack bolted to the wall.The wood groaned, an unhappy, stressed sound, as the sheathed broadswords it contained chattered.A metallic ringing lingered, filling her ears until she thought she’d gone temporarily deaf, but something inside her stretched.
That was the only way to describe it, a peculiar internal elasticshift.The invisible draft swirled behind her, gaining force as it whipped in a perfect semicircle and bulleted back toward Daniel, some of its strength bled away by smacking into the wall but the rest caught, conserved—and added to, a rumble like a freight train at midnight filling Liv’s internal spaces.
The force hit both Daniel’s trio-Fathers with a crunch, driving them back, boots squeaking against hardwood.The otherlirai’s eyes widened; he spread his arms, and the Elders before him were driven back too, both Youngers stepping forward in synchronized motion.
Daniel’s hands fingers spread, hands hanging loosely at his sides.His eyes glowed, and Liv almost-saw what he was doing to bleed off the excess power.
Oh, no you don’t.A flood of hot, almost embarrassing anger broke loose, rushed up her spinal column, and poured out of her.Liv’s mouth opened; she screamed, a long trailing cry forcing Daniel and his trios back still more; one of the Fathers’ boots left a dark dragging streak on the flooring, matching several older marks.
Daniel parried, his grasp on the power sure and impossibly, sinuously strong.It was like holding a live snake, and now she could sense the force moving through Erik and Robert, amplified by strange echoing cathedral-spaces inside them.
Oh, so that’s what?—
A jolt hit her sideways; weightless sensation bled out through fingers and toes as her feet rose from the floor, hovering a good four or five inches in empty air.She hung for what seemed a very long time, surprised and pinned, before she was tossed into Dakshi’s arms and crumpled, head ringing, a coppery taste on her tongue, her eyes refusing to work quite right.The world was a bright, indistinct smear, but she heard their voices from very far away.
“My, she’s a pistol.”Daniel didn’t sound upset in the least.In fact, he was audibly his usual cheerful self, and it was irritating as all fuck.“Nothing to worry about, I should say.All she needs is practice.”
A significant pause.“My lord.”Robert, every consonant precisely enunciated.“Are you considering?—”
“Of course I am.”Daniel, again.“She and I can do the sweeps, it’ll be fun.We’ve needed a third for a long time.With her and me keeping the streets clean, Sara can handle trainees and find other potentials instead of engaging, because… well, you know.It’s the answer to our prayers.”
“She’s been targeted,lirai.”Erik didn’t sound happy.It was only because she knew him that she could hear the faint breath of… what, in his tone?“Stepping foot outside the temple might not be wise.”
“She can’t hide any more than Sara or I can, Elder.”Warm fingertips brushed Liv’s cold, damp forehead, and a different warmth spilled through her from the touch.“Take her back and put her to bed.Make sure she gets dinner, please.We’ll run a few more trials tomorrow or the day after, and then—showtime.”
I’m right here, Liv wanted to say.Don’t talk about me like I’m not.
She was lifted.Her eyes still wouldn’t work, though nothing hurt and nothing seemed wrong.It reminded her of anesthesia side effects when she’d had her wisdom teeth taken out, the winter just before Gramma Poe died and the nightmares came back with double-decker intensity.
God, don’t think about that, either.
“Elder?”Daniel said.
Erik’s response was immediate.“Yes,lirai?”
“There’s some power there.She’d better be sealed, and quickly.”
“…yes,lirai.”
Best of Bad Options
No thaw in sight,though the forecast—and the malelirai, who was probably a more reliable source—said more snow was coming.Freezing rain had made the civilians miserable, and running patrol in the cold wasn’t anything Erik would have looked forward to even if the temperature made little difference once you had a mark.
He was more worried about the emotional weather inside the walls.Another trio was on duty out in the hall, in case of incursion or Liv taking it into her head to go for a walk.
Which didn’t seem likely, even if she was handling this far better than Erik ever dreamed possible.
