After twenty minutes, Max gives us a heads up.—We’ve got incoming—
I don’t hear any vehicles, but a few minutes later I can sense other people are in the vicinity. The dragon under my skin lets me know he’s ready to come out if necessary.
Then a figure slips into the room.
Male, broad-chested, ratty beard, dirty ballcap, and scarred hands.
A brawler.
“Who the fuck are you?” He growls. “How did you get that number, it’s not yours.”
Alexis immediately speaks up. “If numbers are assigned, then you know exactly who we got it from. I’m hoping you trust him enough to hear us out.”
The man spits. “We don’t trust anyone, especially southern fuckers like you all.” He spits again, then takes a pace closer.
Five more men step out of the shadows.
“I say we kill you both, apart from the little girlie, she can come back with me to be…interrogated.”
In unison, Feniks and I form a wall in front of Theo. My lip curls in a sneer. “They’re too uneducated for us to have any kind of dialogue,” I say to Theo and Feniks. “I thought this operation might have some vision, or at least a modicum of brains.”
The burly dude scowls and cracks his knuckles. “I’m going to cut the tongue out of your silver-spooned mouth, you fuck.”
His hand whips out a long blade.
—Donovan—
The next second, the knife is shot out of his hand by a perfectly placed arrow.
“What the fuck. Shoot them!”
All around us men point guns, as the professor and I throw up magical shields.
“STOP!”
The authority in the voice has all the rebels freezing.
A tall woman, wrapped in a ripped work coat walks into the space. She has one hand raised. “Where is your archer? My men swept the whole area.”
Theo pushes herself from between us. “The rest of the team are in position but will not fire on any of you unless warranted. I’m hoping that we can talk. It’s important.”
“You’re just a school girl, and not even from Havengard, judging by the accent, how could you have anything to say that I’d want to hear?”
Calmly, Theo puts one hand on my arm and one on Fenik’s. “Are you comfortable talking in front of your people, or shall we go somewhere more private?”
—You are going nowhere alone with that woman—I snap angrily into her brain.
—He’s right, pulu—
—She won’t hurt me. She’s intrigued—
“Give me five minutes,” Theodora continues. “You’ll want to hear what we have to say.”
The rebel leader narrows her eyes. “About?”
Feniks and I exchange a look. This isn’t a good idea. These people are not to be trusted.
—Guys, let me handle this…I’m tuned in to her thoughts—
