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“I fight with my people. Do you fight with yours?”
“I’m not a warrior, but a ruler. Still, I guard what’s mine. I’ll kill to protect it.”
“Show me.”
Daintily, Vivienne set down her coffee, dusted crumbs from her fingers. And shifted.
Fallon studied the flame-red dragon with the glittering green eyes.
The red flame from the north, she thought.
“Impressive. And only the second I’ve seen.”
Vivienne shifted back. “We are few. I don’t know why. You saw another?”
“Twice. Larger, black. Of the dark.”
“It saddens me that when we are few, any would choose the dark.” With a delicate shrug, she lifted her coffee again. “Ah, well. I will not keep you, but I trust you will think about my offer.”
“I will.”
“I’ll get you some coffee beans.”
“You’re kind.” Vivienne offered a hand to Fallon as she rose. “I’m not unkind. I’m not unselfish. But I don’t see those as . . . Ah!” On a gesture of frustration she rattled off a phrase in French.
“In opposition,” Fallon told her.
“Yes, thank you. They are not in opposition. I am known to lie. To a lover, when it is . . . simple? I do not lie about life and death, about dark and light. I may lie to you,” she said with a gay smile. “But not about that.”
When Lana came back, she took the cloth bag offered, slipped it into her pocket after sliding back into her coat. “Thank you, very much. I will have a gift for you when I see you next. And I would send to you General D’Arcy if we proceed with the alliance. You will find him very clever.”
“Safe travels, Vivienne.”
“And to you, Fallon Swift. Madame.”
Fallon watched her walk out, move to her men. And, standing between them, flash.
“She’s . . . interesting,” Lana decided.
“And complicated. She has shadows, but she isn’t of the dark. Not like them. Not quite like us. An alliance. Two thousand troops.”
Fallon shut the door. “She has more than two thousand or she wouldn’t have offered two thousand.”
“Now that you say it, that wouldn’t surprise me. She’s canny. Canny is a good ally.”
“It could be. Let’s see what else anyone’s heard about her, what else we can find out. It’s going to be worth, at least, meeting this general.”
“You’re likely to get an argument from some quarters.”
“What else is new?” As they started back, she looked at her mother. “From you?”
“No. You’re going to need alliances. New York isn’t the end of it. You never told me about the black dragon again.”
“It was in a vision dream, with Petra.”
Lana stopped, gripped Fallon’s arm. “Petra.”
“She rode it, I think. It’s not all the way clear, and I wasn’t sure until now it was real. I need to talk to Mallick.”
“Let’s take some food down,” Lana suggested. “An alliance with a dragon queen might go down easier with some stew.”
“You’ve got a point.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
While the others ate, Fallon took Mallick and her father aside, related the meeting with Vivienne.
“I’ve heard of her,” Mallick confirmed. “Bits and pieces, rumors, gossip. From what I know, she has her realm, her palace and people, and they’re loyal to her. She is, or has been, content with that. If she’s come to you I suspect she’s concerned about invasion.”
“We push the DUs out of New York,” Simon agreed. “They may head north. She’d be more vulnerable. You’re serious about the dragon?”
“Yeah, and she’s impressive.”
“Adding a dragon and two thousand to our ranks against New York wouldn’t hurt a thing. And,” he added, “it’s likely she has more than the two she offered.”
It added to Fallon’s confidence that she and her father thought alike. “Exactly.”
“Just as likely, she has other alliances.”
“I wondered about that, too. She’s both forthcoming and cagey. Clearly, she wants to preserve her own, and why wouldn’t she? If her advisers estimate we’re moving on New York within a year, maybe six months? The enemy likely thinks the same. If we can add her in, and potentially others she’s hooked with, I’m looking at six to eight weeks.”
“You didn’t tell her that?”
“I’m standing here with two men who helped teach me to be cagey, so no. And we’ll just keep that to ourselves until we’re sure of her. Can you go?” she asked Mallick. “She talked about sending one of her generals here to negotiate, but I want a better sense of her and her people, her place. You could get that. She’d respect you, and you wouldn’t fall for any bullshit.”
“Of course. When?”
“As soon as possible. She popped in here, we’ll return the favor. I’d like you to take Travis with you.” She looked at Simon. “As an empath he’ll feel as much as see or hear. And he’s diplomatic, political.”
“He’ll love it, and he’s a good choice. I’m not going to say Mallick and Travis can’t handle themselves if anything goes shaky, but you need another, at least one more.”
“I was thinking Meda. Female, and one who led her own tribe. And Arlys. Our chronicler. Travis will see, hear, feel, but Arlys won’t miss a detail. She also knows how to negotiate and lead.”
“Well chosen. Do you agree, Simon?”
“Yeah, it’s a good mix.”
“Great. Let’s make it happen.”
Everyone had a voice, Fallon thought later. The fact that she would defend that right with sword and shield didn’t make it less of a pain in her ass.
Still, after the grumblings, objections, second-guessings, she had her negotiating team set and preparing to head north.
As the commanders left, Fallon broke away to find Mick.
“Got a question.” Duncan took her arm, drew her outside. “Why aren’t you sending me to Quebec?”
“A couple reasons.” She looked over toward the barracks, but saw no sign of Mick. “First, Vivienne would try to seduce you.”
“Jealous?”
She looked back, nearly laughed at his smug expression. “If I thought you’d fall into her bed, I wouldn’t invite you into mine. But it would be a distraction, and this needs to go smooth. Second, it’s a good balance. Third, I’d like Travis to work with Mallick more. And last, you, Tonia, and I are going on a hunt.”
“We are?”
“For a black dragon.”
“Now we’re talking. When?”
“Tonight. But right now I need to talk to Mick.”
“He took off,” Duncan told her. “When you were talking to Arlys and Chuck about digging up more intel on the redhead.”
“But—” Not even a good-bye, she thought. “I can’t leave it this way. I need to fix this.”
“You can’t fix everything, Fallon. The guy’s in love with you. It ought to piss me off but, hell, you’ve got to like him. Plus, he fights like a son of a bitch.”
Maybe she couldn’t fix everything, but this? This was different. “I have to try. I can’t explain how sad and lonely and angry I was in those first weeks with Mallick, how much I missed my family. And Mick was there. It mattered. He matters.”
“I get it, but—”
“What should I say to him?”
Thrown off, Duncan stared at her. “You want me to tell you what to say to a guy who’s in love with you? Jesus.” Shoving his hands in his pockets, he paced away. “Damn it, Fallon, you’re mine.” Eyes hot, he strode back to her, gripped her face in his hands. “Mine.”
How could the words, the anger in them both thrill and infuriate her at the same time? “You don’t—”
“Hell I don’t. You’re mine. And I’m yours.”
With that, the thrill drowned out everything else. She took his wrists as his mouth came down on hers, felt his pulse beat in time with her own.
She
eased back, brushed her fingers down his cheek. “That’s the point. So help me, please, help me try. What would you need to hear when someone you loved couldn’t love you back the same way? I’ve hurt him, Duncan. What should I tell him to ease the hurt?”
“Damn it.” He shoved his hands in his pockets again. “Tell him the truth, and don’t use any bullshit like ‘it’s not you, it’s me.’”
Baffled, she threw up her hands. “But it is me.”
“Don’t go there, it’s insulting. Don’t pull the can’t-we-just-be-friends line out, either.”
“But—”
“Did you ask for my help here?” he shot back.
“Yes.” Still, she raked her fingers through her hair, twice. “Yes. All right.”
“Just don’t do the let’s-be-pals crap unless you want to stick a knife in his ribs. Tell him straight. He matters, he’s always going to matter. And for Christ’s sake, don’t expect him to snap back like a bowstring.”
