Page 131 of Sky’s Edge

I nodded. Tanyn had left me a bottle.

“We are too. You have my sequence?”

I nodded again.

“Any other questions?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“Let me know when you’re ready to go,” he said, then walked to stand at the windows, looking up, down, and all around.

He didn’t like me.

Oh well.

I might win him over. I might not.

The only thing I could do was be me.

But he took his assignment seriously.

So that was good.

And right now, it was all I needed.

It was two hours later.

I was in my office, sorting payroll, when my Palm lit up with an audio comm from Tanyn.

I took it immediately.

“Hey, honey.”

“Cormac has flatly refused returning Gayle to the Fall, even with Aleksei and I both sharing we’ll provide her with security,” he said instead of greeting me, and I could tell he was still pissed.

I would know just how much when he continued.

“Therefore, we’re talking to Bainon about a tri-realm extraction.”

I stared at his face on my screen, stunned.

“Really?” I pushed out when he said no more.

“We’re roping in Bainon so neither Cormac nor King Niall can get their backs up about a military operation carried out on Land’s End soil. Both Aleksei and I were very clear with Mac about our expectations, Aleksei having more pull because Gayle is Fallian, and Cormac already engaged in an unsanctioned military operation on Night’s Fall soil when he took her. Cormac isn’t budging. So we have no choice.”

They did.

They had a choice.

This was, or it could be, huge.

“What if they freak out and make a big stink about it?” I asked.

“That’s why we’re involving Bainon. All three realms working together to return a citizen of the Falls to her rightful home will make a statement they can’t fight back on. If Mac or Niall kick up a fuss, we’ll be sure to release the details of Gayle’s abduction. But if they just let it happen, no one will know about it at all. Bottom line, Cormac taking her, being fated to her, forcing their nearness but refusing to claim her, even if he feels she’s under threat, won’t play good for him in the media. Since he won’t care about that, more to the point, it won’t play well for the Earthsabre Dynasty.”

This was playing serious hardball.

“Tanyn—”