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The Fae prince’s hand shot out and clenched the fabric of the military doctor’s uniform faster than Liliana could blink. “You will inform the brass, and my sister, that the project was unsuccessful, and you will stop it. Now.” The dark prince’s deep voice sounded calm and controlled. He showed no sign of the seething rage bleeding orange around the prince’s mind shields just under the mirror surface.
From her perch, Liliana could feel the concrete of her alcove tremble. She thought at first it was an echo from the thunder outside, but they were deep underground beneath multiple layers of concrete. The fury of the storm outside didn’t penetrate here.
She placed a hand on the gritty artificial stone, head cocked to one side. The subtle tremor was no more than a heavy truck driving through might cause, but her third eyes could see the slight shading of fire orange in the concrete itself.
The Sidhe prince was angry. Although the prince did not appear to be deliberately exerting power to affect it, this man-made cave with its steel roots sunk into the bedrock beneath the little town shared his anger.
The king of lions barked a laugh in the prince’s face. “You forget that I am not in your chain of command. Neither of them, your highness.” He spoke the title with a twist of sarcasm, not respect. “I will not declare my work a failure when it isn’t. My reputation is on the line.”
Alexander Bennet lifted the gun in his hand, bringing it up to point at the doctor’s face. “I don’t give a damn about your reputation, your majesty.” He gave back the same sarcasm on the honorific title. “No more of my people are going to die.”
The squeal of tires made both men look up. Periclum’s sleek black car, the electric engine nearly silent, barreled toward them at high speed.
In his surprise, the colonel’s grip on the doctor’s uniform loosened.
Andrew Periclum shoved the Fae prince hard and stepped to the side.
As Colonel Bennet stumbled into the path of the speeding car, Liliana dropped her loop of silk.
Even as he tried to jump out of the way, the spider could see that he would not clear the car’s path.
She pulled with all her strength on the silk cord looped around his shoulders. It boosted the momentum of his own leap so he went farther.
Colonel Bennet lost his grip on his gun as he hit the concrete. He tucked his long legs in just as the tires of the car brushed past, leaving a black mark on his gray and faded green camouflage printed uniform pants.
The car screeched to a stop a few feet away, the king of lions got in it with a defiant wave, and the car accelerated again.
Behind the wheel, the huge lion-kin with the claw scar on his face that she had seen in her vision earlier smiled in a way that wasn’t the least bit pleasant.
Chapter 14
Not Favors
Liliana dropped from the alcove in the concrete ceiling.
The Fae prince eyed her warily, upper arms bound to his sides by her silk, but far from helpless.
She walked away from him to pick up his gun and walked back.
Colonel Bennet rolled up to one knee as soon as she turned her back but hadn’t made it to his feet yet when she turned to face him, gun in hand.
He froze.
Liliana’s feelings about this Fae prince were muddled and uncertain, but she knew that she absolutely did not want him to be afraid of her. That would severely limit her life expectancy. She closed all but her human eyes, reversed the pistol so she held it by the barrel, and extended it to him, down low, so he could take it with his currently limited reach.
As the pistol grip touched his palm, some of the tension in his shoulders eased.
Liliana popped out one of her arm blades, carefully, in a direction that was clearly not aimed at him. “I can cut the silk if you will allow me.”
Colonel Bennet nodded permission.
As she cut the cord around his upper arms, she felt the warmth of his skin through the uniform. On his knees, his face was only a few inches lower than hers.
She breathed the warm, masculine scent of his skin. Her eyes traced the burn scars from his neck, up to his cheek and over to his temple where a streak of white in his short black hair led to the mangled curve of his ear—the only flaw in this otherwise flawless man.
The Japanese had a concept of wabi, the small imperfection that highlighted the perfection of the whole. Her brother-in-law, Rizki, taught Liliana the concept. Colonel Alexander Bennet embodied it.
After she tossed the silk away, the spider-kin flicked her wrist to sheath her blade.
