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“Do you know what it feels like to be my size and be treated like a house pet? This is humiliating, Nine!” Ellum complained, from his much less dignified position underneath my arm.
“You get used to it!” Sloane shouted, just as a news helicopter came up.
Forty-Six
SLOANE
TheBone Zonehelicopter finally showed up and then trailed us the whole way down. Nia’n’an couldn’t take the straight way; the building was much too smooth for that, so they got great views of us as he zigged and zagged back and forth, carefully climbing down at least a hundred floors.
And as we got closer to the city streets, we could hear cheering. It was dark out now, but streetlights illuminated a huge crowd, held back by police officers, and every single one of them had their phones out, videotaping the massive Arachnaea rescuing his girlfriend and his friend.
“Do you want to be famous or not, Ellum?” I shouted over to the minotaur. Because he could be on talk shows in the morning, if he wanted to be. Maybe it was a good thing he had his horns sawed off—he could wear some hoodies for a bit until all of thisdied down.
“Is it fun?” he shouted back.
“Not really!”
“Then I think I’ll pass!”
And then we reached the ground. Nia’n’an set Ellum down first, carefully, so the minotaur could regain some dignity, but I was perfectly content to stay webbed to his back, with my arms around his neck, balancing on my one good leg.
The emergency services people nearby weren’t sure what to do with us, which was fine by me—and then a bald man in a sharp suit rushed forward, elbowing his way up.
“Nine! You fucking bastard!” he whooped. “I knew you would do it!” He threw a translation device at Nia’n’an who easily caught it and put it on.
And then my father came, striding out of the tower’s official entryway, oddly surrounded by human, not orc, guards.
The bald man rushed up to meet him. “We’ve executed the terms of our contract to the letter, Mr. Marlow,” he announced.
“Not until I get her back,” my father said grimly.
I inhaled to explain things, but Nia’n’an shook his head. “That will not be happening,” he said simply.
His bald coworker’s head snapped to look at him.
“Nine? What are you saying?”
The minotaur leaned in. “I believe he’s going to go tell you to go fuck yourself,” he said, giving a sly wink to me.
“Your daughter was kidnapped by the team you trustedmost,” Nia’n’an told my father. “And tonight they would’ve caused her demise again, had they known she was coming. Do you agree?”
My father’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.
“I have retrieved her and killed all but one of them that I have met—as I will any others who try to cause her harm. But she is now mine. She will be the queen who sits at the center of my web forevermore, and you may keep your money.”
“There it is,” the minotaur muttered as the bald man’s eyes about fell out of his head.
“He doesnotmean that, Mr. Marlow,” he said with a stutter.
“Just out of curiosity,” I interjected. “How much am I going for?”
Nia’n’an looked back up at me. “Your father offered my handler ten million. But to me, you are worth very much more.”
A ridiculous thrill ran through me. “If youhadto put a price on me?” I pressed, squirming against him, which made him twist around to pick me up, to carry me in front of him again as he bowed his head to mine.
“You are worth my life and my future, and I will try to be worth yours.”
“I’m going to try to be worth yours, too, Nia’n’an.” I put a hand up to his jaw, and his tongue unfurled to wind around my wrist. “Take me home?”
