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Evalle kept her eyes closed tight and her arms wrapped around her middle until she heard Daegan say, “You will live, Evalle.”
She opened her eyes slowly and peered at the dragon king through her dark sunglasses. “It’s not a sure thing for me when I teleport.”
“It is when you travel with me.”
“I’ll admit that Air Daegan beats all the others who have transported me, hands down.”
He made a snorting noise that sounded an awful lot like a dragon grunt.
She expected smoke to curl out of his nose.
The entrance to VIPER was oddly quiet. Normally there were plenty of agents coming and going at just before daylight. She should be glad for the empty reception area since her unauthorized arrival into headquarters via teleporting would have, at one time, sent her to lockdown.
Back then, she could sneeze and Sen would try to have her imprisoned for eternity.
From what Quinn said about Daegan putting Sen in his place during the last Tribunal, she wouldn’t have to worry about that again. At the moment, though, she and Daegan were alone in the VIPER power base run by Sen, the egomaniac liaison who hated her for reasons she never had figured out.
She asked Daegan, “Are you ready to deal with Sen?”
“The question is whether Sen is ready for me.” Her dragon king strode away with a confidence that Evalle wanted to have when she grew up.
She’d come a long way and had gotten far stronger thanks to Storm’s, and now Daegan’s, support.
Maybe it was a matter of having the right men in her life.
Still, no one was allowed to use majik inside VIPER headquarters except the surly liaison.
Why hadn’t Sen appeared at the entrance to bust on them for teleporting in without permission?
And where was everyone?
Daegan stopped in the center of the room and crossed his arms, appearing content to stand there for as long as it took.
Evalle wouldn’t leave him, but as soon as this was over she had somewhere else to go. Lanna Brasko had texted her right before Daegan teleported them to VIPER, asking Evalle to come visit. The young woman was Quinn’s cousin, and she’d recently suffered a brutal physical, emotional and majikal attack.
A nurturing white witch, along with the witch’s powerful Fae half sister, had been overseeing Lanna’s healing. Both had refused visitors until they decided Lanna was ready, which had not gone over well with Quinn.
Evalle couldn’t wait to see her young friend today.
“Something’s off,” she murmured to Daegan.
Daegan angled his head. “What do you mean?”
The stillness raised hair on Evalle’s arms. “There’s no activity. This area is normally busy throughout the day and night, especially with so much going on in the city and outlying areas. I mean, where is Jack? He’s in charge of opening and closing the cave entrance.”
“Who is this Jack?”
“A miserable troll who gets on my nerves during the best of days.”
“He isn’t afraid of you?” Daegan asked with a hint of surprise.
She gave him a half grin. “He might be after I threatened to rip off his balls and use them to make him a pair of earrings if he messed with me again.”
Horror climbed into Daegan’s gaze. “Hell. He would be well advised to never cross you.”
“My point exactly.”
Power rushed through the room.
Evalle turned around to stand at Daegan’s shoulder when they faced Sen. She’d been chosen to accompany Daegan after shutting down a debate between Quinn and Tristan. Those two argued over who should go with Daegan to watch his back inside VIPER headquarters.
After assessing the options, Evalle told everyone she was the obvious choice for Daegan’s backup.
Tristan’s mouth had dropped open and Quinn grumbled something sharp. She pointed out that everyone had work to do and with dawn coming soon, she’d be limited.
The way she saw it, Daegan could teleport her to VIPER, which meant she’d be safe from the sun and of use to someone.
The dragon king agreed, but then she realized what she’d suggested and quickly advised Daegan to alert Sen first.
Daegan had scowled that he needed no one’s permission to enter VIPER.
Storm had been more amused than concerned. He’d kissed her soundly and whispered, “Promise me you’ll stick close to the dragon.”
Evidently her mate was fine with her teleporting into VIPER without authority as long as she had a dragon close by.
Men were so funny some days.
Not Sen, though. He was never funny.
Sen gave her the usual stink eye and dismissed her presence, turning to Daegan. “You’re new so you’re not up on all of VIPER guidelines, but an important one to remember is that no one uses majik inside this mountain except me. That includes teleporting in unannounced.”
Daegan stood with his massive arms crossed and a smile on his face.
He was the first person Evalle had met who found Sen amusing.
Her dragon king said, “What would be the point in my wasting time to tell you I’m coming to headquarters? It’s not as though this will be a social visit, requiring time for you to prepare refreshments.”
A muscle in Sen’s jaw ticked. “The point is that we deal with hundreds of beings possessing all levels of power on any given day. Allowing even one to use those powers here opens the door for conflict. I won’t allow it.”
Daegan shrugged. “I’ll take that into consideration, but you should keep in mind that I have no intention of being limited by anyone’s guidelines.”
Evalle had heard a full accounting of how Daegan had given Sen a smackdown in the Tribunal meeting. Their dragon king had made it clear the Beladors, Evalle, Tristan and the rest of Daegan’s trusted circle were under his protection. Not that she’d doubted Quinn’s rundown of what happened, but she just couldn’t imagine anyone facing off with Sen who wasn’t a deity.
This was worth teleporting any day.
Sen scratched his chin with a condescending expression. “I know you think you have the upper hand after that moment in the Tribunal meeting, but you have no idea what Loki and the other deities are doing at this moment.”
That was not good news.
Daegan drew a deep breath and slowly let it out, everything about his posture saying he was not interested in Sen’s nattering. The dragon king said, “I don’t spend my time worrying what anyone else is doing. Unlike you, who must wait for direction, I rule the Beladors, which means I give the orders and take action rather than hovering around waiting for an order.”
Oh, crap. He’d just reduced Sen to the status of a VIPER errand boy.
Sen’s facial muscles hardened and his blue eyes turned almost black.
Evalle could feel his power generate and flow out around them.
Daegan said, “Save your posturing. I’m busy and will make this brief. We’ve been spreading Beladors out to other parts of this country in recent weeks to supplement weak spots in VIPER security. In spite of bringing in additional Belador resources from other continents, our people are being run ragged.”
Maintaining an I-couldn’t-give-less-of-a-shit expression, Sen said, “So? What’s your point? We have a lot of troll and Medb activity going on.”
“That’s what I’ve heard. But let’s be clear. The Medb activity is due to Queen Maeve and Cathbad the Druid being allowed to join VIPER to begin with, even though the coalition knew that the Medb and Beladors have warred for centuries.”
Sounding cocky now, Sen said, “Guess the Beladors just didn’t have the pull they thought they had. Besides, that was when Beladors were part of Macha’s pantheon. Now, they have no goddess. Just you.”
If Evalle gave points for this verbal match, she’d have to award a few to Sen for that nasty dig.
“I can see I’m wasting my time trying to have a productive conversation with you,” Daegan said, sounding almost bored. “You asked what is my point? It is this. The Medb are now targeting Belador families. Children of those families, to be specific. What do you intend to do about that?”
Smirking, Sen said, “Sounds like an internal problem to me. I don’t handle domestic issues.”
Evalle clenched her fingers, wishing she could lock them around Sen’s neck. Children were at risk.
The liaison’s eyes cut over to her. Noting her fisted hands, Sen’s lips twisted in a dark smile intended to taunt her. He’d gotten under her skin in the past and she’d paid the price.
Not now.
Her job was to cover Daegan’s back and her dragon king didn’t need anyone interfering while he was dealing with Sen.
“I see.” Daegan nodded as if agreeing with Sen, which couldn’t be the case, could it? Then he changed the subject. “As I understand it, you represent VIPER, correct?”
Sen’s attention shot to Daegan. Had he heard a note of warning in Daegan’s voice?
Evalle had.
“Yes, I represent VIPER.”
“Very well, consider VIPER informed that we’re cutting the Belador force assigned to the coalition in half, maybe more, to ensure our families are protected.”
Sen’s lips started to part and he caught himself. “You can’t do that.”
Totally unruffled, Daegan asked, “Why not?”
“Beladors have a commitment to VIPER.”
“I would counter that VIPER has a commitment to Beladors.”
Sen spoke through clenched teeth. “The Tribunal will not agree to a change this severe.”
Daegan gave it a few seconds before he said, “You misunderstand me. I’m declaring the rule of Belador Cosaint. What this means is, since VIPER refuses to show us the same level of support our warriors have given to VIPER for so many years, we will take care of our own and we will use however many of our warriors are necessary to ensure the safety of Belador families. I suggest you go out and find more VIPER agents to fill the void you’re about to experience.”
Evalle glanced from Sen to Daegan, both steely gazes locked in silent combat.
Neither blinked.
Sen said, “If the Beladors do not fulfill their agreement with VIPER, consider yourself warned of potential repercussions from the Tribunal.”
For the first time since teleporting in, Daegan’s voice turned brutal and cold. “Consider yourself reminded, should VIPER choose to become an enemy of the Beladors, that we possess the greatest force in the preternatural world, which now includes a dragon. If VIPER wishes for a war, my people will be ready and I will lead them.”
Game, set and match to Daegan.
But Evalle felt a chill race over her skin at the idea of going to battle against VIPER and the Tribunal deities. Would VIPER really start a war over this?