One Fell Sweep

“The inn was dormant for a long time.”

Maud waved her hand. “What I mean is, House Krahr publicly endorsed Gertrude Hunt. It would be both dangerous and ungrateful to offend them.”

She took it. Of course, she did.

“I made it clear that I will repay this gift at the first opportunity. I don’t like him,” Maud said. “He is stubborn, bullheaded, and insists on doing things his way.”

“You do realize all of those are synonyms?”

“I don’t like him, Dina. I have a responsibility to my child. I won’t risk reentering a society that threw her away like trash. We’re done with vampires. Come on. We have work to do.”

I took a deep breath. The void field snapped into place. I held my hand out. A broom rose from the ground and I fastened my fingers around it, feeling the worn, warm wood. I was home. It was time to soothe wild wolves and examine corrupted corpses.

* * *

The wolf waited for me on the second-floor balcony, in the spot I had come out to meet him in the middle of the night. It seemed like so long ago, but it was only a few days. I stepped out on to the balcony, Beast weaving around my feet.

Sean leaned against the wall on the left side of the doorway. He saw me. His eyes flashed amber, catching the light. He didn’t say anything. Apparently, it was up to me to start the conversation. That was only fair. My errand almost got him killed, and without him I would’ve died on that Baha-char street.

I heard you killed some people and put their heads on sharpened sticks. I wanted to check to see if you are feeling okay… It was probably best to start with something simple.

“Hi.”

“When you are in the inn, I trust you with my life,” he said. “When you are outside, you have to trust me with yours.”

“I do.”

“That means when I say run, you run. You don’t argue. You don’t cry. You do as I tell you, or we both die.”

Oh. It was that type of conversation. I crossed my arms.

He faced me. “I trust you to do your job. You have to trust me to do mine.”

“I trust you. I don’t trust your priorities.”

I wanted to reach over and pull that stone-hard expression off his face.

“My priority is making sure you survive.”

“Exactly. My priority is keeping my guests safe. They’re not always one and the same.”

“The Hiru was safe at the inn,” Sean said. “Your insistence on bringing the tank in because you wanted to impress him—”

“It wasn’t about impressing anyone. It was about trust. I promised to retrieve the tank. I had to come back with it.”

“— endangered you, me, Cookie, and Wilmos. Instead of concentrating on retrieving the tank from Wilmos’ shop, I had to carry you.”

“I’m sorry for inflicting this horrible burden on you.” I regretted it the moment the words left my mouth.

“It also endangered everyone in the inn. If you had died, Maud wouldn’t be able to hold off the Draziri. The Hiru would die.”

“My sister would’ve done just fine.”

Beast barked by my feet, unsure, but feeling the pressure to provide canine support. Sean ignored her.

“I have skills and abilities you don’t. More, I have experience.”

“So do I.”

“I’ve watched you kill,” he said. “You kill only when you have to. Of all the responses to a threat you face, killing someone is the last choice for you. For me, it’s not a choice. It’s instinct. I don’t think about it. I see a threat and I neutralize it. Of the two of us, I’m better equipped to handle an attack outside of the inn.”

“This doesn’t make you sound any more trustworthy.”

“It kept me alive. And, if you let me, I’ll keep you alive. I’ll do everything I can to make sure you survive.”

“Believe it or not, I somehow managed to survive for all these years without your help.”

“Either you trust me or you don’t. Decide, Dina. Because if you don’t, there is no point in me being here. I can’t do my job if you dig your heels in when I need you to follow my lead. I’m packed. Let me know what you decide.”

He jumped off the balcony.

Great.

“Idiot werewolf.”

Beast whined.

“Hush,” I told her and stomped back downstairs. He had a point. One of us ran the inn and the other killed hundreds of sentient beings. Of the two of us, he was a much better killer and a much better bodyguard. He’d made the call and I should’ve trusted it. I implied that I would follow his lead when I hired him for a dollar. Instead I did what I had to do to ensure that Sunset didn’t lose confidence in my ability to deliver. Was it truly necessary or did I do it out of pride? I didn’t want to think about it.

That whole conversation didn’t go the way I was hoping it would have.

A delicious smell permeated the downstairs, floating on the breeze. It smelled like… chicken.

Oh no.

I marched into the kitchen.

“Orro!” My voice cut the air like a knife.

He raised his head from a pot and turned toward me.

“Are you cooking Draziri?”

The needles stood up on his back.

“Don’t lie to me. I thought I made it perfectly clear. I won’t tolerate any…”

Orro jerked the oven open and yanked out a large roasting pan. On it, roasted to a golden-brown perfection, sat a medium-sized bird.