Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 126030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Austin pulled his hand from my thigh where it had been resting and placed it along the back of the couch. He liked Evan’s ambitiousness. It spoke to his own.
“That can be arranged,” he said simply.
Evan nodded, focused on me now. “I would like to offer you my sincerest apologies for some of the questions I asked you in our first meeting. I was trying to…” He tightened his lips, clearly searching for the words. “My former advisors wanted certain guarantees from you personally, not grasping how co-leadership worked. And maybe I didn’t grasp it, either. It does you credit that your…betas threw it back in my face and identified your importance in a way that my former advisors will probably never understand. Which is fine. They were due to retire, anyway. Their time would be better spent in front of a fire with their feet up, or at their grandkid’s flying lessons.”
I waved it away. “They were fair questions.”
He shook his head. “No, they weren’t. They were ignorant questions, asked by someone not accustomed to actual battle and certainly not understanding the very real war. We only play at fighting, something you made all too evident yesterday. Your leadership will never be called into question in this cairn again, nor in my presence, without my speaking up on your behalf. I wanted you to know that.”
“Thank you.” I smiled at him. “That’s really nice of you to say.”
He twiddled his thumbs, and this time he looked at Tristan.
“Nelson is the biggest fool I have ever heard of for letting you go. I don’t care where you came from, you will always have a friend in this cairn, and a standing job offer.” He leaned toward Tristan marginally. “Did you hear me about the standing job offer?”
Tristan grinned. “Nelson letting me go was the best outcome possible. And no, I’m good where I am. I leveled up because I have shifters around me who are impeccable in their battle acumen.”
“You don’t have to use big words to impress me.” He smiled as he glanced at Austin and Sue. “That stands to reason, though. Flying in uniform is one thing—we can see each other to correct positioning. But you guys had perfect formation while running around buildings and converging seemingly at random. That is a level I don’t think most gargoyles realize. I’m still a little baffled by it, honestly.”
“They have exemplary training,” Tristan said.
“They must.” Evan nodded. “There are many impressive facets to your visit, Jessie, Austin. My cairn noticed the most spectacular of them.” His eyes narrowed, a grin pulling at his lips. “But it’s the little details that I am most impressed with. Your team has learned gargoyle culture so well that they use that culture against us.”
I frowned at him and glanced at Tristan. What was Evan talking about?
Evan grinned at Tristan. “I heard about the capes, and about the disrespect towards my gargoyles. I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out why your gargoyles would stand for it. You weren’t just pissing on us. Your team was pissing on their own. I wondered if there was dissension in the ranks, so to speak.”
I released a breath and leaned into Austin’s side. Niamh had visited after the skirmish yesterday to explain what they’d been doing. Honestly, it was a great idea, and I understood why it was kept from me beforehand. Had I known we’d started the discourse, I would’ve tried to calm it down or at least take it easy on them. We wouldn’t have impressed them to the level we had.
Evan shook his head, his gaze still on Tristan. “Very clever, sir. Now, about that job opening…”
“Wasn’t me.” Tristan leaned back and entwined his fingers on his stomach. “That would be our puca. She has a knack for finding pressure points, and she is good at poking those points to get a reaction.”
“The puca?” Evan put his foot back down on the floor. “I’ll be damned. Well, she’s done her homework. Nice touch to show that your people can hang like ours, drunken violence and all, and that in your crew, different creatures can get along and have fun together.”
“I’ve settled the bill for the table, by the way,” I murmured. “Sorry.”
“All’s fair with debauchery, didn’t you know?” Evan laughed, waving that away. “Another little detail is Patty. Where do I get such a marketing expert? She didn’t want a job, either.”
I laughed. “Ulric sold her as someone with a lot of connections.”
“And she’s made a lot more here, it seems. I knew she was buttering me up on your behalf, but I didn’t realize she was farming me for information that she’d then feed back to me to prove a point. Or post on social media to crowdsource various reactions to attempt to sway me.”