by RJ Blain
“You’ve earned a lot of scars.”
While I’d gotten my fair share from my days as a mercenary, I’d gotten even more from riding as a courier. I wiggled into the blouse, but before I put on the replacement skirt, I turned and showed her my leg, gesturing to the still-healing mark from my hip down towards my knee. “That was from one of the attempted horse thefts.” I picked out a few more scars, lifting my blouse so she could see them. Most were still red. Shifting had aged away some of the older, distinctive scars, and I didn’t miss their presence. “These, too.”
“I understand your feathers and beads are ritualistic in nature, but is there anything I can do to help? Looks like a lot of work putting them back in place.”
“Sure, you can help. Just hand me the beads and feathers when I need them. It’ll speed things up a little.”
While speaking on behalf of a totem spirit animal left me raw, aching, and unsettled, I found the experience of having the President help braid my hair surreal. In my mind, I’d imagined her as a hulking woman indicative the grizzly she could shift into rather than an almost dainty and pleasant, although commanding, individual.
The First Gentleman unnerved me more, as did his rather aggressive nature, especially for someone who shifted into a cottontail rabbit.
It took less than half an hour to restore my hair with her help, and I held the bald eagle feather in my hand, twisting around to study the pattern of beads and feathers to find the best spot for it.
“Here,” the President suggested, gesturing to a lock of my hair between my right temple and my ear. A narrow pair of braids framed my face, looped behind my ear, and were tucked into the main braid to keep the shorter, stray strands out of my eyes. Both could be slipped out, and I freed them, letting them dangle over my shoulders although I kept them behind my ears.
The bald eagle feather brushed my cheek and the line of my jaw, and its touch warmed my skin.
“That’s perfect.” The President gathered the stiletto and the extra clothing, which the feathers had cleaned, and carried them to the door under her arm. “If Anatoly bothers you, I’ll send him to his room.”
I laughed at the thought of the tiny woman bullying the tiger. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Unless you want to be sent to his room with him. Arrangements could be made. I’m aware you do not approve of his contracted agreement with the Blade Clan. Should you bite him, I can negotiate with the clan to mitigate any issues that would arise from such a situation.”
I scowled, remembering Anatoly’s declaration—and his challenge. My scowl deepened at my temptation to rise to his challenge, even if it meant having to take on an entire weapon clan to do it. “Should I bite him, it will be because I’ve beaten the snot out of the entire clan with one of their own swords.”
A vicious gleam in the President’s eye matched her grin. “I think it would be worth finding you such a blade to watch you try.”
“I have one.”
The President’s eyes widened. “You have a Blade Clan sword?”
I blinked, realized what I’d said, and cursed. I cursed so much the President grimaced before she burst into laughter. I kept cursing until she lifted her hand, gasping in her effort to catch her breath. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“Thank you.”
Instead of unlocking the door, the President leaned against it, her posture relaxed. “I have a question for you.”
I tensed, my eyes widening. “What?”
“If I asked you to kill someone for me, would you?”
I stopped breathing, shock freezing me in place. Only when my chest burned and my pulse throbbed in my ears did I suck in a lungful of air. “Do they deserve to die?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Everything. It has everything to do with it.” I swallowed, and my throat hurt so much I grimaced. “Just because I’ve killed a lot of people doesn’t mean I kill them without just cause.”
“What if I said yes, they deserve to die?”
“I would ask for proof.”
“And if I didn’t have it?” A slow smile spread over the President’s lips, and her expression terrified me even more than her questions.
I should have lied. I should have lied until my face turned blue and the air abandoned my lungs, but I couldn’t do it. So many lies scattered around me, smothering me in my effort to keep them all straight. The truth would reveal nothing—and everything.
Anatoly already knew too much. Time wasn’t on my side, and I saw no way to escape, not this time. “No proof, no kill.”
“What if I asked you to find the proof?”
“Is this theoretical, Madam President?”
“I am asking theoretical questions to a real problem.”
“In a women’s bathroom.”
“It’s as private as I get.” She nodded towards the far corner of the room. “A few minutes of your time, and we can both forget this discussion ever happened, should you not like my questions.”
Instead of saying no like a wise woman, I crossed the bathroom to the corner on the far end of the sinks. “If you asked me to find proof, I would ask you for more information. What would I be proving? Why would I be proving it? Is it worth risking my life for?”
“If you asked me those questions, I would have to reveal my belief the theft of the Hope Diamond was an inside job, and that someone in my government’s employ knows where the stone is, arranged for its disappearance, and is likely monitoring the efforts to recover it. I would then have to reveal my belief I might have to have someone important to me killed for everyone’s sake—for our country’s sake. Then, I would be forced to reveal my belief I might know who might want the stone and why.”
The enormity of the President’s words dug through my skin, clawed at my bones, and hurt so much I closed my eyes so I could breathe. The pain in the woman’s voice didn’t help at all. Her tone reminded me so much of a desperate man who would sacrifice everything for the sake of the woman he wanted to marry, only to learn she’d been killed by the wolf who had bitten her.
“It’s someone close to you. A family member or a close friend.”
“One of my brothers. My normal venues are closed to me.”
“Why are your normal venues closed to you?”
“I’m not going to ask my brother to issue a kill bounty on our brother.”
Something clicked. Grizzlies, unlike many other shifter species, often bred true, especially if both parents were grizzlies. Grizzlies weren’t common, and I only knew of one grizzly who was involved in the bounty business. “Gentry’s your brother.”
“Was it our close familial appearance?” the President asked, her tone wry.
The mental image of the tall, broad, muscular Gentry beside the dainty President forced a laugh out of me. “Hardly. No, I just don’t know any other grizzly who might be involved in a sanctioned killing. If you wanted an unsanctioned killing, you wouldn’t be going through a guild like Dawnfire.”
She’d be going through Todd, discreetly.
“I’m the President. I can’t be involved in any other type of killing.”
“Why me?”
“I’m the President. When I ask for the source of an anonymous courier contract, the source is revealed. I’ll give you credit. You made it tough to get the information. It took some of my best men two weeks to uncover your trail. When someone in a high place needs to be killed in Charlotte, there’s only one name mentioned—yours.”
I closed my eyes, and my breath left me in a sigh, cleansing yet also full of apprehension. “How much do you know?”
“I know Mayor Longfellow’s daughter, Blossom Holly, helped you get out of Charlotte after a large bounty was issued. I know who holds the bounty, which is still active with the same terms, by the way. When the report of the attempted theft of your horses and your kidnappings hit my desk, I didn’t make the connection until I saw what you had delivered to Lady Holly. If you hadn’t shifted to a lar
ge feline species, I might not have had any suspicions at all.”
“And they let you be with me alone?” I blurted.
“I inquired about one Jesse Alexander. Those who know you are Jesse Alexander do not also know you moonlight as someone else. Those who know you moonlight as someone else know you; therefor, they know you aren’t a threat to me. Not your style. That said, there’s the issue of a certain mark you left on one of my husband’s favorite people. He, in particular, wants to know what that’s all about.”
My face burned and I spluttered, aware I’d been backed into a corner by a grizzly. A thought struck me, and my eyes widened. I needed to know, and I blurted my question before I had a chance to second-guess myself, “You’ve never entered into an agreement with the Blade Clan, have you?”
The President’s cheek twitched. “I was married before you were born, little girl. Do you really think my husband would let another man near me?”
I didn’t have to think about it. “No.”
“I’m not your mother, if that’s what you’re wondering. And yes, I’m aware of your connection to the Blade Clan, although I didn’t have confirmation until you asked me that question. Gentry told you about our niece—you. I don’t know if he has figured it out. I haven’t told anyone, but it’s only a matter of time before people figure it out. The Blade Clan’s stone burst at your feet. It only bursts for someone from the clans, a dual-stage shifter. I suspected, but only someone invested in the matter would ask me that question. Of course, there was the possibility you were a woman from a different clan, but I thought it unlikely. You have your mother’s eyes. My brother’s blind.”
If my eyes widened any further, I worried they’d pop out of my head altogether. “Then…”
“I’m aware you were promised Anatoly’s sister, and if you decided to bite him, he’d have zero recourse because he, technically, belongs to you. That said, having gone over the exact terms of the contract and being aware of weapon clan mentality, the reverse is actually true, but I don’t think he’s realized it yet. Then again, maybe he has. I find the current situation quite amusing and rather pleasing. Gentry’s very fond of Anatoly.”
I covered my face with my hands. “This can’t be happening.”
The President—my aunt—sighed. “I’m aware I’m asking you to kill your uncle after proving his guilt. This is not an easy thing for me, but I have few options that would not put even more people at risk.”
Closing my eyes, I slumped against the wall, struggling with everything I’d been told. “I’ve been out of the business for six years.”
“I’m aware of what you would need, and it would be provided, including your preferred… substances.”
“Why me?”
“My brother deserves to be hung from the highest tree for what he’s done. He deserves it for putting our nation at risk. He deserves it for playing a part in the theft of the Hope Diamond. It is not a kind stone. In the wrong hands, it brings ruin to those around it when its light shines. In the right ones, it can bring hope, but it is a stone with a long and unhappy history. I should rake him over coals, douse him in oil, and light him on fire, if I could get the bastard to burn. He deserves to be crucified in the court of the American people. He deserves a public shaming and execution, but…”
If I truly wanted, I could make it happen for her. I hadn’t fired a gun in years, but I sometimes went where no one could see me, deep in the wilds of Wyoming, and lit wood aflame just to watch it burn. I understood the need for a quiet, silent judgment, a death as mysterious as the killer responsible. “He’s in a position of authority, and his guilt is already known?” I speculated.
“You have a reputation. Every last one of your kills has been vetted, the guilt of the dead public, known, and accepted. If you were to prove his guilt and take care of matters, that reputation would serve me and the American people. It would lend credence to a necessary evil. It—”
“It would preserve the integrity of the government while removing a problem.”
“You understand.”
I did, and for that reason, I would do it, although I worried for reasons I’d never had before. It hurt, the thought of losing something I’d never had a chance to have. “Gentry will hate me for this, won’t he?”
“He will hate the necessity of it. I can’t promise things will end well there. He loves his family above all else. He will know my involvement, because I’m the only one who could authorize the bounty. He will know I have sacrificed our brother’s life for the good of the nation, and for the crimes he has committed. It is entirely possible he will hate us both for what we must do.”
“And if I prove his innocence?”
“That’s why I chose you. You would walk away from a large bounty for the sake of an innocent man’s life. I know no other like you who would. It’s the only chance I have—that he has. But I’m not going to delude myself. If I wasn’t certain of his guilt, I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you right now.”
“What would you have me do with the evidence of his guilt?”
“Provide me with a copy of it, and then go public with it. Leave no doubt of what he has done.”
If the Hope Diamond was involved, I had the bad feeling I wouldn’t have to go public with anything; the United States would find out in the worst way possible. In that, the President was right. Of all the Starfall stones, the dark diamond carried with it a legacy of misery, a curse capable of sinking cities and erasing millions of lives in a flash of blue light and black smoke.
I wished I could believe they wanted the stone to do good, but I understood reality. If everything was connected, something I could easily believe, the stone was in the hands of those willing to kill and kill often to get what they wanted.
“File the bounty request with Dawnfire as a mystic-sealed, confidential agreement with Blossom Holly as the handler. That way, no one in Dawnfire will know the name of the target, the bounty hunter, or the reason until the bounty is fulfilled. You will have to swear, under mystic oath, it is a legitimate and legal bounty. The only non-confidential information handled by the guild will be Blossom’s name. Once sanctioned by Dawnfire, the bounty becomes bulletproof.”
“Can Blossom Holly be trusted with something this important?”
“She gave me six years of freedom, Madam President. I will not repay her with distrust. If I am to do this, it will be through her.”
“If anyone told me I would find an assassin with great integrity yesterday, I would have laughed long and hard. I will have the documentation submitted first thing in the morning. Thank you, Runs Against Wind.”
My tribe name never felt so honest as it did in that moment, when I stood facing a gale I feared would leave all my hopes for the future in ruin around me.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The weight of every life I had ended smothered me, an exhausting burden sleep wouldn’t ease. I followed the President back to the private dining hall, my skirt clinging to my legs. A pair of Secret Service agents fell into step with us, and their presence bothered me.
The President—my aunt—didn’t want them to know of our conversation, and I wondered why.
When we entered the room, everyone fell quiet, staring at me. Despite her order, the table remained bare, and the scent of lemon teased my nose.
“She’s fine,” the President announced, reclaiming her seat. “I thought I said to eat without us.”
A sly smile spread on the First Gentleman’s lips. “I thought otherwise. It’s far more pleasant when you’re here, and that doesn’t happen often enough. Please tell the kitchen we’re ready,” he said to one of the Secret Service agents posted by the door. The man nodded and stepped out of the room, returning several moments later.
With a smile of her own, the President crossed her arms over her chest and stared up at her husband. “I see a rabbit who needs reminded who the real boss is later tonight.”
His smile widened into a grin. “Did you enjoy your audience in
the bathroom?”
“I locked the door and left the babysitters to wonder what we were doing in there. Alone. Together.”
I sighed and sat down between the First Gentleman and Todd. Cleo sat beside Todd, and I felt his stare on me. “It was an unpleasant, disgusting, and painful experience. One I’d rather not repeat.”
“Messy, too.” The grizzly flashed a grin my way before turning her attention back to the smug rabbit beside her.
“I don’t envy whoever has to wash those towels,” I confessed.
“You might want to offer the cleaning staff a bonus for tonight, dear.” The President chuckled. “They’ll have earned it.”
“It seems you two are getting along well,” Gentry stated, his tone neutral.
The President arched a brow and glanced in her brother’s direction. “We shared a bloody bonding moment in the bathroom. As we are reasonable women, we did so without having to smack each other around. I do hope she’s feeling better after dinner. I think I would enjoy watching her teach our Anatoly a lesson or two.”
I decided I would go out of my way to avoid verbally sparring with a woman who could take on Gentry Adams without batting an eyelash. Then again, she was a grizzly, which probably had something to do with it. Being siblings made a difference, too.
I had gone from no family at all to one full of people I wouldn’t want to meet alone in a dark alley. It made me wonder—and worry—what type of person my mother was and if I shared anything more with her than the color of her eyes.
I had a mother, and I had her eyes, and the enormity of that one, insignificant little fact stunned me even more than having agreed to accept a contract to kill an uncle I’d never met.
Anatoly turned his head, and I recognized the gesture as a mixture of contempt and feline disgust. “We’ll see.”
“Runs Against Wind, as this is from your tribe, I ask you to be the custodian of it until we can return the blade to its proper owners.” My aunt slid the stiletto across the table to me. “Try not to lose it.”