The Drow Hath Sent Thee

by Martha Carr

  “It’s manageable, Cheyenne. That’s all I’m willing to say right now. This isn’t a conversation to have at the dinner table.”

  Shit. It’s bad.

  “Fine.”

  “Then let’s have a different conversation, shall we?” L’zar stuck a huge bite of lamb into his mouth, hummed in delight, and wiggled his eyebrows at Eleanor. “Scrumptious.”

  The housekeeper grabbed a dinner roll out of the basket and dropped it unceremoniously on her plate before muttering, “You know, I considered making something with an extra kick for you specifically.”

  “Ooh. Like what? I do love a bit of heat in my food.”

  “Like arsenic.”

  Maleshi snorted and quickly took a drink of her water. Ember shot the housekeeper a sidelong glance, then looked at Cheyenne and cleared her throat.

  Bianca slowly stabbed another bite of lamb with a barely discernible smile. “No need to give him special treatment, Eleanor. He’ll have to satisfy himself with what’s acceptable for the rest of us.”

  L’zar laughed. “And I’m sure you’ve already discovered the impressive fortitude of a drow’s constitution, having spent so much time with Cheyenne over the years. As lovely as the idea may seem, Eleanor, I can assure you arsenic would have added nothing more than a light, nutty flavor.”

  Eleanor glared at him. “You can’t taste arsenic.”

  “I can.”

  “If no one has any objections,” Maleshi said, “I’d like to change the subject.”

  Bianca looked at the human-illusioned nightstalker at the other end of the table and cocked her head. “By all means. And I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced.”

  Cheyenne focused intently on her plate. Maleshi’s laying the etiquette on thick today. Wait ‘til Mom sees what she really looks like.

  “That was an unconscionable oversight on my part.” L’zar gestured at Maleshi. “Bianca, this is General—”

  “Call me Maleshi, please.”

  “General?” Bianca raised her eyebrows. “I wouldn’t have guessed.”

  With a polite smile, Maleshi dug into her food. “Well, my military days are behind me.”

  L’zar chuckled. “Not entirely.”

  The general cast him a warning glance, her green eyes narrowing, and the drow thief smiled right back at her. “You never had any say in my decisions, L’zar. That hasn’t changed.”

  “When it concerns my daughter, General, I believe I have a say in most of your decisions.”

  “Well, you’re mistaken.” Maleshi cocked her head at him. “Seeing as you won’t be making the crossing again anytime soon, with Cheyenne or without her.”

  “That’s hardly relevant.”

  “I’m here for her. Not you.” Maleshi grabbed her water glass and raised it to him in a mocking toast. “And Corian’s not here to placate your ego.”

  L’zar stared at her, then slowly turned back to his plate and scooped another forkful into his mouth. “Or to stop me from reminding you of your place.”

  “My place.” Maleshi snorted. “In case you haven’t noticed, I now outrank you, too.”

  Bianca’s closed-lipped smile widened as she watched the composed display of animosity battling it out at the opposite end of the table. “Well, I, for one, very much appreciate your company, Maleshi.”

  “Thank you.” The general nodded at her with a pert smile. “And I appreciate the hospitality.”

  Cheyenne held back a laugh and kept eating. They’re bonding over a fondness for politely telling L’zar to eat shit. Could be worse.

  Maleshi cleared her throat and set her fork delicately on her plate. “Cheyenne.”

  “Yeah.” The drow looked slowly at the general.

  “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but we have to.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Cheyenne glanced at Ember, who’d lowered her fork to her plate too, and waited for the conversation to take its inevitably weird turn. And we can’t move forward if I don’t tell them what’s up. “It worked. Mostly.”

  “The potion.” L’zar raised an eyebrow.

  Cheyenne forced herself to ignore her mom’s stillness and the wide-eyed look of trepidation Eleanor focused on her own plate. “Yeah. So I guess Inolu delivered.”

  “Hmm. Whatever this Underman brings to her equation, it must be a hell of a lot more knowledge than a bane-breaker could possess on her own.” L’zar shrugged, took another bite, and spoke around a mouthful. “The only time I’ve ever gotten anything from a bane-breaker for free is when I stole it.”

  Cheyenne shook her head. “Okay.”

  “When you say ‘mostly,’” Maleshi added, “what does that mean?”

  Cheyenne thumped her hand lightly against the opposite shoulder with only a small grimace. “It means I can do that and not fall over, but they’re not healed.”

  “That’s definitely an improvement.”

  “So we’re trusting Inolu’s information, then.” It wasn’t a question from Ember, but she still looked at Cheyenne like she expected the drow to deny it again.

  “I guess we have to, right?” Cheyenne frowned at the centerpiece. “Obviously, I’m not the only one who doesn’t want to believe it, but we don’t have another choice.” She stopped herself both from going too deep into details and from turning to look at her mom. “It got really bad today. I don’t wanna run the risk of it getting that bad again for anyone else.”

  “We’re right there with you, kid.” Maleshi nodded. “And I think it’s best if we move now.”

  “Now?” L’zar glared at her.

  “Well, tonight.”

  His fist thumped on the table, making the dishes and silverware and Eleanor jump. “That’s too soon.”

  “It’s not.” Maleshi nodded at Cheyenne. “You’re not the first to say you need more time, and we saw what happened when your daughter thought she needed more.”

  “This is different.” L’zar dipped his head and leaned toward the general with wide eyes. “This is not my daughter, and there’s no precedent for this kind of thing.”

  “The blight had no precedent either, and the bane-breaker’s potion healed Cheyenne better than anything either Venga or Ember could come up with.” Maleshi leaned over to L’zar and narrowed her eyes. “I’m much more inclined now to trust a magical who’s stayed hidden from both of us on this world and delivered results when you and I had run out of options.”

  L’zar swallowed and sat back in his chair. “It’s not right.”

  “That never used to stop you.”

  “This is different,” he protested, turning to look at Bianca, who’d abandoned her dinner to try to piece together this not-for-humans conversation. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he looked down at the table. “It’s just different.”

  Maleshi ignored Bianca’s blatant glare aimed at the drow thief. “What makes it different is that you have a stake in this. Something you didn’t read in the Weave because you were too preoccupied with what you did see.”

  “I should have seen it,” L’zar hissed. “Then I could have stopped it.”

  His fists clenched in his lap, and Cheyenne leaned forward in her chair, ready to stand if she had to. If he loses it now with this little pity party, I’m not holding back.

  “There still has to be another way,” L’zar muttered.

  “There isn’t.”

  “Cheyenne got worse, but Bianca hasn’t.”

  Bianca straightened even more in her chair. “Excuse me?”

  L’zar ignored her. “That could be the window we need. There’s still time.”

  “You want to risk both worlds for your screwed-up sentimentality?” Maleshi hissed.

  “They’re not connected!”

  “The woman has O’gúl runes on her flesh, L’zar.”

  “Enough!” Bianca’s uncharacteristic shout cut the conversation short, and everyone turned to look at her. She stared at Cheyenne, quickly regaining her composure before continuing, “You’re all excuse
d from this table. My daughter and I need to discuss things in private.”

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  Eleanor immediately scooted her chair away from the table and stood. “I’ll be in the kitchen.”

  “Thank you, Eleanor.”

  None of the other magicals around the table moved as the housekeeper made herself scarce.

  Bianca turned slowly to glare at L’zar. “That includes everyone but Cheyenne.”

  “Of course.” After wiping his mouth with the cloth napkin, L’zar stood and placed the cloth on the table beside his plate. He took one quick look at Bianca, changed his mind about saying anything else, and headed to the opposite side of the house.

  Maleshi nodded at Ember. “I’d like to take a look at that other vial.”

  “Sure.” Ember floated to her feet and met Cheyenne’s gaze. “You need anything?”

  “I’m good, Em. Thanks.”

  “Right.” With a confused frown, Ember headed after Maleshi.

  Cheyenne took a deep breath and watched her friend disappear around the staircase too. I gotta clear the air with her later. Not sure how to do that when I lost my mind and she force-fed me a healing potion.

  Bianca shifted slightly on her cushion to face her daughter, still taking great care not to brush any other parts of her body against anything around her. “Well.”

  “I know, Mom. You don’t like talking about this otherworld stuff. It shouldn’t have been over dinner. I’m sorry.”

  “Cheyenne, your father has been squatting in my house for days. Ember’s feet don’t touch the floor. No one’s eyes glow like that Maleshi woman’s, so she’s obviously hiding something.” Bianca blinked slowly. “I have undecipherable symbols burned into my flesh. I think we’re past the point of not talking about magic in my presence.”

  “Oh.” Cheyenne swallowed. First time for everything, I guess.

  “Despite how much I detest that particular subject, I have even less tolerance for being discussed by those whatever-they-ares without the courtesy of an explanation.” Bianca dipped her chin and raised her eyebrows. “So I want you to tell me what all this is about. Clearly and succinctly.”

  “Right.” Cheyenne took another deep breath. “The problem with this is that there isn’t a clear and succinct answer.”

  “Well, when we’re dealing with reason and logic and reality, Cheyenne, that would indeed be frustrating, but whatever’s going on right now is clearly not any of those.”

  A small, humorless chuckle escaped the drow. “That’s an understatement. Just try to keep an open mind about all this, okay? It’s not something I wanted to believe until about half an hour ago.”

  Bianca nodded slowly.

  “Okay.” Well, if her sanity doesn’t shatter at the end of this, she’s gonna let me have it. And I’ll just have to take it before handing her a potion and dragging her through a portal. Fuck, this is insane.

  Cheyenne slowly gave her mom as much background information as she could about Ba’rael Verdys the Spider, the blight, and everything she’d seen in both worlds that forewarned of what would happen if they didn’t fix this. She showed her mom one of her shoulder wounds again, talking about the blight and the potions. She left out her short-lived reign as the O’gúl Crown, her cousin Neros and her dreams, the Sorren Gán’s suggestions, and both Inolu and the Underman’s warnings.

  I’m trying to help her understand how she’s a part of this, not send her running from the room.

  “There’s a lot more to all this, generally speaking.”

  “That’s fine.” Bianca tilted her head. “Just get to the part you’re so terrified of telling me, Cheyenne. The fear is always worse than the facing of it.”

  Cheyenne almost laughed. As far as pep-talks from Bianca Summerlin went, that was a real winner.

  “Okay. The newest symbol. The one on your chest.”

  “Yes. I heard. It means ‘vessel.’”

  “Right. And I’ve been hearing things from a lot of different sources that I have to bring the vessel back to Ambar’ogúl. To heal the blight and keep everything else from spilling over into our world.”

  “So, what is this vessel?”

  Cheyenne wrinkled her nose. Fuck. If I say it out loud, it’s true.

  Bianca widened her eyes in as much encouragement as she knew how to offer.

  “It’s you, Mom.”

  “Me.”

  Cheyenne’s bottom lip trembled as she sucked in a shuddering breath. “Yeah. Or at least, that’s what all the signs are pointing to. The biggest sign is the potions I got from the bane-breaker. One’s for me, a healing potion, and I didn’t want to believe that’s what it was until I couldn’t not take it. It helped with this poison. It worked like it was supposed to.”

  “Good.”

  “And the other one’s for you.”

  “A healing potion?”

  Cheyenne swallowed. “No. It’s to help you make the crossing into Ambar’ogúl so we can finally finish all this, and then yeah, we can heal you after that. You need to take it to get you there ‘cause humans don’t make this trip as a general rule. I don’t want you to, but I…”

  Tears welled in the drow’s eyes, and she sniffed. If I don’t keep it together, no way in hell will she agree to this.

  “Mom, I tried to keep all this shit away from you. I know you don’t want anything to do with it, and I never meant for it all to fall on you. I can handle my part fine, but you’re not…” She glanced at the ceiling and forced the tears back where they belonged. “Apparently this is what always needed to happen, and I was an ass for thinking I could change it and keep you out of it. I literally don’t see any other way. We’ll both get worse if you don’t come with me across the Border. And everyone else doesn’t have a chance otherwise. I should’ve brought this to you sooner. I’m so sorry.”

  She sniffed and hung her head, leaning over her lap with her forearms propped up on her thighs. There. Now it’s all fucking true, and she’s gonna lose it. Jesus, I seriously screwed this up. I should’ve listened to Ember from the beginning.

  Cheyenne almost lurched away when her mom’s cool fingers pressed the underside of her chin. Blinking back even more tears, she didn’t try to resist Bianca slowly lifting her face so mother and daughter could look each other in the eyes.

  “Thank you for telling me.”

  A weak laugh escaped the drow. “Well, I think the other option was to tie you up and carry you across.”

  Bianca didn’t smile at the poorly timed joke, but she did study her daughter’s gaze and gently removed her hand. “Will he be coming with us?”

  “L’zar? No.” Cheyenne sniffed again and quickly wiped beneath her nose. “No, he was banished from Ambar’ogúl for life the last time I went over there with him. He’ll die if he tries to go back.”

  “Hmm.” Bianca’s gaze moved from her daughter’s face to the wall of windows looking out onto the veranda and the valley behind the estate. “As tempting as that notion is, I assume convincing him to ignore those consequences will be nearly impossible.”

  “Yeah.” Cheyenne forced back a laugh. “He values his life quite a bit.”

  “Yes, I’ve noticed.” When Bianca looked back down at her daughter, a small smile flickered across her lips. “You won’t have to kidnap your own mother, Cheyenne. I’ll go with you.”

  The drow blinked fiercely and sat fully up in her chair. “Did you just say yes?”

  “If L’zar won’t be accompanying us, then fuck it.”

  A laugh of disbelief burst from Cheyenne’s mouth. She said his name and cursed in the same sentence. Maybe I did just break her.

  Bianca’s eyes widened. “I’ll go with you and whoever else to Amber Mogul.”

  “Ambar’ogúl.”

  “Fine. And I’ll be this vessel if that’s what’s required of me. But I have to ask if doing this will give me my body back.” A humming laugh rose from Bianca as she glanced down at her lap. “This isn’t my preferred state, you un
derstand.”

  “Better than you know.” Cheyenne nodded slowly. “I can’t promise anything, Mom. But I hope that’ll happen when all this is over.”

  Bianca blinked slowly and seemed to finally let out a breath of relief. “For now, I believe that’s as much reassurance as I need.”

  “Okay.” Cheyenne stared at her mom. What the fuck? Is this really happening? “And you’re sure?”

  “Cheyenne, you know I don’t agree to anything on a whim. Don’t ask me again.”

  “No problem.” Forcing back another laugh, Cheyenne sat all the way back in her chair and stared at her mom. Bianca was gazing through the windows at the sprawling landscape colored with bright sunset hues.

  She said she’s willing to step into another world she’s been pretending doesn’t exist for the last twenty-one years. Now we’re literally unstoppable.

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  Eleanor tsked and shook her head, scowling at the table as she cleared the half-full plates.

  Bianca eyed her housekeeper. “You don’t have to take care of all this right now, Eleanor.”

  “It’s been sitting out for an hour already. If no one’s hungry enough to appreciate a full meal, I might as well put the leftovers away.” Eleanor scoffed. “We haven’t had leftovers in decades.”

  “I’m sure it’ll taste even better the second time,” L’zar offered with a grin.

  Eleanor looked sharply up at him and turned away from the table with her arms full of dishes. “Well, if there is a second time, you can get it yourself.”

  Cheyenne and Ember glanced at each other across the table, and both tried to hide their smiles.

  L’zar chuckled and sat back in his chair.

  Maleshi folded her hands on the table and leaned forward. “Ms. Summerlin, I want to say how—”

  “Bianca. Please.” The woman nodded. “Unless you’d prefer to be addressed as General.”

  The nightstalker smiled. “Fair enough. I want to thank you for being open to this. I’ve been in your world for a long time, and it’s rare to meet a human who rolls with the punches like you have.”