Peacemaker (Para-Military Recruiter Book 15) by Renee Jagger & Michael Anderle

Author:Renee Jagger & Michael Anderle [Jagger, Renee & Anderle, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2024-01-23T00:00:00+00:00

The portal to the clearing of the Morrigan lay deep in the bowels of the NYHQ’s military wing. Julie struggled with an urge to salute every officer who passed her as she followed Bianca down the spotless hallways, official and featureless with their gray walls and tiled floors. Thin ribbons of Gleipnir steel traced along the ceilings, providing each office with the fastest internet in the world.

“I hope the portal works today,” Bianca muttered.

Julie raised an eyebrow. “How did they tell you that they wanted to see me, anyway?”

Bianca shrugged. “Oh, you know. There are ways and means.”

“No, Bianca, I do not know,” Julie hissed.

A burly minotaur lumbered down the hallway toward them, naked as usual, exposing sculpted abs and gleaming shoulders, his body covered with thick black fur from the waist down. Cloven hooves clopped on the tiles.

Julie ripped out a smart salute. “Sergeant Adamos, sir!”

The minotaur stared at her for a second, then guffawed and went on.

“Uh, Julie?” Bianca nudged her.

“What?” Julie asked.

A burly Aether Elf officer jogged after the minotaur. She stumbled to a halt at the sight of Julie, and her eyes widened.

“Your Royal Highness.” She bowed deeply, then went on her way.

“Oh.” Julie grimaced. “Yeah.”

“Something about being here makes you feel like a recruit again, huh?” Bianca teased.

Julie laughed. “I remember being lower than a snake’s navel.”

“I know. It’s one of your better qualities.” Bianca pushed open a door. “Aha! It is working.”

The door opened onto a pit of darkness. Only when lightning flickered in the sky could Julie glimpse the outline of standing stones sketched against the night. Thunder rolled, shaking the hallway, and a restless wind plucked at Julie’s clothes.

The next flash of lightning was a jagged spear to the ground, and it illuminated the silhouettes of three cloaked figures standing inches away. Julie jumped. Bianca barely stirred.

They spoke as one, three voices mingling in hoarse and eerie whispers. “Who dares disturb the Timeless Three?”

Bianca threw her arms open. “Laaaadies!”

The pause was brief and awkward.

“For Merlin’s sake, Nemain,” one of them hissed, her voice petulant and her accent Scottish. “Switch on the bloody sun.”

Fingers snapped, and the storm and darkness vanished. Julie and Bianca now looked out over a glade bathed in sunshine. Birds trilled in the ancient trees surrounding a circle of standing stones, their edges as sharp as if they’d been cut days ago. A tiny cottage nestled in the trees on the other side of the glade, a wisp of woodsmoke curling up, white and idyllic, against the dark backdrop of branches.

“Did I nae tell ye that ye’ll embarrass us with your theatrics?” one of the cloaked figures demanded, throwing her hood back. Macha was portly and gray-haired, her pleasant face crinkled in irritation.

“We are the Fates,” Nemain grumbled, smoothing her stringy black hair. “We have tae make the people quake in their boots, ye ken.”

“I believe they quake in their boots nae matter what we do.” Badb’s innocent blue eyes sparkled above her wide, guileless smile. “They know we have the power tae snip the threads o’ their lives at any moment.

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