Tempered Illusions: Shadows of Otherside, #6 by Whitney Hill

Author:Whitney Hill [Hill, Whitney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Benu Media
Published: 2023-02-15T01:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Diplomacy. I had to salvage this diplomatically, or the alliance was fucked. “Maria.”

“What, Arden? What?”

“Noah can fill you in on the details, but the mundane feds reached out. They want to talk. But I’m on shaky ground right now. I need one less front to fight on. Help me end this. Give Matthias and Santiago something.”

“I can’t. It’s not just their blood I need. If I can’t root out their saboteurs and secure the territory, they’ll see me as weak. There will be more attacks, Arden. More coup attempts. If not by them, then by other city masters. Maybe even the Modernists among my own people.”

Setting aside the idea that she saw the interlopers as saboteurs rather than murderers, I said, “We will help you with that. I know Troy will. You know he will. You two have been working together for what, nearly a decade now? His sister loves you. He and I both care about you and Noah and Doc Mike. Trust us.”

“It’s a big ask.”

“I know. But you trusted me to help you beat them in the first place, right?”

Maria snorted, and there was a rustling sound like she’d sat down. “Once upon a time, I trusted Torsten to save me. And I lived. Well. I didn’t burn at the stake for delivering babies and creating herbal medicinals. I just spent the next hundred years as a plaything to be drunk from at his or Aron’s whim. Even when I proved myself clever and useful, they took advantage of me. So yes, in a pinch, I trust you. But I have lived too long to be comfortable letting things get to that pinch.”

Noah’s expression was grim. This was the first I’d heard about any of Maria’s past beyond her nearly being burned as a witch during the Inquisition, so I assumed her telling me was an indication that she wasn’t in a good headspace.

I took a breath then another. Tried to push my frustration down. This could all be so. Fucking. Simple. But Othersiders had long lives, and all the trauma that went along with it stayed nearly as fresh as the day it’d occurred unless we found solace in madness, which led swiftly to death.

I couldn’t blame her. But my frustration was also valid.

“Think about it,” I said. “We have a few hours left until sunset and the end of the thirty-six-hour window Rice gave us. I can’t get on a plane and burn down Miami or New York without starting World War Three, but if there’s something else I can do, tell me. Please just remember you’re part of something bigger than your coterie now, and a federal agency with a mandate to control Otherside is breathing down my neck. I cannot fight on two fronts.”

“I’ll think on it,” she said after a few heartbeats. “Noah, be a dear and see if you can get the good doctor to stall a little longer.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

The call ended, and I met Noah’s gaze. “Talk her around, Noah.

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