Chapter Ten
Feeling smug, Never sat up and texted a sit rep to Cora. She didn’t know how she managed to interpret the message as purring, but Iscorabella was smug.
Never confirmed that the implantation had occurred the previous night. Cora was delighted. They were going to meet that afternoon for tea and coffee.
Never stretched and went to take a shower. There were no traces of Tam-or in her bathroom or downstairs. Well, not quite. The coffeemaker was set, and there was a plate under a heating cover. She started her coffee and went to investigate the dome.
She grinned when she lifted it. A stack of pancakes, a slice of bacon for a mouth, and two banana slices for eyes. The syrup was next to it.
It was eleven in the morning, and she took her breakfast outside to the deck and ate while overlooking the view of the orc neighbourhood just beyond the fence.
Wearing a cotton robe, she enjoyed being human-sized for once. She was an orc when she was working and a smaller orc on her days off, but when she really wanted to relax, she was green, humanish with pointy ears and no tusks. She looked a lot more like Cora than they let people know.
She wondered what she could do as a hobby. With the bulk of the hunter work outside the city, she might not be called as often as previously. Hunters usually retired around her age, no matter their race. She was just following the path. Maybe a family and a partner.
Tam-or seemed keen, but things were complicated with a speaker. She was having fun playing with him, but it was difficult to make a long-term arrangement with speakers. They were bound to their people. Shamans were bound to the land. Constant outside forces tested unions.
She was sitting, enjoying the silence, when she got an alert. “Shit.” She lifted her phone, and her blood ran cold. The name and face were familiar and a dear friend. She took the assignment with a jab of her thumb and went upstairs to get her leathers.
This wasn’t a normal assignment. They wanted her whole and alive and in a distant city. So much for settling in Redbird.
She sent her sister a notice and another to Matthias. She lifted her head and scented for her friend. She needed to find her before anyone else did.
* * * *
Cora checked her phone. “Oh no.”
Abel-ur and Tam-or looked at her. “What?”
“She’s on her way to find another target. She’s not happy about it.” Cora frowned.
Tam-or blinked. “I thought we had more time.”
“So did she. She grabbed this assignment. We know the target, and there is no way hunters should have been sent after her. She’s sweet and courageous and generally adorable.”
“So, you know her as well.”
“Yes. I can’t conceive of any circumstance that would get someone to set a hunter on her.” She sent Never a text.
Abel-ur asked, “What are you sending her?”
“An offer of assistance.”
Tam-or pulled out his phone and sent her one of the same. He paused. “She says she isn’t going far and to keep an eye on Cora because she’s pregnant.”
Cora gasped. “That little squealer.”
Abel-ur turned to her with shock on his face. “When?”
“The attachment came last night. Never felt it.”
Tam-or smiled. “Oh, yes, she did.”
Cora smiled. “She would. When we were little, she was always the stronger one, and when we were teens, I said I wanted a family. She said she would wait until I got started, so she waited. So, do you know any gentlemen who could handle a wife? She deserves security.”
Tam-or frowned. “Why marriage?”
Cora smiled. “We are old and set in our ways. If Abel-ur doesn’t want to hang around, Never and I can create a commune and live with the child. She would never wander off to have her own family if she were stuck chasing mine.”
Abel-ur smiled. “I am working on the proper ritual to propose to a wild goddess.”
She beamed. “I can give you a hint if you like.”
“Give me a day to find it.”
She laughed and then sobered. “I wish I could warn her that Never was coming. I don’t know if she has ever seen her geared up. It’s intimidating.”
Tam-or frowned. “Do you know where she went?”
“Wherever her target is. I have no idea what Aida would consider to be a good place to hide.”
* * * *
Elida smiled at the male who had gotten her pregnant. “So, how are you enjoying being surrounded by women?”
Wymol laughed. “It is interesting. They have been very welcoming.”
Kori smiled. “Well, you seem besotted with Mom, so why wouldn’t we be?”
Wymol looked around the neighbourhood. “Who is staying in the house down the drive?”
Elida frowned. “What?”
“She’s a friend of Miika’s. We met her in Corudet.”
Elida said, “Who, precisely, did we meet in Corudet?”
Kori cleared her throat. “Aida?”
Elida blinked slowly. “She’s here? How long has she been here?”
Kori frowned. “She was here the night of the wedding. When I came home, she was here with her easel and a duffel bag. I set her up in one of the empty houses.”
“When were you going to tell me?”
“When your face parted from Wymol’s for a few minutes.”
Elida blushed. “Ah. Well, fair point. We should go over and talk to her. She isn’t the type to seek shelter.”
Kori nodded. “That’s what I said, but she just gave me a wobbly smile and asked for a place to hide.”
Elida stood up. “She said hide?”
“That was the word she used.”
Elida put her shoes on and was heading down the block a moment later.
She heard the rumble of the motorcycle and saw someone in hunter leathers heading for the house in question.
“Oh, shit.” She threw up a ward on the sidewalk and kept walking at a brisk pace. Wymol walked next to her and took her hand. They were in front of the hunter in a moment.
“Private property, hunter.”
The hunter removed their helmet. “I understand. I just want to know why someone put her up for tracking, Elida.”
A bit of relief went through her when the orc’s feminine features looked at her with a kind smile.
Elida nodded and walked up to the door. “I just learned that she was here five minutes ago. One of my daughters offered her a home to shelter in.” She knocked with slow wraps. She opened the door, and the house was empty. Elida called out, “Hello! Aida!”
The reply came, “Out back. I didn’t want to get paint on anything.”
Elida walked through the house and saw Aida doing what Aida did. Painting. An art seer was unusual, but she could craft images of murders and assassinations in amazing detail.
Elida watched the portrait taking place, and she saw Aida’s body, three hunters, and an angry unicorn.
“Aida, please turn so I can introduce you to my baby’s father.”
Aida turned, and Elida gasped. The cheeky cherubic woman looked hollow. Her cheeks were sunken, her eyes were hollow, and as the wind blew, her ribs were visible. She’d lost over twenty-five percent of her body weight.
“Aida, what happened?”
“Nothing, Elida. I can’t fight family, but I can run. It doesn’t leave time for eating, though. And I see Never has arrived to claim the contract.”
Never said, “Aida, you know me better than that.”
“I thought I knew them, too, but then I ended up blamed and hunted through nineteen cities and twelve principalities.” Aida looked at Never. “I want to run again, but I don’t have much energy left.”
Never walked to her and crouched. “Aida. What happened to you?”
Aida washed her brush, cleaned it, and set it aside to dry. “I... It’s so stupid.”
She looked at Elida and Wymol. “Perhaps not something for strangers.”
“I will swear myself to secrecy but will not leave her alone.”
Aida smiled. “Right. The baby. Okay, I will take your word.”
Aida stood there and explained first love, meeting her sister’s fiancé and finding out it was Aida’s destined mate.
She stayed away from them until they got closer to the wedding, and then there was an issue with a volcano.
Aida escaped using the fiancé’s shifted form, and her sister attacked her when they got to safety.
The attacks began immediately, and with no place to hide, she had gone on the run.
Six months later, she was in Redbird and probably wouldn’t make it to the next city.
Aida stood and said, “So, that is where things are. I am sorry, Elida, I just needed a place to rest for a few days. Don’t blame Miika or the others.”
Elida rubbed her forehead. “They all knew?”
“Yup. You have raised very unified young ladies.”
“You are talking like you aren’t just a year older than Miika.”
“I feel a thousand years old right now.”
Never said, “Who’s the unicorn?”
“The dickhead in question. Coriven Ravenock.”
Never whistled. “I hadn’t heard he was engaged.”
“He was waiting until he finished his twenty-five years as head of the Corudet XIA. Then, he had all the time he wanted to start a family. My sister charmed him. Literally charmed him. He doesn’t remember me, us, nothing. So, that’s it.”
Elida said softly, “Why don’t you break the charm?”
“They used my blood to do it, for that reason.”
Elida frowned. “Where would they have gotten it?”
“My last period before this all kicked off. It was home, right? Why wouldn’t it be safe in my own home?” She smiled.
Elida looked at her and said, “Aida, why don’t you sit?”
“I am dirty. I am covered with dirt. I don’t want to touch anything.”
“Where did you sleep, hon?”
Aida pointed to the corner, where a duffel bag was lying. “Over there.”
Elida got up and walked over to Aida, wrapping her in a hug. There were a few slow starts, and then Aida was holding on as a storm of emotion ripped through the woman.
Fire moved over them both from foot to head, cleaning Aida’s hair back to its normal, shining brown.
Elida asked, “Do you want something to eat?”
“I would.”
“How long has it been?”
“Uh... I don’t know. I have been foraging.”
“Oh, honey. Come with me.” She kept her arms around Aida and turned toward the house. The bolt of magic struck them, and Aida collapsed to the ground. Wymol pulled Elida away.
Two more hunters entered the backyard, one of them with his glove smoking.
Never growled. “No fucking way.” She put wards up around Aida.