Alterant (Belador #2)(12)

Ah, crud. Could her night get any worse?

Sen stood with arms crossed and a look of disgust on his face that rivaled his usual hate-filled welcome for her.

His being here explained how someone had shown up so fast. Sen had the ability to teleport anywhere he wanted. He must have been in the park when Tzader had called to her.

She couldn’t believe she had Sen to thank for getting her out of that fix.

Standing much taller than her and twice as wide, he was dressed in gray T-shirt and black jeans. He wore his hair skinned short today, but it could be down to his waist tomorrow. Would be nice to know what he was or where he’d come from with those diamond blue, almond-shaped eyes. Or who had the power to force him to be the liaison between VIPER and the preternatural beings that were agents for the VIPER coalition.

A job he obviously loathed.

Tzader had warned her to play nice, so she said, “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I’m glad to see you.”

A muscle in Sen’s jaw flexed in and out. “You waste good oxygen just by being alive. Don’t think this little theatrical act fooled me.”

“Act?” Couldn’t he smell the Noirre majik? She sniffed and looked around. Where was that sack? Nothing smelled like Noirre majik now, but she couldn’t back down. “I was tricked into an ambush. They attacked—”

“Yeah, right. Tell it to the Tribunal.” He waved a hand.

She wrapped her arms around her stomach as it tightened from the first stage of teleporting. Couldn’t he at least say Ready? before doing that? There was no way to reach Tzader once Sen had her in transport.

Had those three men been trying to trap anyone with powers, or her specifically? What had the leader meant when he’d said they had to make sure they had the right one?

The right Belador? The right Alterant? The right VIPER agent?

Or the right something else?

She had to tell Brina about the attack if she was allowed a moment before the Tribunal meeting started. Much as Evalle detested Sen on every level, at least he’d come looking for her rather than waiting at the park.

Not because he gave two hoots about her being late, so he must have had orders to deliver her on time. Whatever the reason, she was glad for it right now.

Sen’s superior tone ghosted through the swirl of colors and spinning sensation, but she couldn’t see him. “One more thing, Alterant.”

“What?” she said nicely, or at least she tried. Hard to be civil when her insides were coming apart.

“I was at the park on time,” he said, then paused to let his point settle in. “Once you were late, I had no choice but to pick you up. You’re a minute late according to time among the humans, but in the Tribunal’s world time flexes. You’re already forty-five minutes late.”





FIVE




Once the vertigo from teleporting ended and her next breath tasted ancient and dangerous, Evalle knew exactly where she was—the Nether Realm. She held her head in her hands, fighting nausea. Screw Sen. She would not give him the pleasure of watching her barf in front of the Tribunal.

She opened one eye to peek.

When she’d last visited the Nether Realm, she’d stood on grass that had covered a circular plane the size of a city block. This time, her feet had landed on a rocky surface that glistened lavender and silver. She looked up further to locate the dais in search of the two gods and one goddess who would preside over this meeting.

The Tribunal was indeed in progress, and no one was happy to see her, not even Brina.

Especially Brina, whose holographic image, with her waist-length flaming red hair and vibrant green gown, sung with tense energy.

Silence hung like a guillotine awaiting a neck.

The trio on the dais glared at her. Pele, the Polynesian goddess, wore a swoop of deep pink and purple flowers across her breasts. More flowers wrapped her lower body as a floor-length skirt. She stood between Ares, the Greek god of war, decked out in his battle attire, and Loki, the Norse god of devilment, who showed off his massive naked chest by wearing only blue silk harem pants.

Stars crowded the black sky stretching from one side of the Nether Realm to the other, the perfect backdrop for glowing entities.

Pele’s exotic eyes studied Evalle with the same consideration an exotic bird might ponder the merits of a slug. She spoke in a voice crafted of honey and gold. “You have delayed this Tribunal, Alterant. Why?”

Evalle made the mistake of taking a second to decide how best to answer, which allowed Sen to speak first.

“She has no excuse, Goddess.”

“Wait a minute,” Evalle snapped, spinning on Sen. “She asked me.”

Sen lifted a negligent shoulder. “You won’t like what happens if you lie during a Tribunal meeting.”

Loki had been spinning a ball of power between his hands. The sphere rumbled and flashed with a kaleidoscope of colors inside. He paused to interject, “The body of one who tells an untruth here will glow red.”

Evalle hadn’t planned on lying now or any other time in a Tribunal meeting because she figured they’d just know if she told a lie.

But this was the first she’d heard about glowing red.

Ares leaned forward, squinting. “Was not your aura silver the last time you were here, Alterant?”

Everyone gawked at Evalle.