One Fell Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #3)(57)

“If you’re in danger and you hobble him, both of you might die. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. That’s why you gave him that dollar. What is this fight really about?”

I closed my eyes.

She waited.

“I’m afraid he’ll leave.” There. It came out. “I hate this.”

“Why?”

“Because I sound needy and desperate.”

Maud snorted. “You’re the least needy person I know.”

“I want him to stay here with me and run the inn. I want to wake up every day and see him there in bed with me. And I barely know him. We had one date. Am I that lonely, Maud? Because I’m all in and I don’t know if he is, and I have no right to ask for that much. You know what it means to be an innkeeper. We are bound to our inns.”

“If you were just lonely, you would clutch on to anybody who came along,” she said. “Would you take Arland instead of Sean?”

“No.”

“See?”

“You took two years to decide you loved Melizard.”

She snorted again. “And look how much good it did me. I don’t regret it, because I have Helen now. But it wasn’t the best move. Who cares about dates? It’s when you’re under pressure together, that’s what counts. He risked his life for you. He was ready to fight for the Hiru, because he saw an injustice. Is he kind when it’s difficult? Does he still do the right thing when everything turns to shit?”

He sold himself to the Merchants for a lifetime contract to keep me from dying. “Yes.”

“Then talk to him. Tell him how you feel. Nothing kills it faster than not talking. Trust me, I know. That’s how my marriage died.”

Her face was flat. No emotion. No tremor in her voice. She’d loved Melizard so much, she followed him across the galaxy to an alien planet, where she molded herself into a perfect vampire knight’s spouse. And it ended so badly.

I wanted to hug her, but she sat stiff, her back straight. No weakness.

A screen opened in the wall. The Hiru’s odd features filled it.

“What can I do for you?” I asked.

“The third Archivarian is arriving to the inn in five minutes,” the Hiru said. “Please remove the void field.”

*

I reached through the inn with my senses. Sean waited by the back porch.

“Sean,” I whispered. “I need your help.”

I felt him move toward me.

“Oh Sean…” Maud whispered in a sing-song voice, rolling her eyes.

I squinted at her. “Do you want to call Arland or should I?”

“You do it,” she said.

I reached through the inn. Arland was in the kitchen, with Helen. Probably fixing his armor again.

“Lord Marshal,” I said. “Could I please see you in the war room?”

Less than a minute later Sean came striding through the door. Arland was only a few steps behind. Helen rode on his shoulder like a parrot. Maud opened her mouth and clicked it shut.

“The third Archivarian is arriving to the inn in four minutes and ten seconds,” I said. “I have to drop the void field. Are you in?”

“Of course.” Arland gently set Helen on the floor.

“Yes,” Sean said.

So much for his ultimatums.

“For the Archivarian to get here, the other side must open a door,” Maud said. “A portal. If I were the Draziri, I’d try to detonate it the moment I saw it.”

“The portal will open in the back field,” I said. Each inn listed the official coordinates for the designated arrivals. Ours were in the back, where the house would block the view. “We must preserve the Archivarian at all costs. We need a plan. Sean?”

A calculation took place in Sean’s eyes. “The Draziri are positioned all around the inn on the wooded side. They’re watching the grounds.”

“You want to structure our defense around the portal?” Arland asked.

“No,” Sean said. “I don’t want to defend it at all.”

Arland mulled it over. His blond eyebrows edged together. Maud grinned like a wolf and pulled her new blood sword out.

“If they see you, they will key in on you,” Sean said to me.

“He’s right,” Arland confirmed. “You’re a high-priority target. If they eliminate you, their chances of killing the Hiru rise substantially.”

“How safe would you be out in the open?” Sean asked me.

“Perfectly safe as long as I’m on the inn’s grounds.” I could block any kinetic projectiles and the inn could absorb most energy bombardments with my direction. “Do you want me out there to play bait?”

“Yes,” Sean said. “Does the inn have something that could bombard the land outside of the boundary?”

“Can you be more specific?”

“A weapon that won’t draw attention from the street but will be dangerous enough to scatter the Draziri.”

Gertrude Hunt was a lot stronger than it used to be. Still, its resources were limited.

“Does it have to be precise?”

“No,” Sean said. “As long as it has an impact.”

It was my turn to smile. “If you want impact, I’ll give you one.”