Lord's Fall (Elder Races #5)(64)

Eva held on for a second while Pia tugged uselessly on it. Then the other woman let go, and she staggered back a step. “You know,” Eva said casually, and Pia tensed. She had learned to be wary of Eva’s ultracasual tone of voice. “If you were in my unit, I’d be all over your ass for losing your weapon, and I wouldn’t let up until I’d chewed off a good ten pounds or so of flesh.”

Pia scowled as her face turned warm. “Well, I’m not in your unit, and in case you don’t remember, I got grabbed and shoved around a lot in the dark. As I recall, you were the one who did most of the shoving.”

Eva slanted a look at her. “That make it okay? You gonna drop your weapon whenever you sneeze too? Maybe when somebody gives you the stinkeye?”

“The stinkeye?” she said, her embarrassment and annoyance successfully diverted. She covered her mouth to muffle her snort. People had died tonight. Laughter wasn’t appropriate. “All right, no matter how crowded, confused, dark or fiery it got, I should not have dropped my weapon.”

“That’s more like it. Sort of.” Eva punched her in the shoulder, and she staggered again. “Stick with me, Tink. I’ll get you sorted out.”

“Well, isn’t this too cute for f**king words,” said an all-too-familiar voice. “Apparently you two got a little girl-bonding time in. How does that saying go? It isn’t really cheating when there isn’t any penis.”

Both Pia and Eva turned to stare at Aryal, who stood a few feet away with her arms crossed, regarding them both with stormy gray eyes. The harpy wore her usual outfit of fighting leathers, but this time instead of holstered guns, she had two swords strapped to her back, along with long knives at her thighs. The harpy looked lean, muscled and all too eager for some kind of fight.

Aryal said to Pia, “You are the worst goddamn trouble magnet I have ever seen, and coming from a harpy, you know that’s actually saying something.”

Pia sighed and rubbed her eyes with thumb and forefinger. “Hello, Aryal.” Nice to see you too. Not.

When she dropped her hand again, the world had shifted. Eva had moved to stand slightly in front of her instead of at her side. Eva was staring at Aryal with a cold expression on her bold features.

“Are you that insolent when you talk to Dragos?” Eva said between her teeth. “Because you sure as hell shouldn’t be talking to his mate that way.”

Wait, what? Pia did a double take at Captain Psycho. Eva was defending her to Aryal, and talking about respect?

The harpy laughed. “What did you do?” Aryal said to Pia. “Flick your perky cheerleader ponytail at her too? You’re like some kind of insidious virus, but I thought you only infected people with the Y chromosome.”

“Hey, look at me,” Eva snapped. Fascinated, Pia did just that, her gaze bouncing back to Eva, whose hard, black eyes glittered in the torchlight. “I’m talking to you. She isn’t.”

Aryal smiled and said between her teeth, “Yeah, I think you may regret that.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” said Eva. “I hear Tinker Bell here can kick your ass, and she’s a nice person. I’m more like you. I’m not nice. Just think what she and I together could do to you.”

Aryal’s smile vanished. Oh-kay, that might not be a good sign.

“For God’s sake, both of you,” Pia hissed at both of them. “This isn’t the time or the place.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Pia saw both Johnny and Hugh circling closer. The two males were watching Eva alertly. When Pia looked around, Andrea, James and Miguel were not far behind.

Then the world changed again, as Quentin moved in, seemingly from nowhere. He shoved between Eva and Aryal, his body moving with liquid, lethal grace, and he didn’t stop moving until he came nose to nose with the harpy, who shifted to face him. They were within a couple of inches of each other in height and glared at each other, their tall, lean bodies combat tense.

Quentin said in a low, bitter voice, “Pia’s right, you demented bitch—this is not the time or the place for your made-up vendettas. Decent, innocent people have died here tonight, and their bodies aren’t even cold in the ground.”

“Don’t pull that guilt-making crap on me,” Aryal exclaimed. “Dead people are dead, and they don’t know shit. And what happens between me and your special friend is none of your business, jackass.”

“You think I don’t know how long and hard you’ve tried to investigate me?” Quentin growled. “You’ve been trying to pin something on me for over two years now. And what have you found? Exactly nothing. So quit taking your resentment of me out on Pia.”

Was that why Aryal didn’t like her? Pia and Eva looked at each other. Eva raised her eyebrows, asking her silently, What the f**k? You know anything about this?

Pia shook her head and shrugged. For all she knew, it could be true.

The harpy’s nose wrinkled as she stared at Quentin, and she coughed. “Oh gods,” she said, staring at him with repugnance. “Are you a cat? You stink like a cat. That’s just bloody f**king great. Not only is Quentin Caeravorn part Wyr, but he stinks like a cat.” She threw up her hands. “Makes my whole f**king night to know this. If yet another Wyr with feline tendencies ends up as a sentinel, I’m going to slit somebody’s wrists.”