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“How can we even trust her?”
Liam frowned at the grumpy elf. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” Elaran said and leaned forward on the couch, “she betrayed us. She set up an ambush and was ready to kill us just yesterday and now we’re trusting her with all our plans.”
I threw a quick glance at the door to the living room to make sure Zaina or her sister weren’t standing there lurking. Only the long rows of bookshelves watched us like silent sentries but I kept my voice low anyway. “It’s because she betrayed us that we know we can trust her.”
Elaran sat back and turned an irritated frown on me. “That doesn’t make any sense. At all.”
Liam opened his mouth, then furrowed his brows and closed it again. My attempt to get support from the twins fell flat too as they only stared at me with mirrored looks of confusion on their faces. I let out a loud groan.
“Okay, look, the problem with trusting new people is that you never know if or when they will betray you. Or why they’ll do it.” I shrugged. “But Zaina has already betrayed us and we know why she did it so we upped our offer and became the highest bidder. So now, we don’t have to constantly worry whether she’ll double-cross us or not, because she already has, and we don’t have to worry about her doing it again because we’re already the ones offering what she wants most of all.”
Silence fell across the room. The dark brown sofas creaked slightly as both Liam and Haela adjusted their positions. I swept my gaze over my human friend and the three elves.
“That actually makes sense,” Haemir said with a thoughtful expression on his face.
His sister raised her eyebrows and gave an impressed nod. “Yeah, in a strange sort of way.”
I only had time to hear Elaran mutter something about sneaky underworlders before footsteps in the corridor outside drew my attention. Two black-haired humans stepped through the door.
“It’s done, your boy Shade here is now officially a candidate for the election,” Zaina said and jerked her head towards the assassin entering behind her. “And your swords are on their way.”
The Master Assassin took a seat in the blue and green armchair across from mine while the smuggler plopped down on the couch next to Liam and swung her feet onto the low table.
“Alright, come up with any great ideas while we’ve been gone?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking,” Haela began, “if we boost Shade’s campaign so people like him at the same time as we ruin Marcellus’ then that’d double the effect and we should have him desperate enough in no time.”
“An attack on two fronts,” Elaran commented while drumming his fingers on the couch’s armrest. “Smart.”
“Yeah, that is smart,” Shade said. “It would make it much more difficult for him to protect himself. How could anyone defend themselves against someone else’s popularity?”
“That’s what I just said,” Elaran muttered and crossed his arms.
The assassin sent him a scorching look before turning to the rest of us. “Then we should probably split into two teams to cover more ground and work more efficiently.”
Haela stretched her arms above her head and leaned back on the sofa. “Sounds good. So, who should cover what?” A grin spread across her face. “I’d be up for creating some mischief.”
Shade ran a hand along his jaw. “Actually, I think it’s probably best if the three of you,” he pointed at Haela, Haemir, and Liam, “cover the Upperworld and try to boost our campaign while the three of us,” he motioned at himself, me, and Elaran, “cover the Underworld and do the sabotaging.”
“Why?” Haemir asked.
“Because your skill set is better suited for it.”
I released a snort followed by low chuckle. The room turned to look at me with eyebrows raised, waiting for an explanation of my strange reaction.
“What he means is that you,” I waved a hand at Liam and the twins, “are actually nice people who make friends easily, while we are not.”
Elaran shot me a dirty look. “Speak for yourself.”
The rest of the room, however, seemed to see the logic in my statement. Shade studied me with barely concealed amusement on his face while Liam giggled and the others outright laughed.
“You know what,” Haela said after one final snort. “That’s actually a great point. We’ll do the wooing and the charming.” She released another brief chuckle. “I mean, could you imagine Storm trying to sweet-talk someone?”
“Oh, shut up,” I said and threw a pillow at her. When she caught it and winked at me, I just shook my head. “But yeah, you do that and we’ll handle the threatening, blackmailing, and sabotaging.”
“Is that feet? On my table?” a voice rang out from the doorway.
Zaina whipped her legs off the table and grimaced. “Sorry, sis.”
Norah stood just inside the door with her hands on her hips. “Uh-huh. Incorrigible as always,” she muttered. “I was going to make some chili. Do you want some? Or have you already eaten?”
Several stomachs seemed to have heard her because they rumbled in reply. Zaina twisted on the couch until she faced the door.
“We’d love some.” She gave her sister a thankful smile.
Norah’s stern mask from the feet-on-the-table episode melted and she smiled back. She really was pretty.
“Yeah, and Liam will help you,” I announced and nodded towards my friend.
He blinked at me. “I will?” His eyes darted from me in the armchair next to him to the beautiful teacher in the doorway. “I mean, yes, I will.”
Norah raised her eyebrows in surprise but then a bright smile lit up her whole face. “Lovely. Come find me in the kitchen when you’re ready.” She disappeared back into the corridor.
“Go on then,” I said and gave Liam’s shoulder a push.
“Why did you do that?” he hissed under his breath so that only I would hear.
I wiggled my eyebrows at him. “Just you and her, alone in the kitchen. Who knows what’ll happen?”
Liam’s face flushed beet red. “What do I even talk about?”
“I don’t know. You’re the socially competent one. Figure it out.” I gave his shoulder another shove. “Now go.”
He stood up and gave me his best imitation of an angry stare but between his mop of curly brown hair and sweet-looking face, he failed miserably. “I hate you,” he announced matter-of-factly.
I grinned at him. “I hate you too.”
After releasing something between a laugh and a sigh, he wandered off towards the kitchen. Right as he vanished from view, a thin man I recognized and a very muscular man I didn’t recognize appeared in the doorway. They lugged a heavy-looking chest across the threshold.
“Ah, Redor, Samuel,” Zaina said and jumped up from the couch. “Perfect timing.”
The smuggler’s two companions sat the chest down in front of the desk by the wall. It hit the floor with a thud. Redor unlocked the lid and threw it open, revealing glints of steel.
Zaina beckoned at the three elves while a wide smile spread across her face. “Come choose your swords.”
Haela practically leaped from the couch and bounded over to the stack of weapons. Excitement gleamed in her eyes as she rubbed her hands and peered into the wooden chest. Her brother rolled his eyes but wasn’t far behind while Elaran rose from the sofa and made his way over in a few graceful steps. I chuckled. Elves.
The three of them lifted sword after sword from the stash, weighing them in their hands. Swishing sounds filled the air as they tried them out. After a while, I shifted my eyes from the weapon-wielding elves to the assassin in the armchair and found him studying me with a curious look on his face.
“So,” I said. “Time for some excessive threatening and blackmailing again, I suppose.”
Shade’s mouth drew into a lopsided smile. “Yeah, I suppose so.”
“How refreshing to not be doing it to each other, for once.”
“Hmm.” His black eyes glittered. “There’ll be plenty of time for that too.”
“You’re right. We wouldn’t wanna get out of practice, now would we?”
His lips drew into another lopsided smile but his reply was cut short by an announcement from the elves.
“These are elven made,” Elaran stated, holding up two gleaming swords. Genuine surprise colored his face.
“Yep,” Zaina said. “Told you I had great quality weapons.”
The long, beautifully decorated twin swords whooshed through the air as Elaran danced across the room in a flurry of steel. The auburn-haired elf moved with effortless grace before coming to a halt by the bookshelves on the other side. He gave an impressed nod in the direction of the swords.
I stared at him. Damn. He was most definitely a lot more than simply competent with a sword as well. Drawing my eyebrows down, I swatted at the feelings of inadequacy sneaking up behind my shoulder.
Haela looked like a child receiving a present as she hoisted her own two swords in the air. “I love them!” she exclaimed.
“I like the weight of these,” Haemir added and nodded at the long weapons in his hands. “They fit me nicely.”
Zaina chuckled knowingly. “You all picked elven swords. No surprise there.” Her intelligent eyes flicked to Shade. “They’re quite expensive so I expect to be generously compensated for them in pistols.”
The Master Assassin nodded at her. “You will. You have my word.”
“Fantastic!”
Right as the satisfied smuggler uttered her exclamation, Liam stuck a head through the doorway. “Norah says dinner will be ready in ten minutes.” He looked at the swords occupying the whole room. “And she says no weapons at the dinner table.”
The smuggler threw her head back and barked a laugh. “That’s Norah for you. Alright, let’s get the rest of these packed up.”
While the three elves helped Redor and Samuel return the discarded swords to the wooden chest, I stood up and moved towards the door. If no weapons were allowed at the table, I’d better head back to my room and remove the army of knives currently strapped to my body. Well, the visible ones, anyway. I released a soft chuckle. This was going to be an interesting stay.