Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
He went back to facing front. “I’m not sure what to think.”
“You have time to figure it out. About those guardians…”
“I chose my current location because it had housed a small production cairn that couldn’t attract an affiliation. The premises had been abandoned after the cairn dissolved. Or so I’d heard. It turned out a few of the old-timer guardians still existed there, so I put them on the books at first to allow them to retain their home. One by one, they left or gave up the job. Instead of bringing in others, I chose to spend the money on craftsmen instead. I never got around to updating the logs because I don’t need them. We’re running at a loss right now, trying to come up with our designs and business plan and sending expensive samples to affiliates.”
“You’re not worried about raids?” I asked.
He huffed out a laugh. “If you saw the mountain where we live, you’d understand why I laugh. It provides its own defenses, and when it fails, the elements gladly pick up the slack. It’s not a nice place to live, which is why we have very few garhettes. They won’t tolerate it. When we get enough money together, we can look for more permanent lodging.”
Nessa gave me a pointed look, patted him on the shoulder, and stepped away. It was like he was hand-tailored for our setup. The question was, would Austin bite? Was this guy good enough?
As the dining room was set to rights, Anthott picked at his nail and mumbled, “I would’ve liked to look over those documents. Just for curiosity’s sake. I always like to improve on my craft when I can.”
“Would ye schtop?” Niamh shook her head at him. “We have the notes, like. Ye didn’t think we’d go through all that trouble and give away the only copy?” She rolled her eyes. “If ye work for Jessie and Austin Steele, ye’ll get’ta pore over the information to your heart’s content.”
“Then why give Nikken a copy?” he asked.
Niamh winked at him. “Knowin’ a secret is no fun unless other people know you know that secret. Let the games begin.”
SEVENTEEN
Sebastian
“Give me good news, Captain,” Sebastian said as he took a much needed and very long walk through the fields around O’Briens.
His nerves were shot. Shot, mangled, and then left for dead. He knew he was doing the right thing by calling in an attack, and he felt certain this was the best way to propel the situation forward, but the guilt was starting to eat a hole through his gut.
He’d thrown attacks at her before, yes, but he’d had his sister’s visions as his guide. Plus, he hadn’t known her then. He hadn’t gotten so close to her. This time he was going at it alone, and he was scared something would go wrong.
Because the truth of it was, ten mages were a lot. If the gargoyles didn’t join their cause, quite possibly ten was too many. He was taking a risk, and Jessie and her people would be in the balance. If they lost even one of their pack, he knew the alphas would feel the loss. He didn’t want to be responsible for that, not to mention he feared what Austin Steele would do to him if he found out.
“I’ve got good news and bad news,” Nessa said.
“Good news first.”
“Though it wasn’t easy to wrangle, all mages are on board. Mercenaries have been secured, as well.”
“Okay. Bad news?”
“They are located all over the place, and getting them grouped together and then brought here is incredibly messy with the limited time frame.”
“You can’t group them closer to here and just have them drive a larger distance in?”
“That would increase the time they’d be in dark mode, because I wouldn’t want them too close. I’d worry a shifter who is traveling might see them or Austin has friends we didn’t know about, or some other contingent I didn’t have time to assess. It’s too risky. We need them in the area as briefly as possible before they are en route to attack.”
“True. Good point. I should’ve known you’d thought of that.”
“Because of all that, though, I’m concerned about timing and nervous it won’t be easy to call them off. It’s like herding cats. It would be easy to get delayed, as well. I’m also concerned about the paper trail I’m leaving. I don’t have the time to be as clean as I’d like.”
Sebastian let out a breath, stopping and staring at a field with ambling cows. Nessa was incredible at her job. He would never be able to maintain Elliot Graves without her. For her to sound this stressed meant things weren’t going smoothly. If he hadn’t felt the rightness of the outcome in his very bones, he would call the whole thing off right now.