Part 10 (1/2)
term you want to use. Are you satisfied now?” She stormed to the door, but his voice stayed her.
”I'm sorry, Talia. For many things.”
She didn't turn. ”I don't want your pity. I am quite happy with my life. Or I was.”
”Then I apologize for our intrusion into that happy life. But make no mistake, this is the life you were destined for. And it would have found you, one way or another. Trust that it is far better that I am your guide.”
She turned around then. Something in his voice... ”You know who sent Jimmy here, don't you?”
He nodded. ”He is the only one more powerful than I. I don't know why he chose to find you, but then, his reasons are usually unfathomable to anyone other than himself.”
”Does this all-powerful being have a name?”
Something indefinable flickered in the depths of Baleweg's eyes. Whatever it was, it was unsettling. ”Emrys.”
Talia shuddered without knowing quite why. ”Why does he care about me?”
”I imagine it is another who cares about you.”
Talia reached for the name Archer had mentioned earlier. ”Chamberlain?”
Baleweg nodded.
”And Emrys?”
”Oh, I imagine he's more interested in besting me.”
Talia's eyes narrowed. ”Can he?”
Baleweg stroked his beard. ”We will handle the others involved. What you
need to concern yourself with is the queen. You are her only hope for
survival.”
”Then your queen is doomed.” She left, and he didn't try to stop her.
Archer leaned on the paddock fence and watched the horses munch on gra.s.s.
He was supposed to be on perimeter recon, but he was already sick of the whole thing. He understood that there was a threat to Talia both here and in his own time. He even understood Baleweg's logic in keeping her here where there were fewer players in the game. He swatted at a monstrosity of a fly and swore under his breath. But he didn't have to like it.
One of the helpers-Stella?-came out of the kennel building and headed his way. He groaned silently. Talia had told her employees that he and Baleweg were friends of Beatrice's, the woman who'd left her that monstrosity of a house, as well as her livelihood as Patron Saint to Abandoned Beasties. He found a smile in that. So they were both paid saviors, of sorts.
”She's coming along great, isn't she?” Stella propped a boot up on the fence.
It took him a second to realize she was talking about the mare and not Talia.
No one, including him, had been allowed access to her sessions with Baleweg.
So he had no idea how she was coming along. Which had nothing whatsoever to do with his grotty mood. He couldn't care less what she was up to in there,
or how she was faring. Honestly, he hardly even thought about her, except the way she had made his life a living, boring h.e.l.l.
Stella was looking at him expectantly. He managed a noncommittal, ”I
suppose.”
”Talia was right to put her in with Old Sam. She needs to be with her own kind for a while, you know?”
The perkier and more animated Stella became, the older and crankier he felt.
He didn't belong in this pastoral setting where the only sound was the incessant buzzing of the flies. He wanted to be back in the city. At this point any city would do.
Stella leaned back against the fence, her attention moving from the horses to him, a speculative gleam in her eyes. Archer bit off the scowl, but kept his attention firmly on the horses. What was it about women, anyway? The more distant and uncommunicative a bloke got, the more interested they became in disturbing his peace. Talia being the main exception to that rule. Not that this annoyed him. Not a bit.
”She's really something, isn't she?” She waved to the grounds. ”She built this herself, you know.”
”I thought she inherited the whole gig from the old la-er, Beatrice.”Stella laughed, a high-pitched sound that grated on his already raw nerves. ”Mrs. Fontaine took in strays, but she'd let them take over the house. I think at one time she had something like thirty cats and Lord knows what else living in there.”