Melissa Marr - The Arrivals

Kitty turned to Styrr. “ Could Garuda bring it now?”

Merely a moment had passed before Styrr said, “He will be here shortly.”

Jack knew that he couldn’t go anywhere until Garuda arrived, but he was struggling with the delay. Knowing Chloe was with Ajani made everything feel more urgent. Jack wasn’t going to leave her where she was in danger. She’d gone with Daniel and was in Ajani’s clutches because of his mistakes. It wasn’t just about Chloe, though: Jack had wanted Ajani dead for years.

Edgar went to find Melody, and Hector rejoined them, while Jack and Katherine started to plan.

“Styrr will stay with Francis,” Katherine said. She glanced briefly at the sleeping Arrival and then at the bloedzuiger, who nodded his assent.

“We should go in teams.” Jack had thought often enough about attacking Ajani over the years that he knew what he wanted without a lot of discussion.

“I’m with you and Edgar,” Katherine said.

Jack gave her a bland look. He had a different idea in mind, but he’d rather wait until Edgar was back before he said anything. All he said for now was, “Hector and Melody always fight well together.” He glanced at Styrr and added, “Maybe some of the bloedzuigers could join us.”

When the bloedzuiger in the room didn’t answer, Katherine repeated Jack’s statement and added, “Could they?”

“That is not my decision,” Styrr said.

The door opened and the three remaining members of their team entered the tiny room.

“So we’re going to get the new girl back?” Hector asked.

“And I get to kill people,” Melody added in a cheery voice. “No rules, right? I can shoot anyone but the new girl. I was cheated earlier, so I shouldn’t have to follow rules this time.”

“Not Chloe, and no servants unless they shoot at you,” Jack corrected. “But aside from that, no rules.”

Melody hugged Jack. “You’re a good boss. Come on, Hector.” She spun toward the door, paused to glance over her shoulder, and said, “I just need to grab a few things. We’ll meet you there.”

“I go in first,” Jack told Hector. “Keep her on a leash until I’m in.”

He nodded and followed Melody out of the room.

Once the door closed, Katherine leveled a stern look at him. “You meant until ‘we’re in,’ didn’t you?”

“Why don’t I go solo?” Jack started. “You and Edgar can stay—”

“Don’t even try to finish that suggestion,” Katherine interrupted. “I stayed here while you handled the Soanes trip. I’m not going to sit this out because Edgar and I are . . . together.”

“Engaged,” Edgar interjected.

Katherine blushed. “Yes, that .”

Edgar kissed her and then told Jack, “Kit’s right: we’re going with you. Killing Ajani is a good way to begin our new life together.”

Jack looked at his sister and the man he considered the most reliable of the Arrivals. He could order them to stay behind, but doing so would be foolhardy. More to the point, they were both resolved enough that he didn’t expect that they’d listen. They obeyed orders well, as a rule, but this wasn’t an ordinary situation. “Fine. Gear up.”

After Jack restocked his bullets, he headed to the main tavern room to meet back up with Katherine and Edgar. He claimed a table and ordered several items to share while they waited on Garuda. The food at the Gulch House wasn’t ever reliable, so ordering a variety increased the odds of finding a meal that was neither overcooked nor undercooked.

The three of them were more than halfway through the mess of food they’d ordered when Garuda arrived. His presence in the Gulch House tavern caused a bit of a commotion. For longer than the Arrivals had been in the Wasteland, he’d been the oldest bloedzuiger, and thus a creature of influence and power. As he made his way to their table, a hush fell over the room.

Garuda ignored it. When he reached them, he bowed his head in greeting. Jack and Edgar nodded at him, but Katherine stood and embraced him, leaning in and tilting her head as she did so. Garuda’s posture matched hers, although the tilt of his head was far more pronounced.

They both stepped backward, still in unison, and the overall appearance was that of a dance.

“Kin to my pack,” Garuda said quietly.

“And guest of my mind,” Katherine replied.

They both frowned briefly as they took their seats. Murmurs rippled over the room. Every inhabitant of the room was watching the exchange of greetings between the bloedzuiger and the Arrival.

“I didn’t know that you knew that tradition.” Garuda watched only Katherine. For all the acknowledgment he gave to the rest of the table or the room as a whole, the two of them might as well have been alone.

“Neither did I,” Katherine admitted shakily. “It was instinct.”

Garuda reached out and patted her hand. “It was a good instinct.Our kin bond was witnessed by all of these”—he waved his other hand in the general direction of the room—“beings. The word will spread that you are as my pack, and they will know that to injure you is to offend the whole of the pack.”

Jack met Garuda’s gaze. “Do you have it?”

Garuda folded his stick-thin fingers and bent his hands toward each other, creating the strange illusion of his hands as insect wings folding together. “There are rules of diplomacy.” He looked to Katherine expectantly.

After a moment, she prompted, “Will you offer aid to the kin of your pack?”

“I will,” Garuda said with a smile. He withdrew a bag from his pocket and placed it on the table. “Like so many other things, I can offer my kin a resource that I could offer no other. I offered Verrot repeatedly, but until Katherine accepted my bond, I couldn’t offer this to her. Before today, I could not ask you to cause Ajani’s heart to cease its function, but”—he smiled at Katherine—“today you are as my own pack, Katherine. That man poses threat to my kin, to the mate of my kin, and one I call friend. I give to you this resource to do as you will.”

Katherine took the bag.

Once she did, Garuda spoke again. “I already miss being connected to your mind, Katherine.” He watched her with the same sort of fond attention Jack had seen him bestow on only his most favored packmates. “Do not die. I would mourn you.”

She put her hand on his. “I will not die, but I will dispose of the man who has plagued us.”

“Can your pack fight with us?” Jack asked.

“To do so would breach etiquette,” Garuda said regretfully. “If we could have done so, we’d have removed him years ago.”

Katherine nodded. “We can handle him.”

“Be safe and well,” Garuda ordered and then was gone.

For the remainder of the day, Chloe felt like she was fighting an endless panic attack. Ajani shared the evening meal with her, during which he asked her a lot of questions about magic and about the world she knew at home. He alternately studied her and ignored her.

After dinner, Ajani excused himself, and she was sent to her room to rest. A short while later, Daniel came to escort her back to Ajani’s library. On the way to the room, he said quietly, “If you fail the test, remind him that you are skilled with guns, and that Jack is fond of you. Perhaps, if nothing else, he will think he can barter for you.”

Chloe went still at the latter part of the statement. “I never said—”

“Even if Ajani hadn’t seen how possessively Jack watched you when you met the boss, Jack’s reaction when he heard you’d gone to Ajani’s house would’ve made his feelings clear enough. Several of the doxies and a few bystanders sent messages that he was devastated.” Daniel squeezed her shoulder gently. “Use that to your advantage. It gives you a value none of us have. I’m trying to help you, but there are only so many rules I can break.” He lifted the edge of his shirt to reveal an ugly burn. “I’m no good to Kitty or anyone else if I’m dead.”