Diplomatic Resurgence (The Empress' Spy Book 3)

by S. E. Weir

  Todd shook his head and grinned, thinking about Phina. “Probably that the women we’re interested in are highly skilled badasses who can be hella scary when they want to be?”

  “Just the way we like them.” Peter grinned as Joel got slammed into the side of the ring and fell. He lay there stunned long enough to get called out. “Your turn.” Peter gestured to the ring, then gave Todd a half-pat, half-push.

  As Todd entered the ring and prepared to fight Joseph, he decided that he would talk to Phina about it after the wedding and try to keep close to her as much as their duties allowed. Being scared, as much as he could joke about it with Pete, wasn’t something he could allow himself to dwell on.

  People fight for what they want, and every day he was more certain that Phina was worth fighting for.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Phinalina Residence

  “I love this part!”

  The women had polished off the pizzas, a chocolate fudge cake Cheryl Lynn had arranged, and were working on popcorn as they drank Cokes and watched a movie about married secret spies who had found out that the other person was also a spy.

  Phina watched it in amazement from her seat on the floor, wondering how someone could keep a secret from a person they loved for so long. As much as secrets were part of her business, Phina couldn’t help thinking that she needed to trust the other person completely for a relationship to work. Secrets implied a lack of trust. Her thoughts spun until she heard laughs about the husband’s best friend.

  “That guy is always funny in his movies,” Yana commented before popping some more kernels in her mouth.

  “Yeah,” Hallie snickered. “He can be a buffoon at times.”

  Phina agreed, then commented with her eyes on the screen. “He reminds me of Ryan, Craig, and Rickie.”

  There were murmurs of agreement, but she felt a stare off to her right and heard an outraged protective voice. “Are you calling Craig a buffoon?” She turned to see Hallie’s narrowed eyes glowing yellow as she dived over Mischa with her hand raised.

  Phina dropped the popcorn and grabbed Hallie’s wrist before her hand connected. Her body strained as a large part of the force and momentum hit her, but she held on and stared at Hallie’s surprised face.

  Gasps sounded from Mal, who sat in Phina’s comfortable chair for the occasion since she was pregnant, and the girls from the boutique as they hadn’t seen many fights before. The others displayed varying levels of surprise.

  “No.” Phina spoke evenly, wanting to explain and not further upset the other woman. She could see how Hallie had made that connection. “I meant that I see the three of them joke around and often try to cover how they feel with comedy or use humor to try to release the pressure and tension. I think all of them hide how smart they are, and sometimes that can make it difficult to let someone in.”

  There was silence in the room as they stared at each other before giggles burst out around the room. Tina nudged Hallie and said, “Come on, Hallie, you know she’s right about that. You’re being overprotective again.”

  Phina let go as the other woman sagged and sighed. “I know. God, Phina, you are so right about that! It took me forever to get Craig to admit he wanted more than just a good time when it was clear that he did.”

  Celeste agreed from her seat on the couch, waving a handful of popcorn. “Ryan is the same way. The man is so confusing! I’m never sure if I should bring up where our relationship is going or not.”

  Alina offered Hallie another Coke after she moved back to her seat then gave the two of them a sympathetic smile. “Guys are confusing because they are confused about how they feel. It’s easier for them to act than talk about their feelings.”

  Groans and choruses of “So true,” sounded around the room, even from Sis’tael, before the sound of crunching popcorn was heard.

  “Sorry for squishing you, Mish.”

  The diplomat waved a hand with a smile. “That’s all right. I’ve gotten used to it.”

  “Oh!” Tina grinned. “That sounds like a story.”

  Yana chuckled and nodded. “It is. You’ve got to hear this.”

  The women moved closer as they leaned in to listen. Phina looked around the room and realized that aside from her nights getting together with Alina and Sis’tael, this had been the first time interacting and getting along with a large group of women. A misunderstanding, sure, but it worked out. It felt…good.

  Really, really good.

  “Quiet.”

  Phina hissed at the loud and jovial men piling in the door far later than she had expected them. She got a better look at them and gaped in surprise and concern. “What happened to you? You look like you all got drunk or in a fight. Or both,” she added after seeing the staggers and healing wounds.

  “That’sh cuz we did,” Ryan slurred as he staggered past Maxim and Ron, using them as crutches as he headed over to the couch. “Got the good stuff, too.” Meaning the alcohol that worked on those with nanocytes, Phina assumed, since half the group were Wechselbalg.

  Ryan collapsed on the couch face first and lay there unmoving. Some of the other guys found places in the living room area to crash too. Craig stumbled off, and Phina later found him tangled with Hallie. The same with Maxim and Alina. Rickie was snoring in a pile on the floor near the bedrooms. Todd and Peter grabbed space on either side of the door. Ron sat in one of the chairs, thankfully not hers, and promptly fell asleep. The others grabbed anywhere they found room.

  After staring at them dropping one by one, Phina sighed and went to get more blankets. The women had given up on the men joining them after a few hours of waiting, chatting, and movie watching and finally gone to sleep in one of the two bedrooms. After passing the blankets out, some of which she placed on top of the guys since they were already asleep, and turning the lights low, she kept one blanket for herself and settled down in her chair. She figured a room full of warrior men would be better able to help against assassins than women who weren’t trained for it, should there be an attempt during the night.

  She had just closed her eyes when she realized that someone was trying to get her attention. She looked around and saw Todd looking at her intently from his spot by the door. Hoping he had a good reason to do so, Phina used one of the filters Sundancer showed her to send and receive mental messages and not read much more into other people’s minds.

  Did you need anything?

  Todd blinked, but that was the only outward sign he had heard her. Yes.

  Phina gave him the “get on with it” look she had picked up from Link. He finally asked, What can I go out and get for breakfast in the morning?

  Why did she feel like he wasn’t saying what he originally wanted? She waited a few seconds, but he didn’t elaborate. Well, it’s morning already, but I’m going to make pancakes when I wake up. It’s a family tradition for celebrations.

  That sounds nice. What can I do to make that easier for you?

  You can sleep, for starters. I’m not going to be in the mood to wrangle sleep-deprived guys with fight and booze hangovers. That can be your job. She gave him a small smile that he returned with a small salute.

  Phina resumed her sleeping position and finally drifted off.

  She woke when she heard loud whispers indicating Todd was doing his appointed job. Sighing, she checked the time and saw that several hours had passed and it was an hour most would be up anyway, although perhaps not after having such a late night. She left her blanket on the chair and went into the kitchen to make the pancakes for everyone.

  After some time, during which she heard the buzzing of conversation and the water running in the showers, Phina slipped past Rickie and Ryan, who were discussing the different sounds that could be made with varying body parts, and deposited the mountain of pancakes, syrup, plates, and utensils on the table where everyone could get some. She called everyone in to eat and went to get a quick shower and change.

  She came out to see everyone sprawle
d out around the apartment, some still eating and others finished. She moved to enter the kitchen when Alina asked, “Phina, are you planning on working out? You’ve got your exercise gear on.”

  Phina turned to see Alina snuggled next to Maxim holding a mostly empty plate, while his had been polished off. She gave her best friend a shrug and attempted to act like it was no big deal with being the center of attention, particularly with her tight but stretchy exercise clothes on.

  “I was hoping to get a workout in. At least an hour or so. I need to do something physical to release some tension before we get caught up in wedding things.” She attempted a smile, but it didn’t get very far. She wondered if that was what had partly driven the guys to fight last night, but maybe they just liked using their bodies to move as much as she did. Muscle didn’t like to sit still, and most of them had a lot.

  Todd spoke up from the wall he had been leaning against while he ate since there weren’t enough seats. “I’ll go with you. There’s something I want to try.” He looked around. “If any of you want to come, I need Phina to get used to multiple assailants.”

  Phina straightened in surprise, but her eyes brightened. She wondered if that would give her more of a challenge. “Sounds good.”

  Hallie nodded, sounding eager. “I want to watch. You guys should have seen it. I threw a punch at her last night, and she just grabbed my hand and stopped it without any effort.”

  “You threw a punch?” Craig asked, looking at Hallie in surprise.

  “What happened?” Ron frowned in confusion, his manner studious, though his clothes displayed he’d had just as interesting a night as the others. “I thought we were the ones at a fight club, not you guys.”

  Hallie blinked and spoke almost hesitantly. “Oh, it was…”

  “A misunderstanding,” Phina finished firmly.

  Yeah.” Hallie gave her a small grateful smile. “A misunderstanding. It’s all good now.”

  Phina smiled then turned to the kitchen. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll be ready.”

  She entered and moved over to the table to see an empty platter. Correction, a mostly empty platter with one lone pancake.

  “You guys couldn’t have left more for me?” she called.

  “What are you talking about? There were at least three there.” Yana stepped in as she spoke, then stopped in confusion at the single pancake. She put her hands on her hips and walked out with an attitude as she continued, an edge in her voice, “All right, who took the rest of those pancakes?”

  Phina shook her head at the ensuing discussion and spread syrup on the pancake before rolling it up and walking out. She waved it as she walked through the group to emphasize her point.

  “It’s fine. One is enough for now. I think less is better before a workout anyway.” She turned at the door and smiled at everyone in the room. “Thank you all for coming to celebrate Maxim and Alina’s upcoming wedding. I hope you had fun.” She looked around until she found Maxim and Alina with their arms around each other’s waists. Tears sparked at their happy smiles and seeing how close they were. She gave Alina their hand sign for “I love you,” then decided that leaving before the tears fell was a good idea.

  “See you all later if you aren’t coming with me.”

  She flashed another smile then hurried out, hoping to use the walk to calm down.

  And eat her rolled-up pancake.

  QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Training Room

  “So, they are going to get straight into the fighting?” Hallie asked as they sat down by the door to watch.

  Alina nodded as she settled herself and flipped her hair back. “Phina usually learns quickly. Maxim said she’s one of the fastest people he’s trained. She often doesn’t need to see something done more than once and then she does it herself, so they can move through techniques more quickly that way. Then she practices it on her own in between training sessions.”

  Masha frowned as she looked at the group on the training area of the floor discussing how they would approach fighting Phina. “But they aren’t demonstrating anything. And this is her first time fighting multiple people? They have five guys over there. That’s too many.”

  Alina shrugged, then smiled at her best friend, who stood at the far wall covering her ears to help her not hear the guys’ conversation. She had grown resigned to seeing her best friend fight when Phina had first started, and now that she saw how much the girl enjoyed it, Alina couldn’t help cheering her on.

  “I’ve seen Phina fight before, and that was when she was trying not to die from overload. I’ve been watching her since she woke up, and the foggy confusion that was in her eyes over those last couple of months before the coma is gone.”

  Phina had told the short version about what had happened to the women last night since most of them knew the wedding had been delayed because of her coma. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed how she moves, but that’s changed, too. I don’t think you need to worry about her, but if there’s a problem, Todd is watching instead of fighting, so he will stop it.”

  Peter had left for work, but he told them he would be watching the feeds to see how it went. Everyone else had followed them to the training room, both to spend more time together since it had been so long since Maxim had gotten together with his friends from the Etheric Academy at the same time and because they were all curious about what Phina could do after her flip off the bench in the bar last night, as well as when she had stopped Hallie. Alina had been surprised about that, too, and she had seen Phina training before.

  Todd nodded at the guys in front of them then turned to call to Phina. “We’re ready.”

  Phina nodded as she dropped the towel she had held over her ears and walked to the middle of the room. Glided over. She moved like a dancer, as if always ready to move.

  Alina had a little daydream, wondering what it would have been like if Phina’s parents hadn’t died. Would she have continued with gymnastics? Phina had quit after they died because her aunt had said it was a frivolous waste of time and money, something that Alina had gotten upset over and one of the few things Phina had argued about with her aunt before recently.

  Maybe Phina would have branched into dancing. The times Phina had done gymnastics or danced with her eyes closed, when Alina had been able to convince her to have a dance party, had been some of the few times Alina had seen Phina set aside the weight that always seemed to be on her shoulders.

  Phina wouldn’t talk about it much, even to her, but from what she did say, Alina knew Phina felt like the people in the Empire needed her. Not like they did with the Empress. No one could do what Bethany Anne did or replace who she was to the Etherian people. Phina needed to be ready to help and protect them from the shadows while the Empress led from the front. Like a failsafe was what Phina had described, although she hadn’t used those exact words.

  Alina wanted to make sure her best friend was taken care of now that she was getting married. Phina should never feel alone.

  She watched intently as Todd spoke to Phina, giving her a smile and a quick touch on the upper arm before moving to take a spot on the side to watch as the guys circled Phina. She moved into her ready stance and briefly closed her eyes before opening them with a different focus.

  Oh, yeah. Todd definitely had the hots for her best friend, and Phina liked him back, which was as rare as a sale in Alina’s favorite shoe store. Rarer, since Alina couldn’t remember there being another time Phina had expressed interest in anyone even obliquely. Alina grinned and began scheming while the guys sparred.

  And so did Phina.

  “Oooohhh.” Celeste breathed in surprise as Phina ducked under Tim’s punch, then slid under Joel’s guard to kick out his knee before knifing her body into a handspring that shot her feet into Joseph, causing him to stagger. Phina was already moving, launching herself off Joseph and into a forward handspring. She landed straight and launched into a flying roundhouse that caught Craig in the head. Hallie sucked in a quick breath but let it ou
t when she saw Craig was dazed. The guys paused in surprise at how quickly she had moved, then quickly resumed the bout.

  “Wow.” Scattered mutters of surprise came from the women around Alina, as well as Ron, who had sat out with Alina and the other women. Ron had said that last night’s escapades had been enough for him for a while.

  Phina had landed on the floor and immediately was caught from behind by Ryan, who held his arms around her. Instead of getting out of the hold, she grabbed his arms and used them to hold herself up as she brought her feet up to kick Tim as he moved in. The force caused him to jerk at the impact, but being such a big guy, her kick didn’t do as much damage as it would have to one of the others. Ryan released Phina at the sudden weight on his arms and she dropped into a crouch and rolled under Tim’s legs.

  Alina moved from side to side, trying to see around Joel and Joseph, who had moved in front of the group observing from the side. It looked like Tim had bent down to grab Phina’s hair, but Phina had grabbed his wrist and pulled as she continued to roll, causing him to topple over.

  The next that Alina saw, Phina ran a step before jumping onto Joel and locking her legs around his neck. As he reached up to grab her legs, Phina used his head to give her leverage to pull herself up and around and sat on his shoulders.

  Phina clapped the poor guy open-handed on his ears as Maxim came up behind the two of them. Since Maxim was the taller of the two guys, Phina reached back and used his head to pull herself into an aerial somersault as Joel fell to his knees with his hands over his ears.

  Alina knew Phina’s core muscles were strong from the gymnastics and pole exercises she did. Part of Alina wished that she could have muscles that strong, but she consoled herself with the knowledge that her more feminine curves made her damn sexy. Since Maxim didn’t seem unhappy about her lack of physicality, Alina decided to put away that wish and be happy for Phina that she could do these amazing things.