Elven Doom (Death Before Dragons Book 4)

by Lindsay Buroker

  Judging by the uncertain wrinkle to Mary’s brow, she didn’t know if I was joking. I wished I were.

  “Don’t worry about it.” I waved toward her office, but as I started to follow her, I paused. “Wait, what was actually in my record? Anything that might…” I groped for a way to explain Zav and the sister, but it would be difficult to do so without explaining everything.

  Maybe I should. Thus far, Mary had been willing to take my stories about slaying magical criminals at face value, but I wasn’t sure she’d ever met any in person or truly believed everything I said. Maybe she did. If not, she would have been trying to medicate me or put me in a straightjacket, right?

  “We can talk about it during your session.” Mary led me inside and waved me toward the chair.

  The first day I’d come, she’d placed it with the back toward the door, but each time since then, she’d had it with the back against a wall and facing the door and her desk. I was convinced that was the normal position and that she’d been testing my paranoia during our first meeting.

  I surprised myself by telling her everything about my trip to Idaho and what had happened since my return. Maybe my frustrations about the dark elves, Zav’s sister, and dragons in general were bubbling over and I needed more than a magical tiger to vent to. Or maybe I was tired of holding things back and trying to get help based on partial truths. Either way, I spent most of our session blabbing.

  If the uncharacteristic outflow surprised Mary, she didn’t show it. I wondered if she would consider this a breakthrough or a breakdown. Either way, she typed notes into her computer instead of scribbling them into a notepad, as had been her previous habit. Zondia had those scribbles now. I wished I’d asked Mary to see them before so I could better guess what kinds of conclusions Zondia was drawing about me. Not that she’d been subtle about sharing them thus far.

  “I’m pleased that you’ve spoken to Thad and Amber.” Mary always named them, never referring to them as the ex-husband or my daughter. “And that it went reasonably well, given the circumstances.”

  “The circumstances of a dragon trying to kidnap Amber twice? Yes.”

  “And you’re now referring to your crafting acquaintances as friends.” Mary smiled. “Have you decided that they’re capable of taking care of themselves and won’t be in too much danger from knowing you?”

  I paused. Had I? I hadn’t realized I’d consciously started considering Nin and Dimitri friends. “They’re both kind of… in the biz.”

  “The assassination biz?”

  “No, the business of dealing with magical beings or at least making magical things. I guess they’re more capable of taking care of themselves than most mundane people.”

  Nin was anyway. I smiled, remembering her blowing a hole in Rupert’s ceiling because she’d wanted to protect me.

  “Good. I suggest you continue to develop those friendships. Let’s discuss Zav.”

  “Uh, all right.” Why did I suddenly feel wary? Because I’d told her about the claiming bit and she might not understand?

  “During our first meeting,” Mary said, “you mentioned that you weren’t seeking a romantic relationship.”

  “That’s right. I’m still not.”

  “No?” Her face remained neutral, but I sensed skepticism in the word.

  “I’d have sex with him if the opportunity arose, but it’s not like we’re going to get married. He’s not even from this planet. You know what they say about long-distance relationships.”

  I’d hoped for a smile—and her being willing to move to another topic—but she only regarded me gravely, then typed something into her computer.

  “Are you going to get judgy about me having casual sex with people I don’t want to get involved with long-term?” I asked.

  “No. It does sound like it would be a problematic relationship.”

  “Right. We’re working together right now, and even that’s problematic. Even if the sister weren’t around, it wouldn’t be a good idea.”

  “Though he would, if everything you’ve told me about dragons is true, be able to take care of himself around your enemies.” Mary smiled slightly.

  “It’s his own enemies he has to watch out for.” But I knew what she meant. That was the reason I’d given her for my avoidance of Thad and Amber and my unwillingness to gather new friends. In the past, people had died because they’d gotten close to me and my enemies had found out about it. I’d lost one of my best friends that way, and I was terrified of having that happen again. “But yes, I wouldn’t have to worry about an orc gunning him down in the street. The problem is, the sister aside, I’m not sure he gets that claiming me doesn’t mean he owns me and can control me. Sometimes, I think he gets it, but sometimes, he gets all huffy and dragon on me.” I thought of his threatening words and glares to other men who came close to me. Like a possessive boyfriend. Only Dimitri hadn’t received that, but if Zav could read minds as easily as he said, he knew Dimitri had no attraction toward me, or any other woman, apparently.

  “Dragon?” Mary prompted.

  “Yeah. Like, in their society, if the dragon claims you, they’re basically taking ownership of you and will have a loyal slave girl, or at least that’s what it sounds like. Or a slave boy. I gather it can go the other way and doesn’t have to do with gender, just with who’s the dragon and who’s the lesser species. Lesser species are supposed to be so enthralled by the dragon that they fall over themselves in their eagerness to please him or her.”

  “Hm.” Mary typed a few notes.

  I wondered what she was getting at with these questions about Zav. She admitted it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to have a relationship with him. A part of me wished she hadn’t. What if she’d said you only live once and if you get the opportunity, you should definitely let him push you up against a wall and have his way with you? That had almost happened. Where might that have gone if I hadn’t mentioned my apartment and if his sister hadn’t shown up? To explosive levels of pleasure and passion, I gathered from how things had started out.

  Mary was studying me. I wiped the stupid, speculative grin off my face.

  “What do you think?” I waved my hand casually. “Workplace romances are always a bad idea, right?”

  “Romances with men who think they own you are a bad idea.”

  “Oh, I know that. I just wasn’t sure about the rest.”

  She gave me a hard-to-read look. “As I said, I’m not here to tell you what to do, but you do seem less glum since you’ve started associating with more people.” One of her eyebrows twitched. “And you get a goofy grin and touch yourself when you talk about Zav.”

  “I do not touch myself.”

  She looked at my hand. Hell, it was on my chest. I snapped it down to the armrest and glared at her.

  “And how’s your health? Have you been doing yoga and your breathing exercises?”

  Uh, no. “I’ve been kind of busy.”

  “I would love for you to take relaxation more seriously.”

  “Me too. I just need life to slow down a bit.” I considered the last couple of weeks. “I actually needed my inhaler less than usual while I was over in Idaho.”

  “Ah? Perhaps you subconsciously were more relaxed being engaged in an assignment where you didn’t have to kill anyone.”

  “I don’t mind that. I only kill people who deserve it.”

  Her eyebrow twitched again.

  “Honestly, I found it more stressful than assignments where I just have a target to get rid of. I’m not a P.I. And I’m not… Well, I’m not dumb, but I’m not a genius. I know my limitations. Willard’s the one out of Intel. She does the brain stuff.”

  “Maybe you found it relaxing to reconnect with Thad and Amber again.”

  “I’m glad now that I did it, but that was stressful too. It’s probably that the air was less polluted over there. I’ve noticed my lungs tighten up when things get emotional and I’m frustrated, but they’re also majorly affected by environmental
stuff. Mold kicks my ass. I’m annoyed at how many of my enemies live in underground lairs marinating in mold and mildew.”

  “I see.” She sounded dry. Did she think I was in denial? “Then perhaps you should get an air purifier for your apartment and see if that helps.”

  My phone dinged. That wasn’t my usual text or phone-call buzz.

  “Hang on.” I frowned as I pulled out the phone and saw an alert from the app for the doorbell-camera I’d installed.

  At a tap, the video popped up. Someone had stood in front of the doorbell for long enough to trigger the alarm. My frown turned into a groan as a familiar black-leather-wearing and lilac-haired woman was displayed. I showed it to Mary.

  “The person who took my record, right?”

  Mary squinted at the display. “She does appear to match my receptionist’s description. Is that your apartment?”

  “Yes.” I turned the phone back to me in time to see Zondia lift a hand and blow my door inward. The camera blacked out. “Damn it. I have to go.”

  “Will you confront her?” Mary asked. “Didn’t you say she was a dragon?”

  “Yes and yes.”

  Confronting her might not be a good idea, especially if Zav wasn’t around to stop her from surfing in my mind again, but what else was I supposed to do? Let her ransack my apartment and keep screwing with my life?

  10

  On the way back to my apartment, I decided that if Zondia was still inside, I would volunteer to let her read my thoughts.

  The main secret Zav and I had been trying to hide was that I’d been the one to kill Dobsaurin, but all those dragons knew that now. The only other thing we were worried about was that they would find out Zav hadn’t truly claimed me. But, in the eyes of his people and his law, hadn’t he? What did it matter what I believed? I was the lowly lesser species that he’d claimed. Maybe my wishes or beliefs didn’t matter. Besides, if Zondia saw into my thoughts and saw that I had no intention of betraying Zav, she ought to leave me alone.

  As I pulled into my parking garage, I wondered why it hadn’t occurred to me to let Zav read my thoughts. Or why he hadn’t asked if he could do a scouring or a probe—whatever the dragons called it. He’d said he couldn’t read my surface thoughts the way he could with most species, but Shaygorthian and Dobsaurin had been able to dig deep into my brain and pull out information. It had hurt like hell, but they’d been able to do it.

  Maybe that was why Zav hadn’t suggested it. Maybe there was no way to do it without causing pain. But if I could let him see without a doubt that I didn’t plan to betray him, wouldn’t that be worth enduring some pain?

  Yes, I decided, but I would rather he do it than Zondia. Even as I jogged toward the elevator, prepared to walk in and volunteer myself for this, I hoped I was too late and that she was already gone.

  But she wasn’t. I’d sensed her aura as I’d driven closer and, as the elevator rose, I could tell she was still on my floor, still in my apartment.

  It had taken me twenty minutes to fight traffic and get over here. What was she doing in there? I didn’t have a diary to read. Maybe she was watching Netflix or perusing my Lord of the Rings books. How offended would she be if I asked if she had a job back in her world that she should be doing?

  When I stepped off the elevator, a neighbor was eyeing the shards of wood littering the floor in front of my blasted-open door. Her arms were full of canvas grocery bags from the store on the first level, and she continued past, only glancing inside. Thankfully, no gouts of fire streamed out at her.

  As I approached, I drew Chopper. I considered summoning Sindari, but he hadn’t had any more luck fighting dragons than I had. At least Chopper could cut into them—if they let their guard down.

  You will not succeed at harming me with your dwarven toothpick, Zondia spoke into my mind.

  I don’t want to harm you. I want to pry your scaly butt out of my apartment.

  I stepped into the doorway, ready to spring aside if a gout of fire roiled my way.

  It did not. Zondia was in the open kitchen scowling at something on the counter. Other than the broken-down door, she hadn’t destroyed my apartment, at least not to the extent that the dark elves looking for their book of alchemical recipes had. Drawers were open, and the files on my desk had been strewn around, but it was a relatively modest ransacking.

  “My butt is smooth and sleek.” Zondia looked at me over the counter, her violet eyes ice cold.

  “I’m sure whatever mates you’ve claimed will appreciate that.”

  “I assume you have not shown this to Zavryd’nokquetal?” She raised the poster he had given me shortly after we met, one of himself posing in human form with his leg up on a chair. There was a hole through the face, courtesy of the dark elves.

  “I think I told him about it.” I couldn’t remember. “He hasn’t been in here for a while.”

  “You told him that you created a likeness of him to pin on the wall and put holes in? What did you do? Throw your sword at his face?”

  “He had the poster made for me, and it was a dark elf’s bone knife, not a sword.” I crossed the living room, realizing how that poster could look to the suspicious Zondia, and opened the drawer where I’d stuck the blade. “This is it.”

  I showed her, but if she recognized it as dark elven or the object that had pierced the poster, she didn’t show it.

  “I never did find out which ones did it,” I said, “but they also stabbed a hole in one of my bras and pinned it to the door with a note. Did you see that while you were illegally trespassing and rummaging through everything in here?”

  “No.”

  I tossed the knife onto the desk. “What will it take to get you to leave me alone? If you find proof that I don’t have any bad intentions toward Zav, will you return to your world and let us capture the dark elves who are threatening my people and who killed a bunch of shifters in another world? Your mother ordered him to find them.”

  “I know this.”

  “You’re interfering with that by playing tricks on him and getting him to leave Earth.”

  “To leave you. For his own safety.”

  As I stared at her, not sure what to try next to deal with her, I had the sense that I was dealing with someone young. Someone young but very powerful. Much as Zav did, she radiated that dangerous aura of a predator. She could kill me easily without even trying.

  “If I had proof,” Zondia said, “that you are genuinely smitten with him and not plotting against him, I would leave.”

  The reasonable statement surprised me. I hoped she meant it, since I was about to volunteer my innermost thoughts to her.

  “Do I have to be smitten with him? Can’t I just think he’s okay and not plan anything nefarious toward him?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Your lust for him suggests more than feelings of okay.”

  “Humans can lust after people without being enamored with them.”

  Her lip curled. Maybe that hadn’t been the best argument.

  I lifted my hands. “Listen. I’m willing to let you read my mind without fighting so you can see for yourself. Will that satisfy you?”

  Her eyes stayed narrowed. “Some elves are gifted enough telepaths to trick even a dragon into failing to see truths that are there.”

  “I’ve never met my elven family or been off Earth. I have no training in magic. Do you really think I’m one of those people?”

  She looked me up and down and seemed reluctant to admit, “No.”

  “Right. Let’s get this over with. What should I do?”

  Another neighbor with grocery bags walked past, gaped in at Zondia for a long moment, then scurried away. I wondered if someone would call the police. My break-ins had become famous in the building, and it had been a while since anyone had reported one. Admittedly, they were usually done in the middle of the night and didn’t involve my door being entirely removed from the frame.

  “Cover the door so we will not be interrupted,” Zondia said.
/>
  “You’re the one who broke it. Can’t you put it back up?”

  She glared at me.

  I sighed, walked through shards from the frame, and picked up the door, my locks still secure. Too bad the jamb had been destroyed right around them. The doorbell camera dangled from wires on the hallway wall. I examined it, amused that it was still working—it looked like the only reason I’d lost the signal was because it had been facing the wall. I stuck the camera back on the wall and shifted the door so that it leaned over to cover the entrance. That would have to do until I could get to the hardware store. Lenny, the superintendent, had said months ago that I’d surpassed the maintenance money allotted for any one apartment, so I was on my own for repairs.

  Zondia sat on one end of the couch.

  “Oh, good. We get to be comfortable for this.” I sat on the opposite end.

  She frowned at me and pointed at the floor in front of her feet. “Put your sword aside and kneel.”

  “Kneel?”

  Was she joking?

  “Kneel here where I can touch your temple.”

  “You were going to do this on that rooftop. You didn’t need me to kneel there.” I was certain she only wanted to show her power over me.

  “You may also lie at my feet if you wish. The scouring is painful. You may black out. Would you not prefer it if you did not fall and hurt yourself?”

  “I’m willing to take that chance. And why can’t I keep my sword?” It occurred to me that I had no reason to trust her. I trusted Zav, but for all I knew, everyone in his family was a dick. His mother had threatened me before leaving this world, and it wasn’t as if Zondia had been cuddly so far.

  “I will be somewhat distracted by reading your thoughts. You could see it as an opportunity to strike at me.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re all paranoid. How can people so powerful be so paranoid?”

  “Because the lesser species have sought to kill us and dethrone us for countless millennia.” She squinted at me. “Do you not know what it is like to be hunted?”

  I sighed. “Yes, I do.”