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"This looks like the Super Bowl," she cried
Havily nodded She leaned close and spoke into her ear "It’s tilanced at her and snorted Also leaning close, she said, "Do I have a choice?"
Havily shook her head She straightened her spine "Give ’ee of the cordoned-off battle terrain, a lake of blackwhite diamonds
Once at the rope, Havily stopped The applause had not ceased, nor the stoain, on several well-placed screens she saw her face, her serious expression, as Havily leaned close and spoke into her ear
"The area to the left belongs to Endelle’s faction and the opposite, of course, to the Co of any kind and return to the white dia you restorative drinks"
She then inclined her head and glanced in the direction of the stands "You ant to acknowledge Madaaze and watched as the Supreh Administrator of Second Earth nodded to her Alison returned a formal dip of her chin The Warriors of the Blood flanked Her Supreht and four on her left They wore the saalia as Kerrick All remained seated Beyond, thousands of Militia Warriors, boththeir feet Her gaze slid to Kerrick, seated just to the left of Endelle He aze, put a fist over his heart, then inclined his head to her Though the gesture brought tears to her eyes, it also calmed her, eased her
At least until Havily motioned with a sweep of her hand to the break in the ropes
The time had come
Her heart pounded in her chest, in her throat, in her head Her ears rang Oncethis last step, she glanced at Havily, who aze, then sent, I will beseech the Creator for help on your behalf She offered a solemn formal bow then turned and walked in her sedateothers dressed in similar formal business attire
Alison suddenly wished she was back in her beat-up Nova, heading for the library, or Starbucks, or the nearest AMC She wished she’d never heard of the Borderlands or the Trough or Second Earth And why on earth had she ever sent that hand-blast into the air?
Too late now
Thein the ropes, the decibels of the shouting on both sides increased exponentially She moved to take her place in the white diah Adaze came to rest on the Commander, on Darian, her former client, now her enee, tall-backed carved chair She still wondered the why of it, the year of therapy, what he could have meant by it and why he had chosen such a public place to orchestrate her death
His faction was surprisingly lacking in poenerals bore a few feathers and interesting hats, which harked back a couple of centuries However, in the thousands of seats beyond him, his warriors, many of them death vampires, sat in quite plain black uniforle of ant suits, a crisp white shirt, and a ear, no thick row of
He appeared, therefore, as she had always known him, the way he had come to her office in his expensive wool His beautifully shaped bald head glihts He leaned to one side, slightly to his left, both wrists settled on the armrests of his chair He appeared relaxed yet wholly in coh him
Had she ever really known hih his araze, s -and-spoon race at a picnic
Whatever
Uncertain exactly as expected of her, she rather thought that if she was going to fight one of the Coht to be arht appeared in her le, swift rip
A treorous sto of feet She took up the warrior stance, learned from Kerrick’s me She waited noith her left hand behind her back
Endelle’s crowd continued to cheer and stoht her blood pressure down a little and her deter with her sword balanced next to her, Endelle’s aran to boo quite suddenly
The eneh from where she stood she could not yet see hih, stationed just outside the arch of a tunnel at a diagonal from her position A moment more and his face appeared on the screen, followed once more by a sharp increase in audience response
Alison drew in a sharp breath
Leto The warrior who had coh, who had thrown the shredder bomb in the alley, who had appeared on the street flanked by death vampires while Kerrick had driven her absurd little Nova away from the don Phoenix Borderland
Leto Foreneral A traitor
God help her