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My hand gloith my power held in check, and I slowly spun to Mica Fine We could get the hard part over with first

"That is enough!" Newt said as she stood, and the laughter slowly ebbed

Trent carace and bound anger--and that he was strong enough to stand beside ood, his feet barely see to touch the floor, and the tips of his hair floated, waving before his brilliant green eyes

"That could have been a mistake," he warned Mica as he stood a little in front ofan unsaid threat "Don’t do that again"

Adrenaline seemed to rake overKu’Sox down," he growled "I don’t stand with you anyet to Al before he ju Running away again

"Fine," I snapped, and sohed "Run off so they can killBut put a playrooet Lucy"

Dali’s head jerked up, and I swear I heard Jenks’s dust sizzle, on fire "He what?" Jenks shouted, but I was staring at Al, reading his shock He wasn’t going to jump out now, and that’s all that mattered

"Mother pus bucket," the demon said, his blocky face pale as he looked froh "I will not be responsible for elf brats!"

Trent’s presence edged in beside ain, and it was all I could do to not take his hand, but big bad-ass runners facing down a coffee shop full of demons do not hold hands "I had the papers drawn up six s unoes to you You’ll hold the elven future, Al"

"Oh my God," Newt breathed, and Jenksfrom him like stardust

"I will not!" Al bellowed as he spun and fussed, but I could tell he was flattered The de inside that someone--anyone--trusted their children to hi, but bad-ass runners didn’t do that either

"It’d be easier just to let both of us live," I said, but only Al, Dali, and Newt heard hter "And if you kill just one of us, you won’t survive the revenge of the other I promise you that"

Al was speechless, a hand on the table as he tried to understand

Newt gave a long, ed, she slipped out from the booth "Gentlemen?" she said softly, then shouted it, "Gentlemen!"

Slowly they quieted Trent and I backed to the middle of the room There had to be at least fifty de click on It didn’t sht it would

"Gentlemen," Newt said a third time as she smoothed her robes "I propose we take the tih Rachel’s proposal"

"I do not make deals with elves!" Mica protested "They’re chattel! Slaves!"

No one moved, either away from him or toward him They were balanced, and I forced myself to breathe

"Perhaps," Newt said, voice as silky as a slinking cat "But they haven’t spent the last two thousand years trapped in a bubble of reality kept alive by tenuous threads of energy as we have been Rachel is a demon She’s also the elven Tal Sa’han, the one ays the actions of the putrid, stinking chattel of an elf You can strike a deal with her--can you not?"

My ed back until I could feel Trent’s warmth Tal Sa’han Quen had called me that once in bitter sarcasm, and while Mal Sa’han held romantic overtones, Tal Sa’han did not It wasn’t exactly an adviser, but rather the person the Sa’han thought of when he made decisions I ask myself: Will this decision take me closer or farther from you? And then it’s so clear Even if it doesn’t make sense at the time, resonated in me, and my pulse quickened But he wasn’t the Sa’han It was a title awarded by fealty, and no elf looked to him anymore Because of me

"I will not bindhtful place!"

"You don’t know that!" another demon exclaimed "What happens if we’re pulled back when the sun coloith black smut "What if we aren’t?" he proposed

Trent inched up to stand besideas he took in the demons with a professional eye "They’re divided," he said, breath tickling "

I suppose, but I’d bethemselves Did it ht he was? It wasn’t as if they’d ever coreee as she came to stand beside me in a clear show of support or perhaps protection "Where do you want to be next week, Mica?" she said, and I shivered at the certainty in her voice "Alone in sood with people terrified of you? I’ve done that It gets boring fast I’ve looked at these human laws, and they’re more complex and devious with loopholes and clauses than Dali can structure in a thousand years Their court systeles the mind with the red tape that can be used to twist ends If we can’t work our ithin them, then we don’t deserve the na, but only a fraction were happy, and none was convinced

"We have a chance to be a part of soain," she said, stock-still "All in favor of playing by the rules andRachel our liaison with reality-based law?"

I jerked, and beside runted "Hey, wait a"Aye!"

He was the only one

"Opposed?" Newt said cheerfully

"Nay!" I said, panicking "I never agreed to this!"

"Never!" most of the demons had shouted, but a feere silent, and I panicked soest you leave, Mica," Newt growled, and I swear the air sparkled around her "Go away so we can get on with it"

But only Dali had agreed, and I pulled on the line,as I yanked what I could from the rest to try to prevent a bloodbath