The man—Ahnsung—didn’t smile or give any indication that he appreciated the humor. It was the opposite, rather, with his brows lowering, as if he was considering a punch to Ridge’s nose. Or something worse. Sardelle might assume this was some superior officer, since Ridge so often butted heads with them, but if this man were in the military, wouldn’t he be wearing a uniform? It was the middle of the workday.
“You here to threaten me again, Ahnsung?” Ridge asked.
“No.” The green eyes closed to slits. “Though you’re fortunate you weren’t here last month. I would have shot you if you had been.”
Sardelle gaped. Ridge merely grunted and said, “Not surprising.”
Last month? What had been happening then? She and Ridge had still been up at that fort.
“You’re about to take her into trouble again,” Ahnsung said.
All at once, the puzzle pieces snapped into place. Her. Ahnsung. Last month, Lieutenant Ahn had been reported dead. This must be a relative. A father? Nobody had spoken of such a person to her, but other than the weekends at Ridge’s cabin, when she had been more intent on teaching Tolemek, Sardelle hadn’t spent much time with Ahn. The man was old enough to be her father. Late forties.
“Amazing how quickly news from secret meetings with the king gets around,” Ridge said.
How could this man know what members of his team Ridge was choosing to take on this new mission? He hadn’t told anyone except Sardelle yet, had he? Unless Ahnsung had been spying on them while they’d been walking. If so, he was good. She hadn’t sensed a thing. Jaxi hadn’t warned her, either.
I was busy picking up pots and picture frames. And might I point out how lowly a task that is for someone with my talent? You’d think I was someone’s apprentice.
Those years of demeaning tasks shouldn’t be so far back in your memory. You were barely past your apprenticeship when you stored yourself in the soulblade.
Please, I’d been a full-fledged sorcerer for years.
I did look up your history before we bonded,
Sardelle pointed out.
You hadn’t even finished your final papers.
Because I knew I was dying by then. As if I was going to waste my last months writing papers when there were enemies to turn to ash.
Ah, my apologies.
Jaxi seemed to have come to terms with the shortness of her life long before Sardelle had met her, but every now and then, a sense of wistfulness or regret slipped past the sarcastic irreverence.
“If you take her to Cofahre,” Ahnsung said, “I’ll hold you responsible for her.”
“I consider myself responsible for all of my pilots,” Ridge said.
“I also consider you responsible for the fact that she’s running around with that—” the man’s lips twisted into a much more open sneer than the earlier one, “—
pirate
.” Sardelle didn’t need a sorcerer’s talent for telepathy to know that wasn’t the first word that had come to his mind.
“I don’t see how I can be responsible for who she’s involved with—”
“If you hadn’t let her get shot down, she never would have been a prisoner of war.” Ahnsung leaned forward, pointing at Ridge’s nose. “She never would have met that beast.”
“I wasn’t there when she was shot down. I was following my orders to be elsewhere. Even if I had been there, this is a dangerous job, and it’s possible that something will happen someday, something I can’t stop. You’d better reconcile yourself to that. Or, here’s a thought: why don’t you talk to
her
about her work and who she’s sleeping with?”
Ridge was tense. Ahnsung was tenser.
Sardelle loosened the barriers she usually kept around her mind, both for her sanity and to give other people their privacy, trying to get a feel for what Ahnsung intended to do, besides scowl. Was he truly a danger?
His mind was more schooled than Sardelle would have expected from the glacial expression fixed on Ridge, and he didn’t give away much, at least on a surface reading. She did catch Tolemek’s face floating around in his thoughts. This confrontation had more to do with Cas’s new friend than the danger she might be in from Ridge’s new mission. Sardelle didn’t dare dig deeper. Aside from the morality issue, some people could sense sorcerers poking around in their thoughts.
He’s a sniper, and he wouldn’t mind putting a hole into your lover’s chest—they seem to have a history of arguments.
Even if she had been young—and hadn’t bothered with those final papers—Jaxi had been a more skilled telepath than Sardelle ever would be, and she could slip into and out of another’s thoughts without alerting them, usually even when dealing with sorcerers. Not that they encountered many of those these days.
It seems he doesn’t randomly kill people, though. Only if he’s paid. He has contemplated finding someone to pay him to shoot Colonel Zirkander.
Sardelle clenched her hand into a fist. Ridge wouldn’t appreciate having a woman protect him in a fight, but that wouldn’t stop her from doing it if he was in danger.
Why?
Because Ridge was the one to encourage his daughter to join the military, and he backed her up when she wanted to attend flight school. Ahnsung wanted her to follow in his footsteps. Join the family business.
The family business? Shooting people?
Apparently he’s quite well known for it.
Lovely.
“I gather you haven’t spoken to her in years,” Ridge said, after they had glared at each other for a while. “She might appreciate it if you stopped by to check on her.” As if the man’s icy stare mattered nothing to him, Ridge offered a wry smirk. “Let her introduce you to her pirate. Maybe they’ll take you out to dinner. Wait, that might not be a good idea. I hear he has a number of strange potions he can slip into a man’s food.”
Ahnsung stood there seething for a long moment, but he finally lowered his finger. “You like to walk the cliff’s edge, don’t you?”
“Just living up to the name Dad stuck me with.”
Ahnsung snorted softly.
“We’re leaving in the morning,” Ridge said. “She’ll be packing tonight. Plenty of time for you to stop by, say a few words. Give her some fatherly advice on staying alive in enemy territory.”
Ahnsung clasped his hands behind his back. He’d recovered his equanimity and didn’t react to Ridge’s words, other than to look past him again, considering Sardelle and the mess around her.
“Your home is in disarray,” he said.
“It must be those keen observational skills that make you such a fine sniper.”
Ahnsung reached under the flap of his jacket. Ridge tensed again, and Sardelle felt the surge of concern go through him as he wondered if he had pushed the man too far. But Ahnsung merely withdrew a business card and extended it.
“Er?” Ridge frowned at it without taking it.
“In case you are in need of my services.” Ahnsung laid the card on the side of an upended bookcase near the door, then walked away without another word.
Sardelle waited for Ridge to close the door before saying, “Did that man just offer to kill your home intruders for you?”
“I believe so.” Ridge pushed a hand through his hair, leaving it in a state of disarray that matched the room’s, albeit the hair was attractive like that, the room less so. “For the right price. I don’t know what he thinks officers make these days, but I doubt I could afford him.”
Sardelle stepped past a potted plant, the dirt spilled onto the carpet, and slipped her arms around Ridge’s waist to give him a hug.
He returned it without hesitation, resting his cheek against her hair. “What’s this for?”
“All the craziness I’ve brought into your life.”
Ridge chuckled softly into her hair. “I’m not above accepting affections given out of guilt, but I should inform you that my life was hectic before I met you too. In fact, certain colleagues have suggested that my unique personality and unconventional approach to life attracts interesting people and unorthodox situations. So if you’re some kind of repository of craziness, it was probably inevitable that you found me.”
“Were these colleagues who respected you or were they trying to point out a character flaw?” Sardelle appreciated his attempts to make her feel better—and let him know with a touch to the cheek and a fond smile—even if she couldn’t shirk her guilt that easily.
“I believe so, yes.” Ridge sighed and released her with reluctance. “I need to get up to the hangar. General Ort’s already going to be wondering about my diversion. I need to pick the rest of the team, not to mention visiting Lieutenant Ahn’s pirate.”
It amused Sardelle that Tolemek was still Ahn’s pirate to him, even when the four of them had spent several days together out at his cabin and she had started teaching Tolemek to recognize his talent and apply it to more than the creation of potions. Of course, Ridge had done his best to pretend nothing of a magical nature was going on by wandering out to fish, never mind that he had to break a hole in the ice and sit on a snowy stump in freezing weather to pursue the hobby.
“I have to convince him to come along,” Ridge added.
“Tell him you’ll fly past his sister’s sanitarium.”
“That did occur to me. But it’s a big continent, and I don’t know if our destination and his are within a thousand miles of each other.”
“Your fliers cover ground quickly. If you flew at night and weren’t noticed…” Sardelle shrugged. She shouldn’t push too hard. It would be convenient for her, certainly, if Ridge could pick up the sister while he was there anyway, but she would find a way if he didn’t. It would be interesting to see the world and how much it had changed during her sleep. Granted, her Iskandian complexion would be troublesome for navigating Cofahre, but she could manage.
“Two problems,” Ridge said. “First, we still wouldn’t have a spot for an extra passenger. Second, I’m not in command of the mission. I’m just… the flying rickshaw service.”
“No chance the mission commander can be enticed to deviate?”
“It would take someone a lot prettier than me to entice that man to do anything.” Ridge gave her a farewell kiss and opened the door. “My apologies for leaving you with a mess. I’ll come back and help clean it up tonight.” He waved and jogged down the path to the street, his pace quick enough that Sardelle regretted having delayed him by bringing him back here.
She didn’t want to spend their last night together cleaning, either. Of course, if she could figure out a way to go with him, it wouldn’t
have
to be their last night together.
We’re going on a trip?
Jaxi sounded excited.
I’m not sure. Are you willing to ride strapped to a flier like a machine gun?
The view would be better than from under the bed. And you can escape these people trying to blow you up and steal me.
Yes, but I’d rather solve that problem than run from it. Can you describe the people who were here, throwing things around?
Women in cloaks. Not a uniform, but they were wearing trousers rather than dresses.
Like the woman who was following me earlier?
Yes.
Sardelle wondered if she had time to do a little research before Ridge returned from work.
It depends. Are we going to clean the house or leave that for him?
I thought you could clean the house while I went to a library.
Sardelle smiled. She didn’t truly intend to leave Jaxi again, not with people hunting for her, but it was fun to tease her from time to time.
You know, I don’t
have
to stay out of your thoughts when you and old Ridgewalker are enjoying your athletic embraces. I could comment on your technique.
Sardelle grimaced.
Given that you’ve admitted you passed away before garnering any personal experience in that area, I don’t think it would be fair of you to judge.
Oh, but I’ve read a
lot
of books. And had some handlers who were much more libidinous than you. I’ve seen much.
Why don’t we just clean up this mess as a team, then go to the library together?
What a marvelous idea.
Chapter 3
R
idge knew he had dawdled too long when he found General Ort—scowling as usual—and the bland-faced Captain Nowon waiting inside the hangar door, along with a third officer, who wore the elite troops silver badge on her uniform. Yes, her. Ridge blinked and looked twice. Women weren’t allowed into the infantry units, and while the elite troops were a somewhat different creature, since some of the operatives were trained for spy missions as well as for fighting prowess, he wouldn’t have thought many—if any—could pass the rigorous physical tests. She was taller than Captain Nowon, though—only an inch shy of Ridge’s own six-foot-one—and had the lean rangy look of an endurance runner. Her nametag read Kaika, and she wore captain’s tabs on the collar of her uniform. Ridge expected a rigid attention stance and a snappy salute when she turned toward him, figuring a woman would have to be the model of military professionalism to be considered for the elite troops, but she gave him a perfunctory salute, followed by a handshake and a sultry smile that seemed out of place on a rawboned face without a speck of makeup softening the features.
“Colonel Zirkander, it’s a real honor to have been chosen to work with you and your team.”
Despite the sensual smile, she didn’t hold the handshake longer than appropriate, nor did she do anything so brazen as giving him a head-to-toe look of consideration, such as he occasionally received from women. Still, something about the cant of her lips and the twinkle in her gray eyes said she knew how to have fun on the weekends. Her hair was short enough to be regulation without pins, but she managed to give it a flirty sway as she turned her head toward her comrade. Captain Nowon was in the middle of something that almost looked like an eye roll, but the movement was so slight, it might have been part of his perpetual scanning of the area around him—and above him.