31. Garratt

THIRTY-ONE

Elodie rearranges her skirts and wipes her lips. I smile down at her. Fuck, she’s beautiful when she’s all flushed from her orgasms.

Annoying as hell, still, but beautiful.

“So, you’re playing them?” she asks, hopping up onto the bar and swinging her legs.

“Get down from there. We’re opening soon.” I frown at her.

She waits a moment, then does as she’s told.

“Of course, I’m playing them. You think I’m stupid enough to choose sides in this thing?” I pour her a mug of ale, then one for myself.

This time, she slides onto a barstool as she takes a sip of her drink.

“How long have you known?” she asks, eyebrows quirking with curiosity.

“My mother was a guardian of the library.” I shrug. “She told me all its secrets. I’ve known this was coming since I was a boy.”

“And that’s why you don’t give a shit about whether you live or die,” Elodie says, nodding as if my entire personality has just suddenly begun to make sense to her.

“I guess so,” I muse, downing half my drink. “Just all seems a bit pointless. Eldrion’s mother saw the end of the city. Demons, fire, floods. She saw it. So, what the hell made her think she could stop it? Is that how these things work? She just gets a version of the future and then has the chance to stop it becoming reality?”

Elodie frowns at me. She’s not the sharpest elf in the city, and I’m losing her. But I’m speaking more for my own benefit than for hers.

“Orrr,” I say, biting my inner cheek. “Is that the point? It’s fated to be that way, and every step she takes – any of us takes – is simply drawing us closer to the inevitable conclusion.”

“Which is?” Elodie frowns.

“Death.” I shrug, laughing, even though she looks alarmed. “If you believe in fate, and believe fate has already decided, then that vision is going to come to life no matter what she did to try and stop it.”

“What did she do?” Elodie taps her fingernails on the bar. “You haven’t actually explained. You’re talking in riddles.”

I sigh and tilt my head. I’m unsure whether I completely trust her, but I figure the end is fast approaching so does it really matter? She’s not stupid enough to betray me to Eldrion or Finn at this point; she has too much to gain by being at my side.

“Eldrion’s mother created the empath Eldrion has been seeking. She made her what she is because she thought she’d grow into this powerful being capable of stopping the demons from killing us all.”

“What demons?” Elodie asks.

I shake my head and shrug. “The ones from the vision, I suppose.” This part, I can’t trust her with. I’m not even sure I trust myself with this part.

“But Finn and Eldrion both want Alana? The empath?” Elodie’s voice has become a little nasal. It’s because she’s thinking.

“Finn wants her to kill Eldrion. Eldrion wants her to kill the demons.”

“So, why doesn’t Eldrion just tell Finn about the demons?”

I frown at her. “Because Finn...” I shake my head. “You know what, that’s a good question. I’ll suggest it to him next time I see him.”

Elodie smiles. She actually thinks I’m serious. By the stars, I need to find someone new to fuck. Someone who can hold a conversation about something other than ale or runes.

“What of the Gloomweavers?” she asks, raising her eyebrows. “Is Eldrion going to allow them back into the city?”

I stare at her for a moment, then release a deep chuckle and shake my head. “Elodie, I don’t actually want the Gloomweavers back in the city. You’d be mad to want them back here.”

“But you told Eldrion . . .”

“I needed to make him think I wanted something from him.”

“But you don’t?”

“All I want is for him to think I’m his friend, so that if he wins the fight, I become a confidant. Someone he trusts and bestows with a little of his great power.” I shrug. “And I want the same from Finn. If he succeeds in killing Eldrion, he’ll remember me as the one who helped him do so. And I’ll –”

“You’ll become his aide, someone he trusts...” Elodie rolls her eyes. “Okay, I got it now.”

“You did?” I ask, trying not to show her the surprise I’m feeling.

She bites her lower lip and leans forward so her breasts swell beneath her tunic. “I’m not just a pretty face, you know,” she coos.

Oh, but she is. Just a pretty face.

“Of course not,” I tell her, meeting her lips over the bar and kissing her deeply. When I cup her face and draw a line with my other hand down between her breasts, I whisper, “You’re one of the smartest women I know.”

Elodie blushes and grins at me. “And you’re one of the smartest guys I know.”

Leaping over the bar, I pull up her skirt and bend her over it. I slap her ass, then lean down and bite it. She likes that. It makes her squeal and wriggle back towards me.

As I fuck her, she calls my name, and the patrons wait patiently outside for me to unlock the doors.

I grab her hair and smile to myself.

I am smart.

I’m running this city, and neither Finn or Lord Eldrion have any fucking idea.

Long may it continue.