Several cars waited at the front of the house, and the king’s entourage moved as a collective hive through the door. I took up a place at Xander’s left shoulder, trailing behind him, hyperaware of my surroundings.
Something caused a traffic jam in the flow of moving bodies, and another murmur ran through the crowd. A few words reached my ears, such as wish and Jinn, and I said a few of my favorite curse words under my breath.
“Who is he?” Someone demanded from the front of the queue.
“He is my bodyguard’s . . . bodyguard.” Xander said in an exasperated tone.
Raif turned to me, a deadly expression planted on his face. I was in deep shit for this one. I shrugged; it was the only thing I could think of doing. I’d told Tyler to stay put, but I guess without the words I wish to precede the order, the command carried little weight.
The crowd parted, and Tyler stopped just to the side of the king, giving him a clear view of me. Without making eye contact, he bowed slightly in Xander’s direction. But he locked his gaze with mine.
“You were in trouble this morning.” It was more of a statement than a question.
I kept a stoic countenance. “Tyler.” His name came out sounding a little strange because my teeth were clenched. “This is business. You remember business, right?”
“Your safety is my business,” he said. “You remember that, right?”
A thousand acts of violence against Ty flashed through my mind. Embarrassed to the point of nausea, I wanted nothing more than for the ground to open up and swallow me whole. Heat rose to my cheeks, and a wave of anxiety—or was that excitement?—rippled through me. If he was this protective of me at the mere notion of trouble, I could only imagine how he’d behave if I were truly in danger. “Tyler, I’m fine. If I were in any real trouble, you’d be the first to know.” I did nothing to correct the hard line of my lips. Exciting alpha-male moment aside, I was still pissed, or, more to the point, embarrassed , and I wanted him to be one hundred percent aware of it. “I have one more place to be today, and we’re going to be late. We’ll talk about this later.”
Tyler smiled, a knowing expression, like he’d put me in checkmate. “It just so happens I’m representing my delegation at the PNT Summit as well. Mind if I ride along?”
Oh, great.
He turned his head in Xander’s direction but didn’t bother to look away from me. The king shared a silent exchange with Raif and sighed. He stepped through the parted crowd and climbed into his car.
I shouldered my way past Ty and ducked my head into the backseat of a sleek, black limo along with Raif and Xander. Before I could close the door behind me, Tyler jumped in and slid beside me, to make an already uncomfortable moment unbearable. He and I faced Raif and Xander, and not a single one of us spoke.
The king glowered at Tyler, and it should have burned a hole right through him. Raif seemed merely amused, while I opted to stare out the window and watch as we negotiated traffic. I’d been utterly embarrassed, and I didn’t think I could look any of them in the eye again. The car rolled along the city streets, while its company sat brooding. I was having an internal argument with no end in sight.
I didn’t know if I loved Tyler. At the moment, I didn’t even know if I liked him. Aside from his constant proclamation of I’m yours, I had no clue whatsoever to his true feelings. What the hell was that supposed to mean anyway? I’m yours. My what? My slave, my guardian angel, my own personal pain in the ass? Of course he cared about me. You don’t just give your life over to someone that you’re not particularly fond of. But what was this between us? I knew about as much about tender feelings as I did about my own Shaede nature. Would I even recognize love if it slapped me in the face?
“Darian, did you hear me?” Raif asked.
Shaken from my thoughts, I looked at Raif. “Sorry. What did you say?”
Tyler snickered beside me. I wanted to punch him in the face.
“I will sit beside the king and you will be posted at his left shoulder. Most of the representatives present will have security personnel, and they’ll be standing, like you. In the past, you would have been referred to as a shield bearer. It’s a formality for the most part, a long-standing one, and not usually performed by a king’s champion. But after this morning’s near miss, I think it’s better to be safe than sorry by having a formidable warrior stand at Xander’s back.”
“What near miss?” Tyler interjected before I could ask Raif what in the hell a king’s champion was.
“Mind your own business,” I said.
“You are my business.”
“Darian killed a Lyhtan attacker this morning,” Raif said, ending the discussion. “She stood like a true warrior and sent her enemy’s soul into the light. I might add, with no help from you, Jinn.”
I couldn’t help but smile that Raif thought so well of me. Tyler sank into the leather seat, pissed and pouting like someone had taken his lollipop.
Xander didn’t speak the entire ride. A couple of times I caught him staring at me, but when I met his gaze, he looked away. He might have been nervous about the Summit or upset that Tyler had tagged along. Whatever the reason, he was in a darker mood than I’d ever seen him, and I didn’t like it at all. He tapped his foot impatiently and folded his arms in front of his chest. A deep sigh escaped his lips and he glared in Ty’s direction.
We drove along the waterfront to the Industrial District, near Xander’s warehouse. The heavy, sea-tangy scent of Puget Sound made me think of Azriel. He loved the almost-musty odor, too thick for a deep breath. Where had he been hiding these past few months? He could’ve been right under my nose the entire time, for all the attention I’d paid. Because of his lies and misinformation, I’d all but lost myself in the populace. A virtual ghost, wary of making contact with anyone or anything, lest my true nature be discovered. But thanks to Raif and his obsessive-compulsive training tactics, I was ready. And when I got my hands on him, he’d damn well wish he’d stayed hidden.
Chapter 19
Not far from the building where I’d trained for nights on end with Raif, we arrived at the location of the Pacific Northwest Territories Summit. The commercial-sized warehouse looked like it had at one time been a storage facility for the large metal shipping containers sometimes seen on tankers. A few of the steel boxes remained, stacked neatly to the sides and rear of the complex. A chain-link fence, topped with curls of razor wire, guaranteed the place would be left alone. A metal mesh gate slid open on electronically controlled wheels, and the limo crept through the entrance, depositing us just outside a gaping maw of a door.
Rows of lights illuminated the central space of the building, and four long tables had been set end to end, forming a large square. In the center of the square sat a great, round brazier. Inside the shallow bronze bowl, bright orange flames danced and frolicked. An assortment of bodies milled around the warehouse space, some with their own entourages hanging unobtrusively behind.
Tyler walked right past me, winked, and joined a group of delegates directly across from where Xander had decided to settle in. My jaw dropped and I quickly snapped it shut, hiding my curiosity at Ty’s role in this strange meeting of mystical creatures. He inclined his head toward his neighbor and flashed a cheerful smile, then nodded to someone a few groups down. I’d never seen him look so comfortable, so immersed in his element.