New World Order (War of the Fae: Book 4) Read Free Page A

you that Falco didn’t ... make it.   The arrow pierced his heart, and it was spelled.   If it hadn’t been, he might have been okay, but ... ”
    “That’s dirty!” yelled Tim, clearly incensed, his voice much higher than normal, “The fae don’t play dirty like that!”
    “Says who?” I asked, my ears not believing what they were hearing.   “I’ve never seen one of those Dark Fae play fair yet.”
    “No, that’s not true,” insisted Tim.   “The fae have an innate sense of fair play.   We fight, yes – but we fight fair so the real, true winner comes to the fore.   We don’t stoop to those kinds of tactics.”
    “Well, apparently the Dark Fae do.   So we need to step up our game.”   I turned in Tony’s direction.   “What do you think, Tony?   You’re the chess master, slash, training coordinator.”
    There was a pause while Tony measured his words.   “Well ... I haven’t been fae for long, so I can’t speak about fair play from their perspective; but I can say that if we’re not willing to make hard decisions, to spell arrows for example, then we will be at a distinct disadvantage.   And Jayne affected the green elves’ arrows with her power, so I don’t see how that’s any different.”
    “But where does it stop?” asked Scrum, quietly.
    “Where does what stop?” asked Tony.
    “Well, how far are we willing to go?   Spelled arrows is one thing – but I can think of worse.   And my grandma used to say, ‘you can’t un-ring a bell’.    Seems like that could apply here.”
    Wow .   The voice of reason coming from old keg-o-beer-himself.   I was beginning to think that all of the daemons had secrets.   First Jared, then Chase, now Scrum – hiding in the outward appearance of a clumsy oaf, but inside another story altogether.
    “You’re right, Scrum,” agreed Tony.   “There are some lines that we shouldn’t cross.   Torture is one of them, in my opinion.   We shouldn’t be doing things like that.”
    “Tim says we are,” I said, without stopping to think about it first.   As soon as it was out of my mouth, I regretted saying it.   Now they knew Tim was a snooper.   But the bell was rung, I guess.   Come to think of it, I’d rung a lot of bells in my time that I’d wished I could un-ring.   A lesson to contemplate another time.
    “No, we’re not,” said Tony, firmly.   “The gray elves are very clear about that.   We don’t use torture, and I’m totally in agreement with them on that.   We don’t need to do that to win.”
    “Well, Tim says someone’s doing it here.   He was outside a door when he heard someone inside being hurt.”
    “Tim, tell us what you know,” demanded Tony.   I could tell from the tone of his voice he was getting cranky.   “Jayne, tell us what Tim was saying.”
    “Who?   Me?” said Tim. “Oh, I was just messing around.   It’s nothing.   Really.”   He yawned overly loudly.
    I frowned in his direction.   “Stop dicking around, Tim.   I know you weren’t lying before.”
    “I’m tired.   I’m going to bed.”   Fake snores, coming from over near my dresser where his bed was stationed, reached my ears.
    I rolled my eyes, earning only one gasp this time.   Shit , I kept forgetting about the zombie eye thing.   “Sorry.   Listen, Tim.   We need to find out what’s really going on here.   I don’t like all the mystery and games.   I’ve already completely trashed my eyes.   Falco’s dead.   Becky’s gone to who knows where.   I feel like we’re only working with half the information we need.” I decided a little threatening was in order.   “Come on.   Cooperate.   Or I’m gonna sic Maggie on you.   Your wings will be fully grown, in what?   Four days?   Less maybe?”   I had to give him both barrels – otherwise he was going to pixy around all night on this, and I was tired.
    “You wouldn’t!” he squeaked.
    “Maybe not.   But I would move you to Scrum’s room.