At first he didn’t respond, his blue eyes two ice chips of fury. He watched the harpy with a killer’s face, a muscle leaping in his clenched jaw.
Once upon a time, that expression would have scared her spitless. Funny how things had changed. She tugged harder at his arm, injecting more authority into her voice. “Quentin, walk away with me right now.”
Finally his attention snapped to her. She smiled at him, and he jerked his head once in a nod. Still, she entwined one arm firmly with his as she led him to one side. When Eva made as if to join her, she sent the other woman a warning glance, and Eva responded by hanging back several steps.
At six-foot-two, Quentin stood half a head taller than she did. Even though she now knew that he had a strong enough Wyr side that he could change into his animal form, she still saw a strong resemblance to an Elven heritage in his graceful bone structure. Like Dragos, Quentin was broader in the shoulders than most Elves. His mixed race heritage had given him a spectacular combination of strength and beauty.
Before Dragos, she had enjoyed having a crush on her sexy boss. Now the crush had comfortably and quite irrevocably settled into friendship.
“Someday I’m going to fucking kill her,” Quentin said between his teeth. “Just so you’re warned. That harpy is unendurable.”
“Okay,” she said, soft and quiet. “You’re not going to get any argument from me.”
His gaze fully focused on her. “That looks like blood on your clothes. Are you all right? You weren’t hurt?”
“I wasn’t hurt,” she told him. “The blood isn’t mine.”
“Well, that’s something, at least.” He put his arms around her with a deep sigh.
She hugged him tight. “Did I see you fly in on the pegasus?”
“Yeah, that’s Alex,” he said. “Going through the Games together has given us a chance to do some bonding. He’s a really good guy. I hope he wins through to the end. I think the sentinels could use someone as even tempered as he is.”
She glanced over her shoulder, noting that Alex had separated himself from the sentinels once Quentin had walked away. The pegasus stood nearby as well, watching the events in the clearing unfold, his hands on his hips.
She turned back to Quentin. “Are you okay?” she asked gently. “You’ve lost some people tonight, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, I did,” he whispered. His eyes were bloodshot. “But I’m not the only one. A lot of folks lost people tonight.”
“Can I do anything for you?” She rubbed his back.
He shook his head and gave her a not-quite smile. “Other than keep yourself safe, no. Thanks.” He looked around at the devastation, his expression turning grim once more. “I’m just glad Dragos did the decent thing and mustered the Wyr to help.”
Quentin made no secret of the fact that he disliked Dragos, nor did Dragos hide the fact that he tolerated Quentin for Pia’s sake. When Pia had asked Quentin about his decision to enter the Sentinel Games, he had told her, “I don’t have to like Dragos in order to decide that I want to invest in my community. He may be Lord of the Wyr, but he’s just one man, after all. The Wyr demesne is a lot bigger than he is.”
Now her answering smile turned wry. “You sound surprised at the thought of Dragos doing something decent.”
He searched her mild expression. She could tell he was looking to see if he had offended her. When he saw that he hadn’t, he shrugged. “Yeah, what can I say,” he said. “You’re always going to be the best part of him.”
“I think that might be the only thing you both agree on,” she told him.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Thanks for the de-escalation. I’d better go see what I can do to help.”
“Okay.” She gave him another quick squeeze and let him go. “As long as you go in the opposite direction of Aryal. Just avoid her completely. Nobody needs any more strife right now, Quentin.”
He glanced at where Aryal and Graydon were still arguing, and his face hardened, but he said, “Fair enough.”
He kissed her cheek, then walked away to join Alex. She turned to find Eva, and as she did so, she looked around at everybody else in the clearing. Many people, both Elves and Wyr, were watching the sentinels.
Just as many Wyr, if not more, were watching her as well, their expressions closed and unfriendly. Jolted, she looked from one person to the next. Each Wyr turned away when her gaze fell on him or her.
They didn’t have to meet her eyes or say anything. She could see what they thought in their faces.
They thought she had started the whole thing.
She thought back to how everything had begun, a few minutes ago, then back to last year, and her mouth compressed into an unhappy line.
Maybe they were more right than she wanted to admit.