Page 41 of Shattered Magic
Vega shrugged. “My people had lives before I met them and will have lives after we part ways. If they want me to know, I will know. She cleared the security check. That’s all I needed to know.”
Zerul raised his brows. “You run checks on your staff?”
“Of course. You don’t need a clean record to work here, but it helps if we can keep it from becoming a blackmailing point. We pay very well, and jealously sometimes crops up.” Vega shrugged and took a sip of her mocktail.
Hari cocked her head. “Why are you drinking that?”
“I am done with alcohol for quite a while until I can pour it myself in the quiet of my own home. That was a helluva trip.”
Hari was concerned. “Are you doing well?”
“Yes. Rash is gone, and being home is helpful. I think I was jonesing for my computer.” Vega smiled.
Hari grinned. “How is it living with Arkus?”
Arkus grunted. “I am dealing with the village and trying hard to get the point across that their alienation of those who didn’t manifest into their people is short-sighted. They have spent so much time reinforcing their insular practices that they have made it law and partially religion. It is difficult to shake that sort of thing.”
Hari stared. “So, you really are an ancient god.”
Vega rolled her eyes and took another sip.
“Sort of. My original form was different, not shaped like this. The icon that I was trapped in was confining, but it was my original form.”
Vega spluttered and pulled her drink away. “You have got to be kidding.”
Arkus grinned and leaned in to blot her lips with a napkin. “But I like this form very much, indeed.”
Chapter Eight
“Vega, you have to give me a hint.” Hari smiled.
Arkus chuckled. “Three words—claws, tail, wings.”
Hari blinked. “Really? I thought your kind were extinct.”
“We were vulnerable to a specific type of attack, and I am guessing that the wave has not seen fit to bring my people back into the world at large.”
Vega snorted. “It must have been an extranatural skill wielded by a woman.”
“It was. How did you know?”
“Flash them a pretty face, and they will let you walk right up to them.” Vega snorted.
Arkus shrugged. “And then all I had to do was remain locked in the metal and spellwork until a woman of silent power picked me up and held me.”
Vega snorted. “You make it sound like I didn’t trip and find you in a stream then dried the amulet on my shirt.”
“And while her power is silent, her mouth didn’t have to be.” Arkus grinned.
Hari blinked. “I always wondered what happened to Vega that day. She never said.”
Arkus shrugged. “I spent the first week getting into every cell, every pore. I just kept her from talking about it. In the first few days, I could have been removed or expelled.”
Vega snorted. “You are admitting to being a parasite.”
He shrugged. “I don’t care.”
Zerul chuckled.