otherwise. I’ve used my power to harm, to kill, and will again. That’s a choice we all live with because what we fight against demands it. But we’re not what we fight against, and when there is a choice, we choose what’s right. This is right.”
“Couldn’t have said it better.” Simon toasted her with his beer. “Let’s work it out so when we run up against those arguments, we’ve got the answers. Do you want Duncan in on this?”
At Ethan’s snicker, Fallon sent him a threatening glare. Simon simply looked puzzled. “What?”
“It’s nothing.” With a smile, Lana gave Travis a magickal, motherly buzz. “I’m sure Katie’s happy to have Duncan around. Let’s leave that for tomorrow. So where are these islands, exactly?”
“I’ve got maps.” Rising, Fallon went for her bag, then spread the maps on the table.
By the time she went downstairs, she felt they had more of those answers, and with unified family support a strong force against any dissenters.
When she opened the door to her room, Duncan rose from the chair, set his sketch pad aside. “Took you long enough.”
“I didn’t know you were here. We were working out more details on the islands. You should’ve come up—in. Oh well.”
“It’s a little weird with your family upstairs, and then there’s the idea that if your dad catches me in here, he’ll kick my ass. But.”
“But.” She sealed the door, and went to him.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
As the commanders arrived, Fallon wondered how long the celebratory air would hold after she laid out the proposed agenda.
She greeted Mick and, amused, tugged on the side braid he’d dyed a bright blue.
“It’s an elf thing,” he told her.
“If you say so.”
“A lot of the shifters are going for tats of their spirit animals. It’s a way of—”
“Embracing heritage,” Fallon finished. She looked around at the mix of people. “And a statement. Magickals won’t hide who and what they are. I like it.”
Duncan moved to her, laid a hand on her shoulder in a way that had Mick’s grin fading. “Mick. Like the blue. Mallick’s here.”
“Oh.” Fallon shifted to look for him. “I wasn’t expecting…” She looked back, saw the hurt in Mick’s eyes, felt it. Before she could speak, he stepped back, stiffly.
“I’ve got stuff.”
“Hard for him,” Duncan commented, and had Fallon turning.
“What do you know about it?”
“Jesus, Fallon, I’ve got eyes. I see the way he looks at you, probably because I look at you the same way.”
“Did you come over here to tell me about Mallick, or what, stake your claim?”
“Both.”
“Ass.”
Unoffended, Duncan shrugged as she cut through the room to Mallick.
“You left your bees.”
“They’ll be there when I get back. I thought you might need me here today.”
“I do. I’m glad you came. I expect some strong objections to what I’m going to propose today.”
“Is it a proposal?”
“What I saw in D.C., beyond the battle. In the chambers of power, such as they were? We won’t go back to that.”
She thought of Mick’s blue braid, of tattoos of spirit animals. “Tribes are forming, Mallick, and pride in them. They need their voices heard. And still…”
“They must be led, and united in purpose. There must be laws established for peace to hold when peace is won. That is for you.”
“Then I’d better get started. Will you sit by my side?”
“Always.”
She caught her father’s eye as she walked to the big table, nodded. He gestured to Colin, brushed Lana’s arm.
As they took their seats, others followed.
“I know you all have stories of the battle of D.C.,” Fallon began. “We’ve buried our dead, treated our wounded. I’m grateful to all of you for your leadership. It’s that leadership that will take us from this victory to New York.”
She listened to the cheers and battle cries, the thumping of fists on the table. Tribes forming, she thought again, and war drums still beating.
“We led ten thousand into D.C.” She lifted her voice over the din. “We’ll lead ten thousand and more into New York. The Dark Uncanny rule there, and Raiders burn and pillage its boundaries. While Hargrove’s rule is over, there are still military that hunt us as mercilessly as they do the DUs, who forcibly conscript non-magickals to increase their numbers, and PW enclaves that hold slaves and executions.”
“There won’t be so many of them when we take New York.” John Little gave the table another fist pound. “We’ll cut them down. We’ll lock them up. My troops are ready.”
Fallon nodded, and took the opening. “We’ll all be ready. But we need the