a binal.” I hitched a shoulder up and let it fall. “No, I could never see Corin in that manner. Probably because he will forever be that little boy that snuck me sweets and eagerly agreed to my terrible plans. Once, I wished things were different. Oh, yeah. I had dreams during my worst times that we would be together, and he would protect me like he promised he would, but those were wishes of a girl. Sometimes, I think he only wanted to be a hero, save the poor princess.” I waved my hand around before clasping them behind my back. “Either way, Corin is simply a friend. For me, at least. But what about you? The two of you have been spending an awful lot of time together lately. Even more than usual.”
She flushed once again, drawing a snicker from me, which only deepened it. “Well, I, uh, think he’s nice.” She grimaced and twisted the cloth of her cloak around her pointer finger. The cloak became form-fitting as she rolled more and more of it.
My eyebrow rose, and I turned to look at her. “Nice? Really?”
She blew out a breath and opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Suddenly, her entire body sagged in relief, and she grinned, gesturing at something in front of us. “I think this is the meeting room, isn’t it?”
With a frown on my lips, I looked and saw that we had indeed arrived. When I glanced back at her, she seemed to bounce with the sensation of victory pouring out of her. I hope she realizes that this isn’t the end of this conversation.
Only a few feet from the door, she halted suddenly, and when I spun to see what was wrong, I found that she had lost all of her color. The hand that had strangled her cloak was pressed to her stomach. Her eyes darted around as if she searched for an exit.
“What if,” Grace squeaked out, then cleared her throat. “What if I mess this up?”
“Then, you mess it up.” I shrugged. “I’ll chime in with some convincing story if you float way off the point. They’ll mostly argue amongst themselves, anyway. It’s like tending to children in there.”
I paused, nodding to a Reaper that skirted around Grace. She stood in the center of the hall, unmoving and trembling.
Sighing, I grabbed her arm and tugged her to the side. She peered up at me, eyes wide, mouth parted as she sucked in air like she was in a competition to see who could use the most.
“Okay, I’m going to give you some guidelines, a list.”
Before I could start listing ‘rules’ for her to follow, she blurted out, “I love lists.”
I nodded and patted her arm. “Yes, I know. When you enter, do the whole dip of the chin thing to show respect. They like that. Sit beside me, don’t say anything unless you’re asked, and listen to everything. Most of the time, it’s ridiculous, but you can still learn things. When they ask you how matters are progressing, make up some numbers that seem reasonable.”
“But what if they’re the wrong numbers?” Her question ended on a screech.
“Then they’re wrong, and next meeting, I’ll tell them it was just initial normal start-up glitches. They use that excuse all the time on items that have been in place for ages. Lastly, if they probe about anything unrelated to the OMIEB or, more specifically, your role within the OMIEB, either defer to me. Or say that the question does not pertain to your role, so you are unable to answer it at present.”
She nodded, her brows creased while she bit her lip. She wasn’t in danger of passing out any longer. Her breathing had slowed to a reasonable rate, but she also looked very concerned, and honestly, like prey. They would eat her alive if she entered like this. Some Masters could pick up on weakness without it being so blatantly obvious, but with it plastered across her face, they would use it. They would consider it fair game because she hadn’t even tried to hide it.
With a last-ditch effort, I grabbed her by both shoulders and twisted us both, so we stood face to face. She jerked her head up, her mouth forming an O.
“If you feel you can’t handle it or simply need to, just say the word cannibal, and I’ll distract them,” I instructed her.
“Cannibal?”
“Yeah, it’s some Earth thing that Kian keeps talking about. I think it’s mostly for