“Hey,” she reached out and caught his hands. “Let me.” She gathered up the marvelously silky stuff and tied it into a ponytail with a blue bandana from her purse. He leaned down as she worked and rested his forehead against her shoulder. “There, there. Everything will be fine.”
He took a deep breath and whispered, “My domi.”
“Yes, yours.” She felt like she was lying as she offered what little comfort she could. If she understood the conversation between Prince True Flame and the Wyverns earlier that evening, though, their union was temporary. Somehow they needed to find a way to make it permanent. He needed her as much as she needed him. Maybe more.
But first, food, and then someplace to live.
Not surprisingly, their food order was given top priority. Within minutes the counter girl handed over a small mountain of French fries and a torpedo-shaped turkey sandwich that she called a hoagie.
Olivia and Forest Moss took over a hastily vacated booth. The Wyverns remained standing, watching for attack.
Her first bite explained why the diner was packed so late at night. The fries were amazing: hot, crispy goodness with a cheese sauce that tasted like food of the gods. Knowing that her tummy would make her regret pigging out on them, Olivia switched to the turkey hoagie. Thankfully it was its own bundle of awesome: crusty fresh bun, wonderful smoked turkey breast sliced thick, and sweet homemade pickle chips. The nausea passed and Olivia was able to consider the future with slightly clearer mind.
Pittsburgh had a population of something like two million people living in the metropolitan region at the turn of the century. It now had less than a hundred thousand. Vast sections of the city were standing empty. Finding a place to live was at once easy and very difficult. Some areas were safer than others, thus more densely populated. She had been on the fringe of South Side, which had the river to protect the neighborhood from saurus and wargs. South of that, people clustered close to the light-rail system with only adventurous types setting up farms beyond. The commute from the South Side, however, required two bus rides, one to downtown and a second up Forbes Avenue to Oakland. True Flame made it clear that the elves needed Forest Moss nearby and fully functional.
Oakland would be a better place for their new home. It would put them near to the royal troop encampment and the Wind Clan enclaves. The triangular neighborhood, however, was another popular place for humans to live. The Monongahela and the Allegheny Rivers protected two of its three flanks from dangerous animals. The Wind Clan enclaves at the Rim created a barrier along its third. At the heart of this zone sat the third largest employer, the University of Pittsburgh. Unlike the rest of the city, Oakland had very few empty buildings.
Since illegally entering Pittsburgh, Olivia had only been in the neighborhood three times. The first time was a full day of looking unsuccessfully for a place to squat. The second was a few days ago, seeking out Forest Moss, sight unseen, to propose to him. The last was now. She knew only the three main streets: Forbes Avenue that the buses came up, Fifth Avenue that the buses went down, and the Rim that bisected them both. She didn’t want to go wandering around in the middle of the night in a strange part of town, looking for something that might not exist.
Forest Moss was watching her as if his life depended on her. And perhaps it did. At least, his sanity seemed to.
She realized with a flash of guilt that she forgot to ask him if he was hungry. He skipped their last meal because there hadn’t been enough for two. She pushed the mountain of french fries toward him. “Eat some while they’re hot.”
She had to show him how to pick them up with his fingers to eat them. Did elves not do finger food? She had no idea what was normal table etiquette for elves. Did they eat with forks and spoons? Chopsticks? Sporks? Surely elves weren’t so lazy as to make one utensil do the work of two.
There was so much she didn’t know about elves. She had only taken Elvish through online homeschooling as an act of rebellion. All ten of her stepbrothers and her four stepsisters were learning Spanish, a practical second language when Kansas was just a few hundred miles removed from Mexico. Unlike the other whores on Liberty Avenue, she had no obsession with elves.
It was the distance of Elfhome to Kansas that lured her to Pittsburgh. She thought that she would only be totally free if she could hide on another world. All she had managed to do was trade one set of problems for another.
To be fair, things had gone well at first. She found a good solid home in a safe neighborhood. She had a job at a bakery. She was starting to make friends. It had seemed like she would be fine.
Then the war started and her life went down in flames.
Currently she had the clothes on her back, a ten-pound bag of keva beans, and a purse full of elf gold bullion.
Forest Moss reached out his hand and took hers.
And one half-mad elf lord with a very scary personal guard.
She was exhausted. The Wyverns had dragged them out of their bed to go talk with Prince True Flame. It would be hours until dawn. She just wanted to go to sleep and deal with everything in the morning.
The elves, however, had made no suggestions as to where she could find shelter.
She collected the empty paper french-fry boat, the paper wrapper from her sandwich, and the greasy napkins onto the plastic tray.
The Wyvern leader, however, was standing between her and the trash can.
“What is your name?” Her Elvish wasn’t up to knowing how to politely ask someone to move out of the way.
“Forgiveness,” he bowed slightly. “I’d forgotten that you do not know our ways. I’m Glaive Smites the Sun.”
“I need to put this stuff into the bin behind you.” Olivia refrained from jabbing him in the stomach with the tray. That never ended well with her stepbrothers; usually she would have to then pick everything off the floor. Their justification was that women were supposed to be meek and mild and kept in their place.
Glaive stepped aside. He watched with interest as she tilted the tray to send the paper items into the bin. It was possible that he’d never seen paper napkins and plates before. They were objects of her “sinful” youth when she’d lived with her father, wore halter-tops and blue jeans, and sang Katy Perry songs. Little freedoms that she’d rediscovered after she’d escaped to Pittsburgh.
With life and death in the balance, she hadn’t considered her independence when she approached Forest Moss. For the few hours when it had been just the two of them, he’d patiently and unquestioningly followed her. It was a day of sweetness that often took her breath away. She thought she’d stumbled into a paradise of safety without tyranny.
After dragging her to Prince True Flame, the Wyverns had done nothing else except to loom behind her. They felt menacing. Their reputation was fierce.
So far the Wyverns had done nothing to hinder her, not intentionally. Their abrupt appearance had triggered Forest Moss into blowing up her house. She couldn’t blame it on them. It’d seemed that the last thing they wanted to do was upset Forest Moss.
The Wyverns, however, had done nothing to help.
They loomed silently; watching without comment. She’d forget that they were behind her except for the reactions of the people around her. Late night customers kept walking into the diner, then turning on heel as they saw the Wyverns and fleeing back into the night.