Allie's War Episodes 1-4(100)

The echo of water splashing against the fiberglass tub drowned out his voice as I turned up the faucet. He spoke louder, but I still missed a few words.
“...Most of our females won’t touch him, truth be told. There’s rumors about what he did when working for those Rooks, some of it to women...”
“Eliah,” I called out. “I can’t hear you. Can it wait?”
He raised his voice. “I could see it, if you just wanted a roll. Hell, he sells it, so he’s got to be competent at least...”
Wishing I hadn’t heard that part, I bit my lip, but his voice again rose above the water.
“...But gods almighty beyond the Barrier, Alyson...how in the realms of hell did he talk you into marrying him? Was there coercion involved? Because, love, if so, you have grounds for severance. Even apart from what he’s done since...”
I’d been about to flip on the shower nozzle when I froze, hearing his words as they replayed in my mind. I just stood there for a few seconds more, half bent over, wearing only my underwear. I watched water flow out of the silver tap.
“Allie?” He paused. “You know he’s got no social status to speak of, right? Hell, I think he’s officially still in penance. You’ve basically elevated him about ten ranks, just by agreeing to the bastard...and I don’t see anything in it for you. Then he treats you like this...”
The linoleum blurred.
My mind pieced together words, fragments of conversations, references. I remembered the look on Ivy and Ullysa’s faces in the kitchen when I wouldn’t go to him that morning, his half-assed apology about Kat, the constant, oblique references to whatever happened between us that first night we spent in Seattle...
“You know it’s illegal for seers, right?” Eliah said.
“Illegal?” I repeated numbly.
“Infidelity. You need permission. I’m assuming you didn’t give him that?”
I stood there, unable to answer. Thinking about Jaden, my parole, the look on Kat’s face when she thought I’d offered her Revik...
Tugging my shirt back over my head, I turned off the water.
After standing by the door a second more, I opened it, and found myself meeting the serious eyes of Eliah, one blue and the other a near black. He started a bit, to find himself facing me so suddenly. For a moment we just looked at each other.
Then my jaw hardened, and I nodded.
“Okay,” I said. “Order food. I have a few questions.”
For a moment, Eliah only looked at me.
Then he broke out in a grin.



I sat curled up in one of the round-backed chairs that passed for comfortable, a half-eaten plate of oysters on the counter next to me. I wasn’t hungry any more, but food and alcohol seemed to be the way to get Eliah to talk, just like it was with most humans.
Eliah himself sprawled on an identical chair to my left, drinking a beer as both of us faced out the balcony door to the sea.
I forced my attention back on the room, and on him.
Mechanically, I smiled at something he said.
“Really?” I said. “...What did you do then?”
He grinned, eyes glassy from alcohol. “I just picked myself up,” he said. “...Dusted myself off. Pretended I’d meant to stick my hand in that letter box.” He returned my grin, seeing me shake my head. “Those poor worms...”
I stiffened and he added apologetically,
“...Humans. We end up acting fairly idiotic around them sometimes, just to avoid the hassle of an exposure threat. It’s a real bitch to get your license back once it’s been yanked. And it’s one thing to move undetected by humans. When you’ve got the Sweeps on your arse, it’s a whole other story.”
He gestured around us, pointing to the television and the stocked bar.#p#分页标题#e#
“But hell...this is my home. Living in caves, chanting...not the life for me. I don’t much fancy being sold at auction to some rich dickhead, either. Clan tattoos get burned off, you know. Overambitious Sweeps who want a bit of extra cash and get bought off by the traders. Of course, being in the Guard protects me from most of that. Even the Sweeps won’t mess with the Seven too much. They don’t want to risk the Adhipan on their arses, either...
“...Thank Christ,” he added, leaning over the arm of the chair and swigging more of the beer. “But there’s the flip side of that, too. If I don’t make the effort to act a bit human-ish, the Sweeps would have me living out in the middle of Mongolia somewhere, milking oxen. Not much of an improvement, really.”
“The Sweeps?” I said, puzzled. “But they’re human, right?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I’thir li’dare...that bastard Dags doesn’t tell you anything, does he? No. The Sweeps is part of the World Court, yeah, but they’re culled from the clans. They’re the police. Couldn’t rightly be human, could they?”