Laire snorted, but in no other way did she acknowledge the man’s existence. Instead, she studied the bark of a tree as if her newest spell could be found there.
Fallon stepped towards the man, not bothering to try to drag Laire with her at this stage. “Don’t mind her. She’s in a mood.”
“Hey! Don’t go apologizing for me.”
As Fallon came ever nearer, the color of the man’s eyes under his squinty gaze became clear, the same blue as the noon sky before a storm. “Thanks for meeting us on such short notice.”
The struggle he had to take his attention away from Laire was visceral, the whole of his body attuned to the smaller woman who stayed far away. When he did pull away after long moments, the full weight of his gaze was palpable, the strength and heft of it giving veracity to the truth of stories told deep in the night, in voices soaked in fear, words raw and choked. “Better not count on underhanded tactics working again, Red. I won’t always be so available. Still kinda upset about what happened to my man under your watch.”
Fallon stopped a rough foot away from him. In less than a second his eyes mapped out their positions, every tree and rock in relation to them, how her sword was placed and probably caught over half the hidden weapons on her body. As she was doing the same thing, Fallon couldn’t hold it against the guy. “I know the Blackguard has a certain reputation to uphold, Griffith, but don’t lie. You had no more use for him than we did.”
Griffith folded his arms across his chest, and it didn’t matter the man was five-nine and barely above average in terms of height or body mass. Anyone with a sense of self-preservation would be quaking under the menace he was projecting. “That’s on me. He was still mine until the moment he wasn’t by my choice. I don’t play that shit.”
“Kyo has assured you it won’t happen again.”
“Kyo isn’t the one I’m worrying about.”
Fallon inclined her head to acknowledge the small verbal jab, then pressed on. “Let’s talk about the future. The Guild needs your services again. Are you interested?”
Griffith pulled back on the posturing, the message sent and received, and a more cunning light entered his eyes. “Tell me the service and if I’m interested, we’ll talk payment.”
“Hadrien. He’s gone underground, and we want him.”
Griffith scratched the side of his jaw, his eyes shrewd on hers. “Heard he disappeared. He’s not the level the Guild usually worries over.”
“As is often the way of things, he got himself mixed up with the wrong people while involved in big plans, and is now the key to some dealings.”
“No surprised about the wrong people – only kind he associates with. Big things, that’s new.”
Since he hadn’t looked at Laire for a whole ten seconds, Fallon took it as a sign of interest and pressed. “Can you find him for us?”
His head tilted, and a world of pro and con rushed through his eyes at light speed. “Ain’t gonna be easy. Little shit has lots of friends in low places, the kind best for hidin’ you.”
Time for a well-placed strike at professional pride. “But you can do it, right?”
That worked, with Griffith puffing out his chest for emphasis. Well, more like he took an extra-long breath, which for Griffith was near the same thing. “Lucky for you, I got plenty of those type friends myself.”
“What price you asking?”
As if drawn by force, his eyes found Laire again, and this time he didn’t look away after a split-second of taking her in. Subtle Laire was not. Fidgety she damn sure was, and it only took a few moments of being under Griffith’s direct stare that Laire turned on her spiky little heel and glared at him.
Under that glare Griffith’s mouth widened into a grin, transforming the almost dour handsomeness into something boyish and unfettered. Laire’s glare faltered, transformed into something much more hesitant, and she jerked her head to the side to be away from that gaze once more.
His grin died as well, though his focus was all Laire, even as he said, “I’ll contact Kyo and discuss.”
“Sounds good.” Fallon stepped back, not quite turning her back on him. “Always a pleasure, Griffith. We must do this again sometime.”
“Don’t expect me if you do,” came Laire’s voice, muffled somewhat considering she was turned away from them.
Griffith shook his head, an indulgent smile playing across his mouth as he stepped back behind the tree and disappeared from sight.
Fallon still didn’t quite turn around, not until she was beside Laire and grabbing her arm. “C’mon, you big baby. I need to drop you off and get somewhere.”