Persephone Alcmedi 00 - Wicked Circle

here,” Zhan answered for me. “The perimeter guards are set up and in position.”
    I leaned over the table to peer out the window.
    “They’re camouflaged,” she said, pouring a cup of coffee. “You won’t see them.”
    “What about the other sentinel?”
    “Waiting in the car out front.” She joined me at the table. “Ares wouldn’t be quiet about someone new in the house, and I didn’t want to wake you.”
    I smiled. “Thank you.” Her consideration was remarkable. Well, to me it was, perhaps not so much to the sentinel stuck in the car. “Who did he send?”
    “Ivanka Chernov.”
    The plainness of her voice was atypical. “And?”
    Zhan sipped her coffee. “And what?”
    “What’s her story? Do you think she’s a good choice?”
    “She came to this country as a Russian mail-order bride. Her husband had a heart attack and died a month after the wedding. Nine months later she signed on with Menessos. That was almost six months ago. I think. Since then, she’s been well trained and is very disciplined.”
    “That’s a very tidy description.” I smirked. “Now say what you honestly mean.”
    “She’s scary dangerous and overbearingly stern.”
    “Stern?” I asked.
    “She sees everything in terms of her rank, above this one, under that one, and is eager to climb up the status ladder. She’s smart, but her strict adherence to the rules and regulations keeps her from seeing the bigger picture. So, she’s unlikely to accommodate your ‘unusual’ requests unless you pull rank. And her English is pretty basic.”
    “She’s been here over a year. Won’t speaking English help her make rank?” Johnny asked.
    “Yes, but she’s not much of a conversationalist, so mastering the language hasn’t exactly been her priority.”
    Johnny put down the spatula. “What has been?”
    His authoritative tone stunned me. Zhan hadn’t missed it either. “When you see her, you’ll know.”
    I could feel heaviness fill the room, and the weighted silence made it hard to breathe. “Does she like bacon?” I quipped. “This could be a good time to bring her in.”
    Zhan opened her mouth and shut it again without answering, then left.
    To avoid the pup going into a sniffing and snarling conniption, Johnny coaxed Ares into the garage with another slice of bacon. “I have to give Zhan credit,” he said, putting a plate with eggs and bacon in front of me. “She’s more than a pretty thug.”
    “Minimum IQ for an Offerling is two standard deviations above average.”
    “Intellect doesn’t always mean someone is perceptive. Or adaptable.”
    I picked up my fork and teased, “Is the Domn Lup saying he trusts a certain Offerling?”
    He brought his plate and sat across from me. “Do you remember the exchange she and Kirk had at your mother’s right before the pack had to leave because of the spell?”
    “Yeah. Kirk charged her with your safety. And she accepted it.” It wasn’t quite that simple, but it was an adequate summation.
    “Zhan hit it on the nose when she pegged this Russian chick as a by-the-book, rank-and-rule-abiding Offerling.”
    “You make it sound like rule abiding is a bad thing.”
    “It can be. It sounds like she’s a . . . a . . . drone, Red. That kind of sentinel will protect you and die for you, period. But a sentinel who can think independently, who can understand the master’s bigger goal and bend the rules to be a team player in support of that goal, that’s a rarer person, a rarer kind of loyalty.”
    A bite was ready on the fork, but I didn’t eat it.
    “You need to know who you’re dealing with and what you can expect of them. In no uncertain terms, Zhan just told you.” He shrugged. “If you expect rigid adherence to rules, you won’t make a fine-line request that bites you in the ass.”
    We locked gazes for a moment, but when the front door opened, we both ate. Still, I watched Johnny. A few months ago, he would have been flirting shamelessly with me the whole time we were alone. Now, he was telling me how to lead people. I was proud of him, glad for his shared insight, but I was also sad for the loss of our carefree days.
    A tall woman appeared in the doorway. She had short, spiky black hair and a beautiful oval face that didn’t have a brush of makeup on it. Because Zhan usually wore business casual, I had expected something similar of the new sentinel. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
    Ivanka wore a khaki green T-shirt and military fatigues.