Page 158

My stomach suddenly felt a little funny. “What the fuck do you mean, ‘recommendation’?” I wanted to know.

“How would you like to be a fed, Hart?”

I felt a moment of guilt, because Ward and Doc had been abso-fucking-lutely amazing to me, both as bosses and friends.

“I still get to help Beyond the Veil when they ask,” I said to Raj.

“I thought you might say that,” he replied. “I’m okay with it as long as you don’t reveal anything classified without getting them clearance and you don’t let it distract you from a more serious case.”

“And I should probably talk to Taavi first,” I added.

“That goes without saying. But I want to know if you’re seriously going to think about it, or if I should start clawing another tree.”

“Don’t claw any trees,” I told him. “Because I’m definitely interested.”

* * *

By the timeI got home, I was buzzing. I wanted this. It was a way to go back to doing what I loved, what I wasgoodat. And it was a way to do it as part of the FBI’s A-branch, a group of investigators who were also Arcs and Arcanids. Would there be bigoted shit? Sure. But there was bigoted shit everywhere. At Beyond the Veil we got it from extremely stupid clients. I got it in the street from the general public. Of course I’d get it at the FBI. But at the FBI—unlike the RPD—I was going to be in a position where I would have colleagues who were like me, even if we didn’t alllookexactly the same.

Taavi was cooking, and I didn’t bother to take my shoes or my coat off before I launched into it.

When I finished, I studied his familiar, beloved face, trying to read it. Trying to figure out if he was going to be okay with me going back into criminal investigation.

“I assume they’ll give you a gun?” was what he said first.

“What?” Not what I’d expected. “I mean, yeah. Butthat’syour first question?”

He looked amused. “Obviously you’re going to take it. I just want to know how worried I need to be.”

“Obviously?”

Taavi set down the spoon he was using to stir something that smelled like black beans and peppers and came over to put his arms around my waist. I held him close, looking down at the smile-lines formed around his bi-colored eyes. “Yes, obviously,” he replied. “Val, this is in your bones. You can’t help it. And I’d much rather you do it having Raj and Drew at your back than running off by yourself without backup of either the physical or legal variety.”

He had a very good point.

“So you’re okay with it?”

He stood on his tiptoes to kiss me. “I’m happy that you’ll have a team with you. And I’m happy that you’ll be happy.”

“But?”

“I’m going to worry, Val,” he replied, going back to the beans. “But I’m going to worry about you either way.” He turned to look at me. “But of course you should do it, if that’s what you want.”

“It is,” I blurted, then felt my ears turn pink.

Taavi smiled. “I know,” he replied.

This time, I went to him. “You always know,” I complained, although my heart wasn’t really in it.

He laughed. “I know that, too.”

EPILOGUE

Six months later.

It was hot as fuck,because of course it was—it was July in Virginia. My shirt was soaked through with sweat because Rajesh Parikh is a bag of furry dicks and was making me do honest-to-fucking-God physical training.

And not the human-level shit the RPD had put me through. No, I was A-branch now, so my ass had to get elf-strong, not just elf-normal, which was still stronger than most humans. Raj argued that I had to get into fighting shape so he wouldn’t have to save my lily white ass again.