Chapter 182

High in the air, Wilhelm held his icepack to his bruised knee and sulked while the rest of them used his laptop to call Corrival, Meritorious and the rest of the Dead Men. Nadia was snuggled under Valkyrie's arm wearing her protective coat still and hadn't stopped gripping the back of Valkyrie's shirt since they found each other in Earl's office.

Valkyrie had had words with Tanith and Frightening already. They had thought it was fine as they knew Nadia was competent and able to defend and save herself, especially since Earl had no idea she was there and had the element of surprise. Valkyrie may have taken it too far in saying they were no better than Skulduggery, but she hadn't quite calmed down enough to forgive them or apologise. The bottom line for Valkyrie was that when she hadn't been trained enough, no one would have left her alone to defend herself. Nadia may be older than Valkyrie was at thirteen or fourteen when she wasn't able to deal with someone like Earl, but that didn't make her trained or all that capable of a fighter. She had managed it, and Valkyrie was incredibly impressed with Nadia, it just didn't make her less angry at her sister or friend.

"What do you mean you're in China Sorrows plane?!" Corrival shouted through the computer. "Who the hell gave you the authority to involve her?"

"China was going to find out about our world-hopping escapade anyway," Valkyrie told him calmly… and with some aggression. "We have her promise to help us. She fought with us already against the Spiders, she helped us kill her brother. She's involved and she's on our side. Trust me, she doesn't want these weapons in the wrong hands any more than us."

"No, she wants them in her own hands!" Corrival shouted, his face going quickly red with anger. She'd never seen him this mad before. "What were you thinking?"

"Pa, she's already aware that we intend to destroy them immediately and that they'll never even see Ireland or her." Possibly a lie, she had no idea where they would be destroyed, but as long as literally no one else knew it didn't matter. "She just wants them gone because if they are, there's no way for them to get back to the Spiders later and kill her. Did you know that someone killed three of her bodyguards a few weeks ago? They're trying to target her and get her alone. She doesn't want these people to have any more power than they already have."

"China Sorrows is a capable woman, and manipulative at that. I agree that she has good resources and someone like her is useful as an ally, but she cannot be trusted with this magnitude of information!"

"Well, with all due respect, it has nothing to do with you who I involve in this mission," she told him bluntly. There was a pregnant pause. Her team looked away as she and the Elders stared at each other through the screen. Valkyrie broke and continued. "This is a Dead Man mission. Soon we'll be stealing from the German Grand Mage who we are sure is conspiring to go to war with Ireland, irrespective of the Spiders, and then we'll be doing the same in England. In fact, as far as anyone is ever meant to know, this isn't even a Dead Man mission! We need all the help we can get and if China is offering that then we'd be dumb to not take it. I'm sorry, but that's our place in this."

"Detective," Meritorious started.

"I'm not a detective anymore, Grand Mage," Valkyrie said.

"I hope you're thinking this all through," he said simply, and turned off the call.

Valkyrie sighed heavily and closed the laptop. "That didn't go well."

"But we did what we needed to," Nadia said reassuringly. "You should get some sleep."

"I know," Valkyrie said. She looked at the others. "Don't worry about the Elders. They know they aren't involved; they're just as stressed about this mission as we are. We'll be in Germany soon and should get some sleep. We'll be diving straight into the party when we arrive and we don't know how long it'll take for the Spiders to begin their A-game."

.*****.

Luckily for them, Tanith was the perfect candidate for the mission. Nadia and Aurora had smoothed her hair back and strapped it with pins into a hairnet and secured a pretty but plain brunette wig onto her scalp, gluing it into place and cutting away the excess lace. It had cost them a few pennies but the transformation, after the eyebrow tint and makeup was applied, was astounding. Tanith had always had gorgeous blonde, tousled hair, occasionally straightening it or having it curled lavishly for events. But she had never, ever dyed it and had only recently been involved with a Sanctuary. She was dolled up for hours, pulled a swimsuit on and then a dress and Aurora made sure there was no way for anyone to possibly know she was Tanith Low, a mother, blonde, or allow her natural face shape and cup size be guessable let alone distinguishable.

"That's incredible," Valkyrie laughed, looking at Tanith.

She grinned. "Do you think I look good?" She did a twirl in her skin-tight burgundy dress, balancing skilfully in her black heels. Of course she looked amazing.

"Are you sure you know the plan?"

"Yep," she nodded, and continued in the fake accent that was just enough to make her seem vaguely French but also not so much that it sounded fake. "I'll just mingle for a while, catch the attention of our German and, may I add, happily married Grand Mage, convince him to give me a private tour and then take the knife."

"And replace it with the fake," Valkyrie added meaningfully.

"And replace it with the fake you commissioned. I'm still not sure on that bit," Tanith told her, sitting on the edge of the bed in the tiny back bedroom. It was a wreck in there from all the makeup, clothes and many people sleeping in it. "Are you sure you trust your sources?"

"I wouldn't put you in this position if I didn't," she said strongly. "I'd send Aurora instead."

"Stop," Tanith told her, giving her a look. "Are you certain it'll fool Starke?"

"Yes, Tabitha. Don't doubt it. Because if you do, people will notice. It'll be a quick switch and so fast that no one will have any idea it ever happened. I swear. Worst come to worst, you'll have to incapacitate him and jump through a window."

"I'd rather not," Tanith rolled her eyes. "I hate using this accent."

"Hey, that's your own fault for it being your best impression. Don't blame that on me."

"I think I'll call my parents while we wait and get an update on Baby."

Valkyrie smiled. They had to call Laila 'Baby' around all the other non-family members – normal practice for a mage child for their protection. As far as they knew, even Fletcher didn't know Laila's name and he'd lived with them since before her birth.

Tanith walked out of the room into the main sitting area and got immediately catcalled and jeered by the others. The door swung shut by itself, clicking into place, and leaving Valkyrie with Nadia who'd been silently leaning against the shower wall.

"Are you feeling better?" Nadia asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Are you?"

"You don't seem fine."

"You didn't answer me."

"I'm still a bit shaken, but I'm mostly relieved. A little proud of myself but not that much. I'm mostly just glad that you insisted teaching me how to defend myself and helped me get stronger. If you hadn't that never would have worked."

"Nadia, it never should have–"

"It doesn't matter what should have happened. I don't care and I don't want you to either. I want you to teach me more defence and help me get stronger." She continued in a whisper. "I don't want to be strong like you and Tanith, but I at least need to not have, you know, wobbly bits."

"I like your wobbly bits though," Valkyrie whispered, holding her arms open. "They're soft and squishy."

"I don't like them."

"You're perfect, baby," Valkyrie whispered, looking up at Nadia. Her face was in between her breasts and it was nice. "I swear. If you want to be more toned then that's fine but don't do it because of some self-conscious reason. You're wonderful and your body is too."

Nadia smiled down at her. "I used to be thinner."

"I could see your bones, Nadia," Valkyrie whispered seriously. "I know you don't like talking about then, and that it happened out of stress, but please don't think that I somehow liked you more or you looked better then just because you were thin. I was so worried about you. We all were. We debated going to your parent's house and literally kidnapping you and going to court for custody of you. And at any rate, you are still thin. You're just not bony anymore."

Nadia softly brushed hair behind Valkyrie's ear. "I guess I just feel gross. I haven't shaved in a week and my eyebrows are growing out, and I look like I have a moustache."

"I don't care if you're fluffy."

"I do though," she smiled. "Maybe I'll do my eyebrows tonight."

"Good idea. You can do mine too if you want."

"You barely need to do yours, it's not fair. They're so perfect," she groused, trailing a thumb over Valkyrie's left eyebrow. "It's got a nice natural arch and you don't need to do the top, just that little bit at the bottom and the middle."

"But if I don't do the middle I get a solid black monobrow so where does that leave us?"

"It does not, and you know it," Nadia rolled her eyes. "My eyebrows need plucking practically up to my hairline."

"You're exaggerating."

"Maybe a little, but not much. And I have a little bald spot, right here, see?" Nadia crouched down so Valkyrie could see what she was complaining about. There was not a bald spot, the hairs were just very slightly lighter in one spot, so subtle no one could possibly notice unless it was specifically pointed out to them. "And I have a mole on my neck."

"I have, like, ten moles on my whole body, and a bunch of random freckles, it's the Irish in us. I don't know why you're all of a sudden self-conscious. You're gorgeous, Nadia. Your body is amazing, your hair is amazing. I've only ever loved you and I've never said anything negative. What's brought this on? It's not because your jealous or something is it? I was told people act weird when they get jealous."

"No, I'm not jealous. I'm just feeling gross and hairy and I haven't showered today and I sweated loads on the mission so I smell."

"You don't smell."

"I haven't lifted my arms all night on purpose. Trust me, I do smell and it's pretty rancid. Plus I'm tired and grouchy and stressed and I didn't like how disappointed Elder Meritorious sounded with us. It made me feel crap. And I can't stop thinking about my mother and the wedding and I don't want everyone to see me on my wedding day if I feel like this. I'd be an ugly bride and my Great-Great-Auntie Durga will call me fat and everyone will laugh and my fifth-cousin Ronnie will throw dirt at me like he did when we were little."

"Baby, baby, please don't be upset. Stop," Valkyrie whispered, pulling Nadia onto her lap and hugging her tightly. "Don't cry. You have to hold it together for a few more days, alright? Please honey." Nadia nodded and bit her lip, not letting any tears fall. "I'm so sorry. You didn't need this stress. I didn't realise you were feeling so bad today."

"It's not your fault."

"For what it's worth, you are not going to have dirt thrown on you by your twelfth-cousin Ronnie and if he even looks at dirt when I'm around I'll kick his nasty ass. Okay? And if you think I won't tell your ancient auntie where to shove it you're wrong. She has no right to call you names, and you're not fat anyway. You're still too thin as far as I'm concerned. If you really want to work out with me and get stronger so you can fight, and you think that will make you more confident in yourself, then of course I'd love to work out with you. It'll be fun. Just don't think about anything that'll upset you. Your family will come around before our wedding because I'll make sure of it. By then, the war will be done and the stress will be gone so we can all really focus on them. And when we get married I can guarantee I will cry over how I get to marry the prettiest girl in the world. No one matters apart from you. I don't care about what anyone thinks of us, of me, of what we're doing. I just care about you."

Nadia smiled at her with bright, wet eyes. "Thank you, Val. I love you so much."

.*****.

The Dagger

Valkyrie watched from her crouched position on the boat through binoculars at the house. They were lucky he had a house on the water, and that Grand Mage Starke was willing to attempt to cheat on his wife. Then again, Erskine had informed her when she was about thirteen, when she'd first met Starke, that this was his eighth wife. Possibly his ninth, if you class a girl he married and immediately abandoned some four hundred years ago as a teenager when he'd been informed minutes after marrying her that she'd had a lover before him. Times had changed drastically since those days, Erskine had told her wisely, spieling on about the importance of standing up for herself and kicking men between the legs if they ever questioned her 'history' – this was before she'd told them she only liked girls and things were barely going with Nadia – but the only real thing she'd taken away from all that was Starke's teenhood mistake. She hated him and all his teen-self had stood for. The changes he'd gone through since that moment had no bearing on her. She just hated him for what he was before and she had no intention of ever letting that image of him go.

It certainly made stealing from him all the sweeter. Tanith came outside with him, hanging off his arm and acting ever-so-slightly tipsy but still coherent and ladylike. They stopped by the pier and spoke. Some time went by and Tanith ran a finger down his chest, pressed their bodies together and made Valkyrie feel bad about what else Tanith may have had to touch. And then Starke went inside his house.

Moments later, Tanith stripped off her dress and swan dived into the water. Valkyrie indicated to her team to get themselves together and they had a towel for Tanith to wrap herself in as soon as she was out of the water. The boat quietly started up and began its journey to the other side of the lake.

"Success?" Valkyrie asked.

"Success," Tanith grinned, handing her clutch bag over to Valkyrie.

Noice. I am now 21!

Lord Duck the Second: I'm sorry you've been having a family crisis! You're welcome to PM me and we can talk about it if you like? I don't mind being ranted to :) I'm glad you're enjoying the story, I'm making good progress on this and avoiding my university dissertation, it's a really worthwhile payoff I'll surely always be glad I chose to do :D

AshleyMistic: Thank you for recommending my story, I love seeing new people coming to check the story out! Thank you for favouriting me and the story too, it's very kind. You are also completely correct about the PVO/POV thing, I went back and updated the last chapter. I'm just very dyslexic.