This time she did slap him on the back of his head, dodging out of his arms to stand glaring at him a few feet away.
“You don’t tell me what to do,” she snarled. “You ask nicely, and if I feel like it, I’ll listen.”
Fallon glared at her, his whiskey eyes molten with anger. They spent a long moment locked in a stare down, before her father chuckled.
“Just like her mother. Never could get that woman to do anything she didn’t want to.” He whistled again, and the pathfinders lowered their weapons. Fallon waited a beat before giving his men the same signal. They stepped back, but kept their weapons at the ready.
“You’re not taking her,” Fallon told her father.
He studied Fallon with a thoughtful look. Shea waited as the two men took each other’s measure. This wasn’t exactly how she’d imagined introducing Fallon to one of her parents. Though to be fair, she had thought she’d never get the chance.
“Very well, then you will promise to fix this little problem we’re having.” He looked at Shea. “You went where you weren’t supposed to go and woke something that never should have been woken. One way or another, you must take responsibility.”
Shea’s lips tightened. “I told you we never made it past the second marker. This is not the result of our expedition.”
He shook his head. “Maybe so, but you also told me that you lost a week that you can’t remember. You could very well have strayed further than you thought. Either way, it doesn’t matter. The elders are looking for someone to blame and you’re the only one who survived. Either you face trial, or lover boy helps end this threat with that army of his.”
“His army isn’t at your beck and call,” Shea argued.
Her father shrugged. “Your alternative is trying to fight your way out of here. Don’t think you’ll get far though, and a lot of people on both sides will die.”
Fallon didn’t look away from him. He knew the destructive power of the boomers. Had even seen them in action a time or two. He didn’t need to be told who had the advantage.
“We die or fail to make it back and my men have orders to drench the Highlands in blood. They will destroy any city or village they come across. You won’t need to fear the beasts then,” Fallon said in an idle voice.
Shea fought the urge to scream. Both men were being ridiculous.
“Fine, I’ll sweeten the pot,” her father said. “You come to the Keep with me and hear what we have to say. You do that, and we’ll give you the Highlands with our blessing.”
Shea’s jaw dropped. She closed it with a snap. What was he saying?
“We’ll even throw in enough boomers and other weapons we have in store to supply a good bit of your army.”
Shea sucked in a shocked breath. This was unheard of. Even admitting how many of the boomers they had was shocking. Generations of secrecy and protecting what they hid, and her father had essentially just told Fallon where he could find a huge stockpile of weapons that would make him invincible.
A chill rushed over her. How bad were things that the pathfinders were willing to resort to this?
Fallon cocked his head. He looked interested. Shea knew he’d always planned to conquer the Highlands, and here was her father offering them to him on a silver platter.
“Shea will be free of any repercussions?”
Her father nodded. “I give you my word.”
“My men will come with me.”
Shea’s father hesitated, his eyes going to those Trateri whose expressions had less warmth than a stone, as they watched her father and his men.
“That can be arranged,” he finally said.
“Done.” Fallon looked at Shea with a fierce light in his eyes. She could see the wheels already turning.
Her father kept his gaze fixed on Fallon. “As I said, you and your men will come with us. You can send some back to explain to the rest of your army, so they don’t get ahead of themselves with the bloodshed and all. I’ll give you the rest of the day and evening to make arrangements. We’ll leave at first light.”
Fallon gave him a sharp nod. Her father left, not even sparing Shea a glance, as if now that he’d gotten what he wanted he’d lost interest in her presence. The hole in her heart iced over.
Fallon summoned Caden with a look. “Pick ten men you trust to send back to our army below the fault. Darius will need to be prepared if things go bad up here.”
Caden looked like he’d bitten into something sour. “This seems like a trap.”
Fallon nodded. “Probably, but the potential reward will be worth it.”
“I’m coming with you,” Shea informed Fallon. He wasn’t sending her with the ten if that was what he had in mind.
He gave her a sideways glance. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. Someone has to watch my back.”
Her lips tilted up. “Yes, we wouldn’t want you getting stuck in another spinner web.”
Caden snorted. “She can barely keep Trenton at bay during training. How is she going to protect you from an assassin’s blade?”
Shea agreed with him. She gave the two men a shrug. “You’ll need my help with the beasts up here. You’re on your own with the humans.”
Caden shook his head and strode off.
Buck stopped at her side as he stared after her father. “Your father has some serious balls. I’m beginning to see where you get some of the craziness from.”
He didn’t wait for her to reply before wandering off shaking his head.
Shea stood next to Fallon and watched as the Trateri prepared to make camp in the ruins of the village.
“Not exactly how I pictured meeting your father,” Fallon said.
Shea snorted. “What? You didn’t expect to meet him in the middle of a destroyed and abandoned village and have him threaten you with death?”
“Somehow, no. Though I should have, given he’s the one to raise such an unexpected woman.” He looked at her out of the corner of his eye.
She bumped his shoulder with hers.
“It would have been easier for me to just stand trial,” she told him. “They’re probably going to ask us to go into the Badlands and face whatever has been directing these beasts.”
“I wasn’t willing to chance it,” he said. “Besides, I got the Highlands out of it.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think that’s as much of a prize as you seem to think.” She gestured to her surroundings. “This is what you would be ruling over.”
He looked around. “This is what I would be protecting.”
Shea stared up at his face. Yes. Protecting. She thought the pathfinders might have forgotten that was their role once upon a time. Perhaps Fallon and his army could take up that mantle.
“Are you ready to go home?”
She stared at him for another moment. Her father had made it clear with his talk of trial that the Keep was no longer her home. A thread of sadness fought to linger before Shea forced it away. That was before. This was now.
A smile dawned, it was slow and spoke of new beginnings. “What are you talking about? My home is standing right next to me.”