Chapter 125: Bluff Queen, Roast Machine

The courtyard had stopped.

Every soldier had a blade aimed at a wolf who was an inch away from ash. The one who stabbed Sebastian had moved his blade to Nova’s throat and she could feel the heat radiating off of it.

She did not flinch or let go of Sebastian.

CRACK.

Lightning flashed in the sky. Thunder followed. None of the masked soldiers were bothered by it.

Their leader turned to face Nova.

"You are showing too many of your cards, sweetheart," he observed with a voice that was still distorted. "If I order my soldier to move his blade an inch, you turn into ash."

Nova looked back at him with absolute disgust. "You’re not going to kill me. Your little headless friend showed too many of his cards last night."

It was a half-truth. She suspected it.

Silence followed, which confirmed she wasn’t completely wrong.

"Order your men to your hovercraft and leave. Now," she demanded in a confident voice that felt borrowed. It wasn’t. It was still her, just the version that had bigger balls than she usually had. The one that dared Kai Starborne to come get his sword. The one that saluted slaves back on an arena floor, consequences be damned. That version of Nova was out, and once it was out, there was no putting it back.

The leader chuckled.

"You are not in the position to make demands. Your Alpha is the one in charge, and right now, if he’s smart, he’s about to hand you over so he doesn’t lose more of his men."

"I don’t negotiate with men in masks," Alpha Thunderfang gritted from his knees. "And I don’t repeat myself."

WHOOSH.

White flame launched from one of the torches hitting the soldier holding a blade an inch from Nova’s throat square in the chest.

He staggered back from her, his blade clattering to the ground, while he grabbed his sternum. A scream came through his modifier, sounding like a malfunctioning drive-through speaker.

It didn’t stop until he was fifteen feet away from Nova. Then he started laughing, which sounded like a garbage disposal choking on a fork.

Both the scream and the laugh were the least intimidating yet most disturbing sounds Nova had ever heard.

"Someone has apparently improved since last night," the soldier called over to her like what had just happened was nothing. "But you overestimate yourself, my Moon Princess."

Nova rejected that sentence on a spiritual, physical, and emotional level.

"I’m not your goddamn Moon Princess. Lower the weapons. Move back into your hovercraft. And leave. Or you will join your little friend. The one whose head you have there," she bluffed with the confidence of a woman holding a royal flush when in reality she had a two and a seven.

The lead soldier stared at her tilting his head along with the men behind him. One of them looked at his colleague who shrugged.

Probably because they were confused on why she demanded that so confidently like she had an ace up her sleeve. She was also confused by it but her face gave nothing away.

"How about this," another one tried. "You, get up. Get in our hovercraft and your men give us the body."

"You are not in the position to negotiate," Nova replied, repeating their leader’s words from earlier. Yes, that was petty. She was aware.

The soldier looked at his leader. "Did she just use your line?"

"She did," the leader confirmed.

"Bold."

"Stupid," the leader corrected.

"Both," Nova agreed. "And yet, here we are."

"Is she... roasting us?"

"I think she’s roasting us."

"There is no roasting. We have weapons. You are unarmed, sweetheart."

"Congratulations," Nova said flatly. "You also have matching outfits. Forgive me if I’m underwhelmed."

The soldiers tilted their heads in unison. Behind her, a Thunderfang wolf tilted his in the opposite direction. The back and forth was confusing for everyone watching.

"Fine. You want to kill me. Come try." The leader sheathed his blade and opened his arms, facing her. "Have at it. Let’s see what you got. I am walking out of here either way with what I want."

Nova knew it was not wise to antagonize the armed men but they were making it too easy. "It is hard to take a man seriously when he sounds like he’s talking through a broken walkie-talkie."

"That was an insult to our modifiers," one of them explained to the one next to him, who shifted uncomfortably.

"These are military grade, Princess," another called over.

"And they sound like garbage," Nova stated, shrugging with her good shoulder.

The soldiers stared. Thunderfang wolves were staring too. She was getting it from both directions. The enemy and her allies, united for the first time tonight, in collective bewilderment of the slave having a voice.

"The princess has a mouth on her, doesn’t she," one of the masked soldiers observed, as if she wasn’t twenty feet away from him.

"Yeah. I’m not a princess. Wrong girl. One of you write that down. Your memory makes goldfish look impressive."

"That roast wasn’t even good," a masked soldier fired back at her.

"I’ll try harder when you give me better material to work with," Nova called back to him lightly.

The lead soldier slowly turned to look at his men. "Stop engaging with the Moon Princess."

"She started it."

"She is a prisoner. Stop. Engaging."

"She’s not a prisoner yet. And she’s definitely not a princess, goldfish," Nova corrected.

Somewhere behind her, a Thunderfang warrior shifted back to human form just to mouth "what the fuck" to the wolf next to him, then shifted back.

The leader looked back at Nova.

"Did you just call me—"

"Goldfish. Yes. You and your men earned that nickname."

"You are making this significantly harder than it needs to be."

"Good."

"That wasn’t a compliment, Moon Princess," the leader stated.

"I already took it as one. But while we’re giving honest feedback," Nova began. "This siege? Yeah, I want you to know that I’ve seen better coordination at a buffet line."

"Goldfish," the soldier from earlier muttered, mostly to himself. "She called me goldfish."

The leader raised a hand to silence him. "Stop engaging." He jerked his chin at Nova. "You are done, Moon Princess."

"That depends. Are you leaving?"

"No."

"Then I’m not done."

CRACK.

More lightning flashed.

"She’s stalling," one of them said, ignoring the lightning like it was nothing.

"Obviously," Nova replied.

Silence followed.

The soldiers exchanged glances through their masks. Behind her, a wolf huffed. It could have been a growl. It could have been a laugh. It was impossible to tell.

The courtyard was experiencing two separate crises. The soldiers were dealing with the fact that their target was trash-talking them. The Thunderfang wolves were dealing with the fact that the quiet girl who none of them had heard speak was out here verbally dismantling a team that had them at blade point and it was somehow working.