The Golden Bell Read Online Free PDF Page B

his sleepy-eyed guest. The
DVD player had been broken for weeks, and he hadn’t gotten around
to buying a new one. A glance at Kirk revealed him smirking over
his breakfast. “Oh?”
    “Kirk got me the tools.”
    Kirk saluted him with his toast. “She knows
her way around a Philips and a soldering iron, I’ll give her
that.”
    Debating the possible attractions of the
Brit’s close-cropped black hair and rakish goatee in the eyes of
his female guest this early in the morning was beyond him. Fallon
put her ease in Kirk’s company down to bonding over too much late
night TV and junk food and then ignored it. Kirk wasn’t interested,
and Fallon was too old for childish displays of jealousy.
“Thanks.”
    She smiled at him, and he blinked. The girl
was beautiful when she glowed like that.
    Hiding his smirk behind his coffee mug, Kirk
caught his eye. His expression seemed to say, “Too young, too
green, too available, my friend. This one will trip you up
yet.”
    Uncomfortably aware of just how well Kirk
knew his usual tastes, his usual liaisons, Fallon frowned and
concentrated on eating. He’d seen what a fresh young thing had done
to his jaded friends; not that it was a fate to fear, but it
certainly wasn’t something he had time for. As an ambassador
between worlds, he wasn’t looking for a young consort, and this one
carried a lot of baggage.
    Baggage that was going to get publicly rifled
through in about fifteen minutes.
    He waited until she finished her toast before
speaking. “The Council of Elders will be meeting very shortly. It’s
a video conference via satellite, so we don’t have to leave the
house.”
    A sickly shade of gray replaced her normal
color. “Why do I have to meet with them? Don’t they have something
more important to do?”
    Fallon studied her. “They have to decide
whether to extradite you to the Dark Lands. You’re in danger now
that the Cult has identified you.”
    “I won’t go.”
    He let that go. She wasn’t going to have a
choice, and it was his job to carry out the transplant. Standing
up, he offered her his hand. “We need to go.”
    Ignoring his hand, she pushed her chair out
with angry defiance, pointedly keeping her space from him. With a
sigh he led the way, allowing Kirk to bring up the rear, boxing her
in. They adjourned to his study. While Fallon raised the wall
hiding a wide screen TV, Kirk seated Rain in a leather chair that
swallowed her, taking up guard behind her. In moments the screen
began to fill with faces, some very old, a couple apparently in
their middle ages. In moments seven faces stared at her, studying
her with curiosity or dispassion, depending on the Elder.
    It was all she could do not to claw her way
up the back of her chair and escape.
    The most ancient of faces, a man with a white
beard and the dignified essence of Sean Connery, looked at Fallon.
“Good morning, my lord. Felicitations on your latest mission. I
trust all goes smoothly?”
    Fallon inclined his head. “As can be
expected, Elder Azion.” He glanced at Rain. “This is Rain Lilly
Zephyr Miller, daughter of the late Rian Miller.”
    Rain winced. She hadn’t known he knew her
full name, and thanks to her hippie mother, it was a gruesome
mouthful.
    Ignoring her reaction, Fallon introduced the
seven elders. “Elder Azion, Elder Traforte, Elder Rite…”
    Most of the names were quickly forgotten, but
Rain remembered Azion and Rite. Azion had the advantage of first
introduction, and Rite…the man was creepy. Middle aged like her
father would have been, but with night black hair and startling
blue eyes, his face was average, but the intensity in his
expression was anything but. Against her will, her gaze kept
darting to him, and she felt grateful that he wasn’t there in
person.
    Azion’s words drew her attention back to the
conversation. His gaze steady, he said calmly, “As I’m sure you’ve
been told, we’re here to decide on your future, on whether you’d be
better off here