Free robert Charrette - Arthur 02 - A King Beneath the Mountain by Robert N. Charrette

She was tired of the suspicion, tired of the distrust. She didn't need it. Or them. Or their bloody Department!
    "I've had enough of your 'now, Doctor'. I volunteered to work with the Department when you came knocking on my door, crying about needing people who could deal with the arcane. And I have worked with you. Honestly. To the best of my ability. But, you know, when I said I'd work with you, the emphasis was on the with\ I'm not a servant, and I'm not a pawn to be pushed around in your stupid games. Most especially I'm not some faceless work-prole who will take all the bullshit you dish out and ask for more!"
    "Doctor, sit down," Magnus ordered.
    "I will not! I've had enough of this! You can take your damned Department and shove it!"
    She glared wildly around the room. Dagastino and Gere were still stunned. Essenbach looked utterly appalled. L'Hereaux was the only one doing anything; he was leaning over a console, whispering—calling for his bullyboys, no doubt.
    Oh, no! They weren't going to lock her away in their see-nothing, know-nothing places. She wasn't about to stand still for that! They were afraid of what had happened in the other-world. Well, she'd show them that they had something to be afraid of.
    She raised the power in a flaring burst of energy, all dazzle and incandescence. They cowered from the light, shrinking back as the brilliance cast their inky shadows in elongated caricatures on the white walls.
    Let the light blind them to her doings! Let their thoughts be as twisted as their shadows on the walls! They would not see her as she walked, nor move to oppose her.
    The effect wouldn't last long, but it would hold for long enough for her to leave. She turned for the door and out of the corner of her eye noticed one shadow that did not match. L'Hereaux's shade did not match the security chief's crouch. She looked at him and saw that he was not really crouching; he was looking back at her.
    She threw him the finger.
    He smiled and she almost stumbled, for in that moment he looked like Bennett. She caught herself and looked again. L'Hereaux was L'Hereaux.
    There wasn't time to think about it.
    She ran for the door. No one moved to stop her. She kept going.
    Had she actually seen what she thought she'd seen? Was it her imagination? It must have been a trick of the light, an illusion based on fears and congruities. It couldn't have been real.
    But what if it was?
    If L'Hereaux was Bennett in disguise, had he always been, or had the elf only recently displaced the true L'Hereaux? In either case, why? What did the elf prince want? Had he wanted her to recognize him? And if so, why?
    Thinking about Bennett's involvement made her head hurt. She didn't have time to deal with it now; she had to worry about herself. She had to get out, or waste the effect of her spell. She headed topside, longing for the clear air and open sky. No one moved to stop the angry doctor. They knew better; she had top clearances. For a few minutes more, anyway.
    No one barred her way at the entrance, but the wary-eyed guards watched her as if she were some kind of wild animal. She didn't care what they thought as long as they let her go.
    She left the complex.
    They weren't going to be happy with her after this. They'd wanted to know what she had learned in the otherworld, and she'd given them a demonstration of what she could do now. Maybe she'd best consider it her resignation.
    Would they let her resign?
    They could try to stop her. She was still hot with anger and indignation as she stamped down the lane toward her cottage. Let them try!
    CHAPTER
    4

    Time had passed.
    How much?
    It was hard to tell without sight or sound or scent.
    Dust was a taste familiar. Motion a feeling grown strange over... time. How strange time had grown.
    Time passed.
    He knew he was drifting. He knew he was hungry. He knew he needed nourishment.
    There were auras around him, nearing him and drawing away, darting about like hummingbirds seeking nectar.
    Too