by TJ Nichols
“No.”
That was a lie. He let his hand fall away and leaned back in the seat to study the man who’d watched him for the college and the underground before he became his lover. Maybe he was a fool for sliding into bed with Terrance, and letting him share Saka. Cadmael had been worried. Had he been right?
He didn’t want those thoughts. He wanted to believe that everything was all right, but ever since the sacrifice, everything had felt wrong. Everything had been off-kilter in ways he couldn’t quite explain, and he had no idea how to fix it. This morning he’d thought the gap was being bridged, but it was as wide as ever.
“Do you not trust me?” Was it him? Was he so obsessed with magic that everything else ceased to matter? He was always taking off to Demonside. “I know I’m not always around—”
“It’s me.”
So it was him. Whenever anyone said “it’s me,” they meant “it’s you” but were trying to be kind. “Do you regret joining Saka and me?”
Terrance sighed and shook his head. “It’s me you can’t trust.”
The tram lurched and stopped. People got off, and others got on. Angus stared up at Terrance.
“What do you mean?” he managed to murmur when the tram moved again.
“I can’t say.”
“Then I won’t go.” What was going on? “What is Reece up to? What have you done?” He needed to be able to trust the man who held his life in his hands when he went to Demonside. He should be able to trust the man he loved. Did Terrance not love him? The fragile world he’d built around himself was starting to crumble. This time he’d be left holding nothing, and he refused to let go that easily. He needed more than magic and stopping Vinland in his life.
Maybe there was nothing more or couldn’t be anything more until Vinland was stopped. Even if he did find happiness, it could all be snatched away. One clean sweep and it would all be gone.
Terrance closed his eyes. “What I had to.” He pressed his lips together. “Cadmael swore me to secrecy. I shouldn’t have even said that.”
Angus’s stomach contracted like he’d been hit, and nausea spread through him.
Of course Cadmael was involved. He should’ve realized by the way Terrance had been sent to collect him. That Cadmael and Terrance had teamed up was a little more concerning. Angus scowled and concentrated on his sandals. He curled his toes against the leather. He had two choices—defy Cadmael and have a much-needed rest, or go out and see what happened.
It would be safer and smarter to return to the Training Temple.
But he wasn’t known for doing the safe or smart thing, and he was curious to know why Terrance and Cadmael had reached some kind of truce. Cadmael didn’t trust Terrance. Where Angus saw a man who’d survived the only way he could in a country that wanted to imprison wizards and corrupt warlocks, Cadmael, saw him as a man without morals or spine. And now?
If survival had always been Terrance’s skill, what game was he playing? What threat had been made?
He was the anchor. He was essential.
“Are you using me?” What was Terrance trying to get out their relationship… if they even had one?
“No… I love you. Not everything you do, but if it needs to be done, you do it.” Terrance’s fingers ruffled Angus’s hair. “I’ll make it up to you, I swear.”
Angus would go out because that was what he did. He knew a storm was coming, and instead of going into shelter, he’d meet it head-on. He lifted his gaze with anger simmering in his veins because Terrance wanted to share secrets with Cadmael and not him. Terrance should trust Angus enough to confide in him. He pressed his lips together. If magic had taught him anything, it was that nothing came for free.
Angus wasn’t paying this time. He nodded, and his voice was glacier cold when he spoke. “You will.”
THE ENTERTAINMENT quarter was already busy. While Angus wasn’t the only man in a suit, he still felt overdressed. When they’d first arrived in Uxmal, the air had been sticky and ripe. Now it was dry and cool, and leaves were dropping from the trees. The sweepers tried to keep on top of the litter, but they were failing. The sky was visible through the branches where once there’d only been canopy.
The jungle was drying, and they were running out of water. The impact of the spreading ice was discussed at length. Everyone was suffering, but instead of everyone fighting Vinland, they fought each other. Some were embracing Vinland and hoping not to get a knife in the back.
Angus glanced over his shoulder. He was on guard, even though he should be relaxed.
Terrance gripped his hand tightly. “Please try not to look so spooked.”
“Right. Wouldn’t want to mess up your plan.” He forced a smile, as though they were heading for a fun night out, but his temples throbbed with every beat of his heart. The scar on his chest burned from the magic he’d gathered to him as they sat in silence on the tram. He was ready for whatever happened, or at least he hoped he was.
While Reece might be there, Angus was sure it wouldn’t be for a chat. Terrance hadn’t gotten lucky and found Reece—someone wanted them to meet. They stopped at an outdoor bar with bright orange lanterns strung from the trees. Terrance sat at a table and flicked through the menu. “What do you want?”
Angus eased onto a stool, rested his elbows on the table, and massaged his temples. He let a little magic slide from his fingertips. Treating the headache, or at least masking it for the moment, would help him in the long run. “Whatever.”
“You really didn’t want to come out tonight.”
Angus lifted an eyebrow. “My brain is trying to pry open my skull, and now I’m kind of freaking out about what’s going on.”
Terrance’s grin was tight, but his voice was soft and sad. “I’m sorry.”
Angus jerked his head in a harsh nod, and his head protested. He wasn’t ready to forgive.
“I’ll go and order.” Terrance stood.
Angus took the menu out of his hands. “No. I will. I’m not sitting out here on my own. What do you want?”
“The chicken tortilla.”
“I’ll get two of them and the usual beer.” He didn’t wait for a response.
As he waited to order at the bar, he watched as Terrance scanned the crowd as though he were looking for someone. Reece? Would he arrive soon? Or later, after they’d had something to eat? Behind the bar, the kitchen was bright and the staff were chatting and laughing. Someone’s kid had taken their first steps. Someone else was trying to pick an auspicious day to get married. Despite the way the world was teetering, people still had lives and were intent on living them. What else could they do?
He really needed to live a little, but there was no time. Every day was spent cramming in as much magical training as he could. He wasn’t sure what he needed to be ready for, but the need to know everything had never been so strong.
He ordered and paid using the card around his neck. It hadn’t taken long to stop reaching for his wallet. He didn’t need it in Demonside, so not having one here was no different. As he made his way to the table he saw Reece walking over.
His face was fixed in a smile. And while Angus hadn’t had a lot to do with Reece except on missions for the underground, he knew enough about him to know that Reece rarely smiled. He was one of those guys who always looked grumpy. Something was up, and it wasn’t good. Reece’s smile widened when he saw Angus, and Angus drew a little more magic to him. The heat from the scar was almost unbearable, but his headache had receded. He’d get through whatever came.
He reclaimed his stool and waited for Reece to sit.
“Good to see you.” Angus meant that. He didn’t wish Reece ill.
“Yeah… this isn’t how I planned on seeing you.” Reece’s smile remained fixed.
“What did you plan?”
“Well, I was thinking of never seeing you. Maybe sending you a thank-you note for getting us out.”
“Now you can thank me in person.” Angus stretched his lips into a wide smile, knowing
he was failing at making it natural. The area around the bar was getting busy, but they’d been to the area enough to know that this was one of the quieter bars in the middle of the week. “We ordered. Did you want to get something?”
“In a minute.” Reece glanced at Terrance.
Terrance picked at a hangnail and dragged the strip of skin back.
Angus flinched and looked away. His gaze caught that of another man, and he could tell the man had been watching them. The man’s eyes widened.
Shit. He really wanted his dinner before whatever Reece had planned. His stomach grumbled.
Terrance ripped the skin off with a wince, and blood welled. “I told you I owed you.”
Angus grasped Terrance’s hand. The magic in the blood was like nothing he’d ever felt. It wasn’t fear or lust or even the excitement from a whipped-up crowd, but it didn’t matter. He could use it. Something whistled through the air, and Angus threw a magical shield over his back. Something glanced off it and hit the floor—a dart tipped with green feathers.
Reece took off.
Terrance dragged Angus off the stool to the floor. The stones bit into his knees. He didn’t drop the shield, but he needed to see what was going on. There were people running everywhere, and he lost track of Reece.
Reece had set them up. Angus swore.
A man lifted the dart gun to his lips, and Angus lashed out with streak of magic that knocked him off his feet. Someone barreled into the table and knocked him and Terrance over. His shoulder crunched on the ground, and metal flashed. Angus raised his hand, but it was too late. The blade was pressed to his skin.
“Come quietly, warlock, or die here.”
“The reward is for me alive.” He had wrestled for control with Saka too many times to just lie there. With a squirm and a hip flick, the man was off him. Terrance scrabbled for the knife and got there first.
Angus got to one knee, his pulse a hammer in his head and the magic leaving him too quickly. He needed more. Terrance pressed a blood-slicked hand to his.
He didn’t know whose blood it was, and he didn’t care. Magic shimmered in it.
He brought up the shield, trusting it without being able to see it. He stood up and made himself a target. Terrance stayed at his back with the knife.
“You want to take me alive? Come on. I don’t have all night. I have other plans.” Magic crackled across his fingertips. He didn’t expect anyone to take him literally, but desperation made people do things they wouldn’t usually do. He wouldn’t have chosen to trek across Demonside, but it had been the only way. He was not being dragged back to Vinland where death would be slow and painful.
Where was Cadmael?
He wasn’t there, but his people were. The fight was between three men—one now on the floor and several others who weren’t wearing the green uniform of the military but looked like they knew what they were doing in a fight.
No one ran at him.
“Come on!”
The scuffles died down. Cadmael’s men had two of the attackers on the ground. The man who’d held the knife to Angus remained on the ground until someone hauled him up to take him away.
Adrenaline made his hands shake. The blood was drying and tacky on his skin.
A man walked over.
Angus kept the shield up. People were staring, curious about this piece of impromptu entertainment.
“I thought you’d go to Demonside,” Terrance muttered, “not fight.”
“Fleeing didn’t cross my mind.” He was done with running, and Demonside only offered the illusion of safety. Besides, he wanted to know what had pushed Reece to this and why Terrance had insisted he come out, knowing that people wanted to kidnap him. “You owe me an explanation.”
“You’ll get it.”
He would or he’d send Terrance to Demonside so Saka could get the truth out of him on the end of a blade.
The man stopped a few steps away. “You can drop the magic.”
“Can I?”
The man pulled out his ID card. He was a priest. “I work for the Intelligence Temple. Mr. Erikson informed us there would be an attempt to take you.”
Angus swallowed. Terrance had gone to Cadmael. For a moment he couldn’t believe it. “Is that true?”
“Yes. I couldn’t solve it on my own, and I didn’t want Reece to be killed by them.”
Angus dropped the shield. “Where’s Reece?”
“We’ll look for him,” the priest said. “We’d like to escort you both to the Intelligence Temple.”
There went the plans for the dinner he hadn’t wanted.
“Can someone heal my hand before we go?” Terrance held up his palm. Blood flowed from the wound—he’d cut his hand to give Angus more magic.
Angus grasped his hand and used the rest of the magic he’d gathered, along with Terrance’s own worry and sorrow—that was the odd taste of the magic—to do the rest. He’d truly been afraid that Angus would hate him or at the least want nothing more to do with him.
“There. Good as new.” Except for the scar. Terrance would have to get rid of that when he was ready to move on.
Terrance ran his thumb over the scar and then glanced at Angus and nodded. He made no effort to erase the reminder.
The men who’d attacked them were being taken away as the people around them, who had been enjoying their dinners, milled around, unsure if they should leave or stay.
The priest held up his ID card. “It’s safe to sit down. Danger’s over.”
Everyone was staring at Angus. He could feel their distrust like a wave wanting to drag him under. He hadn’t caused the fight, but he’d been at the center.
A waitress walked up to them, her hands full. She glanced at the man from the Intelligence Temple and then at Angus and put the tortillas and beers on the table.
The tortillas smelled spicy, and his mouth watered. He needed to eat, but not there in the open.
“Can we get them to go?” Angus asked. He didn’t want to eat with everyone watching from the corner of their eyes and whispering about the Vinnish warlocks.
The woman looked at him as though he were stupid. “We don’t do that.”
“The sooner we’re gone, the sooner you can get back to business,” the priest said. “Please make an exception.”
Angus picked up the beer and downed half of it in a few swallows. It was exactly what he needed, possibly followed by several more while lying on his bed and letting Terrance make up for this disaster in as many ways as he could think of. His gaze slid to Terrance, but he was scanning the surroundings as though there were still a threat. They were safe. A man from the temple was with them. Without magic to prop it up, the masking of his headache slipped and his skull ached again.
The waitress picked up their order, and gossip wrapped around them until she returned. They followed the priest toward the street and out of the entertainment quarter. Suddenly warning rippled over his skin and then quick footsteps made him turn to see someone running toward them. Panic grabbed his throat, and he reached for magic too slowly. He regretted that beer.
The priest who accompanied them from the bar suddenly pressed a knife to Angus’s back. “Not so smart, warlock.”
Without magic, all he had was the hot food and leftover beer, so he lurched forward and swung the bottle. It connected with the knife and shattered, sending glass and beer everywhere. His breathing came in pants. The broken glass didn’t stop the priest—if he was even a priest. He pressed forward with the knife, and Angus stumbled back, still grasping the broken neck of the bottle. He threw that, and the man sidestepped out of the way. But then he went oddly still as an arrow appeared in his neck.
A green-clad soldier climbed out of a tree, arrow nocked and ready to fire. The priest fell to the ground, his expression stunned as he lay twitching and struggling for breath.
Angus felt much the same way. He put his hands on his knees and tried to slow his pulse and dull the headache so he could think and focus without wanting to
fall over. Terrance was several steps away with the man who’d been running toward him, the man Angus had been ready to lash out at. Was this one to be trusted or were they all Vinnish spies and Mayan traitors? He’d heard rumors of priests who envied the power of warlocks.
“Thank you,” Angus said to the soldier. So far he was looking like the most trustworthy person there. He was also the one with the best weapon.
The people who planned the meeting with Reece had expected it to go wrong and had brought in either a fake Intelligence Temple priest or one they had in their pocket. Either way, without some immediate help, the priest was dead. He should be questioned.
The soldier checked the wound, and there was too much blood. “I don’t want him dead. Can you stem the bleeding until help arrives?”
Sirens were drawing closer, and Angus wanted to leave the man to bleed out slowly, but the soldier was right. “Terrance, want some practice?”
Healing wasn’t Terrance’s strength, and healing was painful even with a skilled practitioner, but if someone couldn’t soothe the pain as they worked, it was twice as bad. In an emergency, a healer would skip the soothing for survival, but this man didn’t deserve any comfort.
Terrance gave a single nod. “Yeah.”
The other man, the one who’d run toward them—to warn them?—approached slowly as if expecting Angus to lash out with magic. “I was hoping the traitor in our ranks would be revealed. Lozim has shamed us all.”
“You’ll excuse me if I don’t trust you right away.” Angus really wanted the rest of that beer, but magic and alcohol didn’t mix at the best of times, and this was nowhere close to a good time. He shouldn’t have drunk anything until he was safe in his room.
Lozim lay on the ground and gargled in agony as Terrance attempted to heal him just enough so he’d survive questioning by the Intelligence Temple. Angus had no sympathy to spare. His fate would’ve been worse if he’d been taken to Vinland, and Lozim wouldn’t have lost any sleep.
