Deadly Trade- The Complete Series

by Jessica Gunn

  I fit the key against the lock and slid it in, turning it along with the door handle. “This is where we leave you.” I angled Kian so he could amble inside while I turned to glare at Mason. “You may have followed us here, but you don’t get to come any farther.”

  He raised a dark eyebrow. “Are you sure you don’t want a healer for him?”

  My glare didn’t waver. “If I do, I’ll call one of our own and not one of your Ember witch slaves. Goodbye, Mason.”

  “Suit yourself.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and slinked off back toward the stairs and bottom floor. Where he’d undoubtedly stay until we left Hunter’s Guild at some point.

  At least Mason hadn’t been willing to test the limits of the protection magiks like Veynix had three months ago. Or like I had and had been punished for.

  As soon as Mason was downstairs, I retreated inside our room and locked the door. I then slid the bedside table in front of it, like it’d do absolutely anything against someone wanting to barge in. I placed the medical kit on the bed.

  Kian was already there, stripping off his shirt and lying back, all the while examining his wound. His lips twisted in a wry smile. “We need to stop meeting like this.”

  My lips pressed together. Nothing about this was funny. “The both of us need to stop getting injured.”

  His smile faltered. “Think you can handle this?”

  I busied myself with opening the medical kit and finding what I’d need to clean and then stitch up his wound rather than give him an answer. I had never done this before and he knew that. If not by me telling him, then by my squeamish reaction when Kian had stitched me up three months ago in a room two doors down from this one.

  “I’ll guide you through it,” he said, though his words sounded weak and far away. How much blood had Kian lost?

  I paused my searching, half the needed supplies in hand, and looked up at him. “I should call Bria. I can’t do this.”

  “I’ll be fine,” he said.

  I frowned, glancing down again at his wound. Kian had pressed a hand to it, keeping some amount of pressure. But given the way his eyelids had begun to droop, I was willing to bet it wasn’t nearly enough.

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  Kian nodded. “I’ve had worse.”

  My frown deepened. I returned my attention to the medical kit and collected the rest of the needed supplies. Alcohol wipes. Stitching tools. Gauze and tape.

  I knew Kian had endured worse. He’d admitted as much three months ago. But now that his shirt was off—the first time I’d ever seen his bare chest, rippling with muscles and a light dusting of hair—I saw the demonic letters that covered one of his thighs extended up past his hips to the uninjured side of his chest. Crisscrossed scratch marks that assembled together into a language not many understood, and less knew existed. Little white and red scars that seemed less of a brand by Talon and more like a written history.

  Without realizing it, I followed the path of the scars with my fingertips, lightly brushing them along his muscled abdomen. I couldn’t read this language. It was some offshoot of ancient Sumerian that Aloysius, creator of demons and the Empire of Darkness, had also created. Kian’s breath hitched as my fingers crossed over his heart.

  “Do you know what it says?” I’d asked this once before, but he’d been injured then, too, and we hadn’t known each other nearly as well as we did now.

  He slowly shook his head. “Not all of it. They called me a traitor a lot while they carved me, so I assume that’s in there a few times.”

  “I’m sure there’s someone in the Fire Circle who can read the demonic language,” I said, but then immediately regretted it. If Kian wanted to know what it said, he probably would have already asked.

  “Well, if I make it back to them alive, I’ll be sure to inquire,” Kian said, his voice low.

  I blinked, now aware of how close we were. How stupid it was to be zeroing in on his scars rather than the wound on his side. “Sorry—I—”

  Kian lifted a warm hand to cup my face. “It’s fine, Ava.” He nodded toward the medical kit. “I’ll guide you through stitching me up.”

  I nodded and got to work, following Kian’s instructions and swallowing down the part of me that hated dealing with blood and basically anything like this. It took many long minutes, but eventually Kian was sewn back together, the bleeding stopped. Neither of us were doctors, but I realized Kian was right: the wound had looked worse than it was. And aside from blood loss and possible infection from staying here overnight, he’d be fine.

  Kian insisted as much. “Don’t call for a healer. You’ll just be endangering anyone you bring here.”

  We both lay side by side on the bed now, both of us on our backs and staring up at the ceiling. Rather than attempt to get his mangled shirt back on, I’d pulled the bed’s sheets up to his chest.

  “Can’t be worse than last time,” I said. Kian and I had spent the night here, not knowing where else was safe to retreat to, and had woken up in the morning to the entire Guild being flooded with Talon soldiers.

  He winced. “I wouldn’t bet on that. Mason knows he’s got us exactly where he wants us.”

  “Hidden away?” I asked, then shook my head. “Veynix returned to Fire Circle territory half on the orders of Talon to start this whole Ember witch anti-Neuian program thing, and half because he wanted to see what I’d be like while on that drug. If Mason really was his apprentice, and if even part of the reason Mason’s targeting us is because of some sort of revenge plot to avenge Veynix, he’s waiting for me. He’ll want to try subjecting me to the poison too.”

  Kian’s jaw locked tight. “I won’t let happen.”

  “Me either.”

  “Then maybe we should go back to the Fire Circle tonight,” Kian said. “They need to know how bad things have gotten. If Talon or Mason has more than that one manufacturing facility—”

  “Manufacturing? Really, Kian?”

  He gave me a sidelong glance. “Why sugarcoat it?”

  I sighed. “You’re right.”

  “I don’t want to be,” he said. “Point is: the Fire Circle needs to know, so that maybe they can get missions together to check out the other rings around the world. See if they’re hiding more facilities beneath them.”

  I rolled onto my side and met his deadly-serious brown gaze with my own. A lock of hair fell into my face. Kian reached up and brushed it away with cool fingers.

  “We might just need to go after Landshaft,” I said.

  Kian’s fingers fell. “I was really hoping you wouldn’t say that.”

  “I—”

  He shook his head. “You’re right. Doesn’t mean I wanted to hear it.”

  But it wasn’t me who was right about that plan. It was Hydron. Brian. And maybe that was why neither of us wanted to see the merit in this plan, despite all the dangers inherent in going to Landshaft. The aura sickness alone would kill us—obstacle one.

  “I doubt Dacher will ever order, let alone allow, a mission like that,” I said.

  “Don’t think he’ll have a choice.”

  I swallowed hard, dropping my gaze. Dacher would never allow it because it would likely be a suicide mission. I didn’t need to say it. Kian was thinking the same thing, evident by the sad, surrendering crease in his brow.

  “I’m tired of fighting,” Kian said.

  My eyes widened. “Kian.”

  “No, it’s true.” Emotion hung heavy in his eyes, mixing with pain I knew he was feeling, even if he didn’t admit it. “It’s been one thing after another ever since my team ran into that Neuian. Maybe if I hadn’t spent so many months drowning in a Demon’s Blood haze, I would have realized it sooner.”

  I pressed my hand against his chest, much firmer than before when I’d been exploring what Talon had done to him. “What are you saying? You’re quitting?”

  He gave a light chuckle, one that quickly turned into a coughing fit.

  “Easy,” I said.

/>   Kian grimaced but swiftly covered it with a small smile. “I can’t quit while we’re in the middle of things. I don’t think I want to. I’m just tired. Do you ever think all of this gets a bit… ridiculous?”

  “Considering three months ago, I only left the house to shop for groceries and fight in an illegal fighting ring, yes.”

  His smile turned into a grin. “Well, that, yeah.”

  I knew what he was referring to. The magik and grand-scale war. Neither of us had really experienced it firsthand before now. When all the crap with Lady Azar had gone down last year, when Ben’s team had found the Power’s ancient city and Lady Azar had tried to take it down, nearly destroying Cianza Boston in the process, neither Kian nor I had been involved.

  We’d heard about it, sure. Felt the quaking beneath the city when the cianza had almost exploded. Both of us had experienced it secondhand, through stories over drinks at Hunter’s Guild and the Fire Circle’s lobby, the exploits of Ben’s team and the veritable titans who’d fought that fight. The same people who should be leading the fight against Talon.

  But before we’d become freelancers, Kian and I had been on teams where no one had magik. The most thrilling thing my team had gotten involved in outside of the red alert bulletin last year had been us tangling with Veynix and Talon. For Kian, it had been his team’s run-in with the Neuian and his temporary capture.

  Now, after all we’d survived, a war—a real one—seemed to be looming on the horizon. Talon’s anti-Neuian weapons program with Ember witches was just the start, a result of the power vacuum left by Lady Azar. And already, Kian was tired of the fight. Not overall, but this specific one.

  I was too.

  Neither of us spoke for a few long moments. Eventually, I scooted closer to him on the bed, careful to avoid his wound. Kian returned my gaze with one of his own, his eyelids half-drooping shut in exhaustion.

  “If you’re honestly, for real okay, then we can rest here for the night,” I said. “Take this moment to breathe.”

  He nodded and wrapped an arm around me, pulling me close. “I’m good. Right now, all I want is this.”

  We were so close now that his breath tickled my cheeks. Our lips hovered inches from each other’s. I didn’t want to move him too much or disrupt this moment.

  So instead of some grand motion, I lifted up just enough to close the distance between us and touch my lips softly to his. I felt him smile against me, a brief expression of shock, before he deepened the kiss. Kian cupped my face with his other hand, holding me close as our tongues began to dance. Slow but hurried, desperate but savoring. As if this might be the first and only time we would ever kiss. The first and only expression of whatever was between us.

  A silent acceptance of what was to come.

  A prayer we’d survive it.

  It wasn’t until long after our kiss ended, after our eyelids closed, arms wrapped around each other, our breaths evening out, that I realized my feelings for Kian might have run deeper than I had thought.

  I thought I might be able to grow to love him.

  Chapter 19

  I awoke the next morning to a phone vibrating on the bedside table. Blearily, I blinked away the lingering fatigue. What time had Kian and I even arrived at Hunter’s Guild last night?

  What time was it now?

  Another round of buzzing went off. I smacked my palm blindly against the bedside table before finding the phone and answering it without looking at the screen.

  “Hello?” I asked, my voice thick with sleep.

  “Ava,” said Brian. Brian.

  My eyes shot open. “How the hell did you get this number?”

  Dacher and the rest of the Fire Circle leadership had made me throw out my old phone and old number with my previous life. Only Will, Kian, and a handful of other Fire Circle Hunters had my new phone number.

  He was silent for a long moment before saying dryly, “I work for Hydron, remember? They’re tied to the CIA.”

  Kian gave a tired groan, his arm around my middle loosening its hold. We both must have slept solid until now.

  “Great,” I said.

  A pause went on for a long moment before Brian finally said, “Is this a bad time?”

  I glanced over at Kian’s still-sleeping form and lowered my voice. “Why are you calling?”

  “People at Headquarters are looking for you and Kian,” Brian said. “There’re even more poisoned magik-user Hunters now. It’s insane. I think Dacher’s finally willing to make a plan or sign up for the one Hydron has.”

  I bit my lip to keep from voicing my hope that the latter was true. Going directly to the source of all of this madness at Landshaft was the only course of action. But part of me didn’t want to give Brian the satisfaction of being right.

  “Okay,” I said. “We’ll be there in a half hour or so.”

  “So you are with him?” Brian asked, his words rushed.

  I frowned. “That’s really not any of your business.” Another bout of silence. This time, I ended it, saying, “See you soon.” I hung up the call and tossed the phone back on the bedside table. The sound of the hard plastic case clattering against the wood stirred Kian, who went to bolt up out of bed.

  “Wait—” I said, too late.

  Kian cursed in pain, his face twisting with a grimace as one hand flew to the wound on his side. “Shit.”

  “Sorry,” I said as I pressed a hand against his. “I should have been quieter.”

  Kian shook his head. He took a deep breath. “What time is it?”

  “Morning,” I said. “Not sure. I woke up to a call.”

  He glanced down at me, still nestled close to him. A brief wisp of a smile floated across his lips. But it faltered at my words. “What’s wrong?”

  I hated this. Not only that it was Brian who’d called, but that anything had interrupted the already-fleeting reprieve Kian and I had been enjoying inside of this room. If we never left, maybe the rest of it would fall away. No more war. No more demons and their poisons. No more Talon and Landshaft.

  A cold shiver crawled down my spine.

  Mason is probably still downstairs.

  “More infected magik-users,” I finally said, meeting Kian’s dark brown eyes. Scruff had begun growing along his jaw, the beginnings of facial hair he normally kept shaven. “Honestly, it’s not surprising. It’s probably going to get worse.”

  Kian nodded, a grim look overtaking his features. “Then let’s get back to Fire Circle Headquarters. I feel a hundred percent better than I did last night.”

  My eyebrows arched. “Do you? Or are you just saying that?”

  He lifted a hand and pressed it to my cheek. I turned into it, a warm feeling blooming in my chest and drawing me closer to Kian like a magnet. “Thank you for patching me up last night. And… for letting me admit things I wasn’t sure should be voiced.”

  I swallowed hard. He meant about not wanting to fight anymore. About being tired. But I couldn’t help but feel another meaning was there, just beneath the surface of his words. “I’m here, always. You know that.”

  Kian nodded. “I do. I’m sorry that lately I’ve been a bit… difficult.”

  I chuckled softly. “I have too. There’s been plenty enough going on. Don’t apologize for it when we’re all guilty.”

  “Okay.” He dipped his head closer and kissed me once, quick. “No more apologies then.”

  We showered and hurried back to Fire Circle Headquarters. I smiled the entire time.

  Especially because Mason was gone from Hunter’s Guild.

  My smile faltered. That meant he was on to other dark deeds.

  Kian and I walked slowly through the first floor of Headquarters. Despite appearing much better this morning than he had last night, the second our feet touched ground inside Headquarters, Kian’s body slumped.

  I rushed to put a shoulder under his, holding him up as his body shook. “Kian?”

  “It’s nothing,” he said weakly. As soon as I had his arm ar
ound my shoulder, Kian leaned almost his entire weight against me.

  “Uh-huh. Sure.”

  His entire demeanor and even temperature had changed in a matter of minutes.

  I carried on, half-dragging Kian down the hall, past the freelancer job board, and closer to the front lobby, where hopefully Lissandra would be sitting as she always was. Kian’s warm forehead brushed against the side of my face.

  “You’re burning up,” I said to him, though I wasn’t sure he was conscious anymore. Fever meant infection. Going to Hunter’s Guild last night instead of Fire Circle Headquarters had been moronic. Why hadn’t we just come here?

  Because then you’d have to admit to being at Crimson.

  Which was true. I didn’t want to admit that, but given what Kian and I had discovered while we’d been there, we wouldn’t have a choice now. We hadn’t had a choice last night.

  No. The real answer was a much less stupid reason.

  I hadn’t used teleportante to bring us to Headquarters because my instincts still revolted anytime I put anything nearing one hundred percent trust in the Hunter Circles to protect their Hunters. Especially the non-magikal ones. And even though I had magik now, even though I knew what the Fire Circle had been dealing with that was tying up their resources, I would probably never trust them completely ever again. Not after Veynix had killed my team, and after the Fire Circle had allowed the rumors to spread of my supposed deal with him to survive. Not after they were going to let Will possibly die in Veynix’s care while they took forever to amass fighters for his rescue.

  “Lissandra!” I called as soon as we were close. The hallway had been more or less empty, but the lobby and the area near the main staircases were filled with Hunters. Fire Circle knives were strapped to their waistbands in holsters, and Hydron agents stood nearby in navy blue jackets with yellow lettering.

  I turned, propping Kian against a wall, and held him up by his shoulders. “Kian? Are you still with me?”

  Lissandra poked her head around the corner. “What is…? Oh!” She stood, disappearing for a moment, then reappearing again as she rushed around the corner into the stairwell area. “What happened?”