Unaccustomed heat tinged Embor’s cheekbones. How would things have been different if Anisette had been part of it all along? “I was wrong to try to make your decisions for you.”
Anisette glanced over her shoulder, her expression lighter. “I might have some ideas how you can make it up to me.”
Embor raised an eyebrow, and Ani smiled. Talista pulled a tin of candy from her pocket and rattled it in his face. “Want a mint?”
“No.” Embor settled back into the pillows. At some point, he needed to get out of bed and dress. This was the oddest strategic council he’d ever conducted.
Talista returned to her chair. “I don’t know why you’re being pissy about being left out, Ani. We did what was best for you. You puked out your guts when I went to Vegas the first time. I figured you’d be thankful you got to stay in your safe little world.”
Anisette whirled on her sister, all traces of lightness gone. “Safe little world? Is that where you think I live?”
“You’re a Court trainee. It’s what you’ve always wanted.” Talista popped candy into her mouth and spoke around it. “You can’t pretend you like to break the law and chase renegade agents.”
“I may not enjoy every aspect, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do what’s necessary.”
“You shouldn’t have to,” Talista said. “That’s what the rest of us are for.”
Talista never let Embor ask questions about Anisette or learn anything about her, but Court was no safehouse. Anisette’s abuse by the Torvals proved no one could be protected from ugliness. Yet she’d escaped the Elders and, as he understood it, saved everyone last night with a little help from a possibly duplicitous feline.
How could he realize this about Anisette, how could he see her resiliency, when her own sister seemed blind to anything but Aunt Ani’s suitability for childcare and healing?
Oblivious to Anisette’s change in mood, Talista rattled on. “We did you a favor keeping you out of it. If it went south, you wouldn’t get in trouble.”
“If you got yourselves banished, I’d have to come with you regardless,” Anisette pointed out in a scornful voice. Talista and Jake regarded her as if she’d turned into a different person, but Embor had heard her scorn before—directed at him. “Remember the Seers’ prediction? I have no chance of happiness if separated from my twin.”
“Five years ago,” Talista said. “Surely that’s not the case anymore.”
“Why not? We’re still twins.” Anisette shook her head. “I realize your life has moved on and you don’t need me, but I’m in the same place, Tali.”
Talista scratched her head. “But it’s where you want to be.”
“Is it? I can’t be an Elder or a clan prime. I can’t… Oh, it doesn’t matter.” She rubbed her mouth as if wiping away her words.
Embor finally spoke up. “Anisette, your sister isn’t to blame.” For this particular situation. “This was my plan. I came to your sister and Jake. I contacted the Drakhmores.” He’d also dragged Anisette to humanspace without sharing the details, particularly the ones regarding their future. “The blame is mine.”
“I need a video of this,” Talista interjected. “Fairy Primary Admits Complete Culpability. News at ten. Jake, would you get me—”
“No,” Jake said. “Stay with us, honey. Big stuff going on here.”
Embor wondered how Jake, shrewd and down-to-earth, had fallen for a woman who was, in Embor’s opinion, the opposite of that, but Jake and Talista were happy. Neither seemed gloomy, dissatisfied or irate with one another, and he supposed that was something.
“What does the Court plan to do next?” he asked, returning them to the topic. Anisette stared out the window, her shoulders set.
Jake responded. “Skythia is playing it as amused. Even Primaries get vacations, she said. Her attitude has swayed a number of individuals to our side. I won’t lie. The political situation is a concern. Warran and Ophelia have criticized your behavior non-stop, and the AOC registered a fresh appeal to halt the Commission’s investigation in light of your supposed instability.”
“They’re saying you’re crazycakes.” Talista’s expression darkened. “They’re also saying stuff about you and Ani.”
“Like what?” Anisette asked.
“What you’d expect from those chuckleheads. You know, that you’re having a torrid affair. Skythia isn’t helping with her insinuations. Stupid, right?”
Embor glanced at Anisette, but she avoided his gaze. If he’d had three more minutes with her, she’d have known the truth about the Seers’ divination. Instead she only knew he’d exhibited a distinct reluctance to consummate their relationship.
“I was in the princess’s bedchamber during the confrontation, and we disappeared together. Our involvement is a logical conclusion,” Embor said. “It’s preferable to rumors I harmed her.”
“Those are flying around too,” Jake said. “There are pockets of Elders who feel you and Skythia should step down immediately. They aren’t the majority.”
“They aren’t the majority yet,” Talista corrected. “What has Artur got against you, Em? I thought he was a good guy.”
“He was compromised,” Embor said flatly, wondering if the Torvals had bespelled anyone else in his cabinet. “Have you heard about any testing for spirit magic?”
“No.” Jake shook his head. “I did hear Skythia punched Warran in the head, but not through official channels.”
“What is everyone’s opinion of how we should handle this? I have ideas, but a team effort might be wiser at this point.”
“Ya think?” Talista cracked.
“Wouldn’t hurt to call Horace and Gret in,” Jake said. “They won’t have much perspective on politics, but our initial objective should be our priority.”
“Right. We need to capture the Torvals if we’re going to get any traction at Court. After you hypnotize Milshadred, she’ll help.”
“Make her tell us more, Pa. Tell us where she’s been.” Talista threw the candy tin at her husband, who caught it deftly. “I’ve been at him all morning to hypno her.”
“It had to be discussed. I can’t just do it,” Jake said.
“The shadow arts.” Anisette regarded them with a dubious expression. “What about the Doctrine of Ethical Magic Use?”
“Only Jakey uses the magic,” Talista said. “And he only does when Embor, I mean, when we all agree it can’t be accomplished any other way. Somebody who isn’t me or Jake or the D-mores is squeamish about breaking the law.”
Anisette didn’t look approving but nor did she look as disturbed as Embor had feared. “How do you use magic without creating rings, Jake?”
“Tali keeps tabs on me to make sure I don’t overdraw. My reservoir is larger than a twin, and we use a lot of globes or work close to a ring,” Jake explained. “I never work in the Realm, always in humanspace. That limits the danger.”
“Could you channel a repository?” Anisette asked. “Whatever Milshadred did destroyed the stone in Skythia’s house.”
“I can,” Jake said with a frown. No one they knew besides Jake could have done that at a distance. It worried Embor that Milshadred and her allies had managed it, and he could see it worried Jake as well.
Talista was inspecting her fingernails, unconcerned. She was convinced she could do it, too, and Jake and Embor wouldn’t tell her the password.
“Do you have any more questions, Anisette?” Embor asked her. “Your perspective as someone fresh to the issue is useful.”
“I’m glad to be useful,” she responded a little dryly. “Are you sure you need me? You’ve managed so much by yourself. Conspiring with the Drakhmores, teaching Jake to control people, setting up an illegal network, involving my family in treason.”
She may not respect his decisions, but he wasn’t going to lie anymore. “I began this project a year ago. The official investigation had stalled, and I need the Torvals to prove to the truthseekers the AOC board is corrupt. They cannot continue to operate wi
thout oversight. They’re our main source of information about the threat posed by the lost ones.”
“He thinks onesies are degenerates,” Talista said. “Present company excluded.”
Everyone ignored Talista’s editorializing.
“What threat?” Anisette unbraided her hair, and the auburn strands fell free. “We’ve sent the lost ones here for eons, and only Jake has learned magic. The first time he really used it, he made a ring. I think we’d have noticed if other onesies attempted spells. There aren’t any prophecies about other lost ones, are there?”
“Not exactly,” Embor said. “As you know, the Seers have said the cause of the Incident originated in humanspace.” Not many outside the Elder Court were privy to the details of those particular predictions. The only reason it had been shared with Talista, Jake and Anisette was because of what happened five years ago.
“That doesn’t mean it was onesies,” Anisette said.
Embor no longer believed lost ones to be criminals, but it didn’t mean they weren’t dangerous. Any information the AOC had about onesies, human technology and anything in humanspace that could affect the Fey couldn’t be filtered or withheld. The Court’s role in safeguarding the Realm was far more important than power plays between government branches.
“Be that as it may, the Torvals have information we need and we must have it out of them. They won’t be harmed, any more than other traitors to the Realm,” he promised Anisette.
“I’d say Em was an evil mastermind if I thought he was evil,” Talista interjected. “Always plotting and scheming and thinking ten moves ahead.”
Anisette finally left the window and sat on the bed. Talista sprang up. “Want my chair, Ani?”
“I’m fine here.” Anisette placed her warm fingers on Embor’s arm. “Does anyone at Court know what you’ve been doing?”
“No one,” he assured her. Talista tidied the bedside table, which consisted of nudging the clock from one spot to another. “I didn’t think it wise to involve anyone there. And now you.” He covered her hand with his.
“I wasn’t practicing magic before. I’d agreed not to.” Jake slipped into Tali’s chair and pulled his wife into his lap. “Embor helped me learn a lot in a short time. Tali’s not great with explaining the science behind the whole thing.”
“You don’t need science to do magic. You just whip it out there.” Talista perched on Jake’s knee, but barely.
“Not really,” Embor said. Talista seemed poised to leap between him and Anisette, though the only part of them in contact was their hands. “While Jake has impressive control, if any other lost ones…whip it out there, the results could be disastrous.”
“The end of the world. Oh no!” Talista declared, bouncing. “The funny part is a wizard really would have done it.”
“Why is that funny?” Embor saw no humor in shattering the barrier between the Realm and humanspace. Not even the Seers could predict how losing the barrier would affect their worlds. It could create a deadly wasteland or obliterate both dimensions entirely.
“A wizard did it means… Oh, you wouldn’t understand.” Talista flapped her hand. “You don’t get the Internet.”
“Nothing changes the fact that no more lost ones can be awoken.” Horace thought any onesie could be like Jake, but Embor didn’t agree. Jake and Tali had introduced him to a number of the unfortunate souls. “Jake is an exception.”
“Did I mention Embor’s got a man-crush on my husband?” Talista asked Anisette.
Since Talista liked to tell everyone that, Embor had learned not to flinch. “If we’re agreed, our next step is to neutralize the remaining Torvals. It’s time to question Milshadred.”
Anisette nibbled on a fingertip before asking Jake, “Will the shadow arts you’re using hurt Milshadred?”
“There’s no pain involved.” Jake and Talista rose.
Anisette slipped her hand free of Embor’s. “Does it have aftereffects? When the Torvals mindwiped me, it wasn’t exactly healthy.”
“I wouldn’t approve its use if that were the case,” Embor said stiffly, feeling the weight of her censure.
“As a licensed healer, these are things I need to know. Do you have a healer in your group?”
“Not one of your skill.”
“I trust no one will object if I examine Milshadred before and after the spell.”
“Don’t worry, Ani,” Jake assured her. “I’m way beyond the hypnotism I did when I worked as a stage magician. We’ve done lots of tests on volunteers, Tali and Embor included. Recipients don’t even realize I influenced them if I don’t want them to. I make the magic painless, odorless, tasteless and totally without residue.”
“But it’s not useless,” Talista finished with some satisfaction.
Chapter Twenty
“Once Jakey gets through with her, she’s going to sing like a canary.” Horace rubbed his hands together as Ani stepped out of the small building where Milshadred was being held. He wasn’t rubbing his hands out of glee but because it was chilly.
Ani zipped up her borrowed jacket and squinted into the wind whipping inland from the Bering Sea. She couldn’t see water, just lumpy tundra and scrub. This particular repository stone was stashed in the largest deadspace on the planet. Alaska. The Icebox.
One of Horace’s nephews guarded the door of the metal building, with others patrolling the premises. The closest human city was Nome. Tali had suggested setting up the base here for the irony, and since no one had any better ideas, they’d made the arrangements and installed the stone. Ani gathered their hideouts were limited by their finances as well as other constraints.
Vegas rarely got cold enough for snow. Ani had wondered why Tali had purchased several parkas. Now she knew.
Master Fey had remained in the building, watching Milshadred’s every move. Jake, Tali, Embor and the rest of the Drakhmores huddled around a picnic table spread with maps and diagrams, rocks weighting them down. Gret typed at a laptop computer while Burly passed around thermoses. Most of the conspirators straightened as Ani approached.
“What’s the verdict on Mildred?” Jake asked.
“She’s healthy for someone separated from the Realm as long as she’s been.” Or she was healthy now. Ani had tweaked her a bit. “She still wants to cut a deal.”
“No deals.” Embor adjusted the sleeves of his suit. While everyone else was in casual clothing—jeans and sweatshirts—Embor had donned human business attire. He didn’t seem affected by the cool temperatures or the headache she suspected he had.
“You’re positive this is the best course of action?” Ani asked one last time. At her request, Jake had hypnotized a Drakhmore first while she watched. It appeared to be harmless as long as the practitioner did no harm, but she still felt uncomfortable with it. “How did you plan to catch the Torvals prior to this?”
“A network of locator spells.” Embor clasped his hands behind his back, his shoulders broad in his tailored suit coat. He could have been a lecturer at some human university, his blond hair queued and his serious expression entrenched. “We routinely search areas under ring influence.”
“What about the deadspaces?” Ani asked. He’d displayed minimal warmth to her since this morning, despite the Drakhmores’ assumption he was her suitor. She hadn’t had the privacy to ask a Drakhmore about the information he’d allegedly learned from the Seers about her.
“I’ve got PIs tracking the Torvals’ known aliases.” Tali’s pink sweater sported dribbles of hot chocolate down the front. “Right after you showed up, a PI got a hit in Key West. I guess they’re worth part of what we pay them.”
“Good thing Tali had those gold coins.” Jake glanced up from a map of the North American continent. Tali had been an avid humanophile and collector long before she ran amuck in humanspace. “PIs are expensive, and ring agents make less than you might think.”
“As do Primaries,” Embor said.
“Particularly when your expenses can’t be legally reim
bursed.” Ani tugged on gloves. She was more bundled up than the others, unaccustomed to the cold and wind. During the winter the whole area was covered in snow and ice, and their exposure to the elements would have been much harder to bear.
“What I want to know is,” she continued, “how is your network different from what official search parties can do?”
“Because we’re awesome,” Tali said. “Especially me and Jake.”
Embor accepted a flask from Burly. “Tali’s location spells are better than Realm-manufactured ones,” he agreed. “They cover more ground, they’re faster, they’re easier to globe and they’re precise. I helped her make them.”
“I could have figured it out myself.”
“No doubt.” Embor’s eyebrows flicked, not quite a raise. If she hadn’t spent so much time around him the past several days, Ani wouldn’t have noticed. “And now that we have proper genetic material, we can create spells that search deadspace too.”
“You wouldn’t believe how much power I’ve gained since I bonded,” Tali said. “Having the kids didn’t affect me at all.”
“How much?” Ani asked. This wasn’t an aspect of Tali’s life the two of them had discussed. Pregnancy and parenting had dominated their conversations.
Gret, who, to Ani’s embarrassment, had assured her publicly and repeatedly she had no designs on Embor, half-closed the laptop.
“You don’t wanna ask her that,” she warned Ani.
But Ani had already asked.
“I don’t mean to brag.” Tali flipped up the collar of her sweater with a flourish. “You hear things about bonded pairs, especially a double-high. I bet I could take Em now.” She flexed her fingers menacingly and grinned.
Embor was acknowledged as one of the strongest Fey in the Realm. Ani and Talista had been in the top twenty pairs. That was before.
Tali spread her hands. “Can you believe he won’t fight me?”
“I will not,” Embor agreed. The corner of his mouth quirked. “Nor will I fight Jake.”
“I’m sure there’s no reason to fight.” Ani wondered what private joke lay behind Embor’s almost-smile. The thought that he, Tali and Jake had developed this camaraderie astounded her, even as it gave her a twinge of jealousy.
One Thousand Kisses Page 28
