by Isabo Kelly
She’d known when stepping forward for this mission that it was going to be the most dangerous thing she’d ever done. She hadn’t realized just how much of that danger would come from the very elf she was partnered with.
Chapter Two
Althir studied Mina where she leaned against the parapet watching the dim streets of the Sorcerers’ territory. She surprised him. So much so he was quite fascinated with her. He hadn’t been truly fascinated by a human woman in years.
He wasn’t sure if he could call her beautiful. Her features weren’t soft and even enough for that. Her eyes were a little large, her nose a little broad. But she was pretty. And her curves were so full and lush, he found himself studying her body with great frequency.
Though his brother’s mate was a tasty-enough-looking woman, Layla Brightarrow was like all the Sinnale—she’d lost too much weight under the deprivations of war. Althir had felt no real interest in any of the women he’d seen since turning himself over to the Sinnale. They’d all grown hard and sharp in the last two years. Not one with anything soft left for a man to lose himself in.
Except for Mina. She was the only woman he’d seen whose shape still begged to be touched and explored. On the other hand, her personality was all edges and bitter angles, a harsh contrast to her delicious figure. The war had left her as angry and damaged as anyone, and she made no attempt to hide it from him. Her full lips rarely lifted into anything like a smile, and her dark eyes held distance. But also a quick intelligence.
She kept her fair hair pulled into a tight bun at the base of her neck, which did nothing to soften the curve of her cheeks or distinct lines of her cheekbones. Yet, there was a hint of something in her face and expression, something that had once been as gentle and enticing as an early spring breeze.
For some reason, the incongruity between her lush body, her hard attitude and that hint of who she might be if not for the war, struck him as infinitely interesting.
“We won’t be able to make the Citadel before dawn,” he said into the silence that had accompanied much of their night’s vigil. “Not on foot. Not if we want to stay hidden.”
“I didn’t intend for us to head there directly.” She glanced over her shoulder, giving him a brief glimpse of her velvety dark eyes. “You’re sure the List will still be in the Citadel? Wouldn’t they have moved it when you defected to the Sinnale?”
“They don’t know I know about it,” he said bluntly. When she raised a brow, he bent forward into a slight bow. “I believe I mentioned my charming personality has come in handy before.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, you Sinnale aren’t the only ones with a talent for collecting information.”
She turned fully to stare at him. The intensity in her gaze would have left him more uncomfortable if he hadn’t been courting it.
“You’re trying to tell me you spied on your allies?”
“Information is always useful,” he allowed. “Always.”
“And you charmed this information, about the existence of the List, from one of the Sorcerers?”
“Hardly. They’d never admit to such a thing. Too dangerous.” He joined her at the retaining wall and stared out over the streets. He felt her gaze on the side of his face.
She was interested in what he had to say, couldn’t help herself despite the distance she tried to keep between them. And that only encouraged him to try drawing her out more. There was something so deliciously satisfying about capturing her reluctant attention.
“At least one of their human servants is aware of the List. That particular human was…” He turned suddenly and caught her stare. “She was quite susceptible to my charms.”
Mina snorted and looked away. The reaction made him smile. Why he was enjoying this game with her, he couldn’t be sure. But attempting to tease and infuriate her gave him more pleasure than anything had in a very long time, so he wasn’t inclined to stop.
“Then we can expect the List is still in the Citadel.”
“Yes. But not the one you’re thinking about.”
She turned back sharply. “What are you saying? I thought there was only one Citadel?”
“The information the Sorcerers allowed to get back to the Sinnale.” He leaned against the low wall, crossing his arms over his chest. “Your spies are very good. But the Sorcerers know about more of them than they let on. Though they take and use many, they allow a few to ‘escape’ with information they want you to have.”
Her face seemed to grow paler in the dim light from the gas lamps below.
“Why do you think you’ve never gotten ahead in the war?”
“They have magic. Once we ran out of elven weapons, we didn’t have anything to counter that.”
“At which point, they could have initiated a full-on assault and taken all of Sinnale.”
She shook her head. “No. We still fought. They never had enough people—”
He lifted one shoulder. “True. They use up as many of the captured as they turn minion. And the minions are eventually used up as well. They need a constant flow of new blood to maintain their powers and the balance of power between them.”
“Which is where you traitors came in,” she spat. “Using elf magic to lure my people into their hands without so much as a struggle.”
His amusement dropped and his fists clenched. But he continued. “The traitors are a convenience. But hardly necessary to the Sorcerers’ efforts. They could take the advantage at any time. Yet they haven’t. Why do you suppose they keep the war going?”
“Like I said, they never had enough minions. We have superior numbers.”
“But no magic. They’re aware of this. Do you think your people aren’t tortured when they’re taken?”
She spun away from him, her fingers digging so sharply into the brick wall he was surprised she didn’t draw blood.
Very quietly, she said, “I know very well what captives of the Sorcerers suffer.”
“Then you know the prisoners reveal information,” he went on relentlessly. He didn’t know why he was pushing this, why he pummeled her with truths she didn’t need. But he also couldn’t seem to stop himself. “So why didn’t the Sorcerers take the city while you were essentially helpless against their magic?”
“We still had blades. Some, anyway.” She let one hand fall to the hilt of one of the two short swords strapped her to hips. “Enough to hold them back.”
He snorted. “Not nearly enough.”
“The minions fell to our regular weapons.”
“Again, you’re missing the point. Even with elf weapons, you barely have enough to hold the Sorcerers back. Why do you think they let any of you remain free?”
He watched the tension tighten her body and jaw, her chest rising and falling sharply with her increased breathing.
“Why?” she murmured around clenched teeth. “You tell me.”
“They need the conflict. The war. The blood. This feeds them. And they have every intention of drawing it out until they wring every last drop of pain and terror and agony from your people.”
“And then?”
Her voice was so quiet now, he barely heard it.
He straightened and let his arms drop back to his sides. “Then… As my brother always suspected, they will turn their attention to Glengowyn.”
Her sharp brown eyes pierced him. “And yet you still joined with them, when you knew they’d turn on your people? How could you?”
In his mad zeal to push her toward the real truth of her war, he’d cornered himself. Disgusted with both his own behavior and this entire situation, he grunted a curse and walked away from the wall.
“There was more to it than that,” he muttered, not caring if she actually heard him or not.
What was he doing? He couldn’t even explain why he’d pushed her that way. He didn’t want to talk about the reason he’d joined with the traitor elves. Not to anyone. Certainly not to this human woman he barely knew. A woman he had no doubt wanted
desperately to stick one of her two short swords into his back right about now.
He was an idiot.
With his back to her, he said, “The fortress where the List is located, its existence isn’t information they allow out of their territory. Most of the minions don’t even know it exists. Only a handful of the Sorcerers’ servants, a select guard and the Sorcerers themselves know where it is. Each Sorcerer maintains their own stronghold. The ‘public’ Citadel is for show and business. The List fortress is the site of their power. The place where they meet in secret and maintain their alliance.”
She was silent for a long time after he’d spit out what he’d started to tell her before getting sidetracked. Though he could usually wait out the silences of others, with Mina he found himself turning to face her, to see if he could read her expression.
She looked thoughtful. Her lips were pursed, her gaze turned inward. When she glanced up, the anger and pain he’d forced her to feel were no longer evident in her expression.
“‘Maintain their alliance’. What do you mean by that?”
He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as his shoulders relaxed, releasing some of his tension. “Do you honestly think so many powerful individuals would work together willingly? Without ever making a grab for all the power themselves? The Sorcerers are selfish and hungry. Each would happily destroy the others if it meant they could walk away with everything.”
“Yet they don’t.” She nodded slowly in understanding. “You know why, don’t you?”
“The List of Names.”
Her eyes narrowed. He could practically see her sharp mind ticking through the facts he’d just laid out for her, and he watched as comprehension dawned. Confirming what he’d suspected all along about Mina the spy. She was a very intelligent woman.
“They use the List as a…standoff, of sorts,” she said. “Is that right?”
“One human was given the job of writing down the names—given to him in secrecy—and another was given the job of guarding the List. The man who’d taken the names was killed so he couldn’t be tortured into revealing any of them. The woman who guards them was given a certain measure of power to protect her. Not enough to threaten the Sorcerers’ own power. But enough to keep them from bypassing her to steal the List.”
“Why would they allow her to know their names, though?”
“She doesn’t know. The List was locked away in a bespelled vessel by the original taker of the names.”
“Wait.” She raised a hand. “We not only have to get around this guardian, but we have to get through a spell to get at the List?”
“You didn’t expect this to be an easy mission, did you? That the Sorcerers would just leave something so valuable lying about?”
She scowled but rather than responding to his barb, she said, “So the Sorcerers use the List as a kind of insurance against betrayal. If one attempts to overpower the others, there’s some plan in place for that Sorcerer’s true name to be revealed?”
He clapped slowly in approval, the sound muffled by his thin leather gloves. “Just so. As you said, a standoff. A way to maintain the alliance. If one tries to betray the others, they risk losing something far more important to them than the power they might otherwise gain.”
“Their true names. Which can be used in magic against them. Spells to destroy them.”
“Oh more than just simple death spells. They could be turned into slaves if their true name gets into the wrong hands. A fate none of them covets.”
“How could the name get out if one of them attempted to overthrow the others? Couldn’t that one just kill the guardian, steal the vessel and make sure the others never got his name?”
He walked back to the wall, his earlier tension replaced by a strange need to be near her. “Outside of the guardian’s own powers to help prevent that, part of the spell placed on the vessel is tied with all of their blood. The betrayal of one triggers an element of the magic that then whispers that one’s name to the others. They would all know of both the betrayal and the betrayer’s true name before that Sorcerer could ever make a move. Quite elegant, really. The perfect stalemate.”
“I didn’t even know there was magic capable of what you’re describing.”
“It’s not common knowledge. And Sinnale had very few practitioners before the invasion. None since. Your people don’t know the half of what your enemy is capable of.”
He settled his hip against the wall, closer to her than he’d been before. She didn’t move away, too caught up in their conversation to notice he’d placed himself so near. The position gave him a chance to breathe in the very faint but deliciously sweet smell of her skin.
He hadn’t noticed her scent when she came to speak with him the day before in his cage. She’d kept herself too far away. Now, he was drawn by that elusive hint circling toward him on the chilled breeze. He wanted to nuzzle her neck to better capture and analyze the soft sweetness. But he had a feeling he’d end up with one of her swords in his gut if he tried. For some reason, that thought actually amused him, further lightening his earlier tension until he was almost cheerful.
“Do your people understand fully?” she asked. “You work with magic. You each have some to command.”
“Our magic is different. Of the earth and ourselves. Not ripped away from some unlucky sacrifice. Our magic doesn’t come from books and spells. It’s part of our essence, part of who we are in each life we live.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” she said, her chin pulled back as she stared up at him.
He allowed a very slight smile. “No. It doesn’t.” He nodded back toward the currently empty streets. “And we’ve moved away from our goal. If we enter there now, we’ll have to hide inside enemy territory. And we have a slightly different destination to reach than you assumed.”
“Are you willing to tell me where we’re going before we cross the border? I had planned for us taking at least two days to reach the Citadel. But now… You should have shared this information with me earlier.”
“The council didn’t need to know this much detail. I knew we’d have time to discuss it once inside Noman’s Land.”
“You have a very roundabout way of bringing it up. So…”
“So, the List fortress is located five city blocks behind the Citadel, at the very center of their territory. The building is nondescript, maintains no outward guards—though there are guards inside—and has a vaguely disused look about it. That part is thanks to some elf glamour.”
“The traitors help the Sorcerers disguise their true center of power? Isn’t that a risk for the Sorcerers?”
He rolled his eyes. “The others never bothered to find out what they were hiding with the glamour. They assumed the Sorcerers were testing their skills. Idiots.” He spit out the last through a half snarl.
“The same idiots you joined with willingly,” she pointed out. “What does that make you?”
“The biggest fool of them all,” he answered without hesitation. Her eyes narrowed, and he knew she’d ask more. Somehow with this woman he kept slipping into a topic he had no intention of discussing. To stave off her curiosity, he returned to their original topic. “Now then, our direction is still generally the same as before. But we’ll have to get past the Citadel. And it, along with the surrounding area, is heavily guarded and patrolled. Only partly for show.”
Her gaze turned inward again as she considered their options. He watched her thinking, unable to look away even if he’d wanted to. The play of concentration across her face, the way her brow creased and her full lips flattened into a line, continued to fascinate him, holding his attention more thoroughly even than the full bounty of her breasts or the sexy flare of her hips.
Finally, she said, “If we attempt to go too far out of our way to bypass the Citadel, this mission could take at least a week. The longer we’re in their territory, the better chance we have of being captured.”
“And there’s no way to circumvent the Cita
del without running into minion patrols. Not unless we attempt to go outside the city limits and sneak back in. But they guard those well with spells as well as minions. I understand the edges of the city in their territory are even more heavily monitored now.”
“After the two elves who came to deliver those special arrows got through? But how would you know about their patrols if you’ve been in our prison?”
“Not all of you Sinnale are immune to my charms,” he said with a slight chuckle. In fact, very few humans could resist his particular talent when he really tried. But the king and queen had ensured the magic mixed into the bars of his cage provided some protection for the Sinnale. Fortunately, he’d always found a handsome face and a ready ear went a long way on their own. “Information is always available to someone willing to…chat.”
“One of my people told you the city limits were being more heavily monitored. Who?”
He shook his head. “Ah-ah. I could hardly betray that very kind person’s confidence by revealing they’d spoken with me.”
She narrowed her eyes as if she intended to say more so he held up a hand. “But back to the topic. Moving outside the city limits and then back in again won’t prevent us from encountering patrols and protection spells. Any attempt to get around the center of the minion movements will be a waste of time.”
She sighed. “I was afraid of that. Well, then. We take my original route, hide in the places I’d planned for. Once near the Citadel, we’ll have to gather information, watch patrol movements. This will still take at least an extra day or two. But not as long as a week. Unless you’re still not telling me something?”
“I can direct you to the List fortress, and I can lead you to the List of Names inside—if we make it that far. I haven’t kept a secret way to get there from you.”
“Fine. We’ll have to do what we can once we know more.”
He edged just a little closer, near enough his hand could easily brush against hers on the retaining wall. He resisted the urge to touch, knowing she’d pull away, but he couldn’t resist the need to hover closer to her heat.
