by Lisa Shearin
And weapons. Lots and lots of weapons.
“So this is your secret hideout.”
“One of them,” Mychael said out loud. “And there’s no need for mindspeak; this room is soundproof and spellproof.”
I grinned and shook my head. “Damn.”
“What?”
“Mychael Eiliesor has a secret lair and is hiding from the law.”
He held up a finger. “Not hiding. I just don’t want to answer any awkward questions or have anyone know where I am.”
“Sounds like Phaelan after he’s pulled a job.” I gave him a slow smile. “What job are we pulling this evening?”
“Sarad Nukpana has an uncle—” Mychael began.
“Janos Ghalfari, the nachtmagus who’s helping him,” I interrupted. “Tam told me. He also told me that he found four houses in the city owned by Nukpana’s mother’s family, and that Nukpana isn’t in any of them.”
“He’s not. What else did Tam tell you?”
I told him about the coach, horses, houses, and how Uncle Janos had nicely come all the way from Regor to help his dear nephew grow his body back.
Mychael nodded in approval. “Good, that saves me a lot of talking. We don’t have time. We have a meeting to go to.”
“Okay, now I’m completely confused.”
“No doubt.”
“What kind of meeting?”
“When a goblin needs something done that another goblin can’t or won’t do, there are a handful of humans on Mid who will get them anything they need for the right price. Janos Ghalfari is helping his nephew regenerate, but he’s not the kidnapper. As far as Ghalfari is concerned, that’s why you hire servants. A goblin would be too easily traced. I’ve discovered that he’s hired two humans through an intermediary.” Mychael paused. “A man and a woman.”
Shit. Mychael didn’t need to say anything else, or even think it. I knew what he wanted me for.
A glamour. To use my magic to make myself look and sound like someone else. It was something I’d never been able to do before the Saghred had done its enhancement work on my previously meager magical skill set.
“We’ve got the two of them under lock and key,” Mychael was saying. “I can do a glamour to alter my face and ears. The man is close enough to me in build so that won’t be a problem. And as a spellsinger, I can change my voice.”
“That doesn’t do me any good. I’ve only done a glamour once and it didn’t go well.” And I didn’t want to do one again.
“Raine, you glamoured yourself into a man, an elven embassy captain no less, and talked your way into the embassy when every guard in the place was on battle alert.”
“And I lost the glamour.”
“Only when Piaras thought you were one of his jailers and punched you in the balls. That’d make any man lose any number of things, least of all his concentration. The embassy was on lockdown, yet you waltzed right in.”
I scowled. “Yeah, I had big balls that night.”
Mychael grinned. “So I heard. I’ve never heard of an anatomically correct glamour.”
“What can I say? I’m gifted. I was also motivated as hell. That might have been the only reason why the spell worked.”
“You don’t believe that and neither do I, or I wouldn’t have brought you here.” Mychael’s eyes were intent on mine. “Raine, I need your help. Kester Morrell and Maire Orla are the names of the humans Ghalfari hired through a local procurer by the name of Karl Cradock. We’re meeting Cradock in less than an hour at a tavern called the Bare Bones down on the waterfront.”
I sighed in resignation. I had to do this and I knew it. “What’s supposed to happen at this meeting?”
“Cradock will pay Morrell and Orla and give them the name of their target—and most important, we’ll be told where to deliver him.”
“What are the chances that it’ll be where Sarad Nukpana is hiding?”
“Slim, but if we can follow, we can find.”
I grinned slowly. “And lucky you, you’ve got one of the best seekers there is with you.”
“I think I’m the luckiest man in the world,” Mychael said softly.
Those words had more than one meaning and from his heated gaze, he meant all of them.
No time to think about Mychael getting lucky, though the visual popped into my head before I could stop it. Mychael knew and the heat in his eyes turned to a challenge.
“Are you in?” he asked, his voice very deep, very male.
I also tried not to think about Mychael’s strong hands roaming all over my naked body, touching, healing—heating. My face wasn’t the only part of me that flushed with warmth.
Mychael responded with a crooked grin. He knew exactly what I was thinking. “Well, are you?”
A wry smile curled my lips. “All the way.”
“Then let’s do it.”
Sarad Nukpana would want to kidnap either someone I cared about or someone whose death could be pinned squarely on me. I’d either be heartbroken or executed—someone I loved would die or I would. One or the other, and the choice hadn’t been mine until now. If I didn’t screw this up, and we pulled this off, and I found the son of a bitch, we could stop both from happening.
“One question.”
Mychael paused. “Yes?”
“What happened to ‘protect Raine at all costs’?”
“The costs have gotten too high. Kester Morrell never goes anywhere without Maire Orla. They’re partners. It’d tip Cradock off immediately if Morrell showed up for the payoff without her. What you did in the elven embassy was beyond amazing. You have a gift, and one that right now, quite frankly, I’m glad you have.”
“Even if that ‘gift’ came from the Saghred?” I didn’t even try to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.
“Raine, you’re only linked to the Saghred—you are not that rock, and you never will be. You’re stronger than it is, and you need to start believing that.”
I snorted derisively. “Yeah, I’m stronger than a rock that flattens armies.”
“Has it flattened any armies lately?”
“No, but—”
“Because you haven’t let it. You haven’t fed it, and whenever it has tried to control you, you’ve stopped it. That strength is your gift, Raine.”
“I’m not strong. I’m just stubborn.”
A corner of his mouth quirked upward. “There’s no doubt in my mind that you’re stubborn, but you need to get rid of any doubt that you’re not strong enough for anything the Saghred, Nukpana, Carnades, Balmorlan, or anyone else throws at you, because they’re going to be throwing plenty.”
“And if all else fails, I’m a Benares, so I know how to fight dirty.”
“Strength, stubbornness, and underhanded tactics—you can’t lose.” Mychael’s expression turned solemn. “Raine, when we were first bonded I saw you, all of you. I know who you are; I saw your strength, your beautiful spirit. I know what you can do if you simply believe and give yourself the chance.” His next words were deliberate. “And I know what you would never do. That voice you hear, the Saghred’s voice, it’s lying when it says you’re weak; it says that to make you doubt, to make you afraid. Not of the Saghred, but of yourself. It lies because it is the one afraid of you.”
“Mychael, I’m afraid of myself.” I closed my eyes. I had to get the words out; I had to say it out loud. The fear had haunted my thoughts; maybe if I said it, admitted it, the fear would go away, or at least I could control it, before it and the Saghred completely controlled me.
To forget how good the Saghred’s full power coming awake inside of me had felt.
The power, the strength that had coursed through every part of me, to take, to kill. In the bordello, the urge to take that specter had felt good. Too good. Deep down, some dark core of me wanted to do it, wanted to feel that dark magic heating every part of me, needed to feel that destructive power hammering into my enemies.
I could defy the Saghred; but would I deny myself? And if I could
deny myself, how long could I keep doing it?
I knew the answer to that question. That answer, that truth, scared me more than Sarad Nukpana, the Saghred, and every specter loose on the island.
My voice was a bare whisper. “What happened in the bordello, when the specter challenged me . . . I enjoyed it. I wanted to destroy that thing. I wanted to consume it.”
“I know.”
“I don’t want to be like that.” I felt my fingers clench into fists. “I won’t be like that.”
“I won’t let it happen to you.”
My laugh came out bitter. “It already has and you know it.”
Mychael closed the distance between us and his long fingers slid under my chin, tilting my face up to his. His eyes were blue fire. “One step does not damn you.”
“There’s been more than one and you know it. Weeks ago when I crushed that demon in watcher headquarters, I—”
Mychael shook his head. “I don’t care how much you enjoyed what you did. It was a demon. It possesses and destroys, or kills and consumes. You killed a thing that needed to be killed. Yes, you may have enjoyed it; and yes, that exhilaration you felt undoubtedly came from using the Saghred. Power is exhilarating.” The fingers that had been holding my chin gently touched my face; his other hand was warm against my cheek as he cradled my face in his hands. “Using that power for good does not condemn you.” He paused. “Raine, would you have killed that demon again, even if you knew you would have to use the Saghred to do it?”
“Without hesitating.”
“Why?”
I blinked. “Why? Because it was trying to kill people. It might have succeeded. One of those watchers wasn’t moving; several weren’t moving. I don’t even know what happened to them.”
“You killed to protect, to defend. Does that sound evil to you?”
“No. But I—”
“Because it’s not.”
“But I still enjoyed it.”
“That doesn’t make you evil. The nature of the Saghred is temptation. It can’t do anything alone. It wants someone to use it. It needs someone to use it.”
“It’s chosen lucky me. And now it’s chosen you because of me. I’m the one who should be apologizing.”
“I wouldn’t take it, because you have nothing to apologize for. Nothing you have done or will do is your fault. I will see to that.”
My throat tightened. “Thank you,” I managed. “That means a lot, especially coming from you.”
His hands slid down to my shoulders. “You have nothing to thank me for.”
“I have everything to thank you for. You believe in me, and you believe I can do this—all of this.”
“I have no doubt.”
I looked up at him. “So what happened to Mychael Eiliesor, protector of the people by the book?”
His smile held many secrets. “Occasionally I have him take the night off.” The smile faded. “By the book doesn’t always get the job done—and sometimes it can get innocent people killed.”
I glanced around the room. “Looks like you give him the night off a lot.”
Mychael’s eyes gleamed in the dim light. “A few times.”
“So who else knows about this place?”
“Just me and the archmage.”
“Not Vegard?”
Mychael shook his head. “I trust him with my life, but some things he’s safer not knowing.”
“Would this place have anything to do with Justinius flushing his enemies out of hiding?”
“Occasionally.”
I flashed him a grin. “Secretive and cryptic with a touch of deception. Don’t take this the wrong way, but sneaky suits you.”
“It’s just another side of me.”
“You should let him out to play more often.”
“The way things are going, that’ll be unavoidable.”
“Okay, say we go to the bar, get the name, the place, and the money—a nice added bonus, by the way. But what happens when Morrell and Orla don’t deliver Sarad Nukpana’s next meal? I don’t think Nukpana or his uncle will be too pleased with their procurer. Not that I have a problem with that.”
“Anyone who arranges kidnappings and murders for a living deserves anything they get,” Mychael said. “Though if, when everything plays out, Nukpana’s uncle wants to take any revenge on his hireling, he’d better act fast. My plan is for Sarad to cease to be a problem in the next day or two, and his uncle right behind him.”
“I like the ‘cease to be’ part.”
“And in addition to meeting with Karl Cradock, and preventing the next kidnapping and murder, we’ll be getting proof that Tam has had nothing to do with any of this.”
“Did Morrell and Orla confess?”
“They didn’t kidnap General Aratus. Karl Cradock did that himself.”
I had a bad feeling about this. “Then why is he hiring someone else now?”
“My guess is this next job is more than he could handle—or wanted to risk. Karl Cradock isn’t a magic user. Kester Morrell and Maire Orla are.”
“What can they do?”
“Conveniently, Morrell is a spellsinger. Orla is a most proficient hypnotist.”
“I’m not,” I told him.
“The Saghred helped you literally turn yourself into a man; I think a little hypnosis is well within your magical range now.”
I froze. “That tells me Nukpana’s next victim is a magic user, moderate to high powered. Like Piaras. His bodyguards are sticking to him like glue, right?”
“Raine, when we have the name, we’ll take action. Immediately. Worry doesn’t do us or Piaras any good right now. Besides, even on their best days, Morrell and Orla couldn’t get into the citadel. And they sure as hell couldn’t get into Justinius’s apartments.”
“Do you have proof that Karl Cradock snatched Aratus?”
“I know he did, but I don’t have tangible proof; I’ll get that at our meeting.”
“Uh, Mychael, even if we do get him to spill his guts, Carnades doesn’t consider us the most reliable sources of information.”
He grinned crookedly and pulled out what looked like a large marble on a silver chain from beneath his shirt. There was a narrow band of silver around the middle of the stone, about the diameter of a man’s ring. “Which is why we’ll be wearing these.”
I leaned forward for a closer look, but wasn’t about to touch any kind of pendant on a chain. An amulet was what had gotten me into the whole Saghred mess to begin with. “Which is?”
“It will record everything I see and hear for one hour.”
“What’s it called?”
“The inventor never named it. He’s an old friend of mine, a prolific inventor, not big on naming his gadgets. This little beauty hasn’t failed me yet.”
“Then why do I need to wear one?”
“Because there’s a first time for everything not to work.” He held out the second pendant to me. “I’m not about to take any chances.”
I put it on and held the tiny globe up by the chain and looked into it. It was a flat blue on the surface; it could have been a trick of the light, but I thought I saw swirling strands of pale blue light beneath the surface. “So if Cradock incriminates himself, this little thing will record it?”
“When Cradock incriminates himself,” he corrected me. He smiled gently. “I’ve done this before, many times, and I like to think I’m rather good at it.”
“Sorry. I’m just having trouble with the whole ‘Mychael Eiliesor as con man’ thing.”
“Understandable. No offense taken. The gem will play back the entire hour in any common crystal ball.”
“So when this guy gets a case of loose lips, we’ll have a record of it, and Carnades, or anyone else who wants to keep Tam behind bars, will have no choice but to let him go—with an apology.”
“I think an apology from Carnades would be pushing it.”
I frowned. “Mychael, we’re going to have to do something permanent about him. Phaelan’s o
ffered to contact some people, and I’m about to let him.”
“I agree that he needs to go, but let’s do it my way.” There was that secretive smile again. “I’ve got a few irons in the fire; they’ll be getting hot enough to use soon.”
“What’s your way?”
“Destroy his credibility, take away his influence, and get him dismissed from the Seat of Twelve.” Mychael’s voice turned cold and each word was sharp and clipped. “And when he can’t buy a vote or bribe an official, and none of his bought-and-paid-for allies will even admit to knowing him, then I will personally kick his ass off of my island.”
Now, that was a plan I could get behind.
“When’s this meeting?” I asked.
“Two bells. That gives us a little less than an hour.”
“Where do you have Morrell and Orla locked up?”
“A Guardian safe house.”
“Mychael, I don’t mean to stick pins in your plan, but if I’m going to do a glamour of this woman, I have to see her. I can’t do this without details.”
“I’ve got all the details you need.” He laid his index finger to his temple. “Right here.”
“Use our bond.”
Mychael nodded once. “The cell where we’re holding Morrell and Orla has a ward across the bars so they can’t see out, but I can see in. You’ll have to reproduce her clothes yourself as part of the glamour, but I have all of her weapons here.”
“All of her weapons?”
“I think she carries even more steel than you do, if that’s possible. They’re over there on the bed.”
I went, I looked, and I really liked.
There were assorted daggers of various sizes, and a brace of throwing stars, but what made my hands itch with “gimme” was a Nebian scimitar. I picked it up and pulled the blade from the scabbard and kept pulling, and it kept coming. Long, curved, and utterly lethal. It almost made my pair of goblin blades look puny.
“I think I’m in love.” I glanced back at Mychael. “Will I like her taste in clothes?”
