The Glass Magician

“It’s none of your concern,” Ceony snapped, talking louder than necessary to keep her voice from shaking. “I’m ready to negotiate.”


Grath laughed again. Ceony kept her face smooth, though she couldn’t help but purse her lips. She knew negotiating with a killer was worthless—she wasn’t completely dim-witted. Still, it could only be to her benefit if he thought her na?ve. Na?veté seemed the strongest card Ceony had to play, and she knew how to cheat at cards.

“I admit I wasn’t expecting cooperation,” Grath said, pitching his voice low.

“I’m only cooperating if you leave Saraj Prendi out of the picture,” Ceony said. “This is between you and me.”

Grath frowned. A vein in his forehead popped and pulsed, and Ceony thought she heard the closing of a door behind him. Had the Excisioner left?

“That man is a real tosser,” Grath said, grinning wide enough to reveal his sharp canines, but that vein still throbbed in his forehead. His ears had turned red as well. “I’ll take care of him, pet. Don’t you worry. I don’t want you dead, not yet. Not when you still have information I need.”

Delilah whimpered. Ceony gestured for her to stay quiet.

“Good. I’m glad we’re already in agreement,” she said.

The vein on Grath’s forehead smoothed. “I’m listening. Talk.”

“Not that easy,” Ceony said. “I want a guarantee that Saraj leaves us alone. In fact, the farther away he goes, the better.” Gibraltar, Africa, I don’t care. Just get him away.

“Us?” Grath repeated. “You and Thane?”

“Us, as in everyone who lives here,” Ceony snapped. “Think outside the frame, Grath.”

He chuckled. “I get Saraj out, and you tell me your little secrets.”

“And I want you out, too,” Ceony said. “I’ll give you what you want, but I want you—and Lira—gone for good.” Preferably in a jail cell, if I can swing this right.

Grath hesitated for a moment, but said, “Done.”

Ceony tried to hide her surprise. Grath sounded sincere; would he and Saraj really leave if Ceony restored Lira? No, she didn’t even need to restore her, only tell Grath how she froze her in the first place. She didn’t think that information could be used for ill, at least not by a Gaffer.

What are you thinking? she chided herself. You can’t actually give that information away. Just make him beg for it long enough to expose his weakness.

At least it sounded like Saraj wanted to leave anyway. A small relief, albeit an uneasy one. Who would the Excisioner hurt next?

She turned the bargain over in her mind, kneading it like bread dough. Could she get Grath’s defenses down long enough to do him in?

“Having second thoughts?” Grath asked. “Too late to back out, dearie. We do this now, or I’ll have Saraj hurt you bad, you hear? You’ve got a family in town? Parents? A cute sister, maybe?”

Ceony’s heart hammered. Her chest felt cold. She swallowed and took a deep breath, trying to hide her frayed nerves, her panic. “Wh-Where is Lira?”

“I can take you there,” the Gaffer said. He backed off from the mirror by a few inches. “Tell me where you are.”

“I’ll meet you there,” Ceony countered. She pulled up Emery’s schedule from her memory—he had a meeting with Parliament again tomorrow, at one o’clock. Another meeting Ceony couldn’t attend. The timing was perfect.

“Tomorrow, after lunch,” she said. “I don’t like cooperating on an empty stomach. One thirty.”

Delilah’s eyes bugged. She tried to gesture something to Ceony without taking her hands off the mirror, but Ceony ignored her.

Grath chuckled. “There’s an abandoned barn outside of the city, south. If you take Hangman’s Road to the fork, and the dirt street west, you’ll see it. Off the road, at the base of the hills. Come by yourself, because if I so much as see a driver with you, I’ll find that blond piece from the restaurant and have some fun with her. Understand?”

Delilah paled, but thankfully didn’t break the spell.

Ceony cleared her throat before answering. “Clear as Gaffer’s glass. Same to you.”

Grath laughed again. “And what will a Folder do to me, hmm?”

“I’m more than a Folder, remember?” Ceony lied. She made a sharp gesture to Delilah, who whispered, “Cease.” Grath’s image vanished, and the mirror reflected only Ceony’s face.

Ceony scooped the shard of mirror off the floor and shoved it into the blind box, breathing like she had just run up ten flights of stairs.

“You can’t!” Delilah cried, tears on her eyelashes. “You can’t possibly meet with him! You have to tell the magicians!”

“And let you get hurt? Or my family?” Ceony shot back. “Do you think he was kidding about Saraj? I told you, Delilah, this is my fight now.” She wrung her hands together, trying to ignore the feeling of dripping oil inside her stomach. “I just have to be prepared.”