*
Valek called, “Come,” when they knocked on his office door.
Candles blazed, revealing Valek sitting cross-legged on the floor with file folders scattered around him.
“Organizing?” Ari asked, sounding doubtful.
Despite what Valek claimed about his filing system, Ari and Janco were not convinced there had been any logic applied to the piles.
“No. I’m searching for replacements.” Valek flipped open a folder. “What do you think of Sergeant Hunter?”
“For what?” Janco asked.
“The Commander’s new personal guard.”
Ah. Time for the comeuppance. “He’s a bit stiff, but dependable,” Janco said.
“Smart and ambitious,” Ari added. “He won’t be content to be a sergeant for long.”
“Hmm. I’ll add him to my ‘maybe’ pile.” Valek placed the folder on the middle of three stacks. Then he stood and wiped the dust off his black pants. “Do you have news for me?” He scooped up the three piles and carried them to his desk.
“Yes, sir,” Ari said. He explained about the warehouse and smugglers. “I asked Deet to send a cleanup crew so we can interrogate them later. But overall, they were too easy to find.”
“A fake operation?” Valek asked.
“No. They’re selling illegal goods, but it’s mostly minor stuff. We can see what the smugglers say, but I’m thinking we need an undercover operative that’s not recognizable.”
Janco pished. “A good disguise—”
“Won’t be enough,” Ari said. “They know us too well.”
“As in, there’s a mole in our operations?” Valek asked.
“That’s always a possibility, but this seems more like they’ve been watching us and keeping track of our whereabouts. Like we do with the minor criminals that we don’t arrest, but use to find the more dangerous ones.”
“That matches what I’ve been thinking.” Valek drummed his fingers on his desk. “And I may have the perfect operative to work with you. She’s a complete unknown. That is, if she shows up.”
Janco didn’t like the sound of that. Not at all. “Who?”
Instead of answering, Valek picked up one of the files. “What do you think of Private Krist for the Commander’s guard?”
Ari and Janco exchanged a glance. Valek would tell them whom he had in mind when he was ready. They discussed personnel and who had the best skills to protect the Commander until a light tapping on the door interrupted them.
Valek tensed before he invited the knocker into his office. Janco’s fingers caressed the hilt of his favorite dagger as he turned to see who entered. A young girl approached. Seventeen—maybe eighteen. Her graceful strides seemed familiar. Her gaze flicked between him and Ari, sizing them up. Pretty with light gray eyes. However, no warmth emanated from them. When she neared, Janco changed his estimate of her age to twenty.
“This is Onora. She’s going to be working with you,” Valek said. “This is Ari and Janco, my—”
“Current seconds-in-command,” she said.
The challenge in her voice pricked the hair on the back of Janco’s neck. “Are we that desperate for recruits we need to hire children?”
She glared but didn’t rise to the taunt. Too bad.
“Is she the one?” Ari asked Valek.
“Yes. And she’s going to be working with you to find the brains running the smuggling operation.”
“Seriously? What’s she gonna find? A lollipop and Binky?” Janco laughed at his own joke.
Without warning, Onora palmed a knife and pressed it to Janco’s throat in one quick motion.
His smile widened. “Ooh, I like her.”
11
YELENA
Anger boiled up my throat as Leif cursed the Sitian Council.
He prowled around the couch and chairs in Fisk’s sitting room. “Why wouldn’t they warn you about Ben’s escape? Are they insane?”
“Perhaps they believed he wouldn’t have time to set up an ambush for Yelena,” Fisk said. “He’s running from the authorities. Even with help, their focus would have been on escaping and not revenge.”
“And they promised Valek that Ben would be incarcerated for life in a special wing of Wirral built to block a magician’s power,” I said. “If they’d told me, I might have informed Valek.”
“That’s stupid,” Leif said. “Why risk Yelena’s life? She’s valuable.”
“Perhaps they thought in the unlikely event she is attacked, she is more than capable of protecting herself,” Fisk said. “Plus you were with Valek, right?”
My fury eased a fraction. “Yes, but it happened before I’d reached him. And they wouldn’t have known the assassin has this new...poison.”
“Are you sure about that?” Leif asked. “They’re already keeping secrets and that would be a giant secret. Think about it.”
Fisk agreed. “The Council is afraid of magicians. They have been since Devlen switched Councilor Moon’s soul with her sister’s. They all have a magic detector to make sure no one is influencing them with magic. So it’s not a big leap in logic to assume that if they’ve learned about this power-blocking poison, the group they keep the news from is the magicians.”
Fisk’s speculation rang true to me. We needed to find out how much they knew.
“Has the Council had any recent closed-door sessions without the Master Magicians?” I asked.
“That’s illegal,” Leif said. “All members must be in attendance.”
“How about an informal get-together?”
“That’s harder to determine. The Councilors frequently meet in small groups, but nothing official is supposed to be decided.”
“And I haven’t heard any rumors about secret meetings,” Fisk said.
“What about our Councilman, Bavol Zaltana?” I asked Leif. “Would he tell us?”
“It would depend on how much we’re willing to divulge to him,” he said. “If he knows you’ve been poisoned, he’d probably give us any information he has. But if we’re vague and ask about a potential substance, he might clam up.”
Uneasy about having yet another person know about me, I considered my options. “The attack on me could have been sanctioned by the Sitian Council. They’ve always been leery of me and my abilities. If they neutralize me, they no longer have to worry about me. Although you’d think they’d’ve learned to trust me by now.”
“Now you’re being paranoid,” Leif said. “We’ll talk to Bavol. But we’ll call it clan business.”
“And why would it matter what we call it?”
“Loyalty to clan members is important to Bavol. Besides, the Council doesn’t need to know about this poison right now as long as the Master Magicians are aware of it.”
I’d argue we’d gotten into trouble before by not informing the Council, but the thought of them not warning me about Ben Moon didn’t give me any warm and fuzzy feelings toward them.
“All right. Bavol should be back at his place by now. Let’s go pay him a visit before we return to the Keep.”
We said goodbye to Fisk. He promised to gather any information he could about the assassin and poison.
When I wrapped my cloak around my shoulders, it felt like putting on armor. Just knowing it protected me from magic eased my biggest fear. I resisted the temptation to pull the hood over my head. The night air wasn’t that cold.
The lamplighters had finished their nightly task. Bright yellow pools of light painted the streets. Not many people lingered in the central business district after the market closed and the factories reduced their production levels for the evening. We navigated the quiet streets, heading east toward the government quarter, where the Council Hall and housing for the Councilors and their aides was located.
As we neared Bavol’s town house, memories of the time I’d had to sneak into his kitchen rose unbidden. The Daviian Vermin had taken over the Sitian Council, there had been a price on my head, and I’d needed Bavol’s help.
When we reached his front stoop, I kept walking, pulling Leif with me.
“But—”