Chapter 25

Hanna

Iwas alone on the streets of a foreign city.

For the first time, I felt deeply alone. I longed for Honor and my brothers-in-law and the noise of the castle where I”d felt at home. I hadn”t realized until I was walking those rain-slicked empty cobblestone streets how I”d never felt so alone before.

Even when I was fighting with Thorne or Kaelan or even Dare, there was always this sense they were there for me. After all, I”d thrown myself through Kaelan”s window when I needed him, and I”d known deep down that he would help me.

Sure, afterward he would throw his help in my face and nettle me about needing him, but if I was hurt, if I was in danger . . . he would always be there.

And now, wherever he was, he”d been enchanted to lose that love for me. To become the danger instead of my safety.

And Thorne, who was always by my side, so comforting and resolute, was gone now too. His loss felt like a raw ache in my chest as if I”d just been stabbed.

I wished I”d been more careful what I said to him. What if I lost him forever?

Dare drove me mad and seemed to despise me, so I wasn”t sure why my thoughts turned to him. He always did Kaelan”s bidding. And yet . . . I wished he were here and on my side. The memory of him feeding me came back to me, and it made me smile now. What an arrogant bastard.

Thorne had pointed out that Dare”s loyalty always had to be Kaelan. Kaelan had saved his life so many times and the men were like brothers---and the only family Dare had. Dare”s fate was also tied to Kaelan”s, his only home in that terrible frozen castle.

Still. There was something entrancing about the way Dare moved, the way his gaze flickered to mine, the little smirks that hovered at the corner of his mouth as if he were full of secrets.

Whatever.

I was on my own. I could be lonely, sad, miserable . . . and moving.

I knew what club the magician frequented thanks to his journal, so I”d see if anyone there had any clue where he went. The Snake Queen claimed she had him in her possession, but we hadn’t seen him in the castle…and the fact she’d been searching for something made me think she didn’t have him conveniently stuck in a torture chamber, where she could find the exact location of whatever she was missing.

With my usual dignity, I soon found myself hanging off one of the windowsills of the club, searching for a view of the interior through the soot-streaked glass. My boots were braced against the stone wall since the club”s real action all seemed to happen on the second and third floors of the building.

There were no women visible inside, except . . . I squinted at the sight of two women moving through the crowd of men. I”m not one to judge, but based on how they were dressed, I had a feeling that there were no female magicians invited into that club.

The men had been deep in drink and conversation---magicians bullshitting each other over who had the biggest wand or baddest spells, I imagined---but now their attention turned to one of the women. Someone handed her up onto a table, and she began to dance. They clapped along to her movement, synchronizing with the music . . . more or less, anyway.

They might have magical powers, but their musical powers were a little lacking.

I”d seen enough. I let myself drop, landing in a crouch to take the brunt of the hit off my knees. Honor always warned me about the dangers of adventure on an aging body, not that I”d wanted to hear it. My hand pressed the cobblestones, steadying myself, and then I straightened up.

A woman stood in front of me, looking startled. I should”ve looked before I leapt. She wore a thick cloak wrapped around her body, but there was a glint of metal around her neck. A thick collar like the one the dancing woman had worn.

I flashed her a smile that was meant to be encouraging, though she didn”t look any less alarmed.

”I love your outfit,” I told her, producing a handful of coins from my pocket. ”Would you be interested in selling it to me?”

Ten minutes later, I was dressed in smaller clothing than I had worn since infancy. The thing no one ever mentions about sexy clothing is how uncomfortable it tends to be. I was trying to coax my underwear---or were these supposed to be my pants---from trying to live in my ass crack when the door swung open.

I flashed a smile at the man who loomed in the doorway and tried to look sexy as I released the stranglehold on my underwear . . . which did not release its stranglehold on me.

”You”re late,” he said.

I shrugged. It was better that I didn”t talk. It was almost always better, in my experience spying, that I didn”t talk.

My blond hair would certainly give away that I wasn”t a local, but the general tone of the conversation Thorne and I’d had with the guards made me think there were plenty of people who lived in this city---voluntarily or otherwise---who had come from the Isle.

”Get in there,” he said. ”I hope your dancing is better than your punctuality.”

Unlikely.

As I went through the halls, I catalogued every doorway to the best of my ability. This was probably the best way to eavesdrop and to make connections, even though my breasts were cold under the little slip of fabric, which was the very most annoying feeling.

Still, I”d spent years learning how to dance at court. We”d covered sexy dancing during a very awkward class at the Posselbaum Academy. Imagine gyrating in front of the girls you have known, but not necessarily loved, for years. The girls who were well versed in all your quirks . . . and gossiped about them mercilessly.

”You can circulate for a while,” the man told me, sweeping his arm into the room. ”When the music starts playing, you dance.”

I smiled.

”So easy, an idiot can do it,” he said before he went back to his post.

I don”t mind professionally when people assume I”m an idiot. It only hurts my feelings when that attitude comes from the people who should know better. But everyone else is welcome to assume I”m about as substantive as a rain-soaked cobweb.

”I haven”t seen you around here before.” A man caught my wrist and drew me toward him, giving me an oily smile.

I was glad I was on my own. Thorne and Kaelan could have never hung back and let me work. This man”s arm would already be rolling across the floor.

”New,” I said.

”Is that so? And from the Isle?”

I nodded.

”Pretty hair,” he murmured, catching one of my strands between two of his fingers.

I know.

He yanked on it, hard enough to hurt. I pressed my lips together, and he gave me a smile. ”Very pretty. My name is Turm.”

He tucked my hair back behind my bare shoulder, his touch lingering. ”Who lent you to the club?” he asked.

I let my lower lip form into a pout as I named my missing magician.

I watched his face carefully but also kept my senses attuned to anyone else who might respond to the name.

”Ah. Ekardo.” Turm frowned. Clearly, he”d heard about the fate of his mansion. ”I didn”t know he had female . . . servants.”

”Mm.” It”s a good thing I”d set myself up not to be very chatty, given I was never great at magical eavesdropping and conversation simultaneously, because another man had very much reacted to the name.

The man had thrown a quick, unguarded glance of interest at me, before he turned away.

The man in front of me tried to flirt with me, undeterred by my monosyllabic responses. But I was more interested in the man who had reacted to Ekardo’s name, and it took all my spycraft to listen to their conversation while I entertained the man in front of me.

He went to the bar and touched the arm of a friend. ”Leris… did you know Ekardo had a female companion?”

He gestured toward me, and the two of them turned. Their gazes dragged over my skin like clammy, wet fabric.

Leris scoffed. ”As voluntary as those male servants of his, from the look of her.”

”You think she”s another Isle slave?”

Another?There were apparently fresh problems for me to unravel once I dealt with the most pressing ones of the moment. I hadn”t been aware anyone was taking my people as slaves.

”Hey. You seem distracted.” Turm grabbed my breast. He squeezed so hard it hurt. When my shocked gaze flew to his, he grinned, as if it were just a playful little prank. As if treating my body as if it belonged to him---or anyone in the club---were nothing. ”Got your attention.”

Besides Kaelan and Thorne, he was so very lucky that Honor and my brothers-in-law also weren”t around to murder him.

”You definitely did,” I said as sweetly as I could manage.

And then later on, when I was circulating and chatting with different men, I took the opportunity to run my fingertips around the rim of Turm’s glass as if I were fidgeting with it. But I left a nice little spell behind that he would enjoy later, long after he took his next sip and swallowed my enchantment.

No wonder the cities were trying to prevent magic within their walls. I wasn”t sure if my spell would work or not within these walls, but their ability to counter spells seemed iffy, and I couldn”t pass up the opportunity to give him the world”s most dramatic bout of diarrhea. I wondered how seriously anyone would take him as a magician.

The music began. My new friend---his pants still clean, for now---rushed over to be the one to hand me up onto the tabletop.

The two who knew my magician were still watching me in a way that made me feel uneasy. I”d have to follow them from the club. I had the feeling they weren”t just going to reveal whatever they knew to me in a casual conversation.

For now, I danced.

I tried to let myself go to the music, stamping my feet and shaking my hips like I”d seen the other woman do earlier. I raised my hands above my head as I realized that dancing sexily is a hell of a lot more of an art form than I had previously realized.

Still, as time went on and my confidence built, I found the way the men were watching me amusing, almost as if I were the one who had the power for now, while I was up here. I searched their faces, committing them to memory, keeping an eye out for anyone who could help me in my quest besides Leris and his friend. I would have to see what they knew about Ekardo if a better option didn’t present itself.

And then a tall, blond-haired asshole walked into the room.

I froze, for a split second.

Then I began to move again, but I was just off the beat when Dare turned and looked at me.

For a second, his eyes widened in shock. He stared at me with an expression I couldn”t read from here but suddenly, desperately wanted to.

Then a faint smile came to his lips, all condescension, as if he”d noticed I was off the beat or was already full of clever quips about my costume. He moved further into the room and took a seat, striking up a conversation as if I weren”t up here dancing my heart out---alright, shaking my tits out, but still.

His side conversation quickly began to irritate me. I caught the beat and let it take me away, dancing harder, letting the wild music flow through me.

The man he was trying to talk to wasn”t listening to him at all. He was transfixed by me.

Finally, Dare leaned back in his seat, cocking his elbow over the back of the chair. His bright green eyes tracked my movement. I could see how clear and vivid his eyes were from here, how he missed nothing. Unlike everyone else here, he stared back into my eyes.

The tension in the air felt as thick and potent as the poisonous fogs that sometimes drifted between the borderland. His gaze on mine was heated, and I wasn”t sure why.

Unless he liked what he saw.

”Take off the top,” a man called, standing suddenly.

Dare shook his head at the man, an amused quirk to his lips. Then he looked at me, question in his eyes, and I knew that amusement was really for me. How far was I going to go?

The man who”d groped me earlier jolted to his feet. There was sudden chaos as everyone around Turm tried to escape the putrid reek surrounding him.

Dare let out a chuckle, still staring at me. I had the distinct impression he knew exactly what I”d done.

In the chaos that followed, my friend from earlier wasn”t the only one who bolted. So did Leris and his friend.

I leaped down from the table and slipped after them. Men tried to grab at me, but I evaded them with smiles and smooth movements.

Dare was already up, of course, moving toward me. I was sure Kaelan had sent him to drag me to him. The two of them might be trying to corner me, and my heart raced with both fear and excitement at the prospect of seeing Kaelan again.

But then, I was out in the cool of the hallway. No Kaelan. I would”ve felt his powerful presence if he”d been nearby.

I might have felt him if he”d been anywhere in the damned city. I had to wonder if he was here or not.

I”d known he was coming for me long before he found me in that abandoned castle.

I tugged on the fabric I”d hidden inside my bra, and my cloak grew in my hand. I threw my cloak on as I made my way outside, pulling my hood up to cover my hair. There weren”t many women walking the streets of this city this late at night. I swaggered like a man---even if I were a rather small man---using my body language to project that I wasn”t worth bothering.

My confidence was far greater now that I knew my magic was working within the city walls. It made the world a far fairer place given how much bigger males tended to be.

I wondered why the change had happened, and I couldn”t help but think of Dare”s sudden appearance and wonder if he had something to do with the change in the magic. Not that I wanted to be grateful to him, especially after the way he had smirked at me. And even if Dare were helping . . . it was almost certainly by accident.

I found my way into the house of the two men, entering on another floor.

”I wish I”d never met him,” one of them was saying.

I peered into the room. If I”d doubted they were intimately familiar with my magician, that doubt dissipated when I saw the dead stare of the zombie who was pouring drinks for the two of them.

Gods. My heart leaped in my chest and started beating too quickly, given the encounter I”d had earlier this evening.

”Do you think he”ll stay out of the Snake Queen”s grasp?”

”If he can reach Clearhaven, perhaps.”

”I”ve heard she has spies everywhere.”

He scoffed. ”I”m pretty sure she pays to spread those rumors.”

Clearhaven.

”Anywhere particular in Clearhaven?” I asked as I stepped into the room.

The two of them froze. The zombie didn”t seem to notice me, until one of them said, ”Take her for me. Alive.”

”I”m not very interested in being taken anywhere.” I moved far faster than the zombie, so I had a knife at my new friend”s throat before it could reach me. ”Or taken at all. Feel free to call off your pet and send him to bed.”

He looked up at me, moving with the deliberate carefulness of someone whose throat bobbed against the very sharp edge of my blade, and then ordered the servant out of the room and to bed.

”That”s nice,” I told him. ”You should really let them rest. They work so hard for you, and without pay or food or . . . free will? Right?”

”What do you want?” he gritted.

”Oh my gods, I”m so glad you asked. It has been way too long since I had a good bath, or a seafood stew---that”s my favorite---or a nice, crusty bread, warm, with a lot of butter---” As I prattled on, I thought about what I really wanted: Kaelan and Thorne, alive and in good health, in my bed. Adoring me.

”Why are you here?” the man sounded slightly unhinged. I inspired that in people when I let myself chatter.

”I need Ekardo. The magician was supposed to do a spell for me.”

The two of them traded looks.

”Oh, don”t assume that just because I don”t know all that blood magic stuff, I don”t know anything and I”m just a poor, lost little lamb,” I said. ”I know a few things.”

I did the spell to make them tell me the truth and to obey. I would”ve done it anyway, but after the way they”d looked at me so predatorially, I enjoyed it a lot more.

They told me everything they knew about where Ekardo would’ve gone, trying to escape the Snake Queen.

”Lovely. So nice meeting you,” I told them before I made my way out of the house.

I felt pretty good about myself.

Right up until someone shoved me from behind, pushing me up against the hard stone edge of a building. It happened so fast, as if he had materialized from shadows.

My attacker didn”t hesitate. They launched into me as if they knew I”d be quick to recover and counter with my own attack, and suddenly my hands were locked together behind my back with an enchantment that pulled them so close and so tight that it strained my shoulders.

He turned me around, my shoulders hitting the rough stone. His long-fingered hand slapped over my mouth, keeping me from incanting the words of any spells.

I looked up into Dare”s glittering green eyes.

”Hello, Hanna. Kaelan would really disapprove.”