by K. N. Banet
“You don’t want to catch up first?” I leaned over. “Sorcha and I are going to have a few drinks. We don’t need to jump into business yet.”
“Fine,” he said with a chuckle. “Might as well let the two of you drink back here, so you don’t cause any trouble out front.”
“Is that why you were worried about seeing us?” I smirked. “Trouble?”
“Don’t ask questions with obvious answers because you think it’s funny,” he grumbled, getting back up.
“Why don’t you just use magic to get us drinks?” Sorcha asked.
“Impolite for the first drink,” he said, shrugging. “To me, at least.” He grabbed two glasses from his personal little bar in the office and flipped them. “This is a new wine my wife is very fond of.” He summoned the bottle from wherever he had it stashed, and it just appeared in his hands as if it had always been there. “I hope you both are also fond of it.”
“Knowing it has such meaning to you, I’m certain we will enjoy it,” Sorcha said with her dazzling smile and diplomatic touch. “And I do love a good red.”
I didn’t like wine, but I took my glass without a complaint. Paden snickered at me as I took my first sip. He knew damn well I wasn’t a wine person.
“So, how’s the information business?” I asked, crossing my legs and getting comfortable, tapping my foot in the air to the music I heard outside the door.
“Good. For the first time in ages, the werecat part of the world is booming with new information that’s fun,” he said, chuckling. “It won’t make me any money, but it’s fun. They never have anything going on. You actually know who it’s about.”
“Do tell,” I said, smirking. “I wonder how Hasan and Hisao feel about it. I need to know, so I can stay on my toes with them.”
“Jacky Leon, the werecat. You were one of the two Executioners at her trial last year, and it was the day Hasan came back.”
“I remember. It was a wasted two weeks of my life, but it has been interesting. Hasan’s proven to be a good ally of mine on the Tribunal, most definitely thanks to my connection to his son.”
“Hasan is big on family,” Paden said with a shrug. “It’s what gets him into the most trouble and also makes him so dangerous. He’s like that. By having a positive connection with one of his children, he’s more likely to make himself an ally. If you find yourself on the bad side of any of his children, the family could end you, and no one would blink an eye. Unless you’re a werewolf because of those politics.”
“I wouldn’t say my connection to the Assassin is positive, but it’s not negative, so it works out,” I clarified with a shrug.
“Wait…The Assassin?” Sorcha sat up. “That Hisao?”
“Who else?” I frowned, tilting my head as I stared at her. “He trained and sent me to the Tribunal to become an Executioner.”
“I guess I never put two and two together,” she said with a small shake of her head. “Continue. This is a fine glass of wine, and I want to enjoy more of it. Also, I’m terrible with anything outside the fae. Never participated in the supernatural world at that level. Cassius is trying his best with me, but I can barely remember the names of the Tribunal members.”
Is that because you can’t remember or because you don’t need to care? Being created by Oberon and Titania…
I quickly dismissed the thought. It wasn’t the time to question Sorcha’s personal motivations for anything, and knowing her origins didn’t mean she was suddenly someone I could judge.
“So, what’s this new thing about the runt, Jacky Leon?” I asked, turning back to Paden, curious to the news.
“It’s finally leaked out from the werecats that Jacky Leon is Hasan’s daughter. Just like Hisao and the rest of them. He came out of grieving the loss of his last child to stop the Tribunal from killing one of his children.”
“No shit!” I would have laughed, but it actually scared the shit out of me. “I was almost ordered to kill a daughter of Hasan? A member of the Tribunal’s fucking kid?”
“Yeah, no one knew it at the time, certainly not the other Tribunal members, or it would have leaked much sooner. There have been some issues with the werecats and werewolves recently, and the information got out there. It’s political maneuvering, and a couple of werecats were killed, thanks to some vampires not maintaining proper decorum. Hasan’s general had to step in, and Jacky helped out. A retired Alpha was involved, too. Big deal. The Seattle vampire nest was wiped out. It wasn’t without cause, either.”
“Wow.” I was suddenly glad that two-week trip had been pointless. “She’s been busy.”
“Just what I said when it came to me.” Paden took a sip of his own drink, a scotch I desperately wanted. “So, while my bar has been empty, at least there’s some excitement happening in the world, and thank Oberon, it’s not happening here. We’ve had enough excitement in recent months. I’m hoping to get out ahead of it. There’s got to be someone willing to pay for information concerning the moon cursed and their politics.”
“Sounds like a busy time,” I said, nodding appreciatively that the werecat drama wasn’t descending on my city. Werecats tended to stay at home and out of trouble, but when they did show up on the scene, people always ended up dead. They were immensely powerful and could shift between forms faster than werewolves. Luckily, they were loners, and there weren’t many exceptions to that. One werecat was scary. I never wanted to consider seeing several of them hunting together.
So, I counted my blessings and decided to change the subject.
“I’m going to have to distract you from the interesting goings-on of the werecats,” I said, sipping the wine.
“Which is why you’re here.” Paden leaned back in his seat and sighed. “I should be relieved. It can’t be Sinclair, but you still have Raphael under your protection, and Lord Cassius now has a full investigation into the matter. You’re taking time off from your official duties, which would be reasonable if it was just a break after what happened at the prison, but I know it’s not. You have a scent and have been lying low for the last two months.”
“So, you’ve been keeping track of me,” I said softly, narrowing my eyes. “Where did you get most of the information?”
“I have my sources,” he said, not giving away anything. “While the Tribunal tries to keep things quiet, they aren’t very good at it. There hasn’t been too much, though. How or why the prison break happened is being written off as a criminal conspiracy and an unfortunate incident at the same time.” His pointed look told me everything. He wanted the real answers. I was certain a lot of people all over the world wanted the real answers, especially since there were dangerous criminals back out there.
“I might have information on that,” I conceded.
“Don’t play stupid. You know exactly what went down at that prison and where it came from.”
“Tell me your sources in the Tribunal,” I fired back.
He narrowed his eyes, and I felt power crack through the air, his own. Since we were in his establishment, his magic had a long time to permeate the walls, which made his annoyance seem more like a threat and him seem more powerful than he really was.
I ignored it and was grateful Sorcha ignored it as well.
“I was going to tell you more, but if you’re going to have an attitude, I think I’ll take my business elsewhere,” I said, looking around the room. “Paden, we’ve been friends for a long time. You know I would never purposefully cut you out unless something was wrong. I waited this long because it’s a touch-and-go situation.”
He looked thoroughly chastised for only a second, but it was enough.
“What do you want to hire me for?” he asked.
“We found a lead on Raphael and Mygi in the strangest of places. The prison,” I explained. “There was illegal experimentation going on there under the guise of therapy for the prisoners. Now, the ‘healer’ who came in wasn’t directly associated with Mygi, but Raphael was able to remember him from his time with the c
ompany. We’ve been trying to track him down, but all of our promising leads have led to dead ends. Now, we’re here with you.”
“Was this coincidence, or did the breakout have something to do with it?”
Paden’s asking all the right questions tonight.
“Directly related. Sort of the cause, but not really.” I looked down at the dagger on my thigh, seeing a small string coming off the belt. I plucked it before continuing, knowing Paden wouldn’t like what I had to say next. “The breakout happened while I was at the prison because it was a cover-up for someone trying to assassinate me.”
“What?” Paden shot straight up, his eyes wide. “All of that to kill you? Are you full of yourself, or is this serious?”
“It’s serious,” Sorcha said, her words light. “Cassius and I were away in the fae lands, as you must know, and we ran into our own problems. There were political things going on we needed to be there for. Someone tried to kill us while we were there. While he and I could never verify it had anything to do with Raphael or Mygi, the timing was strange.”
I realized Cassius and Sorcha had yet to tell me why they had needed to be in the fae lands. I tried to keep my nose out of fae politics, but they were people I knew. Even now, Sorcha danced around the actual reason with a similar line to what I’d heard before, ‘political things.’
“Why?” Paden’s mouth was a hard line as he looked between us.
“If I die and Cassius dies, Raphael goes back to those who might be able to…care for him,” I said. “Mygi. The Tribunal is somewhat split on the matter as it is. Mygi does too much good for our community to be scrutinized and distrusted. They also have a lot of reach with certain members on the Tribunal, which allows them to keep up their story of how they were keeping Raphael because he was a danger to society.”
“Politics,” Paden said with a grumble. “They’re playing politics.”
“One man doesn’t mean much when a company is trying to figure out a way to substitute blood for vampires or cure the moon cursed. I’m fairly certain the votes to keep Raphael with me are all I’m going to get until I can prove Mygi is doing something much worse.”
“A token of support for your cause but not anything substantial,” he agreed, nodding slowly. “Which is why you were stonewalled when you tried to investigate the company further. It’s understandable for a leader of a species to want to help their own, but this is the problem with the Tribunal. Only the species who sit can throw so much weight around. Everyone else needs to fend for themselves or make an official petition, and if their interests go against a species on the Tribunal, they lose the support of two voting members. After that, it’s up in the air.” Paden stopped and drummed his fingers on his desk. “Did you tell them about your connection between the prison and Mygi?”
“Not the entire truth,” I admitted. “Just enough for them to let us continue our investigation, but not the whole story. Thank the gods for that, considering they obviously have a leak.”
“Hmm…yes.” Paden nodded slowly, agreeing, but still didn’t tell me who told him.
“That’s why we’re here,” I confirmed. “No one on our side of the law is willing to help.” I grabbed my bag from the floor and put it on my lap, then pulled out the file I was willing to share with Paden. “This is the full write up on everything we know so far. Everything you did until I got involved with Raphael’s situation is here. What I’ve been able to learn is here. There’s a professional sketch of the man we’re looking for. He’s not officially wanted, but the Tribunal really wants him dead for what happened with the prison. He bribed then blackmailed Eliphas, had access to prisoners and spelled several of them, orchestrated the breakout, and got Tarak killed in the process. While Tarak wasn’t squeaky clean, the Alpha was only trying to help one of the werewolves kept in the prison, another unfortunate victim in the entire thing.”
“What did he spell the prisoners to do?”
“Kill me,” I answered, sipping my wine. “He didn’t need to spell many of them, only enough for it to be a problem.” The cleanup had been immense. For two weeks after the prison break, the witches were finding prisoners with spelled intentions to kill me if they had the chance. Each compulsion spell had to be tested by me to see if I could trigger them, then had to be broken. All of them were put in a special wing in the basement until they were as mentally stable as they could be.
“All of that to kill you,” Paden said softly.
“Probably not all of it, but that was my general concern at the…” I hissed and looked at Sorcha. “We have a list of every prisoner who got out and was never killed or captured, right?”
“Yup, in your office. Are we going to look over it? Do you think Mygi or whoever is behind this took the opportunity to pick up a few deadly allies while they had the chance?”
“Yes,” I said, nodding. “They’re smart enough to infiltrate the prison and stage a breakout. Why wouldn’t they find someone who’s willing to work with them?”
“We’ll come back to that thought,” Paden said, cutting into the side conversation. “You want me to look into the man behind the outbreak. If you think someone might be working with them now, send me a name, and I’ll add them to my digging.”
“Paden, this is going to be dangerous,” I said evenly. “After what happened with Sinclair, I don’t expect you to do this for free.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t do this for free,” he said softly, taking the file from my hand and opening it on his desk. “But money isn’t something I want for this.”
“Name your price,” I said.
“I don’t want anything from you, Kaliya,” he whispered, his eyes coming up from the file. I followed them to Sorcha. “You shouldn’t have come if you knew Kaliya was hiring me.”
“Let’s bargain,” Sorcha said with a smile. “Do you want an object or a favor?”
Oh, no, I have to stop this. This was not part of the plan.
“Sorcha, Cassius is going—”
“I want an object, a one-time payment.” Paden was more serious than I had ever seen him.
“I’m going to assume you want a weapon,” she said, her posture relaxing until she was essentially lounging like a dangerous predator.
“I need something better to protect my wife and business,” he said, seeming to agree with her.
I was at a loss. I had seen fae bargain before, but this was like a bargain on steroids. Power crackled through the room, making the hair on my arms stand up. It was both of them. A bargain was magic, and once a fae began to truly bargain, unseen magics took effect, forcing them to abide by the bargain.
“Weapons I’ve created are dangerous to own,” she countered. “If you think you are in a dangerous position now, you’re a fool. Owning something of my creation will only bring you more trouble.”
“It will also get me prestige and help legitimize my name…if I ever decide to tell someone about it, which I don’t. It will only be seen when it is needed, and hopefully, whoever sees it dies.”
“This is so stupid,” I mumbled to myself, looking back and forth as they spoke, trying to read their faces. Paden was damn serious about his request. Sorcha was indulging it, but I didn’t know her well enough to figure out what she was thinking underneath the benign smile, although her eyes threatened to give her true feelings away. Eyes of someone used to making these bargains and ruining lives in the process—eyes of someone trying to read every fault line, looking for the loophole.
I knew eyes like hers. I saw them in the people I killed, saw them in the people I worked with. I knew people looked at me and saw that same intensity there and looked away.
“So, you want a weapon and secrecy on the matter.” She looked away from Paden, her eyes bouncing around the room, looking at pictures on the wall. “To protect this.” Her murmur wasn’t dismissive. In fact, I felt as if it was respectful.
“In return, I’ll dedicate all my resources to helping Kaliya and whoever works with her in uncovering the truth behind
Raphael’s existence and the treachery of Mygi Pharmaceuticals.”
“That doesn’t seem fair. You will help Kaliya in a task that doesn’t directly help me, but you want something of mine,” she retorted, raising an eyebrow.
I gritted my teeth as the line was drawn. I didn’t want this bargain to happen under any circumstances. I had money. I could have resolved this on my own, but now I was watching two fae I knew go head to head in a dangerous bargain that was no doubt going to blow up in my face.
I didn’t speak up again because, in the back of my mind, I knew Paden could help us get Mygi, which was the only thing I wanted—for Raphael. For Raphael, I would watch the world burn, and that truth was whispering in the back of my mind.
Let them set themselves up for trouble later. Once Mygi is handled, Raphael will be safe, and none of this will be your business. Sorcha and Paden made this decision, and they can live with the repercussions.
I gave in to the little voice and kept my mouth shut as the two fae stared each other down.
“I will offer one favor to you personally in exchange, beyond my offering to help Kaliya,” Paden said. I saw him swallow, his Adam’s apple bobbing. Nerves. He realized Sorcha’s half of this bargain meant more to her than anything else in the room. Her weapons were everything, and he had to match that, not the other way around. “This favor must be in the scope of things I do regularly—information gathering or disseminating, finding information buyers or sellers. If it’s outside my scope, you will have to find another favor.”
Sorcha nodded slowly and opened her clutch.
“I get a choice of weapon?” she asked softly, looking into the tiny bag.
“Any will do, but I am proficient with daggers in self-defense. A sword is also much harder to hide.”
“Perfect,” she whispered, reaching into the bag. Magic cracked, and when she pulled her hand out, a beautiful dagger in its scabbard was in her hand. “This is lleuad haearn. Welsh isn’t my first language, or even my second or third, but I liked the way it rolled off my tongue.”