The slightest hint of a playful little grin appeared on his lips. “I suppose it wouldn’t be too difficult to consider other suggestions…”
It was as if all the heat in my body flushed up to my cheeks, reddening them instantly. “I don’t think the situation calls for either of us to be talking like that, Mister Barlow.”
His expression softened. “So, why don’t you tell me what I want to know instead?”
I stared at him and swallowed hard. It was difficult not to let myself fall into those blue eyes of his. They brimmed with incisive intelligence, a cunning kind of sharpness, but I’d glimpsed what was on the other side of those eyes; the kindness, the warmth. Axel had spent his entire life living with a wall up around his more compassionate side, but I’d glimpsed it at least once.
It was weird that Axel, the son of the crime boss who was probably going to kill me one day, had become something of a confidant. But I didn’t feel weird explaining to him what had happened with Becket, the demon, and the way I felt about it all. It felt like a betrayal, but worse than that, it felt like… babysitting. Like he couldn’t trust me to do something right without his supervision.
Sure, he’d explained how his demon didn’t provide him with 24-hour CCTV footage of my life, but it still felt intrusive, like a violation. Becket had something of a father figure about him. I couldn’t escape it. Nor could I escape a primal, ingrained need to make sure I could impress him. Strangely, I wanted his approval, and I was never going to get it if he had to babysit me.
I kept this last part away from Axel; I didn’t need him knowing all the grizzly, ‘dear diary’ type details.
Mental note, maybe get a diary?
“Can I ask you a question?” I asked, after we’d gone over the Becket business. We were both sitting on my bed. Me by the headboard, him at the foot. We hadn’t turned the lights on, but we’d both gotten used to the dim, ambient light enough that I could see him clearly.
“Sure,” he said.
“Why did you go back inside?”
Axel fell silent and turned his eyes away from mine, making me feel suddenly like something of an idiot. Here I was, bearing myself to him, and the moment I ask a question he shrivels up into his shell. But he looked at me again, his eyes soft, and he reached into his pocket.
“I didn’t mean to leave you on your own,” he said, “I had no idea you’d come up against Greaves like that.”
“You didn’t do that on purpose, did you?”
Axel stiffened up and stared at me. “Do you really think that?”
“I don’t. I mean, I trust you. It just seemed sudden, and we were in the middle of something, and you didn’t exactly tell me what you were going to do. We’re lucky it didn’t end up going worse for us.”
“I know,” he said, “I’m sorry. But I didn’t think I would ever get another chance.”
Axel reached into his pocket and retrieved a necklace—a tight, velvet choker with three amber gems hanging off it; two smaller ones encasing the slightly larger, center stone. The jewels glittered against the soft moonlight filtering in through the window. It was beautiful, elegant, and delicate. It also certainly wasn’t his, which only meant—
“That was your mother’s?” I asked.
Axel nodded. “It’s the only thing I have that reminds me of her. My father had everything else taken out of the house and put away somewhere after she died.”
“That’s just wrong… why would he do that?”
“I don’t know. All I know is, after she passed, it didn’t take more than twenty-four hours for all her stuff to be gone. If I hadn’t taken it before anyone else found it, I wouldn’t have anything else of hers.” He turned his eyes up at me. “All this time I’ve been worried my father had turned my room inside out and found it. I had to find it… it’s my fault they took Karim.”
I shook my head. “You don’t know that. Greaves was the one who held me up, not you. By the time I got down there, they’d already taken him. It wasn’t your fault.”
Axel pocketed the necklace again and, with a deep breath, composed himself. “Thank you,” he said, “I needed to hear that.”
“You know… I probably would’ve done the same.”
“You would?”
“Yeah, I mean, you’ve gotten to know me pretty well over the past few weeks, right? What do you think?”
Axel considered for a moment. “Do you want me to tell you what I think you would’ve done, or what I think about you as a person?”
“I don’t know… both?”
“I think you’re probably harder on yourself than you need to be. That’s to be expected, though, considering where you’ve come from.”
“Come from? Do you mean, the strip club?”
“No, not that. I know you hold yourself to a higher standard than you hold other people because of who your father was. I know you don’t like talking about him, and I don’t want us to. One of the first thigs I remember you making abundantly clear was the fact that you weren’t a thief, you were a finder.”
I half-laughed. “Yeah, I remember that too. God, it feels like a lifetime ago.”
“Because it was. A lifetime ago I was the son of a mob boss, running errands for him and furthering the family interests. A lifetime ago, you were an exotic dancer at a nightclub.”
“I’ll have you know I was the best dancer at that club.”
“Oh, I know. And I’m still waiting for that dance.”
I grinned. “And you’re gonna keep waiting, Axel Barlow. I’m not sure even you could afford me.”
“Considering I’m now broke, I know I can’t.”
A wash of nervous energy moved through me, then. I’d forgotten his father had seized all of his assets. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
Axel waved his hand and laughed. “Don’t even worry about it,” he said, “I may be broke, but I do have a couple of assets, still.”
“Assets?”
“The Magistrate bought me a dance from a certain dancer I still haven’t claimed…”
I grinned at him, my cheeks flushing again. “Persistent tonight, huh?”
Axel returned my grin, and something passed between us then. Something like a spark, a current. It was difficult to keep my eyes on him after that, so I stared out of the window at the sparkling city beyond the trees. That was when I felt Axel rise from the bed. For some reason, my heart had started speeding like it needed to get somewhere in a hurry. I looked over at Axel again just as he turned to start heading for the door.
“I should go,” he said, “Let you get some rest.”
“I don’t think I’m gonna get much rest,” I said.
“I won’t be getting much rest either.”
“So…” I paused, swallowed, “Maybe you should… stay?”
His eyes narrowed. “Stay?”
I nodded and patted the bed. “We’re both just waiting, right? May as well wait together—unless you’ve got somewhere you’d rather be?”
It was a loaded question, one I hadn’t intended on asking but had asked out of instinct. It was something I used to do a lot back when my name was Kandi; the only objective being a sliver of validation. It was like a superpower. I could ask a question and instantly be made to feel sexier, more desirable, more wanted.
Thanks a lot, dad.
Axel… didn’t hesitate. He nodded and returned to the bed, kicking his shoes off before sitting down. “Alright,” he said, “I’ll stay.”
I made some room for him at the top of the bed, and Axel slid under the covers. There was no TV in the room, nothing to do besides talk, or sleep, or… no, not that. I turned onto my side, and Axel settled in behind me, making my heart race even harder. Slowly, his hand came around my waist. I took it, and held it, and even though my heart was starting to feel like a woodpecker, pecking at the walls of my ribcage, I maintained my composure and didn’t let things go any further.
I fell asleep in minutes with the scent of his cologne and his arm wrapped arou
nd me. This was what I wanted, what I needed. To do anything else was to risk spoiling the perfectness of it all.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The night came and went, as did most of the day, and still no sign of Asmodius or Karim. I had assumed, when I’d let my eyes shut last night, that I probably wasn’t going to get more than ten minutes of sleep. An hour, at best. As long as it would take Asmodius to return to his place, assess the damage, and decide to get into contact with Becket.
But that hadn’t happened, leaving me to wonder if Becket had only been trying to placate me. He struck me as the kind of man who only said things if he believed saying them would have a positive effect on his goals. If his goal had been to get me to simmer down, then feeding me some line about how Asmodius would be the one to get into contact with us was just the right thing to say.
Almost fifteen hours had passed since Karim was kidnapped, and there’d been no word from Asmodius or from Becket. I’d tried looking for him in his office, but no one had seen him around the house all day. That wasn’t too weird, given that Becket would often hide himself from us for an entire day at a time while he conducted his work.
Right now, though, I kind of needed him, and he wasn’t around… and my fingers were getting itchy again.
“We have to do something,” I said to Danvers.
We were sitting in the living room, lounging on the long sofa with blankets draped across us. Though the fireplace was blazing, it still struggled to keep the cold away.
“I know,” she said, “And we’re going to.”
“But when? Why the hell hasn’t he tried to talk to us yet?”
“Maybe he has. Maybe that’s why Becket’s not around.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, what if Asmodius already called, and Becket decided to go and handle things on his own?”
“I don’t think Becket is stupid enough to have gone to find Asmodius on his own.”
Danvers cocked an eyebrow. “I’m not sure being stupid has anything to do with that, because I know you’re intelligent as hell and I know you’d totally go out and hunt that guy down on your own if we let you.”
“Yeah… well… it’s different when I know what I’m doing.”
“And Becket doesn’t? I think you need to learn a little more patience.”
“What I need is to find Karim. Now. If anything has happened to him, I swear…”
Danvers’ pink lips turned into a playful grin.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing. It’s just… you’re always at each other’s throats. It’d be funny to hear what he’d have to say if he saw you like this.”
I pointed at her face. “He’s never gonna find out about this, understand?”
“Never gonna find out about what?” Axel asked, his voice startling us both.
I took a deep breath to let my heart relax a little. As much as it could, given the circumstances. “Nothing,” I said.
“You guys aren’t talking about me, are you?”
“And if we are?” Danvers asked.
“I’m not sure. I’d probably find it a little worrying, more than I would flattering.”
A thought suddenly struck me. He thinks I’ve told her. Why wouldn’t he think that? The odds that I’d have told her about how Axel and I had shared a bed last night were probably pretty high, in his eyes.
“We’re talking about Karim,” I said, “No one’s seen Becket around and we don’t know if Asmodius has called yet.”
“Starting to think that was bullshit,” RJ put in. He’d walked into the room a moment after Axel had. “You can’t predict when someone’s gonna throw a ransom note at you.”
“Maybe he can?” Danvers said. “Seems like he can do just about anything else.”
“Nobody’s good at everything.”
“How is any of this supposed to help Karim?” I asked, “The whole idea of waiting to get him back was based on the assumption that Asmodius would want to swap him for me. I hate sitting on my hands, and that’s all I’ve been doing all day.”
“At this point, I think, I’m going to agree with you,” Axel said, “I also don’t like that we’ve wasted the day waiting for a call that may or may not come.” He looked across at RJ, and then at Danvers. “We should do something.”
“You seriously suggesting we take matters into our own hands?” Danvers asked, “I thought you had a little more restraint.”
“Restraint is one thing. Inaction is another.”
“We don’t know where Karim is right now. We also don’t know where Asmodius is. What exactly are we supposed to do?”
“I know exactly where Asmodius is going to be tonight,” Axel said, “And probably where Becket is going to be, also.”
The room fell silent.
“What?” I asked, after a beat.
“My father is a high-profile mage in the city of New York. You don’t participate in the politics and the intrigues that take place at the heart of our society, but he does, and that means his movements—at least those visible to the magical public—can be easily tracked.”
“Oh yeah?” Danvers asked, “So, where is he?”
“Athenaeum,” RJ said.
“Athe—what?”
“Athenaeum,” RJ paused to let the word sink in. When it became clear, thanks to the blank stares he was getting, that none of us—except maybe Axel—knew what he was talking about, he decided to explain. “Every two weeks, the Magistrate holds court at the Athenaeum. Tribunes and Praetors get together to talk about the issues of the day, and to make policies and decisions that affect us all. They call it Caucus. Legionnaires get posted up as security.”
“And your father is one of these decisionmakers?” I asked Axel.
“No,” Axel said.
“Seriously?” Danvers asked, “One of the most powerful crime bosses in the world and he doesn’t want to be making decisions for the entire New York Council to enforce?”
Axel shrugged. “Did Carlo Gambino ever try and get himself on the American Senate? My father is the neck that turns the heads of one of the Praetors sitting on the Council; he already helps make decisions. What he doesn’t want is to be in the spotlight himself. Anyway, after Caucus has concluded, the doors to the Athenaeum are opened to allow mages from all over the city to come and drink, share knowledge, and talk business with other mages.”
“Our government is fucking corrupt, man,” RJ said, shaking his head. “Just powerful people jerking each other off for more power.”
“That’s what governments do,” I said, “Meanwhile, we fight each other for scraps on the ground.” I paused, then sheepishly asked, “What’s an Athe…?”
“Ath-eh-na-eum,” Axel said, sounding it out. “Part palace, part grand library, part museum of magic,” Axel said, “There are only twelve of them in the entire United States, and their locations are kept secret from the general public. Nobody knows where one is unless they’ve been there.”
“Have you ever been there?”
“You’re seriously asking mister fancy pants if he’s ever been to what sounds like one hell of a fancy place?” Danvers asked. “I take back what I said before. You’re not intelligent at all.”
I jabbed her with my foot under the covers, and she yelped.
“I know where it is,” Axel said. “I also know my father will be there. He’s never missed a Caucus in his life, that I know of.”
“You really think he’ll go to this thing, with his mansion busted up and a hostage in the basement?” RJ asked, “Sounds like the kinda thing that’d keep me at home for a while.”
Axel shook his head. “He’ll go. He has other people to watch over Karim.”
Assuming he’s still alive. He hadn’t said the words, but I heard the short pause that had followed what he’d just said. But we had to assume Karim was alive, had to hope. Otherwise… I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. Or with anything.
“So, what are we gonna do?” I asked, “We kn
ow where he’s gonna be, and I doubt if he’d expect us to attack him while he’s there.”
“We can’t attack him there,” Axel said, “The Athenaeum is going to be crawling with Legionnaires enforcing the Magistrate’s strict no magic, no violence code. Athenaeum is meant to be a safe space for mages to hang their hats without fear of being turned inside out by their enemies.”
“Legionnaires and the Magus Codice didn’t stop us last time.”
“This is different. Trust me. If we go there, we’re only going to be able to talk to him. Nothing more.”
“Then there’s no point,” Danvers said, “I mean, what are we gonna do? Ask politely for him to give Karim up? He’s gonna laugh in our faces.”
“Maybe, but he won’t be able to act against us either, which means he’ll be forced to talk.”
“Or just walk away… it’s a bad idea. I don’t see any merit to it.”
Axel turned to look at RJ. “The vote is two to one,” he said, “What do you think?”
RJ turned his eyes on each of us in turn, the light from the fire dancing across his dark-skinned, agonizingly flawless complexion. He shut his eyes and shook his head. “You know me,” he said, “I’m always down for a scrap, but I’m with Danvers on this one. Besides, it ain’t like he’s gonna have Karim with him.”
“He won’t, but if we meet with him somewhere neutral, we may be able to bargain with him.”
“You know what he wants the box. You really gonna give it up like that?”
“You’d do it for me.”
“You ain’t changing my mind on this. I hate waiting, too, but we’re not gonna get a damn thing from Asmodius.”
“So, it’s two-two,” Axel said. “A tie.”
I shook my head. “No, not a tie. Karim gets a vote, too.”
“Yeah, but Karim isn’t here,” Danvers pointed out.
“No, but you can bet your ass if he did have a vote, he’d want us to go get him.”
“He told me to run.”
“Of course, because he knew we’d go get him. We owe it to him to try.”
“And how’s that supposed to work?” RJ asked.
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