Fate's Edge te-3

by Ilona Andrews

  Everyone had a lever. Kaldar laughed. “And the little Moonflower opens his big mouth. It’s over, Magdalene.”

  Magdalene’s face drooped in defeat.

  “The invitation,” Kaldar ordered.

  “In the black box in the safe,” she said.

  Audrey handed the gun to Gaston, crossed the room to the steel door, and put her hand against it. Green magic shimmered around her. The locks clicked open.

  “I have it,” Audrey said.

  “What are you going to do now?” Magdalene glared at Kaldar.

  “Now we walk away.”

  “What?”

  He shrugged. “What’s the point of killing you? I may have to use you again.”

  She actually shook with rage. “If you ever come here again . . .”

  “If I ever do, you will welcome me in a civil manner and do whatever is requested of you,” Kaldar let the crisp tones of Adrianglian high society slip into his voice. “You will not warn de Braose. You will not seek revenge. Or the Mirror will replace you with someone more agreeable. I could slit your throat right now, kill your son, bury your bodies in an unmarked grave, and tomorrow a new soothsayer would walk through these doors and take your place. Your people won’t care who they work for as long as their bills are paid.”

  Magdalene stared at him, mute.

  “Let me put things in perspective for you: I can level this entire building with a single blast of my flash. I could’ve simply ordered you to hand the invitation over, but I’ve chosen to play by the rules out of respect. You broke the rules, Magdalene. You tried to engineer the death of a Mirror agent and a blueblood peer. That’s an act of war against Adrianglia. True, we’re on the other side of the continent, but we have a long reach. Think about that for a moment.”

  Magdalene Moonflower turned as white as the marble floor she was standing on.

  “Consider it a learning experience. Next time I won’t be in the mood to give you a lesson.” Kaldar turned and walked out.

  They had reached the parking lot before George said, “Kaldar?”

  “Mhhm?”

  “You’re not really a blueblood or a peer of the realm.”

  “True.” He popped open the vehicle’s door.

  “Also, you can’t flash hard enough to level the building,” Jack said.

  “True again.”

  “So you lied?” George asked.

  “Of course he lied, George,” Audrey said.

  Kaldar grinned. “But Magdalene doesn’t know that, does she? Now pile into the car. Quickly now. We have less than twenty hours to get to Morell de Braose’s castle and make ourselves presentable. The rest of the Hand can’t be far behind.”

  The kids and Gaston climbed into the backseat.

  “What if she warns de Braose?” George asked.

  “And be the laughingstock of the entire western Edge, while risking the Mirror’s wrath?” Kaldar shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

  “Just out of curiosity, how are you planning on getting in?” Audrey asked, sliding into the front passenger seat. “To get into the auction, we need three things: an invitation, a pedigree, and money. We have the invitation, and we can fake the money, but you can’t just show up and claim to be a blueblood noble. Morell will smell a fake in an instant.”

  “I’ve got it covered.” Kaldar steered the car out of the parking lot.

  She heaved a sigh. “Next you’ll be claiming you’re a lost heir to a blueblood fortune.”

  “I don’t need to claim anything.” He grinned. “I have the two wards of the Marshal of the Southern Provinces in the backseat.”

  In the rearview mirror, the two boys blinked like two baby owls.

  “Do you boys still remember your etiquette lessons?”

  George recovered first. “We’ll manage.”

  THERE were times in life when nothing was better than a hot, soapy shower, Audrey reflected, stepping out of the shower onto a soft white towel. After the meeting with Magdalene, it was decided that it was best to take off immediately, and so all of them, bloody and exhausted, piled into the wyvern’s cabin. Three hours later, the wyvern touched down in the Edge near the small town of Valley View in southern Oregon. Ling and the nameless cat were released into the night to forage for themselves, the wyvern was watered, and everybody agreed that they desperately needed hot showers and beds.

  It was determined that of all of them, Kaldar had somehow ended up being the least bloody, so he cleaned his face, got two suites at the Holiday Inn Express, and snuck the rest of them in through the side entrance. The men took one suite, she took the other.

  It was almost eleven in the evening now, and Audrey had finally washed all of the nastiness out of her hair. She couldn’t smell the blood anymore, only the cocoa butter from the body wash and lilac from the shampoo. Audrey scrubbed her face with a white towel and examined it. No red. Good. She wrapped one towel around herself, put the other over her wet hair, twisted it, flipped the end over, and came out of the bathroom with a towel turban on her head.

  “It’s amazing how every woman knows how to do that.”

  Kaldar sat on the edge of her bed. Well, well. Someone had been hiding lock-picking skills. Or, more likely, he had just asked for an extra keycard for her room and kept one.

  The shower had turned his hair nearly black, and it framed his clean face in casual disarray. He hadn’t bothered to shave his stubble, and he looked like a rogue, a highwayman who had somehow ended up wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans.

  A very sexy highwayman.

  In her imagination, Audrey walked over to him. He gave her one of those wicked looks and stole her towel, sliding it off her to the floor. Kaldar ran his clever hands up her hips, over her sides, to her breasts. Audrey leaned back, letting him caress her. It felt so good. He rose and pulled off his T-shirt, baring a muscled torso. She wound her arms around him. He hugged her to him, his arms strong, his skin so hot it was nearly burning. His lips trailed the line of her pulse on her neck. The memory of the day faded from her head. The visions of blood and gore fled.

  That would be nice, wouldn’t it? Yes, it would. She wanted to forget the ugliness and feel like she was still alive and safe. But then the morning would come, and all of that passion would have to be paid for.

  She pointed at the door. “Out!”

  “Audrey,” he purred.

  “Out. I will let you back in when I’m dressed.”

  He didn’t move.

  Audrey crossed her arms over her chest. “Kaldar. Agent, pickpocket, rapist . . .”

  “Oh, for Gods’ sakes, woman.” He got up and stalked out the door. She locked the dead bolt, pulled on sweatpants and an oversized T-shirt, and unlocked the door. He was still in the hallway.

  “May I come in now?”

  “Yes.”

  He rolled his eyes and went inside. Audrey locked the door.

  Kaldar examined her outfit. She wore plain black sweatpants and a T-shirt with a big black cat on it.

  “When did you get these?”

  She snorted. “I didn’t spend all of the money on those two suits. I also bought T-shirts, sweatpants, bras, panties . . .”

  “White lacy panties?” he inquired. His voice was like velvet. She could’ve sworn there was magic in it, not the magic of the Edge or the Weird but some sort of male magic, the kind that made you fall asleep cuddled up with a big smile on your face.

  “Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?”

  Kaldar looked at the ceiling. “I came to ask you why.”

  “Mmmm?”

  “I want you, Audrey. I want you so badly, you are my first thought in the morning and my last at night.”

  Oh, he is smooth.

  Kaldar moved around her, maintaining the distance, stalking. He moved like a sword fighter: strong, sure, but graceful. Funny how she had never noticed it before.

  “You kiss me like you want me, too. You thought about it. You pictured us together, making
love.”

  She smiled at him. Kaldar, you slick bandit, you.

  “We’re both adults, we want each other, and there is nothing stopping us. Why aren’t we together?”

  Audrey kept her smile firmly in place.

  Kaldar paused. He was looking at her, at once loving, admiring, possessive, and yearning. She’d been hit with a few come-hither stares in her time, but this one left them all in the dust.

  “Do you think I’d hurt you, Audrey? Are you afraid it won’t be good, and you won’t like it, because I promise you, you will.”

  Kaldar, a man of low self-esteem, unassuming and humble.

  “Help me out,” he said.

  “I don’t think we should talk about this. I think you should go back to your room.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it will make things between us tense and difficult.”

  “Things between us are already tense and difficult.” Kaldar planted himself between the bed and the door. “I’m not leaving.”

  “You really want an answer?” Nothing good would come of it.

  “Yes,” Kaldar said. “I do.”

  “Okay. When I was little, my grandmother gave me this advice. She said, ‘Audrey, if you meet a man who is smooth, who says all the right things and knows all the tricks to make a woman happy, you’ve got to ask yourself how he got that way.’”

  “I don’t understand,” Kaldar said.

  “How old are you?”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  Audrey put her hands on her hips. “You wanted this conversation, silver-tongue.”

  “Thirty-two.”

  “You have nine years on me, Kaldar. I bet most of your friends are married. They’re probably family men. Some of them have kids, others are thinking about it. Many probably bought their first houses a few years back. Why aren’t you married, Kaldar?”

  He gave her an odd one-shouldered shrug. “Maybe I was waiting for the right girl.”

  “Please.” For some reason, she felt like crying, which was completely stupid. “With your looks and your skills, I bet you’ve met plenty of girls. The right girl came and went, Kaldar. Probably more than once.”

  “I’m confused. So you want us to be married, is that it?”

  She actually had to fight the tears back. It took all of her skill to keep her expression pleasant. At least she hoped it was. “Don’t be silly. I can’t marry you. I don’t even know you. You change faces the way most people wear socks, every day a new pair. A charming rogue, an arrogant businessman, a caring uncle, a slick thief . . . You pull them off and on at will. I don’t even know if I’ve glimpsed the real you in this masquerade. Ask me what the real Kaldar is like. What does he want, what does he need, what sort of man is he, and I can’t tell you. Do you even know which one of these roles is the real you?”

  He remained silent.

  “Before I take a man into my bed, I need to know him. I want to trust him and like him. You are the sexiest man I’ve ever met. Without a doubt. The best pickpocket. The best swordsman. And you’re a genius conman. You’d run circles around the best grifters I know. My father would have no chance. You’d get him to sign over his house for a snowball in January.”

  “So that’s it,” he said quietly. “You think I’m conning you, Audrey?”

  “No. I know you are conning me.” Audrey shrugged. “Kaldar, you stole my cross. You treated me like a mark. You have no respect for me.”

  “I stole it because I am obsessed with you.” Emotion vibrated in his voice. “I wanted something of yours because that was all I could get.”

  “I’m sure.” Audrey sighed. “You’re not the first grifter who tried to charm my panties off. I’ve seen all the tricks, I’ve heard all of the sweet words. I grew up with a father who was really good at manipulating women. I’ve seen my dad’s friends ‘handle’ their wives. It’s not that we wouldn’t have fun, Kaldar. We would. And before today, I probably would have taken you up on your offer. But we almost died today. It made me realize that I deserve some happiness. And now I don’t want just fun.”

  “What do you want, then?”

  “I want honesty and loyalty, and I want to give loyalty and love in return. For once in my life, I want to be able to trust someone without having to double-check, and keep an eye on him, and worry if he’s lying to me. I still want to have fun, but I want to be loved, Kaldar. Really loved. Life is too short, and I want to experience that before I die. I don’t think that’s the kind of fun you had in mind when you walked in here. And there is nothing wrong with that. We just want different things, and if we get together, it will be a disaster.”

  “You’re a mind reader now?”

  He actually sounded angry. He is angry. Really? Fine. I can be angry, too.

  “Sure. I’ll read your mind. It’s not that difficult. All of your thoughts about me and all of your fantasies end with you between my legs and me crying out and having the best orgasm of my life, then telling you about it. You’ve never thought past that point, but if you had, in your head the next morning we would get up like nothing had ever happened. It wouldn’t be awkward. Nothing would’ve changed. We’d go on with our scheme, have a lot of great sex, and if we somehow survived, when it came time to part, you’d give me a pat on the ass, and I would stand there, sad and watching you as you fly away on your wyvern to greater adventures and other women. Out of sight, out of mind. If you ever happened to be in this part of the country, you’d look me up for a quickie because you’d know that your superloving has forever spoiled me, and no other man would ever be good enough to replace you. And twenty years from now, you would still be in the exact same place you are now, having the time of your life, grifting for the glory of Adrianglia and for your vengeance, while I waited patiently for a chance to see you. No, thank you.”

  Kaldar stared at her. He had no expression on his face.

  She leaned forward, rocking on her toes to stand a little closer to his face. “You will break my heart, Kaldar. We both know it. And now, since we have everything out in the open, how about we forget we had this conversation? You go back to your room, and tomorrow, we’ll flirt and laugh and act like nothing happened.”

  He just stood there.

  “Fine. You want it the other way, we can do that, too. Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me that’s not what you’ve imagined, and, for once in your life, don’t lie.”

  Kaldar leaned forward, his eyes dark. “I imagined that you might want to have a little bit of fun before you went back to wasting your life. You have the brains, the talent, and the looks, and you use all that to take dirty pictures of adulterers and flirt with insurance cheats. Is that really it, Audrey? Is that who you aspire to be?”

  She recoiled.

  “You’re right,” Kaldar said. “When it’s over, I will fly off on a wyvern, and you will go back to your dull existence, suppressing everything that makes you you. I may not be married or trustworthy, but what I do matters, and I’m good at it.”

  “What I do matters, too!”

  “To whom? Anyone can do your job, Audrey. Of course, you are the best at it. You have so much talent and experience, you have no competition. You’re playing with marked cards at a table full of blind players. Is that it? Are you afraid of competition? Afraid to try to see how good you really are? Because I’ve never seen better.”

  “You can leave now.”

  “Oh, I’m going. Don’t worry. Think about what I said, Audrey. You were born to steal, to grift, and to outwit people who need to be stopped. But you insist on withering your soul instead. You say you want honesty. Try being honest with yourself. Why did you break into the Pyramid of Ptah? Why, when I came to you with this possibly fatal proposition to fight the Hand and the Edge barons, did it take you less than ten minutes to take me up on it?”

  He turned and walked out of the room.

  The door clicked closed.

  Audrey flung herself on the bed. It had to be said. Of course it had
to be said. If anything, it was a wonder both of them had stayed in the room as long as they had. Most conmen ran when called on it, and neither she nor Kaldar were an exception to that rule. Audrey stared at the door. She wanted it to burst open. She wanted him to charge into the room, grab her, kiss her, and tell her he loved her. It was such a stupid little-girl fantasy, and yet she sat there, desperate, and stared at the door.

  She was right. Everything she had said was perfectly valid. Everything he had said was perfectly valid, too. She had known the safest thing would have been to walk away from this adventure the first chance she got. And when she had climbed the mountain slope to Gnome’s house, hyper-aware of Kaldar behind her, that possibility had entered her head. But she had stayed. She had stayed because it was right, she had stayed because every twist and every challenge sent the excitement of anticipation through her. She had stayed because she cared what would happen to Gaston, Jack, and George. And she had stayed because being near Kaldar made her dream.

  Audrey didn’t know what she would do when it was all over. She couldn’t go back to the Broken. In a twisted way, all her fears had come true: Kaldar had destroyed her life, and up until tonight, she had blissfully helped him dismantle it brick by brick.

  Half an hour later, she knew he wouldn’t be coming. She cried quietly until she was too exhausted to sob. Then she washed her face with cold water to keep it from being puffy and red in the morning, turned off the lights, and climbed into her bed.

  The night shadows claimed the room. She usually welcomed darkness, but tonight it felt sinister. She lay for a long minute, torn between the fear of darkness and the irrational worry that if she stepped down to turn on the lights, something would grab her ankle.

  This was ridiculous.

  She got out of bed, turned on the lights, went to the next suite, and knocked on the door. The door swung open, and Gaston grinned at her.

  “Can I borrow a knife?”

  “A peel-an-apple knife or a serious knife?”

  “A serious knife.”

  He stepped into the room and handed her a long wavy dagger with a silvery blade. “Is anything wrong?”

  “No.” I’m just afraid to go to sleep by myself. “I just realized that I have no weapon.”