Game of Stone

by R. L. King

  Verity crossed the room and stood next to Stone. Her own expression held cold, steady fury. “Jason, back off. This is none of your business.”

  He didn’t seem to hear her. His gaze was still fixed on Stone. “How long?” he asked. His voice shook.

  “Jason—” Verity began.

  “How long?”

  Stone hesitated, not sure he should answer.

  Verity had no such hesitation. Her expression didn’t soften. “Jason, we’ll talk later. When you’re calmed down. I think you should go now.”

  “I’m not going anywhere until you answer my question.” He made a noise that was half frustration, half disgust, and looked away. “So this is what happens when you move up here on your own, V?”

  “Jason,” Stone said softly, “I think Verity’s right. You’re not yourself. She’s asked you to leave.”

  “Shut up!” Jason snapped his head back up and locked onto him again. “Just…shut up, Al. How the hell did this happen? How long have you been—” He took a step toward Stone, his fists clenching. “How long have you been fucking my sister?” His voice trembled even more; it had the shaky quality of a man trying to hide an incipient breakdown behind a wall of anger.

  Before Stone could respond, Verity stepped between them. He got a quick glance at her blazing eyes before she turned away from him. “Jason, I’m only gonna say it one more time—get the hell out of here, now, or I’ll make you leave. You know I can do it.”

  For a second, Jason looked like he might take her up on it. His jaw tight, he flicked his gaze between the two of them as if still trying to believe he was seeing what was before him. Then his shoulders slumped and when he spoke again, his tone was deceptively, carefully even. “Yeah. Fine. Okay. I’ll go.”

  With one last look at them, he whirled and stalked out the door, slamming it behind him.

  For a moment, Stone and Verity did nothing but stand still, staring at the closed door. Then Stone put a tentative hand on Verity’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Verity,” he whispered.

  “I’m not.”

  Her voice was firm and even as she turned to face him, but Stone knew better: her aura erupted with agitation. He pulled her toward him with a gentle tug, not forcing it.

  She came into his arms, burying her face in his shoulder. “I’m not sorry. Not at all.”

  “I’m not sorry about us,” he said, stroking her hair. “But Jason—”

  “He’ll get over it.” Despite the turmoil in her aura, her tone remained steady. “We knew he’d have to find out eventually.”

  “Yes, but…perhaps not quite like this,” he said wryly.

  She snorted a mirthless laugh. “Yeah. Maybe not like this.” She pulled back with reluctance.

  “Do you want me to…stay?”

  “I…” She looked away, then back at him. “I think maybe I’d like to be alone for a little bit, if that’s okay. I should probably try to call him in a little while. You know, if he’ll answer.”

  Stone nodded. He picked up his shirt and pulled it on. “Of course. I—”

  She pulled him into a kiss. “Don’t worry about it. Please. I’ll deal with Jason. You know how he is—he’s a hothead, but he gets over it after he’s had a chance to think. But even if he doesn’t, there’s no way I’m giving this up because he can’t deal with his sister having sex. With a man, anyway,” she added with a hint of bitterness. “He never had any problem with my girlfriends.”

  “Verity—”

  “It’s okay. It’ll be okay.”

  Now, though, he could hear the firm resolve in her voice begin to crack, just a bit. He wanted to pull her back into his arms and hold her there and make everything all right again—but he couldn’t do that anymore than she could. Not for the first time in his life, he wished mages had worked out the secrets of time travel. “Are you sure you’ll be all right if I go?”

  She nodded. “Yeah…for now.” Her gaze came up. “Are you gonna be okay?”

  He gave her a faint smile. “I’ll be fine. Call me if you want me to come back—or if you want to come over.”

  “I will.” She picked up her sweatshirt from the floor and tossed it on the couch. “He’ll get over it. I’ve known him a lot longer than you have. You’ll see.”

  “I’m sure you’re right.” Stone kissed her again. As he left the apartment, though, he wondered. He had no doubt she was probably right with regard to her and her brother—though he hadn’t grown up with siblings, he knew a bond as strong as Jason’s and Verity’s could survive a lot worse than this.

  That much, he was sure of. What he wasn’t as sure of was whether he’d just lost a good friend tonight.

  47

  When a knock on Stone’s door jolted him from sleep a little after eight that night, he thought it was Verity.

  He dragged himself up from where he’d been slumped on the couch, dozing in front of whatever mindless program was currently playing on the television with Raider curled up in his lap. The tabby offered an indignant mrrow as his comfortable sleeping spot disappeared, then followed Stone to the door.

  It wasn’t Verity who stood on the porch, shifting from foot to foot, though.

  It was Jason.

  For several seconds, the two of them remained still, eyeing each other with wary caution.

  “Hello, Jason,” Stone finally ventured.

  “Hey. Can I come in?”

  “That depends on what you’ve got in mind.”

  “I just want to talk.” He didn’t sound angry. Stressed, yes, but not angry.

  Stone took a quick glance at his aura. Red flashes of agitation still played around the edges of his bright, steady blue, but not nearly as many as earlier. Stone stepped silently aside.

  Jason plodded in, his bearing suggested a man walking the last mile toward his execution. When Stone indicated for him to sit, he dropped down on the couch. “Thought you’d be out doing something for the Fourth.”

  “Not exactly my sort of holiday, is it?” He took a seat opposite Jason. “Did Verity get hold of you?”

  “She tried. I haven’t called her back yet.”

  “Why not? It’s her you should be talking to, not me.”

  “Maybe.” He looked at his hands in his lap, then faced Stone. “But I wanted to talk to you first.”

  Stone made a “go on” gesture and waited. Although Jason’s tension was so strong he didn’t need to see auras to feel it, after what had happened earlier he also didn’t feel inclined to make this easier.

  Jason let out a loud sigh and shook his head. “Look—I’m sorry about what happened today. V was right—it wasn’t any of my business, and I did act like an ass.”

  “Good we’ve got that settled.”

  Anger flashed for a second, then died. “Yeah. I deserved that. But, Al—come on. Put yourself in my place. I come up here to surprise V, and I find her in bed with my best friend. With the guy who’s supposed to be her mentor. How the hell was I supposed to react?”

  “I’m not going to tell you how you were supposed to react, Jason. I’ll leave that to you. Where have you been all day? I don’t see any bruises and you don’t smell like an alehouse, so I’m guessing you managed to avoid starting any bar fights.”

  “I thought about it,” he admitted. “Thought hard. But if I get arrested, I could fuck up my shot at getting my PI license, and I’m too close to the end now for that. So I just went for a long drive.” He rubbed his face with both hands, then brought them up through his hair. “How long, Al?”

  “Jason—”

  “No. I know it’s none of my business. I just want to know. Whatever you tell me, I’ll deal with it. Unless—”

  “Unless what?”

  “Unless it’s been going on…you know…before V—”

  Stone made no effort to hide his anger. “Do you honestly think I would have—”

  “No. No, I don’t think that,” he broke in quickly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” He slammed his hand down o
n the chair arm. “But goddamn it, Al, this isn’t easy for me. Help me out here a little, will you?”

  Stone pushed himself up from the chair, went to the kitchen, and got a Guinness and a bottle of the microbrew Verity liked, brought them back, and offered the latter to Jason. Then he dropped back into the chair with a sigh. “It hasn’t been long. The first time was…after we got back from England.” He didn’t plan to tell Jason about the previous time—it was none of his business, and an in any case it hadn’t exactly been voluntary for either of them.

  “You mean after you…after you went black to save her?”

  “Shortly after, yes.”

  Jason’s jaw tightened, and it was clear he was making an effort to keep himself calm. “So it was some kind of gratitude thing. And you—”

  “Jason, I know you’re angry. I get that.” Stone felt his own anger rising again, and took a few deep breaths before he continued. “But you’ve got to stop treating your sister like some sort of helpless little girl whose mind can be so easily swayed. You know better than that. Bloody hell, Jason, she’s stronger than both of us.”

  “Yeah. I do know that. Intellectually, I know that. But this isn’t intellectual. You don’t get it, Al. You can’t—you don’t have a sister, so you don’t know what it’s like.”

  Inside Stone something clenched, but he kept it from showing on his face. “You’re too close to the situation. I know you love her, and you want to protect her. But—”

  “Do you love her?” Jason asked abruptly.

  “What?”

  “Do you love her?” he repeated. “Are you two—serious?”

  “Jason—”

  He sighed again. “Look—I know you, Al. I’ve known you for almost five years now. I know what you’re like. You don’t settle down with anybody. So what happens when you—”

  “I do love her,” Stone said. “And she’s told me she loves me. That’s been true for a long time, I think. But did it ever occur to you that it’s Verity who doesn’t want to settle down?”

  Jason blinked. “Huh?”

  “You’re right—I’m not the settling type. To be fair, most of that hasn’t been my doing, but even so…you’re right.” He fixed his gaze on his friend. “But I’ll tell you this, Jason, and you can believe it: Aside from Deirdre—and that was…complicated—and one other woman many years ago, Verity is the only person I’ve ever met who’s truly made me rethink that. If she was interested, I’d marry her in a heartbeat. But she’s not. She’s young still—and even though I know she cares for me, she’s not ready for…exclusivity. She may never be.”

  “But—” Jason’s expression had gone from anger to astonishment at Stone’s comment about marriage, but shifted back to anger at his last words. “She—”

  “Her activities are none of my business—unless they pertain to magic, or what we have together. It’s not exclusive, because she doesn’t want it to be. And I’m fine with that.”

  Jason leaped out of the chair and began pacing the living room, his aura once again flaring with agitation. “I don’t get any of this,” he said. “I don’t like it. I know it’s none of my business and V can do whatever the hell she wants, but—I don’t like it. You’re too old for her, to start with. What happened to ‘I’m nearly old enough to be her father’?”

  “I was wrong,” Stone said softly.

  “But you weren’t. You are nearly old enough to be her father!”

  “Jason, I’m not going to justify any of this to you. I don’t have to, and neither does Verity.”

  His shoulders slumped. “Yeah. I know. She’s gonna do what she’s gonna do, and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it. It’s always been that way. But, Al—can you tell me honestly—do you even know—whether she doesn’t just have some kind of crush on you? You’re her teacher. She looks up to you, respects you. You’re a mage, you look good, you’ve got money—I’ve seen how women react to you. Is it possible you don’t even know how you’re affecting her?”

  Stone bowed his head. In truth, he’d thought about that. He remembered Tabby Wells, a student of his from a couple of years ago—he hadn’t even realized she had a crush on him until someone else had told him. Young women got crushes on older men all the time. But Verity wasn’t just any young woman—and auras didn’t lie.

  “Come on, Jason—you’re reaching now. I can read auras, remember? She can’t hide anything from me. She doesn’t have enough experience yet. Look,” he added, getting up and once again dislodging Raider. “Here’s the bottom line—right now, this is happening. I’ve no idea how long it will go on, since I’m a mage, not a clairvoyant. But as long as it’s going on, I won’t apologize for it, to you or anyone else. If you want my advice, it’s you who should be doing the apologizing—and not to me.”

  Jason closed his eyes, a little muscle tightening in his jaw. “Yeah,” he said after a long pause. “Yeah. Fuck it, I—”

  Stone’s mobile phone buzzed on the coffee table.

  He glanced at it, noting the familiar number. “It’s Verity.”

  “Don’t tell her I’m here. She’ll kill both of us if she knows I talked to you before I talked to her.”

  Stone nodded and picked it up. “Verity. Are you all right?”

  “Yeah.” Her voice sounded stressed. “But Doc—I think you want to get over here.”

  “Why? Is something wrong?”

  “Yeah. I just got back—I went out to see a movie with Tiffany from work to cool off. When you got dressed, that figurine thing must have fallen out of your pocket. When I got home, I found it on the bedroom floor—and it’s glowing.”

  48

  Bloody hell!” Stone slapped his jeans pocket where he normally kept the figurine. It wasn’t there. “Damn, damn, damn. All right—I’ll be there in a few minutes.” He hung up and stuffed the phone in his other pocket.

  “What’s going on?” Jason demanded. “What’d she say? Is she all right?”

  “She’s fine. But we’ll have to finish this conversation some other time. I’ve got to go.”

  “Al, wait! Tell me what’s going on!”

  Stone had already crossed the room to grab his overcoat and keys. “It’s a long story. Short version: a dangerous magical item I’ve been watching for weeks just activated—on your sister’s bedroom floor, because I was so worked up over our little scene earlier today that I didn’t notice it had fallen out of my pocket. And now a whole lot of people could die because of my inattention.” Without waiting for a reply, he headed for the door to the garage.

  Jason caught up to him in a few quick steps. “I’ll go with you. Let me help.”

  “I’m sorry, Jason, but I haven’t time to deal with you and Verity shouting at each other right now. I may already be too late.”

  “I’m not gonna shout at anybody.” He kept following as Stone hit the button to open the garage door. “Look—you said people might die. That’s more important than how I feel about you sleeping with my sister. Come on, Al—let me help. That’s what I do.”

  Stone paused at the car door to look back at him. “Fine,” he said. “But if you two have a go at each other right now, I’m kicking you both out of the car and going without you. Got it?”

  “Got it. Let’s go!”

  Verity answered the door on Stone’s first knock. “I’m sorry I didn’t see it before,” she said, holding up the figure. “I just got back a little while ago, and—”

  “It’s all right—we were both a bit off our game.” He took the figure and shifted to magical sight. As she’d said, it blazed in his hand. He squinted at it, and after a moment identified the thin thread extending from it and pointing north. “I wonder how long it’s been.” Already, visions of dozens—perhaps hundreds, or even more—people dying sprang up in his mind’s eye. It was Independence Day—all over the Bay Area, people would be getting together for celebrations, concerts, fireworks displays. He clenched his fist around the figure.

  “Could have been since you left.
I didn’t notice it on the floor until after I got back from the movie and came in here to change clothes.”

  “Well—let’s hope it was a lot later than that. Let’s go. Oh—Verity?”

  “Yeah?” She snatched her leather jacket from a nearby table and closed and locked the apartment door behind her.

  “I need you to focus—but Jason’s in the car downstairs.”

  She glared at him. “Jason? Wait a minute—did you—”

  “No. He came by my place a little while ago. He wanted to talk. He was there when you called.”

  “He came to talk to you?” Anger rose in her voice.

  “He says he tried to call you first but you didn’t answer.” He fixed her with a hard stare. “Verity, we’ve not got time for this right now. I’ve already had this conversation with him. If you can’t keep yourself together, I’m not bringing you along. All right?”

  She met his gaze, eyes flashing, but then let her breath out and nodded. “Yeah. We’ll pick it up again later, after we find this thing and stop it.”

  Stone took the stairs down two at a time and had already gotten back to the car when she caught up. He flung open the driver’s door and leaned in. “Jason, switch places. I’ll need you to drive. I’ve got to track this thing.”

  Jason and Verity glowered at each other like a couple of cats getting ready to fight, but quickly took their places—Jason behind the wheel and Verity in the back seat. “Where are we going?” Jason asked, flipping a U-turn and heading out of the parking lot.

  “North. So far, all of the incidents have been in San Francisco, so I’ll wager this one is too. We’ll head that way and if it changes, I’ll let you know.”

  Nobody said anything else until they were on 101. It was already dark, the traffic brisk but fairly sparse. “You want to give me the rest of the story about that thing?” Jason asked, glancing toward the figurine Stone held in his lap. “How can a little thing like that kill a bunch of people?”