by Jasmine Walt
“We may not be able to do that now, but we will take action,” Director Chen said firmly. “Please, brother-in-law, look past your greed. Have you no honor?”
“Do not bring honor into this,” Loku growled. “We may be family, but I do not owe allegiance to your boss here.” His eyes flashed, and he held Director Chen’s gaze for a long moment. But when she did not back down, he reluctantly relaxed against the cushions again. “Why should we lose out on all this profit? If Ma-San does not sell these guns, there are a dozen other arms dealers who will trade with anyone willing to pay the price. If it happens that the customers are Northian, well, that is your problem, not mine. It is up to your authorities to prevent their entrance and use in your Federation. Even if you did appeal directly to our new Mage-Emperor, it is unlikely he will be able to do anything about it. His plate will be very full as he assumes his new role.”
“This is all true,” Iannis said mildly, “but you are mistaken if you think this problem only affects the Federation.”
“And how is that, exactly?”
“The firearms are the least of the problem. Our sources tell us that the person manufacturing the guns is not simply selling arms. He is also producing and distributing dangerous diseases that the Resistance has developed as weapons specifically to kill mages. Mages like you and your family.”
“That’s preposterous!” Loku protested, his eyes going wide. “Ma-San holds no grudge against mages. Why would he do such a thing?”
“For the same reason that you are willing to sell arms to Federation rebels, I suppose,” Iannis said with a shrug. “You don’t care for anything that does not directly affect you, and he likely takes the same shortsighted position when it comes to these diseases. Or perhaps your partner secretly hates mages and plans to use these diseases to kill you and take over your fireworks business.”
“That is ridiculous,” Loku said stiffly, but the fear and anger in his scent belied his words. “Ma-San may be greedy, but he is not a fool. He needs me.”
“Are you willing to risk your life on it?” I asked.
Loku scowled at me. “Of course not.” He stroked his moustache, thinking deeply. Eventually, he let out a sigh, his scowl falling away. “I cannot simply brush aside what you are saying—that would make me just as foolish as you are accusing Ma-San of being. I will investigate these claims of yours, and if it turns out that they are true, I will help you get rid of the threat.”
“Excellent,” Iannis said, smiling grimly. “Remember, time is short. Once you find out that our information is accurate—and you will—we must discuss the best way to locate and destroy the local lab producing these substances. We do not want to endanger civilians if we can avoid it, or draw too much attention to either of us.”
“Of course,” Loku said smoothly, though I had a feeling he wouldn’t give a damn if innocent bystanders did come to harm.
“While we’re on the topic of investigation…” Henning said, speaking up for the first time. “Have you heard about a group of three Northian mages visiting this area about six weeks ago? We have not heard anything back from them.”
“This is a big port, there are always some foreigners visiting town,” Loku said carelessly. “All kinds of misadventures tend to befall foreign tourists. I don’t know anything of those men.”
“He’s telling the truth,” I told Iannis, who nodded almost imperceptibly.
“If you like, I can inquire with Ma-San’s wife about your missing friends when I visit her this evening,” Asu offered. She smiled at Henning, ignoring her husband’s disapproving frown. “I can see that you are very worried about them.”
“I am,” Henning said. “I would appreciate the help, ma’am.”
“My wife is very gracious,” Loku said, patting Asu’s hand and giving her a patronizing smile that she did not react to. “However, I do not think she will learn much, as the women in Ma-San’s house know nothing about his business. A man does not tell his secrets to his womenfolk, after all.”
Asu and Chen exchanged a look, and I restrained myself from rolling my eyes. I had no doubt that Asu would have a lot to say about her husband’s own business practices in private, though of course she wouldn’t speak out against him while he was right there. I was glad Iannis wasn’t such a sexist tyrant—we might have a vast power disparity between us, but at least he treated me with respect, and he valued my intelligence, ability, and opinions. If this was Loku when he was well behaved, and with guests, how did he treat Asu behind closed doors? She didn’t look like the type to talk about private affairs readily, but maybe we could persuade her to give up something we could leverage against Loku.
I hope she does tell us something useful, I thought. Because the way that Loku regarded us, as if we were fresh meat, told me that we were engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse that was far from over.
20
Though we wanted to get started right away, Loku insisted he would not be able to begin his inquiries until later in the day, when his partner would be playing a local board game in his favorite club. He also argued it would be easier to scope out the suspected warehouse under cover of darkness, which Iannis agreed with, so we found ourselves with some free time on our hands.
Loku took the men out onto the back porch to play chess, while Chen and I sat in the front garden with Asu and enjoyed the warm summer breeze and the beautiful fish swimming in the koi pond.
Now that we were away from the men, Asu spoke more freely. I asked her why she had agreed to marry such a chauvinistic man, and Asu explained that the match had been arranged between their families. I gathered that even though her husband was a womanizer, he was also a powerful and widely respected businessman with his fingers in many pies. Being his wife gave Asu higher status than she would have had on her own, and much more freedom of movement than she would have enjoyed had she married a less wealthy man or remained single. And despite his flaws, she added, he was a good father to their sons, with whom he practiced sword fighting and other martial arts daily.
After a delicious early dinner of spicy fish stew and a variety of other elaborate dishes, Asu and Loku bid us a good evening, suggesting we rest up until full dark. Chen decided to go along with Asu for some sisterly confidences, leaving me alone with Garrett, Iannis, and Henning. A servant showed us to a well-appointed guest suite, with a lavish common area that was connected to several guest bedrooms.
“I am really tired,” Garrett said, rocking a little as we entered the suite. “I suppose the travel took more out of me than I thought.”
“Yeah, me too,” Henning slurred. “Think I’m gonna hit the hay.” He took a step forward, then stumbled sideways.
“Hey!” I grabbed him by the elbow before he fell to the ground, then jerked him around to look into his eyes. They were extremely heavy-lidded, the pupils dilated. “What’s with you?”
“I do believe these two have been drugged,” Iannis said, his arm around Garrett. The Director of Federal Security was listing against Iannis, his own eyelids nearly closed. “There must have been something in the soup they gave us.”
“Bastards,” I hissed, hefting Henning up into my arms. I carried the now-snoring agent into one of the bedrooms and deposited him onto the mattress, while Iannis floated Garrett into the other one using a levitation spell. A quick check of Henning’s pulse, and a hand against his forehead, told me that he was perfectly fine aside from being unconscious.
Pissed at this subterfuge, I stormed back out into the common room, where Iannis was waiting. “How can you be so calm about this?” I raged. “Loku is probably planning to kill us in our sleep when he comes back!”
“Yes,” Iannis agreed, settling onto one of the couches. To my surprise, he was completely relaxed, and there was even a hint of amusement in his voice. “It would seem that our host has underestimated us greatly. He is going to be quite surprised when he returns.”
“He can’t have gotten far. I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.” I stalked ove
r to the front door and twisted the doorknob, then snarled when the ornate handle wouldn’t budge. A faint glow hummed to life around the handle and doorway, indicating a ward had activated. “That bastard!”
Iannis scoffed. “Loku is a fool indeed if he thinks such a simple ward can keep us locked within these walls.” I turned to stare at him, and he patted the cushion beside him. “Stop worrying, Sunaya, and come sit down with me. We may as well make ourselves comfortable as we wait for his return.”
Sighing, I let go of my anger and joined Iannis on the couch. His arm came around me, and I snuggled into his powerful chest, comforting myself with the sound of his steady heartbeat. “You’re really not worried?” I asked, inhaling his familiar scent of sandalwood and magic.
“Not at all,” Iannis said, stroking my hair. Tiny, delicious shivers skipped down my spine at his touch, and my skin began to warm beneath my new robes. “Loku is a reasonably strong mage, but he is much more attuned to business than to war. No mage in Solantha or Manuc would be as obsessed with profit as he seems to be,” he added, his lip curling in distaste. “He will be easy enough to overpower even if he brings friends, especially once Garrett and Henning wake up.”
“Can’t you just wake them up with a spell?” I asked, turning my face so I could peer into Iannis’s eyes. “I figured you’d want them to be awake and ready.”
“I do,” Iannis murmured, sliding his hand beneath my chin as his violet eyes darkened with desire. “But this is the first chance I’ve had to be alone with you for some time, and we might as well take advantage of it.”
He kissed me, and the spark of desire in my lower belly bloomed into a full-on flame. My arms twined around his neck as he coaxed my mouth open, and I savored the taste of him as his tongue stroked hungrily against mine. His scent was like a drug, and I took it in greedily, clinging to him as we lost ourselves in the kiss, in each other.
“We should really take this to the bedroom,” I mumbled against his mouth as he dragged me into his lap.
“Why?” He began trailing kisses down the edge of my jaw, shooting sparks of desire through my veins. “It’s not like they’re going to wake up at the noise.”
I opened my mouth to protest, then let out a little whimper as he bit down on the sensitive spot near my collarbone. His skilled fingers quickly undid the ties of my robe, and the soft silk spilled down my shoulders, baring me to the waist. Iannis growled hungrily at the sight of my bare breasts and drew me closer. I gasped as he flicked my nipple with his hot tongue, my fingers digging into his broad shoulders. The hand on my back dipped lower, pushing my robe further down as he sucked and licked my nipples, teasing me until I was moaning his name, my core molten with need.
“Enough,” I growled, pushing him away so I could tug at the ties of his robe. His velvet skin was warm beneath my hands as I glided them down his torso, enjoying the ridges of muscle there that were honed by discipline and effort, during early morning hours when he thought I didn’t notice him slipping away to exercise. I licked my lips as his length sprang straight into my waiting hand.
“Yes,” he groaned as I squeezed, and a wicked grin came to my lips. Before he could think to stop me, I slid to my knees on the carpet, then took him into my mouth. His hips came off the couch as he stifled a shout, and then his fingers were tangled in my curly hair, urging me on with low moans of encouragement as I pleasured him. I’d become very familiar with his tells and knew just how much to push. I waited until his whole body was tense and trembling, then pulled back. His snarl of frustration would have cowed a lesser woman, but I only grinned at him as I stood up, shucking off my robe completely. It puddled on the floor as I straddled Iannis, and the slightest breeze from an open window across the room kissed my already damp skin as I impaled myself on him.
“Oh,” I moaned as Iannis’s magic twined around us, heightening the pleasure we both experienced. I braced my palms against his broad chest as we began to move together, savoring the blaze in his violet eyes as he looked up at me. His beautiful face was savage with lust, but there was tenderness in his gaze as it drank me in, and his touch was soft as he lifted his palm to my cheek.
“You’re so beautiful,” he breathed, sliding a thumb across my lip. I bit down on it, and he grinned. “Beautiful and mine.”
He cupped the back of my head, bringing me down for another kiss. And we finished that way, entwined both in body and soul as we finally tumbled into bliss.
After we’d made ourselves presentable again, Iannis used a variation of a healing spell to wake up Henning and Garrett. Henning was disoriented, while Garrett was absolutely livid.
“How dare that slimy, two-faced snake drug us,” he spat, his cheeks turning bright red. Magic crackled in his fist as he clenched it, bright yellow, and I backed up a little as a stray spark popped off his fist.
“Garrett!” Iannis said sharply. “Calm yourself.”
Garrett’s nostrils flared as he took in a deep breath, and it occurred to me that he was one of the most temperamental mages I’d ever met. But his ire cooled as he let out the breath, and that calm mask that all mages wore slid over his features once more.
“Very well,” he finally said, “But we cannot allow this to stand. Loku must be punished.”
“And so he shall be,” Iannis agreed. “Do any of you have suggestions?”
“I think we should beat him into a pulp,” I said, placing my hands on my hips. “But before that, we need to find out just what the hell he was planning on doing to us.”
“I agree,” Garrett said immediately. “Did he really want to kill us in our sleep? Or is he secretly working with the Resistance, and perhaps planning to extract information from us?”
“Given that he is a Garaian mage, that does not really make sense,” Iannis pointed out. “He did not even know of our existence until we showed up.”
“Could be that he does know what happened to my fellow agents,” Henning growled, his brows drawing together. “And that he was going to deliver us the same fate.”
“Nah,” I said, twirling a curl of hair around my forefinger. “He wasn’t lying when he said he didn’t know where those agents went, and his reaction when we told him about the diseases seemed genuine.”
“You don’t think maybe we should just make a break for it right now?” Henning asked. “We could probably disable that ward, or bust a hole in the wall and leave if we really have to. I don’t see why we should stay with this treacherous snake if we have to worry about him killing us in our sleep.”
“I am not going to run from Loku,” Iannis said, sounding affronted at the very idea. “Between the four of us, we should have no problem subduing him, should he try to attack us.”
In the end, we disabled the ward, then went out to the sitting room off the main hall to wait for Loku to return. The servants seemed both surprised and nervous to see us out of our rooms, but they served us tea and almond cookies. Iannis pulled his poison-detecting ring from his right ring finger, where he’d taken to wearing it, and carefully passed it over our food and drink. The square-cut, milky-white stone did not change color, and I let out a sigh of relief. It was good to know that the servants, at least, were not trying to poison us.
It was past nine o’clock before the front door finally opened, and I stood as I caught Loku’s scent. The others rose as well, and Iannis held up a hand in warning as I made for the hallway. Reading the look in his eyes, I stepped back and allowed him to walk out first, the rest of us following to make a barricade so that Loku could not enter further.
“Lord Iannis.” Surprise flickered in Loku’s eyes, and he stopped dead. “I expected you to be resting in your rooms.”
“Indeed,” Iannis said flatly. “Or rather, you expected us to be lying in our beds in a deep sleep, judging by the drugs you slipped into our—”
The rest of Iannis’s sentence was cut off as Loku shouted a spell in Garaian, calling that same strange green magic that the assassin-mage had used on me. Iannis and Hennin
g conjured shields to defend against it, bouncing the magical energy back in Loku’s direction. Loku managed to avoid the blast, but Iannis hit him with an identical one. Our treacherous host froze in the middle of the foyer, one foot suspended off the ground mid-step, his mouth open in a snarl of rage.
“Oh, shit,” I said aloud as it finally hit me. “That’s the same spell Chartis used to immobilize me back in Thorgana’s mansion, isn’t it?” No wonder I’d gotten the chills when the assassin mage had tried to use it on me, and again here!
“The very same,” Iannis confirmed, stepping forward so that he was toe to toe with Loku. He regarded him thoughtfully, then tapped Loku on his long nose. “Now what exactly are we going to do with you?”
21
“I apologize about the misunderstanding,” Loku said with a thin smile as a servant poured more tea for all of us. I was getting sick of drinking the stuff, but figured it would be impolite to bitch about it, so I took my hot cup and sipped gently. At least I was acclimating to the temperature. “Your demeanor and plain clothing confused me into thinking that you were of a lower stature than I realized.”
“We introduced ourselves by name and title,” Garrett said stiffly. “How could you possibly misunderstand our status? We are high officials in our own country.”
“I do not know much about ranks or titles outside of Garai,” Loku said, and I wrinkled my nose as I smelled the lie.
“You mean you don’t recognize any ranks or titles outside of Garai,” I sneered.
“What I do recognize is power, and you have demonstrated that you have it in abundance,” Loku said coldly. He turned back to Iannis with a smile. “I’m going to assume that the reason you unfroze me is because you want the information I gathered for you tonight?”
“Did you?” Iannis asked, arching a dark red brow. “Or did you go out and conspire against us with your human partner?”