Heart of Stone (Alice Worth Book 4)

by Lisa Edmonds

  Katy saw us and scurried into the back room. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. Damn Lily. Katy had made a poor and dangerous choice and I still resented that Carly hadn’t been completely honest with us, but Lily was the reason for this whole mess. If there really was a Threefold Law, it would be nice if Lily got some payback, I thought.

  “Would you like a scone to take with you?” Carly asked.

  “I’ll take a couple, actually. I’m sure Sean would like to try them. He had to work until three.”

  “On a Saturday?” She made a disapproving sound.

  “He missed quite a bit of work this week thanks to the hex and Caleb attacking me, and had to catch up.”

  She put the four remaining blueberry scones in a bag and then put a small paper sack on the counter next to it. “Here’s some of that tea. Instructions for making it are on the bag. Be careful not to use boiling water or let it steep too long.”

  I handed over a twenty. “Put the change in the tip jar.”

  “Thanks, hon.” She dropped the bills and a handful of coins in the jar. “You be safe.”

  “You too.” I lowered my voice. “I forgot to ask: what are the witchy wards around the shop designed to keep out?”

  Carly winked at me. “It’s not so much what they’re designed to keep out as what they keep in, and that’s a secret I’ll share another day. Blessed be.”

  “Blessed be,” I echoed. I grabbed my coffee, the bag of scones, and the little sack of tea and we left.

  “Well, now I’m super curious about these wards,” Malcolm said as I got in the car.

  I turned the key in the ignition. “Me too. I wonder—”

  My phone rang. I dug it out of my bag and checked the screen. Oh boy. I sighed and answered. “Hello, Ezekiel.”

  “You have an interesting interpretation of the phrase ‘back away from this matter.’” His tone was perfectly neutral, which meant he was hopping mad. “Given our last conversation and the risks involved, imagine my surprise when Charles Vaughan contacted me before dawn with a forty-nine-page contract outlining a proposed agreement between the Court, Darius Bell, and an individual referred to as ‘Storm Girl.’ And before you claim you don’t know who or what I’m talking about, you should know Valas and I have been aware you are Storm Girl since the night of the fires.”

  It didn’t surprise me to hear Valas knew I was Storm Girl—I would have been far more surprised if she hadn’t known. “Only forty-nine pages? Frankly, given the situation and the parties involved, that sounds too short.”

  “Forty-nine pages not counting the addenda, of which there are seven.” He sighed. “Miss Worth, your motivations are noble, but I’m not sure you fully comprehend what you’re risking and what you’re asking the Court to do.”

  “I fully comprehend both,” I stated. “Is there anything about me that would lead you to think I rushed into this without thinking it through and analyzing all the alternatives?”

  He harrumphed. “No. In fact, as I remarked to Charles, you would have made a fine lawyer and woe to anyone who opposed you in court. Though he drafted this contract, I recognize your single-minded thought process in its conditions and structure.”

  “You know, we really shouldn’t be discussing this informally without my legal representative present,” I said. “You’ve confirmed I know what I’m getting into and no one is strong-arming me to do this. Any other questions should be directed to Charles or whoever he has working on this during the day.”

  “Very well. The agreement is under review.”

  “Thanks, Ezekiel.”

  We said our goodbyes and hung up. I backed out of my parking spot and headed toward my house.

  “Why are we headed home?” Malcolm asked.

  “I want to work on some spellwork in the basement while Sean’s at work. I don’t know what all Carly’s going to come up with, but we need some whammies of our own.” I sighed. “It’s been a while since I cooked up spells for weapons.”

  “Same here, but I’m sure we’ll remember how they work.” A long pause. “Alice, you know I’ve got your back. You can count on me to make sure none of Bell’s people put a knife in it.”

  “I know I can, but you and I both know these people don’t play nice or fair. They’re going to play dirty. That means you and I will have to get dirty too just to save our own hides. You okay with that?”

  “Yeah.” A pause. “Yeah, I am okay with that.”

  We drove the rest of the way to my house in silence, each lost in our own thoughts. When I turned onto my street, I spotted not one, but two black Vamp Court SUVs parked in front of the house.

  “What’s this?” Malcolm asked.

  “Not sure.” I pulled into my driveway and parked in front of the carport. As I got out of the car, the passenger door of one of the SUVs opened and Arkady stepped out with a black briefcase.

  I grinned and waved. “Hey, you. What’s up?”

  She crossed the yard and met me by the front steps. “You look pretty good for someone who got used as a werewolf chew toy.” She gave me a hug.

  We went inside. Malcolm followed us and hovered silently nearby. I hadn’t introduced them to each other, though he knew who she was.

  “You’re here on official Vamp Court business, I take it,” I said as I headed to the kitchen.

  “Yep.” She closed the door and locked it. “I’m a courier and a minder. Ezekiel Monroe had me bring you a copy of the agreement Vaughan sent to the Court and Bell’s lawyers, and I’m supposed to hang out with you until we hear whether they’ve agreed to the terms of the agreement. Monroe also doubled your guard outside, just in case Bell gets any funny ideas.”

  I’d figured he would. “You want anything to drink?”

  “Nah, I’m good.” She set her briefcase on the counter, unzipped it, and took out two thick red folders. “Here’s the agreement. I hope you speak legalese.”

  “I’m conversant in it.” I took the folder from her and we headed to the living room. I sat cross-legged on the couch with the folder in my lap. “Who’s out in the other SUV?”

  Arkady settled into the loveseat. “Matthias and one of Valas’s personal guards, a guy named Hanson.”

  “Oh, I know him.” I’d met him the night I went to Valas to ask for help to save Sean. “He’s named after a band.”

  “Yeah, I think he said something about that.” She grew serious. “Request for me and Matthias to join the op.”

  “Why?”

  She frowned. “Because we want to have your back. You’re going to need all the backup you can get.”

  When I didn’t reply right away, her expression darkened. “Why the hesitation, Alice?”

  “I don’t doubt your abilities or your motives,” I told her. “Please don’t take offense, but if the Court sends you with us, it will be to work for them. I don’t want to put you in a spot where you’d be forced to choose whether to follow their orders or do something to help me.”

  “You’re assuming those two things are going to be mutually exclusive?”

  “I am. I have to be realistic. The Court will always have one priority: protecting the Court and its interests. At the moment, that makes them uneasy allies with Darius Bell and we have a common goal: making sure Moses Murphy doesn’t take over this city. I might have some value to Valas, but I have no illusions about where I stand in the hierarchy of the Court’s priorities. You and I are friends, but you work for the Court. You know as well as I do there’s all kinds of potential for conflicts of interest. The Court will give you your orders and unless you want to lose your job—or worse—you’ll have to follow them.”

  She nailed me with a look. “So, rather than let me make that decision for myself if the time came, you don’t want me to even get the chance to decide?”

  I felt a little chill that meant Malcolm was beside me. “Alice, you’re doing the thing again,” he muttered.

  Damn it. I sighed. “I’m sorry, Arkady. You’re right; it’s not my deci
sion to make.”

  “Wow,” Malcolm said, sounding impressed. “More personal growth.”

  “Shut up,” I muttered under my breath. I addressed Arkady. “Okay, if Bell and the Court agree to the deal, I’ll request that you and Matthias be included in the Court’s contingent.”

  “Cut that out,” she said sharply.

  I blinked. “Cut what out?”

  “That whole ‘Now I have two more people to protect’ shit.” She stood and put her hands on her hips. “That’s the real reason you didn’t want us to go, isn’t it? Maybe it was the other thing too, but you don’t want us in danger.”

  “I didn’t say—”

  “It was all over your face.” She stared me down. “Alice, I was in the Army. I was a PsyOps specialist out of Fort Bragg. Matthias is a Court enforcer. You are not responsible for keeping us safe. We’re well-trained badasses, just like you. I know you know that. So why is this situation different from when we teamed up to take out Kent Stevens? You had no trouble with us being in the line of fire then.”

  I wanted to say because Moses Murphy was my grandfather and everything about this mission felt personal, but I couldn’t tell her that. “I’m sorry. You’re right—you don’t need my protection. I can’t help but worry about all of us facing the kind of firepower Murphy has at his disposal. I don’t want any of my friends hurt.”

  “This is the line of work we’re in,” she pointed out. “We chose to work for the Court. You chose to be a mage PI. We all know the risks and we like them. And maybe we hate Moses Murphy because he’s a killer and a scumbag and we’d like to be part of the team that takes him out. For us, that’s worth the risk. Hell, if we kill him, we’ll never have to pay for a drink in this town again.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “In a number of bars and with certain groups of people, no, you won’t.”

  “I like her,” Malcolm interjected. “You gonna introduce us or what?”

  I wondered belatedly if Malcolm was secretly glad his secret was out, because now he didn’t have to be hidden from everyone anymore. Prior to this week, among the living, he’d only been able to talk with me, Sean, and Natalie. He’d never complained once about feeling isolated or lonely, but it must have been difficult to have so few living people to interact with. Now he’d met Nan and Carly and we had the option of letting others know of his existence. Something told me he and Arkady would get along very well.

  Arkady frowned at me. “Earth to Alice.”

  “Sorry.” I set the folder of papers aside. “Not to change the subject, but do you remember how I had a ghost keeping an eye on Sean while he was in the cage at Jack Hastings’s house?”

  “Yeah, I remember.” She looked around. “Is the ghost here now?”

  “Yep. I’d like you to meet him, actually, if you’re up for that.”

  She grinned. “Awesome. I’ve never actually met a ghost. What do I need to do?”

  “He’ll touch your arm to draw a little energy from you and that will allow you to hear him. It’ll be cold,” I warned her.

  She held her arm out. “Come on over, ghost.”

  Malcolm went visible and floated over to touch her outstretched arm. She jumped and laughed. “Brr! You weren’t kidding. That tickled too.”

  He let go of her. “Hey, Arkady. I’m Malcolm.”

  “Hey, Malcolm. Nice to meet you.” She looked around. “I can’t see him?”

  I shook my head. “He’s only visible to me, but you should be able to sense him when he’s nearby now. Can you feel a little chill next to you?”

  She concentrated. “Yes, on my right. Hey, I know a ghost!”

  My phone beeped with an incoming message from Sean. Wolf: I might be done early. Our two o’clock meeting canceled and Ben helped me with paperwork. Heard anything from Bell or the Court?

  Me: Still waiting on news. Arkady delivered the agreement Charles wrote. I’m about to read through it. We’re at my house.

  Wolf: I’ll probably head that way in an hour.

  Me: Ok.

  I dropped the phone on the couch next to the folder. “I guess I need to read through this. Malcolm, you want to get started downstairs without me and I’ll join you in a bit?”

  “Yeah, no problem. Take your time,” he said. “Nice to meet you finally, Arkady.”

  “You too, Malcolm.”

  He disappeared through the floor into the basement.

  I headed back to the kitchen. “If I’m going to read a contract, I need coffee. Want some?”

  Arkady followed me. “Desperately. Hey, are those scones on the counter for sharing?”

  I grumbled. “You can have one.”

  Charles wrote one hell of a contract.

  “It’s almost as if he’s been doing this for nearly two hundred years,” Sean said, looking up from the stack of pages on his lap. We sat at opposite ends of the couch, each with a copy of the proposed agreement. My feet rested on his thigh and he rubbed the arch of my foot with his thumb while he read.

  “Don’t sound so disappointed,” I teased. “Were you hoping he’d forgotten something?”

  “No,” he said, not quite convincingly.

  “He totally was,” Arkady said from the loveseat. Sean frowned at her. She raised her eyebrows, unfazed, and turned her attention back to her phone.

  I stuck the agreement back into the red folder and closed it. “I can’t find anything I object to or think of anything he’s forgotten. Everything’s in here that I wanted and he seems to have covered all the bases. You see any loopholes or omissions Bell or the Court could exploit?”

  He shook his head. “It seems iron-clad to me. Your role in the operation is clearly defined. Bell and the Court provide the manpower. Bell releases the nulls he’s holding involuntarily and their families before we leave for the op. He agrees to refrain from any further communication with you and you are not obligated to work for him again in the future. Both he and the Court must agree not to cause you any harm, either by action or inaction, during the operation or after.” He tapped the stack of pages into a neat pile and slid them into a red folder. “If there’s anything he’s missed, I’m not seeing it.”

  “He’s good at his job.” I got up and stretched.

  My phone beeped. I picked it up and saw a text message from Adri. Bell has indicated he’s willing to sign and has requested a meeting for tonight. Ezekiel Monroe has agreed to meet. Luciano’s at 11 p.m. Parley rules. Do you confirm?

  I exhaled. “It looks like we’re in business.”

  20

  As soon as we confirmed we’d meet the others at Luciano’s, Sean called Jack and Ben to come over. Arkady went back outside to sit in the SUV with Matthias and Hanson to watch the house and give us privacy for a meeting.

  Sean and I told Jack and Ben what we were doing and why—and that I was the mystery mage the press had dubbed “Storm Girl.” Both men took the news in stride, admitting they had suspected as much. We discussed the matter up until the point that it was time to leave for the club, continuing the conversation during dinner. I only picked at my food, but the werewolves ate everything in sight, fueling themselves for what might be an eventful evening.

  After dinner, I introduced Ben and Jack to Malcolm. Malcolm and Ben hit it off immediately, unsurprisingly, but Malcolm was less than friendly toward Jack. He remained highly suspicious of Sean’s beta, despite Jack’s apparent change of heart about my relationship with Sean.

  Since Sean’s truck was still at the body shop and his Mercedes was at the dealership to get the door fixed and the interior cleaned, we took a Maclin Security SUV to the meeting at Luciano’s. Sean drove and I rode shotgun. Jack and Ben sat behind us, on high alert for any hint of trouble.

  Despite heavy rain and traffic near downtown, we arrived at the club fifteen minutes early. Per instructions, we went around to the private side entrance rather than entering through the club’s main doors. A doorman waited under the awning, umbrella in hand.

  The doorman hurr
ied from the awning to open my door and hold the umbrella over my head. “Good evening, Ms. Worth,” he said solemnly as I got out, briefcase in hand.

  He closed my door and escorted me to the awning, then went around to the driver’s side to provide cover for Sean as Jack and Ben got out and took cover under the awning. A valet dashed from his kiosk and took Sean’s place behind the wheel to move the vehicle to the parking garage.

  I smoothed some imaginary wrinkles from Sean’s suit, straightened his tie, and smiled up at him. “I need to make you dress up more often,” I told him as the rain poured off the awning around us as if we were standing under a waterfall.

  He kissed my forehead. He didn’t have to lean down very far, since I was wearing four-inch heels. “Anytime you want me in a suit, all you have to do is say the word, as long as I get to pick what you wear,” he murmured.

  I had a feeling I knew what he’d request for me to wear: my tattoos, the wolf amulet, and maybe the Louboutins. “It’s a deal.”

  “Jeez, you guys,” Malcolm complained. He was invisible, but I sensed him on my right. “Can’t you go five minutes without thinking about sex?”

  “I could, but I’d rather not,” Sean said. He took my hand and squeezed it.

  I hadn’t wanted Malcolm to join us for the meeting, but he’d insisted that he had to face Bell, despite the danger. I understood that need more than I could admit or explain. I needed to confront Moses—not just to get revenge for twenty years of torment, or to bring an end to his reign of terror, but because it was the only way for me to find any kind of peace or closure. That being the case, I could hardly refuse to give Malcolm the chance to find his own peace, though I’d made him promise to jump to safety if Bell or anyone else tried to harm him.

  The doorman cleared his throat. “Honored guests, welcome to Luciano’s.” He opened the door and ushered us inside.

  The private entrance led to an intimate lounge, with a bar and a dozen chairs arranged in small groups. Another employee, wearing a tuxedo, waited for us in the lounge. “Welcome, Miss Worth, Mr. Maclin,” he said with a small bow. “I am Thomas. If you’ll follow me down the hall and upstairs?”