and I had spoken privately. “Adriana, I
know you did not want to leave my side
in the hospital, but I appreciate you
making that sacrifice. Queen Chiyoko…”
She let the sentence go unfinished.
Probably best. I’d met Queen Chiyoko,
another of the siren royals, from the
Pacific Rim siren clan. From what I’d
seen, there wasn’t any nice way to finish
a sentence about her. Maybe she was a
terrific ruler. I didn’t know. I did know
she was arrogant, ambitious, and wanted
to see me dead.
“She and some of the other queens are
already here and have requested the
large conference room for later today.”
Adriana’s eyes flashed dangerously.
Chiyoko
was
definitely
a
tough
customer, but I wouldn’t want to cross
Adriana with that look on her face.
“Don’t worry about a thing, Mother. I
will take care of it. Concentrate on
getting well. You will have your throne
to come back to.”
Apparently Lopaka had seen the same
steel in her daughter that I had. She
smiled, proud and pleased. “I don’t
doubt it. You will be a fine queen,
daughter.”
There was a flicker of warmth in the
green eyes. Adriana spoke again, with a
heavy sigh. “I don’t worry about my
safety for the moment, but I won’t be
able to leave Serenity for the duration of
this impromptu queens’ council. Celia, I
must ask for your help. Someone must be
responsible
for
obtaining
the
bridesmaids’ dresses. And someone
must guard Natasha and Olga as well.”
I hated it, but she was right. If
someone was whittling down the
wedding party to disrupt the event, the
bridesmaids were certain targets. But
while Adriana was confident about her
safety, I didn’t know that I agreed. A lot
of people live on Serenity, not to
mention the many visitors arriving for
the wedding. No doubt the queen’s guard
and security force was going to be
pressed to the limit, running background
checks on every guest and citizen. I
certainly couldn’t be at two places at
once. Serenity. Who was on Seren—?
Okay. I had a thought about a scenario I
could accept. Lopaka must have been
listening in to my thoughts because she
lifted delicate blonde eyebrows just as I
once again raised a hand to catch
everyone’s eyes. “Sorry to interrupt, but
how about this—I’ve worked with
Helen Baker of the Siren Guard. I trust
her skill, and her loyalty is without
question. If she’s available, I’d be
willing to work with her as a partner in
protecting Adriana and the Rusland
bridesmaids. Partners protect each other,
which meets your desires, and I can trust
her to guard Adriana while on Serenity,
meeting my goals. Would that be
satisfactory?”
Lopaka nodded. “That would be
satisfactory. Her skill is renowned and I
would trust her with my life … or that of
my daughter. I will make her available.”
Adriana mirrored her mother’s dip of
the head. “Baker is acceptable.”
It didn’t appear that Dahlmar had met
her, even though he was once on the
island when she was working with me.
He deferred the issue about the
protection of his future bride to Creede
by looking up at him with a questioning
expression. Creede said, “I’ve met her.
She’s qualified. Quick, a good shot,
smart. No objection from me.”
My cousin actually breathed a little
visible sigh, as though a huge weight had
been lifted from her shoulders. “Then
it’s settled. Celia, as for the dresses, at
this point I honestly don’t care what they
look like or how much they cost. Just get
the bridesmaids into a shop and find
something suitable. Your taste in
clothing seems to be similar to my own.”
Wait. She wanted me to shop for the
bridesmaids’ dresses? With Olga and
Natasha? I bit my tongue until I tasted
blood. I wasn’t going to say anything
because anything I said would come out
bitchy. I might think all kinds of things,
and the telepaths might hear them, but my
lips would be sealed.
Creede raised a single eyebrow, and I
swear I saw the hint of a smile twitch at
the corner of his mouth. Surely he
couldn’t read my mind from such a long
distance? Surely not.
Could he?
Another smile twitched at his lips. But
when he spoke his voice was utterly
bland and businesslike as he changed
topics. “The authorities have spent the
last several hours going over the magical
signatures of the evidence. Both Mr.
DeLuca’s signature and mine were on
some of the artifacts that had been
shattered and worked into the bullets. So
the authorities were very interested in
what the two of us have been up to. I
was detained and have been answering
questions. As, I believe, has Mr.
DeLuca. Fortunately for each of us, it
was obvious that the items had been
created some time ago.”
Oh, crap. That explained why Bruno
looked like hell. Frankly, I was a little
surprised he’d gotten out as quickly as
he did. It had to have been ugly. I was
surprised neither of them was still in
custody or being questioned. I looked
from one to the other. They might have
been friends if not for me. As it was,
they respected each other as men, mages,
and rivals.
Creede continued, “There was a more
recent signature I didn’t recognize.
Bruno, had you seen it before?”
I stepped back so that Bruno could
stand
on
the X. “It was vaguely
familiar.” He ran his hand through his
hair in an unconscious gesture of
frustration. “I know I’ve seen it
somewhere, but I can’t pin down where.
I’d thought it might be from when we
worked with so many people on the rift.
But if you don’t recognize it, that can’t
be it.”
That got me thinking: Where had
Bruno spent time with a bunch of magic
users without Creede?
The answer was obvious, at least to
me. “The college.” Emma echoed me an
instant later as Kevin nodded. Clearly I
hadn’t been the only one to figure it out.
Rizzoli looked from me to Bruno, to
Creede, to Kevin and Emma. “All right,
people. Somebod
y spill it. What
college? What are we talking about?”
I didn’t answer, just turned to Bruno.
Rizzoli was quick. He’d catch on in a
second without a blow-by-blow. “It’s
got to be. Who there has enough juice—”
Bruno’s expression was thoughtful. I
could tell he was going through everyone
on staff in his mind. He turned to Emma.
“Em? Who’s tested the highest in the
GAs?”
“Jan.” She turned to Rizzoli. “No
question. Jan Mortensen is one of the
graduate assistants at the university.
He’s a powerful mage and the most
secretive person I know. He always
works magic by himself, and he always
cleans up even the tiniest trace of his
workings once he’s done. I’ve never met
a mage as careful as him.”
“I’ve never worked with him,” Bruno
admitted. He sounded surprised, like it
should have occurred to him that it was
unusual, but it hadn’t before.
“No,” Em said. “And that’s weird all
by itself. Because Sloan’s been having
you work with everybody. You do
amazing artifact work, better than even
our tenured professors of magic.” Wow.
I do believe he actually blushed at the
compliment. Admittedly, Emma is pretty
stingy with praise.
She continued, musing almost to
herself as she spoke. “But Jan’s never
even seemed interested in spending any
time with you and keeps avoiding me
when I try to schedule it. But there’s a
good chance something he worked on is
in Dr. Sloan’s office somewhere. Sloan
was his advisor last year.”
“We will need to question this Jan.”
Dahlmar spoke softly, but his voice sent
chills up my spine. I’d had a chance to
see some of Dahlmar’s retainers in
action. And while they’d never done
anything untoward, I got the distinct
impression they would, just as soon as
the setting was a little more private.
“No, Your Majesty.” Rizzoli stepped
onto the X as Bruno vacated it. His voice
was as hard as granite, and about as
warm. “We will need to question him.
The attack was on American soil. We
will be happy to cooperate and share
information, but we are the lead
investigators and are in charge.” He
stepped off of the X, and in what was
probably the most carefully planned
“accident” of his career, stumbled and
wound up stepping on the red button on
the power strip, bringing the video
conference to an abrupt end.
Just as well. Because while the king
hadn’t had a chance to say anything, his
expression said more clearly than words
that he’d do what he damned well
pleased. Lopaka’s face had looked much
the same.
It seemed a lot of powerful people
really wanted to talk to Jan. We’d just
have to see who got there fastest.
14
I slathe re d myself with sunscreen—
Emma kept extra bottles on hand for me
—and checked my weapons while
Rizzoli called for backup to meet him at
the university. Rizzoli, Bruno, and I
walked out toward the cars, leaving the
others behind. We were halfway across
the parking lot when the guys exchanged
a look. Rizzoli turned to face me, pulling
his hand out of his pocket; he was
holding something that I couldn’t see.
“What?” I looked from one man to the
other, trying to figure out what was going
on.
“Sorry, honey. You’re not coming.
Not this time.” Bruno didn’t sound sorry.
He sounded smug. I’d barely opened my
mouth to argue when I heard the crack of
a spell disk breaking and found I
couldn’t say anything.
I’d been hit with a full body bind. I
couldn’t move a muscle.
The bastard.
Once upon a time I’d suggested this
exact spell to Creede. He’d worked out
the kinks and started mass-producing
different variations. The one favored by
law enforcement froze all of the major
muscles, but left the heart and lungs
alone. Some people could even manage
the occasional finger twitch. The binding
lasted for ten minutes—long enough for
the bad guy to be cuffed and put in the
back of the squad car. From what I’d
heard, John had been making a fortune
off of them. They were certainly useful. I
wasn’t surprised Rizzoli stocked them. I
was just surprised he’d use it on me.
“He’s right, Graves,” Rizzoli said.
“You’re sitting this one out. I respect
you and you’re capable as hell. But
you’ve been named a target by these
guys and you’re a civilian. I can’t risk it.
I wouldn’t be taking DeLuca here if I
didn’t need him for permission to search
the office. I am sorry.” At least he
sounded like he meant it. Of course that
didn’t make me any less pissed when I
watched him walk over to my Miata and
let the air out of two of my tires.
“I can’t believe you did that!” Emma
stood in the doorway, glaring from
Bruno to Rizzoli and back again. Kevin,
a step or so behind her, was chortling.
“She’ll be fine in ten minutes,” Bruno
Mortensen feels about her, and even
vampires can be killed by magic. Do you
really think she should come along?”
Emma’s lips tightened into a thin line.
“No, but that’s not the point.”
Bruno didn’t argue. Instead, he picked
me up at the waist and carried me into
the shade, where he leaned me against
the trunk of a tree like a freaking
surfboard. Leaning over, he gave me a
quick peck on the lips.
I have never wanted to knee a man in
the crotch so badly in my life. He had no
idea how thankful he should have been
for that full body bind. Not a clue.
“Gotta go. Love you.”
Emma came out to stand beside me,
looking grim, as Bruno and Rizzoli
drove away in Rizzoli’s car. She
showed me the set of keys she was
holding. “They didn’t disable my car.
When the spell breaks, you can take it.
But you have to promise me you’ll be
careful. Jan is powerful, smart, and he
really does hate you. I don’t know why.”
I would’ve promised … if I could’ve.
As it was I just stood there like a
freaking statue, my mouth partially open.
I was so furious I wanted to cry, but I
couldn’t even do that. I was so
completely helpless. Every second
stretched into eternity. Emma,
bless her
heart, stood next to me, waiting, offering
moral support.
Finally, finally, the binding spell
wore off, releasing me so suddenly that I
stumbled and would’ve fallen over if
Emma hadn’t caught me. It took probably
five more minutes for the cramping to
pass enough that I could have any hope
of walking to the car.
“Bruno’s going to be pissed if you let
her go,” Kevin said. The whole time
Emma had stood beside me, he had been
leaning casually against the doorjamb
with Paulie sitting calmly at his feet. He
didn’t sound like he was going to
interfere or like he was passing
judgment. It was just an observation.
“Bruno DeLuca can kiss my lily-white
ass,” Emma snapped.
Kevin shook his head. “Whatever. I’m
staying out of it.”
“Good,” Emma and I snarled in
chorus. Raising his hands in surrender,
Kevin backed into the house, pulling the
door closed behind him and giving
himself plausible deniability if Bruno
tried to give him a hard time later.
I climbed awkwardly into Emma’s
little subcompact. My muscles still
weren’t behaving normally. Fortunately
the car had an automatic transmission. I
wouldn’t have to try to handle the clutch
or shift gears once I got it backed out of
its parking spot.
Emma pressed her keychain into my
hand after I strapped on my seatbelt. “Be
careful.”
“I will. I promise.” I meant it, too. I’m
not invincible. The events in Mexico
showed me that all too clearly. But I
wasn’t going to sit back and let Bruno
get away with pulling a stunt like this.
No way. If I did that he’d feel free to do
it again, or something else he considered
“necessary” or “for my own good.”
Screw that—twice—with something
sharp.
It was a long drive from Emma’s to
the university, long enough that I was
able to calm down and think by the time
I reached the edge of campus. Oh, I was
still furious, but it wasn’t the blind,
unthinking rage that had overcome me
when that spell disk cracked open.
They shouldn’t have done it and
they’d both be getting hell from me about
it later.
But that didn’t change the reality of
the situation.
Dominic Rizzoli was a federal agent.
He was smart, tough, and experienced.
He was in charge of an investigation to
capture a terrorist. He was entitled to