Natural Dual-Mage (Page 59)

Her smile grew. “I just told you. Please, grab a glass of wine. Darius keeps the very best collection. Did you know he has secreted his bond-mate away from the world? Isn’t that strange? With a potent power such as hers, one would think he’d want to show her off.”

“Reagan has no manners,” I said, slipping around Emery and heading for the wine. I didn’t know much about Ja, but I knew when she was dangerous to us in the moment. She was controlled and calculating, which meant the danger she posed was more of a long, slow burn. “Darius needed to give her a boot camp,” I said, filling two glasses.

“I hope not. I found her crudeness rather charming. She embraced her barbarianism.” Ja draped her arm over the back of her chair, looking relaxed. The opposite of Emery. “I rather enjoy the world of today. No false pretenses. No subtle charades. Industrialized nations put all their feelings on display. It takes so much less effort to read people. What a haze I’d been in these last…” She glanced at the sky. “I can scarcely count the years. Hundreds, it must be.”

I sat gingerly at the table with my glass of wine. I put Emery’s in front of the open chair, hoping he’d take the hint and sit down to it.

“I heard all about the attack on the Mages’ Guild,” she said, her smile demure. “My, how the men in this day and age will gush in response to the simplest flattery. It’s almost boring. But the smell…” She wrinkled her nose. “I’ve never been one for animals.”

Yikes.

I clasped my hands on the table, not commenting. What could I possibly say? She had an agenda, and I needed to let it play out. I’d met with Vlad a couple times. I now knew what most vampires were like. And also that Darius was way different than a normal elder. Why? No one would tell me, or else they didn’t know.

“Someone’s magic is extraordinary. Maybe more than one someone?” Sparks of fire danced in her dark eyes as she looked at me squarely. “You are a natural, you are a dual-mage, but…that isn’t all, is it?”

Silence was key. No facial expression. No clenched jaw or clasped hands. That failing, I could steal Emery’s approach and invite thunder clouds to roll across my face.

Her smile curved her lush lips. “Well. We all have secrets, after all. And Reagan most of all, I think. I had a suspicion. I now have a new one. Isn’t magic fun? So many intrigues. So many surprises. I’m glad I took a break. I was so bored before. But not now.”

“I would like to have a quiet night with my future wife, Ja. What is it you want?” Emery asked, and a sharp, heady burst of power filled the room.

Butterflies filled my stomach. Something about his assertive side unleashed his power. It danced with mine, spreading a tingling sensation through my body and dropping heat into my center.

“I apologize. Where are my manners?” She took a sip of her wine, closing her eyes to savor it. “Just this.” Her beguiling gaze hit me. “I am in awe of you, Penelope Bristol. I had intended to gain a little favor by sending you the absolute best in the business. The very best. Someone highly sought after and extremely hard to get. After calling in a few favors, I procured him.”

“Cahal,” I said, fitting it all together. “You wanted to make sure I lived so you’d have a shot at controlling me.”

“Oh no…” The predator in her flashed through her dark eyes. “Not controlling you, surely. Working with you. Helping you.” I didn’t believe her for a second. “But the druid refunded the deposit. Canceled the contract.”

I frowned at her. “What now?”

Her smile stretched, a thinly veiled blade. She wasn’t pleased. “You have an admirer, Penelope. Maybe a peer?” That was a probing question if ever there was one. She was asking about the magic the goblin had inadvertently donated to me.

“In fairness, I dragged him through situations that he wasn’t really able to work in,” I said. “We got trapped, and—”

“But you came out alive. He should have taken the funds. But he didn’t.” She took another sip of wine, then licked her lips. It curled my stomach. “He formed an attachment to you. Which I find interesting. He hasn’t formed an attachment in years, I’ve heard. He’s long since given up looking for his natural pair…his way out of his profession. And yet, suddenly, he finds a heart with you?”

“I have a natural pair.” I pointed at Emery, still by the door. “I can’t have two. Because of the word pair. Which means two.”

“Yes.” Her eyes roamed over me. Seeing a riddle, I had no doubt. “Well.” She finished her glass of wine, sat for a moment to appreciate it, and then removed her delicate fingers from its stem. “At any rate, I applaud you on your victory, Penelope. It is well earned.”

She rose from her chair gracefully, nodded to me, half curtsied to Emery, and walked out the door.

He watched her as she disappeared into the darkness, and then closed the door and stared at the lock. He turned it, though vampires could open any locked door, and I could tell he was thinking about wards.

Yes, those would be going up.

“She sent him,” I said as Emery sat opposite his glass of wine. His shoulders were still tight. “We might have guessed.”

“Darius did,” Emery said, his tone dark. “At first he thought it was Vlad, but Vlad’s reaction didn’t fit. So the only one left, in his mind, was Ja. She has an attachment to you.”

“She thinks she owes me.”

“Never cash in on that debt.”

“Clearly she tried to force me to.”

A smile curled Emery’s lips. “Cahal must’ve known she would. He’s been around too long not to know how vampires work. He gave you a nod with his refusal to take payment. He gave you an out.”

“I owe him a great debt, not just for that, but for helping. We barely pulled through. Without everyone on our side…everyone, we wouldn’t have.”

He nodded and scooted his chair closer to me. “He didn’t have to help for most of it. He wanted to. We’ll send Reagan an expensive bottle of whiskey and put a note on it to say it’s a thank-you gift for Cahal. She’ll have to give it to him when he eventually shows up, if he does.”

I laughed. “Perfect. And he will, because he said so, and they can’t lie. So she’ll have to sit and look at it.”

He leaned back and his eyes took on a deep look. “Thank you. Again. For…my life. For…my return to reality. What you’ve given me is priceless.”

I made him scoot closer so I could lean against his body. “You opened up my whole world. Let me find my feet, then helped me find my wings. Thank you.”

He squeezed me tight. “Safe at last.”

I closed my eyes to savor those words, my heart full of love and hope. “For now, at least, and that’s what matters.”