Con & Conjure (26 page)

The question I had now was did Rache know his name?

My best bet for finding that name was to find Rache. Though I knew I’d never get either one unless I got some sleep. I didn’t have time for it, but I had even less time to screw this up. When I was in the same room with Rache again, I couldn’t be anything but at the top of my game. If that meant a couple of hours spent studying the insides of my eyelids, so be it.

If it had been the goblin assassin who’d taken that shot at Mychael, why would he want to frame Rache? Rache was an assassin. Why would someone glamour as Rache and try to kill people? Though not just people. Mychael. If Nukpana hired this guy, why would he want him to go after Mychael? Unless the assassin wanted what was happening right now—every law officer on the island was hunting for Rache Kai. If Rache got arrested, the assassin would get rid of his competition. And by killing Chatar, the assassin killed someone who may have been able to identify him. I was seeing a pattern here, sick and twisted, but still a pattern.

I resisted the urge to slide down underneath the water. This was getting way too complicated.

I must have dozed off. You don’t jerk, gasp, and choke on bathwater unless you’d been asleep. I also wasn’t alone. My hands went over the sides of the tub, grabbed the swords, and I came to my feet with much splashing and sloshing.

“Now that’s a vision I haven’t seen lately—last time you had a dagger and a towel.”

Mychael was in uniform. I wasn’t in anything except a tub. After more splashing and sloshing, I’d ditched the swords and jumped into his arms.

His sea blue eyes had a naughty gleam. “But I was about to join you.”

“We have an audience.”

Mychael grinned. “I could fix that.”

“I know you could, but right now goblins are the only people on this island who almost like me.”

“I like you.”

I smiled and shifted against him. “Yeah, I kind of got that feeling.”

I stepped back and looked Mychael up and down. While the scenery was more than nice, that he was wearing his formal uniform was not.

“Let me guess,”
I said, switching to mindspeak.
“Carnades likes his death warrant signings formal.”
I didn’t mind goblins seeing me naked, but I wasn’t about to let them know the rest of my business.

Mychael’s next words echoed with tense fury in my mind.
“Justinius has two votes. I have one.”

My heart stopped for a few beats.
“Carnades bought all the votes he needed.”

The look on Mychael’s face told me that Carnades had a lot more.

“How many?”
I asked.

My mouth fell open. “What!” I said out loud. I dropped my voice to a whisper. “All of them? But you and Justinius—”

“I only killed firemages.”
But that didn’t matter; none of it mattered. The Twelve would see me taken into custody and then they would see me executed.

“I bet Carnades added that last part.”
I stood very still.
“Are you here to bring me in?”

Mychael smiled fiercely.
“Yeah, it is.”

“I love you and I’ve sworn to do everything in my power to get you out of this, and if that means taking you off this island and running for the rest of our lives, then that’s what I’ll do.”
He handed me a towel.
“And as much as it pains me to have you cover up, you might want to do it before some of the men behind your walls hyperventilate and pass out.”

I tossed the towel aside.
“Let ’em pass out.”
I ran my hands up his chest and laced my fingers behind his head, pulling him down to me. I kissed him hard, with a passion born of the fear of losing him—first in the fire and now by choosing sides and choosing me.

In one swift move, Mychael tightened his arms around me and lifted me off my feet. I wrapped my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss, my mouth demanding, taking. Mychael’s breathing had a ragged edge as he held me hard against him with one arm while his other hand ran down my body and back again with some gasp-inducing detours.

Our lips parted and I looked into his eyes as we stood pressed together, breathing fast, our hearts beating faster.

“That’s not helping the poor bastards watching us.” Mychael’s voice was a husky whisper. “But it’s doing wonderful things for me.”

“I’d like to have you do some wonderful things for me right now. Might help curb the terror.”

Mychael’s wandering hand cradled my lower back. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

“You might not be able to stop them.”

His smile was that of a man with a secret.
“I won’t be alone,”
he said in mindspeak.
“And you won’t be, either.”

I grinned.
“I just love that old man.”

“I’m rather fond of him myself.”
Pride gleamed in his eyes.
“And of every Guardian who said they would stand with us.”

I just hung there in his arms, stunned.
“Us? Both of us? Us as in including me?”
I managed.

“He wants to find you and get you off of the island now.”
Mychael reluctantly set me on my feet.
“Quite frankly, I think that’s the best idea your cousin’s ever had.”

I smiled, more like a baring of teeth.
“I’m not going anywhere,”
I told him.
“I have too much unfinished business. Carnades has signed his way into a higher spot on my list. Has Imala filled you in on how and where I spent my evening?”

I reached for the goblin secret service uniform on the bed, my lips curling up at the corners.
“So, how do you like skintight black leather?”

 

 

“Imala, when Chatar last left the embassy, did he take anything
with him?” Mychael asked.

Mychael and I were in Imala’s office with Tam and Mago.

She shook her head. “I’ve had him constantly watched. Everything he brought with him from Regor is still in the room he was assigned.”

“I need access. Now. And so does Raine.”

I agreed completely. “Go through his stuff and see if I get any seeking vibes that match the assassin?”

“It’s a good place to start.” Mychael turned to Imala. “As paladin of the Conclave Guardians, I’m formally requesting full access to the goblin embassy.”

Imala’s lips were thoughtfully pursed, but her eyes were gleaming. “Don’t you need a warrant signed by the archmagus?”

“I do, but time is critical and lives are at stake, so I’m not going to do it.”

Imala raised her hands. “Just a little test, Mychael. I could never do business with a man who wouldn’t dispense with the law in favor of expediency.” She smiled fully. “As acting ambassador, the goblin embassy is open to you.”

In most embassies, the reception areas were on the main floor, offices on the second, and any floors above that were living quarters for the embassy staff and any guests.

We made our way upstairs, and as we went, the lights brightened seemingly by themselves. Spooky.

An elderly goblin was standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at Tam with a fond smile. His long hair was completely white against his dark robes.

“Tamnais, my boy. I’d heard you were here.”

“Dakarai.” Tam grinned and took the rest of the stairs two at a time and shook hands.

“We’ll have none of that,” the old goblin said, and gave Tam a hug that made it obvious that he wasn’t as brittle as he looked. Then he stepped back, his hands on Tam’s upper arms, and looked at him. “It’s been too many years. You’re looking well.” He laughed. “I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you alive.”

“Every time I wake up, I’m glad for the same reason. It’s good to see you, too, Dakarai.”

The old goblin’s eyes sparkled. “The court isn’t the same without you.”

“I’m sure it isn’t.”

“You are sincerely missed by many.”

“And everyone else wants my head . . . or heart, or viscera.”

Dakarai dismissively waved a palsied hand. “Jealousy.”

“The deadly kind.”

“The court is an ever-changing creature, and times are changing again. You should keep your options open, my boy.”

“I always keep my options and escape routes open,” Tam assured him. He turned to us. “Dakarai Enric, allow me to present Raine Benares and Mychael Eiliesor.”

He shook Mychael’s extended hand. “Paladin Eiliesor I’ve had the honor of meeting.” He turned those sparkling eyes on me, and I was treated to a most proficient hand kiss. “Mistress Benares I’ve only had the pleasure of hearing about. You have many devoted admirers among our people.”

“Devoted to taking my head or just staking my heart?”

Dakarai laughed again, a sincerely happy sound. “Neither, I assure you. You tricked Sarad into the Saghred, kept the Khrynsani chasing you in vain, and have enraged and frustrated our king to the point of incoherent screaming.”

“It’s nice to be appreciated.”

“You are looking for our elusive assassin?” he asked Mychael.

“We are.”

Imala spoke. “They thought that searching Chatar’s room might yield some clues.” She inclined her head down the hall. “His is the last door on the left.”

That would be the one with the two really big goblins standing guard.

They greeted Imala with snappy salutes, opened the door for her, and stepped back.

“Where are the safes, false floors, and hollowed walls?” Mychael asked her.

Imala showed him.

I cleared my throat. “There’s also the inside of cushions, fake bottoms in drawers and chairs, behind picture frames, the insides of boots, under the mattress, and the ever popular under the bed. Obvious—yet often overlooked—places for hiding something you don’t want found.”

Mychael gave an amused chuckle. “Do it.”

I conjured a tiny lightglobe and got to work.

No fake bottoms in drawers, and the cushions in the chairs felt like they didn’t have anything in them except stuffing. Crawling around under Chatar’s bed was most definitely not my idea of a good time, but it turned out to be productive. Tucked inside the bed frame, resting on the slats, was a worn-looking wooden box. The floor under the bed was dusty, except in the area where the box was. Someone had been squirming around under here recently. It had been my experience that bad things came in bad boxes, and if this one were a snake, it’d be hissing at me right now. I could feel the malevolent magic oozing from the wood’s grain. As long as I didn’t touch it, I doubted it would bite.

Probably.

I wiggled out far enough so that my head was sticking out from under the bed.

“Found something?” Tam asked.

“Oh yeah, and I don’t think it likes me.”

“What is it?”

“A box. It’s not big, but it’s got an attitude.”

“Spells?”

“Of the bite-off-my-face kind.”

Mychael was instantly on his knees next to the bed.

“Forget it,” I told him. “There’s no way you’d fit under here.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, I thought the same thing. And I think it’s a goblin spell.”

“Let me take a look.” Imala Kalis dropped down on her belly next to Tam and started wiggling under the bed.

Tam grabbed Imala’s ankles. Imala kicked Tam.

He didn’t let go. “If Chatar wove that spell, you can’t deactivate it.”

“But I can tell you what it is, and you can tell me how to do it.”

“You can’t—”

A heavy sigh came from under the bed; and there was probably some eye rolling to go with it. “I’ve been studying since you left,” Imala told him. “How do you think I’ve survived all the assassination attempts against
me
? Everyone who wants me dead has brought out the big guns. Believe me, I can identify damned near every nasty spell and ward there is. Let me go.”

Tam gave a sigh of his own and shook his head, but he released Imala’s ankles.

A few seconds of silence passed.

“Shit,” Imala said.

A woman of few words.

“Well, that’s three votes for shit,” I said. “That means we’ve got a nasty one. And if it’s nasty, it means Chatar is hiding something he doesn’t want us to see, which means we need to see it.”

“Imala, can you tell if it’s only touch activated?” Mychael asked.

“Appears to be that way.”