Mal snorted, causing the flight attendant to startle and plaster himself against the bathroom door in fright.
Clayton didn’t know the meaning of the word fear, and it was gloriously refreshing.
He was, however, chaos incarnate, which brought Mal back to why he’d called in the first place, so he asked, “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? I can’t think of anything other than being turned into a single parent by a deadbeat loser who hasn’t bothered to check in since he split. Everything’s just bloody perfect.”
So Clayton did remember. Good.
“Are the kids okay? Did something happen to them?” Mal didn’t care. He didn’t.
“They’re fine. Eira and Grampy have moved into my place and are watching after the kids when I can’t be there. Why do you ask?”
Why indeed.
“My flight was just rerouted to Boston.”
“I don’t see what that has to do with me.”
“I was on my way to Beijing.”
“So what?”
“From Seoul.”
“…” There was a sound of feet slipping on tile and copious swearing.
Mal grinned. Maybe his unwanted side quest wouldn’t ruin his week after all.
Chapter
Nine
MAL
“I’m sorry, can you repeat that? Tommy got paint in my ear earlier, and the bath must not have gotten it all off.”
“You heard me.”
“It… it might not have anything to do with me.”
“You and I both know it has everything to do with you, Red. Check your shields. Call your overpowered boss at her stupid chapter house and find out what’s happening so I can get back to my job.” And his dinner. If Mal didn’t eat soon, he was going to end up doing something drastic that could get him killed. Like getting caught eating someone who would be noticed if they went missing.
Could Mal take on the Guard if he caught their attention? Maybe. Did he want to? Definitely not. He’d be so hungry afterward that it wouldn’t be worth it even if he ate everyone at the scene. Used-up magic folk were pointless to eat. It was like feeding celery to a starving man.
Disgusting and useless.
Clayton, however, would be delicious. Mal imagined that the redhead would be spicy like cinnamon with a hint of sweetness. Chaos magic was always a wild flavor experience. Every wielder had their own unique brand.
The kidnappers from last month had both held traces of chaos magic and tasted like pepper and fine steak. Clayton would have been the perfect dessert to pair with them.
At first glance, Clayton seemed as blank and tasteless as a tranquil norm, but after being knocked unconscious by a falling ceiling, Mal had changed his mind. It took magic to damage Mal. A handful of normal rocks would do little more than tickle him. It would have taken a direct magical attack to take Mal out like it had.
After the fight with the kidnappers, Mal knew firsthand that Clayton was the furthest thing from a norm. Even through Mal’s magic-drained haze, he could sense the raw power suddenly coursing through the man.
Clayton was fortunate Mal had countless years of experience restraining his extreme hunger, otherwise the fussy man would have been the first thing on Mal’s menu when he’d come back online during that fight. Clayton had been incandescent with power and almost irresistible. Every fiber of Mal’s being demanded that he consume Clayton down to his last wisp of essence, and the fact that he’d resisted the call was astonishing.
Mal lost many hours over the past few weeks lamenting his excellent control. He had bounced between deciding to make a quick hop across the pond to Boston to eat Clayton and firmly resolving to never go anywhere near North America for the next century.
