Vera had told him her plan? Did she trust him that much, or did he simply have Vera convinced he and Kasira would work together? Either way, Thane wanted Kasira to know the power he held over her. That he was in communication with the woman who held both their leashes, and he wouldn’t hesitate to strangle Kasira with them. He was working an angle of his own, and if she didn’t figure it out before the pieces fell into place, he could ruin everything.
One breath, another, and she sealed away every ounce of the emotions Thane had torn free. Down, down, down, where they couldn’t get in the way. She couldn’t afford to let emotions rule her. She was so very close to getting everything she wanted, and Thane had the power to bring it all crashing down around her.
When she looked at him again, she was not the teenage girl he had manipulated like clay, but a woman who had faced the darkest parts of herself and kindly told them to fuck off. “So what’s your plan?” she demanded. “To follow me around all day? Allaster will grow suspicious.”
“Which is why I’ll also be stirring up resentment among the other mages.”
Allaster expected Thane to be up to something, so up to something he would be—in full view. That way, Allaster would never suspect to look for something else at play. But therewassomething else here, even more than just Thane keeping an eye on her. Something Kasira was missing. She hated not having all the pieces to the game, but she didn’t have a choice except to keep playing.
She met his gaze as she said, “If you ruin my bargain here, I will kill you.”
“You play your game, Kas, and I’ll play mine.” Thane turned to go. “May the best con artist win.”
CHAPTER 30
KASIRA
MAY ANNOUNCED THE TRUTH ABOUTKASIRA’S IDENTITY TO THEmages the next morning, leaving out only her role in the Malikinar. Most took it better than Kasira expected, the last of their concerns over her Kalish heritage waning with the news that she was no friend of Vera’s. It would take time for them to settle back into the level of comfort they’d had with Eirlana, but she would show them Kasira was no different.
Only Elyae watched her with a silent rage. Kasira expected the girl to say something, but she only stared Kasira down until everyone else had left, then followed suit. After the fiasco in the council chamber, she hadn’t been a problem, but the revelation of Kasira’s identity was as likely to set her off again as soothe her. It proved she wasn’t a pawn, but it only made it clearer that she had tricked Elyae into incriminating herself.
Kasira spent the rest of the week doing everything she could to undo the damage of her lie. She went on every beast mission, spent hours in the paddocks, and made a point of expanding her circle from just May, Fen, and Carlia to include other mages. It meant sharing more of herself than she would have liked. Of her time in Belvar, cons she had run. But when she realized the stories enthralled many of them, she leaned into the opportunity, making them as daring and dramatic as she could.
All the while, she felt the press of Thane’s eyes on her, observing, evaluating, looking for a weak spot. When he wasn’t watching her, he was working the mages too. At first, their expressions reflected the same animosity they had once felt toward Kasira, but whether it took hours or days, Thane eventually wore them down.
She couldn’t deny that he had an allure about him, not to mention the skills to manipulate it. He was attractive, intelligent, and perceptive—all the things that made a con artist most dangerous—and his marks were bursting to be heard. She had all but set them up for Thane to pluck.
“He complains, mostly,” Carlia told her over cups of hot spiced cider by the fire in the Gold Room. Carlia and Fen were playing a card game while Kasira perched on the arm of Carlia’s deep-backed chair, watching her slowly take all of Fen’s coin. “Laments the Library’s favoritism toward Miraval and how little Allaster is around. I think he’s just looking for an ear to talk off.”
It would look that way to someone who didn’t realize what Thane was doing. He wasn’t just complaining; he was seeding. Thoughts, emotions, opinions. Bit by bit, he would tend the negative emotions festering in the mages’ hearts, offering them sympathy and a chance to be heard. With each conversation, he would drive a wedge between the mages and Allaster, turning each of them into a possible witness against him at the Conclave.
Just like Kasira had.
“He’s awfully interested in you.” Fen drew a card from the deck, unconcerned by the Talowell nibbling on their belt, and discarded another card.
“Me?” Kasira feigned surprise, but she had known Thane would use these chats to gather information about her. The questions about Allaster were only a distraction, a means of keeping himself entertained. It was her he truly was after.
Carlia laid down her hand with a triumphant grin, and Fen groaned, tossing theirs facedown, which the Talowell promptly started chewing on instead. Snatching up her cider, Carlia reclined smugly in her chair and said, “He asked a lot about what you do at the Library,so we told him the usual Assistant stuff. He didn’t like hearing about your work with the beasts. Made a face and everything.”
Fen laughed as they gathered up the cards to shuffle, gently disengaging one from the little beast in their lap. “I did enjoy that face.”
Reports from the other mages were similar, solidifying Kasira’s suspicion that Thane was looking for signs she had lost sight of her goal, that she had gotten too comfortable in her new life. He would find them too, for she had played her part well. Warrin told him Kasira was a dedicated Assistant, wonderful with beasts, and devoted to her studies. Another said she got along well with Allaster despite his irritability, that she was the only one the Librarian really spoke to.
With each word of kindness they spoke, they built Thane’s case against her, and she could do nothing to stop it without undermining all the progress she had made.
Kasira took her concerns to Allaster, who stared straight past her as she explained what Thane was doing. He’d avoided her the past few days with such exactness, she had begun to doubt he’d ever been trying to before.
“Vera’s sent a con to counteract a con,” she finished.
May was at Allaster’s side, her arms crossed over her stomach. Neither had said a word since Kasira finished speaking. The heat of the study was quickly turning oppressive, the fire flaring high as if in response to the dark cloud gathering on the Librarian’s face.
“The mages are loyal to Allaster,” May said at last. “A simple conversation with this man can’t undo that.”
Kasira gave her a sympathetic look. “It could if they thought they were protecting the Library.” May started to protest, but Kasira pressed on. “Think of it from their perspective. They don’t know who Thane is or what he’s trying to do, only that Allaster has been reclusive, and that’s putting it mildly.”
When Allaster wasn’t busy with political meetings or training her, he kept largely to himself in his study or among the library shelves, allowing Kasira and May to run the day-to-day of the Library. He had lost touch with the people he needed most. From the look on his face,he knew that, but there was more to it. Something that had him spinning one ring around a finger, a faraway look in his eye.
“What exactly are you saying, Kas?” May asked tiredly.
