Thane was lounging on the arm of one of the great chairs, chatting with two mages over glasses of mylak as if they were the oldest of friends. But one look at Allaster, at the fury and violence brimming beneath his skin, and the mages left.
Thane sighed, setting aside his mylak. “I was quite enjoying that conversation.”
“Turning more of my people against me?” Allaster stalked toward Thane, who folded one leg over the other, propping his elbow on one knee to rest his chin upon.
“You’re doing that quite splendidly on your own,” he replied, and Allaster bristled. He could understand why the mages listened to this man. There was something disarming about him, about the way he watched you as if he had never seen anything so interesting. That kind of attention could be intoxicating were there not something so foully insidious underneath.
Thane gestured after the departed mages. “We were merely talking.”
Allaster pulled up before him. “About how you sent bloodthirsty mercenaries to attack an innocent village?”
Thane’s brow furrowed for a brief moment, and then his eyes widened with delighted understanding. “Oh, good show,” he murmured to himself.
“Is this some sort of game to you?” Allaster demanded. “Peopledied!”
“People always die!” Thane surged to his feet, but Allaster held his ground. “In fact, it’s one of the few things you can truly count on them to do. Save for you, of course,Librarian.” He spat the epithet like a curse, that familiar flair of Kalish derision lining his every feature.
Allaster barked a laugh. “Is that why you’re doing this? Don’t tell me you’re a devotee of the church. They wouldn’t let you step a foot inside, your soul be damned.”
“You know nothing of damnation,” Thane said lightly, but Allaster read the darkness underneath. It permeated every part of him, every word. Cast his eyes in depthless shadows, a look Allaster had come to know all too well.
Whatever Thane had come for, there would be no dissuading him from attaining it.
Allaster stepped closer, forcing Thane to tilt back his head to look up at him. “I don’t believe for a second you’re only here as Vera’s pawn. Whatever it is you are after, I won’t let you have it.”
The shadows encroaching over Thane softened, and he let out a quiet laugh, pressing a hand to his heart. “You wound me, Librarian. You trust the other thief in your midst just fine.”
“Leave Kasira out of his.” Allaster’s voice barely crested over a growl.
“Oh, but she’s the heart of it,” Thane pressed. “You denied Kalthos its rightful place at the Library by claiming her. You must truly care for her to do such a thing. I wonder what you might do if something were to happen to—”
In an instant, Allaster had Thane up against the wall, a clawed hand around his throat. “Perhaps you didn’t hear me, so let me be very clear.” The shadows about Allaster shifted, the air thickening with a charge. “There are horrors beneath this Library you cannot begin to fathom, holes I could dump you in so dark and deep no one would find your bones for a thousand years.”
The magic burned beneath Allaster’s skin, the pain heightening his senses. He could feel Thane’s fear in the pulse of his heart, smell it in the air. The con artist had gone incredibly still beneath his touch, even as his pale skin flooded red from lack of air.
“Threaten my Assistant again”—menace coated Allaster’s every word—“and I will show you the meaning of hell.”
He released Thane, turning to leave as the man drew a ragged breath, reaching for his raw and bloodied skin.
“You can’t touch me,” Thane rasped. “Not truly. Vera would have your head.”
Allaster paused, glancing back over his shoulder. “Not before I have yours.”
CHAPTER 34
KASIRA
ALLTRACES OFALLASTER’S DISHEVELMENT WERE GONE WHENKasira saw him the next morning. He kept checking his reflection in the council room window and running a hand through his neatly curling hair as they waited for the others to arrive for the meeting.
He hadn’t said a word about their interaction the previous night, and she hadn’t decided yet whether or not to broach it. Intoxicated Allaster was an entirely different beast, and she didn’t think challenging him on things he had said or done while drunk would work in her favor.
“Are you sure about this?” His voice broke her train of thought. He was still staring out the window at the paddocks below, fidgeting with one henolite ring.
Kasira reclined in her chair. “Yes. And stop playing with that ring—it’s an obvious tell.”
He glanced down at his hand, making a small sound of disgust. “How am I supposed to trust you when this is what you do?”
“That’s exactly why you should trust me. We’ll have the spy in hand by the night’s end.”
