“Tell me what you said to him. All of it.”
“You’re making me work for you against my will. I primarily assist you with brewing. I’ve never seen you do anything that’s not related to omnimancing. I wish I could tell him something of use but I can’t.” She tried to stop there, but the magic opened her mouth, moved her tongue and pressed the rest out. “And I would give him information to help put you in prison, if I could.”
“Ah,” he said—a soft, dangerous sound. She thought of thefordestspell and shivered convulsively. “Well, Miss Harper, I have things I need to accomplish first, so please don’t rush.”
When he pulled three oak leaves from his coat, it was all she could do not to turn and run. But she had no illusions that she could get far—he could bring her to a halt with a single word—and she preferred to keep what was left of her self-respect.
“I believe Wizard Garrett is in town today,” Blackwell said. “I’ll come with you as promised, but I’d rather he notknow I’ve left the house empty.Heoloð,” he murmured, and faded into nothing.
Had he transported himself to her house? There’d been no popping sound …
“Omnimancer?”
She put out a hand, a reflex action—and invisible fingers brushed against hers. “Here.”
Disconcerting. Very disconcerting.
“After you,” he said.
As they walked down his expansive lawn, he murmured, “Why do you believe Wizard Garrett is a threat to your sister and the League?”
“The last time I took a wizard at face value ...”
Perhaps it was just the wind, but she thought she heard him sigh.
She stepped into the forest, tense muscles loosening as she took her first breath of mossy air. This place was the one constant in a life that seemed always to be taking unexpected turns, usually for the worse, and she intended to walk home in it without once thinking of the wizard behind her.
“Why, Miss Harper,” said an entirely different wizard—tall, dark-eyed and aquiline-nosed. “Fancy meeting you here.”
CHAPTER 16
Peter stood, not moving, hardly breathing, as Miss Harper took Garrett to task for jumping out of a tree at her. Either she didn’t know what he did, or the woman had no fear.
The military offered few career options for wizards. Most did R&D. Some specialized in the combat equivalent of omnimancy, casting shields, setting off explosions and keeping soldiers from bleeding to death. Almost all the rest were spies and assassins.
No mystery about the category Garrett fell into.
“You’re right, of course,” the man was saying—to Miss Harper. “One does not as a rule enjoy having wizards rain down on them. By way of apology, let me walk you home. I take it the forest is the shortest way there?”
“No. I mean—yes, it is, but you needn’t walk me home.”
“You don’t like me,” Garrett said, as if it were an interesting discussion point. Or possibly a first.
“It’s more that I don’t like wizards.” She smiled in that sardonic, crooked way of hers, right side of her mouth quirking higher than the left.
Garrett grinned back. “I can’t very well blame you. Though it seems only fair to walk with me until you can decide whether I’m disagreeable on my own account.”
“Some other time, perhaps? I have just enough energy to get home. I don’t think it would stretch so far as to allow a conversation, which would make for a very dull trip.”
“Come with me, then, and you won’t have to walk at all,” Garrett said, holding out a hand.
Peter glared at him, which naturally had no effect at all. Miss Harper looked intrigued.
“Are you offering to take me home magically? How does that work, exactly—is it instantaneous?”
“Nearly.”
“Should I be concerned we’ll appear at our destination with body parts rearranged?”
