Fuck.
His presence throws off the plan. I hadn’t factored him in. How the shadows is he even here right now?
I run a hand across my forehead, feeling heat bloom at the center to activate Thane’s mindflare spell.We have a problem, Thane. Maliek is here.
The con to this spell is he can hear me, but I can’t hear him.
“Please have a seat.” Seferin walks past me to sit in a large leather chair behind the only desk in the room. His walk is more of a slow stride, as if he has all the time in the world.
I can’t bring myself to move. I just stare at Maliek, waiting to see if he’ll dash across the room and stab me, just as I stabbed him in the temple. How did Seferin get his body all the way here from The Shallows so quickly? How is Maliek even still standing?
“Don’t worry. He won’t harm you,” Seferin informs me.
“How is he here?” I’m glad my voice doesn’t waver.
“You’d be surprised what my magic can do.” Seferin gestures to one of the chairs on the opposite side of his desk.
I glance at Maliek again before moving with caution and sitting. The study doors swing open again, and two nightmaidens in masks stroll inside. One sashays to Maliek, while another slinks her way to Seferin like a feline.
“We need more.” The girl drops to her knees next to Seferin’s chair with dilated pupils. She looks like one of Xaimur’s xerven, too.
“Not now.Leave.” Seferin waves her off.
She pouts before shooting a glare at me, like I’m the reason she’s being denied her fix.
When she rises and meets with the other girl, they wrap themselves around Maliek like seductive serpents. He doesn’t react, nor does he uncross his arms. He’s too busy glaring at me.
“The Maliek you killed on that island is, in fact, dead,” Seferin says. I turn my gaze to the sorcerer behind the desk. He’s leaning back in his chair, scanning me with intense, dark eyes. “But it’s a good thing I kept a vial of his blood and created a new one. Losing a fighter as skilled as he is would be such a waste. And to a mortal, no less.”
I tip my chin.
Seferin’s lips quirk up to create a smirk. “You intrigue me, Zaira Quinlocke.”
I work twice as hard to swallow the bitter taste on my tongue. “Do I?”
“Absolutely. I don’t know many mortals who’d risk their lives to acquire a stone in The Shallows that they aren’t even sure is there.”
“It was better than doing nothing.”
“And how did you feel when you found out they’d already been taken? When you realized Valkor withheld the truth from you all along?”
Stupid. Pathetic. Angry.Heartbroken.
I clench a fist in my lap. “Don’t change the subject. I want you to let Analla go.”
“If she weren’t a thieving whore, she wouldn’t be in this situation.”
It takes everything in me not to snap back. He’s trying to get under my skin. I can tell by the way his smirk widens, how he looks at me expectantly, waiting for a reaction.
I refuse to give him one.
“I studied everything there is to know about you once I found out you were traveling with Valkor.” Seferin rises from his chair and glides around the desk, pressing the pads of his fingers together. “Such a simple girl with a tragic past. You only want good things for yourself and your sister. A refugee child.An orphan. You bake bread and treats for a living, for the gods’ sakes. You shouldn’t be mixed up in the chaos he’s created. But he came close to getting what he wanted in the end, right? Azidel’s tome?”
I press my lips together, refusing to answer.
“Don’t worry. Iknowhe was going after it. And I think I know why you’re here.” He stops behind me, smelling like wine and metal. Strange, considering he has no metal on him. Then I realize it’s a particular metal. Copper.The scent of blood.I gulp. “But just so I don’t get ahead of myself, tell me why you’ve come all this way,Zaira.”
“I can give you the tome,” I say, keeping my voice firm. “In exchange, you set my sister free.”
