“Do you want to see Kirkland’s body first or talk with the mages?” Justice asked.
A shriveled corpse? I grunted and jumped out to tie the boat off. “Let’s chat up the mages. I can imagine what Kirkland’s body will look like, and I can wait to see that.”
Justice raised his eyebrows and then clapped me on the back as he stepped off the boat.
“You getting squeamish?” he asked, shaking his head. “Don’t tell me the rumors are true.”
I finished with the last buoy and straightened with a groan. “What rumors?”
Because if I had to deal with one more thing…
“Nai has turned you soft,” Justice said.
I shook my head at his antics. Then, together, we strolled toward the remains of Dark Row.
At the southernmost edge, two colorful tents stood huddled together. The yellow and green silk was streaked with soot and ash, but I couldn’t tell if these tents were survivors of the fire or new installations.
The scorched earth near where Surlama’s tent had once been remained empty as did the area surrounding it.
I raised one eyebrow at my brother. ‘You totally burned down Dark Row.’My voice was light, but he winced.
‘It was an accident … sort of.’
Four Midnight guards dressed in black leather armor stood at the edge of the blackened earth, and twenty yards south of them was a large bear shifter. It was crazy to see bears working alongside us to help the mages. It was… something I never thought possible but always wanted, for all shifters to work together again.
Guilt wiggled through me at the sight of the bear, leftover shame from Nanny Bess, and without saying a word, Justice and I detoured toward our men.
“King Courage,” said Richie, the eldest of the guards, and all four of them straightened.
I gave Richie a tight smile. “It doesn’t seem like they’re making much progress.” I waved to the expanse of ruin. “Or are they not going to rebuild it all?”
Richie shrugged, but his eyes darted a quick glance to the cluster of tents. “The word is the lower mages have lost half a dozen men in the last few days. Whatever is hunting them has been picking them off, one by one. I think they’re all staying south for that reason.”
More evidence against the vampires as they were allegedly banished to the northern cliffs.
“Right,” I muttered, then jerked my head toward the group of mages. “Let’s see if we can get some more info from them today.”
As luck would have it, the young brunette woman, who I’d originally met at the alpha castle, sat on a small wooden stool at the outskirt of the tents. She was grinding spices with a mortar and pestle, her head bowed over her work. She muttered indistinctly to herself, not even noticing our approach.
“Excuse me,” I said and was rewarded with a sharp gasp and a glare from the female mage.
“What do you want?” she snapped, pausing with the pestle in hand. “Come to gloat over our losses? Or are you going to pull your guards again?”
What was with these people? They hated me, the high mages, and pretty much everyone, it seemed.
“Why would you say that?” Justice shot back. “He sent guards—”
“Not enough!” she spat back. “Not until one of his own was killed, and even now, they all stay in their little groups, doing nothing to help.”
I raised my chin and glanced over my shoulder. “Richie!”
The four guards approached.
“Where are the other five sets of men?” I asked. As soon as he started to list the various locations, I shook my head and cut him off. “Pull them all into Dark Row. The goal is to help these people recoup, not to patrolallof Mageville.” I raised my eyebrows at the female mage. “Right?”
She winced. “If you pull them all in, then the townspeople will be left unprotected.”
I shook my head. “There are thousands of mages here. If you don’t have your own force, I suggest you create one.This isn’t my problem.”
