“You’ll want for nothing at the Academy, Starla,” he says, as if he has to convince menotto rot in jail. As if I really do have a choice here. “Absolutely nothing.”
I lift a shoulder. “Nothing but my parents alive again. Nothing but my mother’s reputation restored. Nothing but magick to be cherished and embraced in this world rather than feared and shamed.” Then, pressing my fingers to my temples, “And maybe, if it’s not too much to ask, a caffeinated beverage? Goddess, my head fuckinghurts.”
“Come with me and you’ve got a good chance at accomplishing three out of four.”
“Yeah? Which three?”
He cracks a smile—real, dazzling, mysterious—but before he can answer, his watch blares an alarm, startling us both.
“Code black,” a voice says from his wrist. Another male. Urgent. “Get her the fuck out of there, Cass.”
Devane’s smile falls away. He glances at me, then the watch, worry tightening his brow. “Time?”
“Thirty seconds,” the other guys says.
Devane curses under his breath.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“Stay calm,” he orders. “Don’t speak.”
I press my lips together as he taps the watch face, then pulls something from his inside breast pocket and sets it on the table between us—The Moon card. I know its message isn’t meant for me—not like the cards that randomly show up in my life—but I hear it anyway. Feel it.
A great deception is upon us.
Death is only the beginning.
The moon casts not its own light; in its glow, nothing is what it seems…
Beneath his touch, the card glows silver-white, then vanishes, casting the room in cool light, as if we’ve been bathed in real moonlight.
I’m so mesmerized by the effect, it takes me a second to meet his gaze again.
To notice the fierce determination in his stance.
To spot the gun in his hand, pointing right at me.
“Shit!Shit!” I bolt out of my chair. “What the hell are—”
“I’m sorry, Miss Milan,” he says grimly. “Truly.”
Then Dr. Cassius Devane—professor of mental magicks at the Arcana Academy of the Arts, extremely powerful mage, and myonlychance at getting out of here alive—shoots me point blank in the chest.
Nine
CASS
I toss the gun into the briefcase and scoop the woman into my arms just as the south wall collapses, an explosion of cinderblocks and steel chased by a burst of magelight that rivals the desert sun.
The mage responsible stands just beyond the wreckage, arms outstretched, sparks crackling from his fingertips.
“Subtle, Mr. Weber. As usual.” Clambering over the rubble, I step out into the scorching desert heat. I haven’t even taken my first breath of fresh air when the security alarms begin to wail.
Kirin, who doesn’t do well with improvising when his precisely calculated plans run off the rails, glares at me. “She’s hurt? How did—”
“She’ll survive.” I jerk my head toward the mess behind me. “Grab the briefcase and seal up that wall. We need to move.”
“What happened in there?”
