Page 8

All officers are in pairs like this. One human officer and one magician Guild member for protection. Otherwise, the officers wouldn’t stand a chance against a rogue magician or weaver. Dimitar thrives under this power exchange. It permits him to get away with so much while being the smiling face of the Amur Guild to the public. He’s the Magistrate’s most useful player within the city while being a living nightmare to the rest of us in the underground.

That magician partner can either make things extremely difficult or easy for me depending on Dimitar’s mood.

I slowly scan the woman, my nose tingling from all the magic in the air. Lucas once told me that the magicians who are contracted into the Magistrate’s service for these partnerships are Guild’s novices looking to cut their teeth within the magicians’ numbers. But as I behold the black wand clutched in the magician’s tight fist, I realize that this is not the case this time, and my skin ripples in horror. A glint of darkness travels up the twisting wood. This magician wields an Entropy token so rare and deadly that it could rival the Rosemont Black Flame.

Where Lucas’ rings and Dimitar’s tokens are fused to their bodies, Entropy tokens do not typically damage the physical form. Oh, no. It’s the mutilations from the rune work and amulets to keep their mortal souls from being devoured by the token’s Soul Thread that are the true horrors.

The lengths to which these types of Guild members will go to climb their vicious leader’s hierarchy is astounding.

Jinx’s claws sink into my shoulders, the pricks reminding me to avert my gaze from the wand. Tokens tend to vibrate when I gaze too deeply into their cores. No need to give the Magistrate any evidence that Aster Rosemont is more than an average weaver, albeit a skilled and competent one.

Which raises the question: Does this woman know who I really am? Is that why such a powerful magician is partnered with an officer?

I nearly look behind me towards the silk curtain hiding my back room. Protection tithe or not, I made a fool of Dimitar when I traded him my now useless grimoire. Now I shall face the consequences of my actions.

I slide on a pleasant smile. “Evening, officers. What can I do for you at this late hour?”

The human raises his voice to be heard over the storm. “Aster Rosemont?”

“Speaking.”

He brandishes an elegantly scrolled letter that thrums with magic. The oaths I was forced to swear when I moved to the city activate with the compulsion to obey. A sneer almost rips past my carefully controlled expression. The runes decorating the edge of the paper glow as he continues firmly, “We have a warrant to search your establishment. Move aside, or my associate here will move you for me.”

CHAPTER 3

ASTORIA

This is not the first time the Magistrate’s officers have shown up at my front door. It is the hazard of being rumored to be the black-market magical book and item dealer in Delornia. This, however, is the first time they’ve shown up while Lucas is busy hiding a dead body.

Not to mention that the mystery stranger skulking around is either a sign of my slide into curse-riddled insanity or a flaw in my own security.

Said primary security flicks her fluffy cat tail to smack me in the face. My bland smile doesn’t slip as I quickly scan the warrant. The magician has cast a spell over the scroll that conceals the most important information until I comply. That bitch.

The fact they haven’t immediately arrested me is a good sign. Lucas could be right, and they’re here to see if I’m harboring Astoria Androclaria. Or perhaps they know who I really am.

Or this is Dimitar’s revenge in play. Hurray for me.

I step to the side. “Of course. Anything to assist the Magistrate.” Assholes.

“Thank you.” The human man steps in first, and I feign graciousness when I take the warrant offered to me. The magician follows. Our eyes meet. Her bowler hat hides her shorn hair, but I bet there are sigils tattooed all along her skull.

The wand in her hand lifts, and I don’t flinch. I have no need. Jinx has the magician trained in her sights and a vibration of protection shivers over me. One wrong twitch and my familiar will transform into her shadow demon form and rip the tainted soul out of the woman’s heart in an instant.

Though that would mean one more body to clean up, and I’m all tapped out on that front.

The woman’s eyes narrow on me, and I keep my expression unreadable. With a wave of the magician’s wand, the water drenching both officers begins to funnel towards it in long trailing droplets. A fine steam twists from the wand’s tip and the human officer sighs with a twitch of his mustache, “Thank you, Hobbs.”

I nearly pull something keeping my snort on the inside. Hobbs? What a quaint name for someone so dangerous.

The bell on my front door dings merrily as I shut it. “May I offer you some refreshments? Officer…” I scan the warrant quickly. Oh damn. “My apologies, Corporal Jagger. I have a fresh satchel of Estrella’s finest herbal tea that I can brew up.”

“That would be lovely, thank you. Hobbs?”

Hobbs shakes her head and turns her back to me. I flick my gaze over her and my eyes glint, my glamour shivering as it fights to hold strong against the Androclaria green that glows beneath the hazel. There’s a metallic tang in the air that can only be from an amulet, but it mixes with a sickly sweet scent. My eyes narrow on how she’s buckled up her deep navy uniform all the way to her jaw with no signs of loosening it. What I wouldn’t give to rip it apart to find the type of amulet that is emanating that particular flavor.

The gold buttons of the uniform gleam temptingly in the lamplight and my hands twitch, but I resist satisfying my morbid curiosity. Hobbs is a powerful magician. Corporal Jagger is investigating my shop. That is all I need to know in order to get them out as quickly as possible.

The Corporal shrugs out of his outer coat and I take it from him like the dutiful host I’m pretending to be. I hang his coat, my eyes flicking covertly to the silk curtains that obscure the wall where my concealed basement’s iron door sits. I swallow, my jaw setting. I can do this.