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“I didn’t. Last night, he contacted me and offered a trade.”
It took me a minute to get it, because it was so absurd. “Elyas will trade Christine for Raymond?”
“In a way. He wants one of the items Raymond recently smuggled in from Faerie. Elyas was involved in a bidding war for it, and he lost.”
“Let me guess. He doesn’t take losing well.”
“In that regard, he reminds me of your father.”
“Mircea was involved in this auction?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.
“Yes, but he could not go himself. It might have appeared awkward for the head of the new task force to be seen profiting from the smuggling trade. He therefore sent a proxy.” Louis-Cesare looked past me at his own father, who was peering out of the bedroom door again.
Radu’s turquoise eyes were worried, and he’d shredded most of the silken tassel on his robe. “Well, I didn’t know,” he said crossly. “He simply said he wanted me to bid on something for him.”
“You didn’t think that was odd?” I demanded.
“Why should I? I’ve done it dozens of times before. They raise the price when they find out a senator is involved.”
“Okay, so you went to the auction for Mircea, but didn’t get the item.”
“It wasn’t my fault! I kept bidding and bidding, but the price kept going up, up, up. It just became ridiculous!”
“So Mircea lost, too.” I looked at Louis-Cesare. “And you assumed he’d sent me to do what? Steal what he couldn’t buy?”
“It is impossible to steal something unless you know where it is. And Raymond handled the sale.”
“Son of a bitch.” I hated getting played, especially by my own father. Maybe because it had happened once too often. “Mircea sent me to fetch Ray, but of course he didn’t mention what he really wanted to ask him about! I assumed it was that ring of portals we’ve been searching for.”
“I’ve no doubt that it would have come up, after Lord Mircea had gained his primary objective.”
“I told him he was better off,” Radu put in. “He’d said to spare no expense, but we’re talking about the cost of a small country! And it was just some old rune. But he’s in a snit about it.”
My brain came to a screeching halt. “Old rune?”
“Yes, ugly little thing.”
“Did it have a name?” I asked intently.
Louis-Cesare’s eyes narrowed. “You said you wanted the vampire for smuggling.”
“No, that’s what Mircea told me he wanted him for. I took the job to help Claire.”
“Your fey friend?”
“She’s here looking for a little something that was recently stolen from the Blarestri royal house.”
Nobody had ever accused Louis-Cesare of being slow on the uptake. His blue eyes hardened to lapis. “No.”
“Yes. It’s her property!”
“And it’s Christine’s life!” He snatched the bag in a move even I had trouble tracking. One minute, I was holding it; the next, it was in his hands.
I grabbed it, but he didn’t let go. “It may be Aiden’s life if we don’t get the damn thing back!”
“Aiden? Who is—”
“Claire’s son! Half the fey are trying to kill him, and the rest aren’t sure that isn’t a good idea. The rune is his protection.”
