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Silas gestured to a bearded man wiping down cloudy drinking glasses at the far side of the bar. The man wore a long-sleeved flannel shirt despite the heat, and appeared to be in his seventies. With as much elbow grease as he was putting in, he should have been able to remove the smear marks. His effort appeared to be spreading the grease around instead.
Vinny glanced in our direction, set down the glass and the rag, and disappeared into a back room.
Silas knew this man was Vinny. They’d spoken before I’d arrived, but Silas also had waited for me to gather the information? That wasn’t like him. Why wouldn’t he take the files and leave me hanging? He wasn’t a man to act out of kindness or chivalry, so that meant he must not have been able to claim the mission parameters without me.
The bartender returned with a manilla envelope. He placed it on the bar between us. I snapped my hand down to grab it first. So did Silas. If he thought I’d let him get first dibs on the intel, he was sorely mistaken. Even though I pulled, he held it still with equal force. He clenched his jaw.
“You guys, it’s probably not a great idea to rip the file apart,” Imogen said. “Maybe we could take a moment and look it over together?”
Silas and I stared at each other, neither willing to be the first to let go. I would not risk him running off with it and leaving me in the dust.
“You may not have noticed, Imogen, but there is notogetherhere,” I said.
It occurred to me then that I had the perfect solution. Holding tight to the envelope, I dug my other hand through my bag and felt for the braille marking that signifiedduplicate.
When I found the correct scroll, I pulled it out and tapped the parchment to the envelope. Scrolls worked the same way travel did, because most fabricated magic was driven by intention. I couldn’t speak to inherited, natural magic, as I was not a witch. But I certainly knew my scrolls. I focused my thoughts on fabricating a second copy of the envelope.
Poof—one became two. The scroll fizzled in blue flames and turned to nothing.
Silas stared at me, his expression unreadable.
I picked up one of the files, leaving the other for Silas. I said, “Now we can both stay out of each other’s way, and work alone to solve the case.”
Silas’s gaze flicked to Imogen when I said the wordalone.He raised a brow at me. I wasn’t about to correct myself—he’d be alone and I’d have Imogen, but the important point here was that he and I would not be forced to spend time together.
“If that’s what you want,” he said. “But it’ll only hurt your standing with the boss when I solve the case first.”
What if he solved the case first?“That’ll never happen, so there’s no need to worry about it. This is a competition, andI will win.”
“Want to make a wager?” he asked.
“Why?” I scowled at him. What was his play here? “What would I get out of it?”
“Name your prize.”
He couldn’t be serious. “My office,” I said. “You can’t gift me my position back, but you can abdicate my physical office space.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but I wasn’t done yet.
“You will grovel to me in front of the risi, make sure everyone sees. You’ll declare my superiority and beg me to teach you how not to be such a nefarious nincompoop.”
“You done?” he asked.
“Not quite. You’ll never say the wordsweetheartto me ever again.” I considered my terms, then nodded. “All right, now I’m done.”
“What if you win?” Imogen asked Silas.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “I’m sure I’ll think of something.”
He had something disgustingly devious up his sleeve, I was sure of it.
“What do you say,sweetheart—do we have a deal?” Silas asked, and stuck out his hand.
He just had to say it, didn’t he? He had to call me sweetheart after I’d just admitted how much I loathed it. Did it worry me that he hadn’t stated his desired reward? Yes. Was the risk worth it? Without a doubt.
I shook his hand, and it was electric, like the contact, thecontractbetween us had seared itself into my nerves and spread through my body like wildfire. It stole my breath and fueled me with excited energy. “Prepare to be destroyed.”
“We’ll see.” He winked at me, and I did my best to hold back and not kick him in the shin.
