“It is always possible that either the Raziq or your father works with the sorcerer.”
I frowned. “Both were pretty damn pissed that he got the key rather than them.”
Azriel nodded. His fingers were still resting on the rat-shifter’s forehead, keeping him still and compliant. “But working with the sorcerer does not mean they ever intended him to get his hands on the keys.”
Then the sorcerer had outsmarted them all, and that made him doubly dangerous. “You didn’t mention the third possibility.”
This time he raised an eyebrow. “I was not aware there was one.”
“Lucian.”
“I had not forgotten. I merely discounted him on the basis that the Raziq tore away his power. Thus mutilated, he would not be capable of creating Razan.”
Meaning he hadn’t lied to me about everything. I guess that was something to be thankful for. “So you’re certain he hasn’t got full Aedh powers?”
“I’m certain, yes.” He hesitated. “But that does not preclude the possibility that remnants survive. It is far easier to far>
So maybe I hadn’t been imagining his fingers going through my flesh, after all. I shivered, and wondered what the hell else we didn’t know. A lot, I was beginning to suspect.
I shoved the license back into the wallet, then handed it to Azriel.
“You do not wish Stane to check his identity?” Azriel asked, surprised.
“Yes, but I can remember the name. It’s better if our rat-faced friend doesn’t suspect we went through his pockets.” I slid a fingernail under the seal and opened the envelope. The note inside was brief and to the point—Go to the station. It didn’t say when, so I presumed it meant immediately. I sighed. “You’d better release him.”
He did so, and the rat-shifter blinked. “What about a tip?”
Don’t pick the pockets of scar-faced men who work for would-be dictators. I reached into my pocket, dragged out a two-dollar coin, and flipped it to him.
He sneered. “Oh come on, a chick as classy as you has to have more than that on her. I went without coffee to deliver that note.”
“Take it or leave it,” I said, a touch irritably. I mean, a fucking courier telling me off for being stingy? He was lucky to even get a damn tip considering this wasn’t America and tipping certainly wasn’t the norm. “You were paid well enough to deliver the note, and we both know it.”
“Bitch,” he muttered.
And got a clip over the ear from Azriel for his trouble. “That is not polite language to use in the company of a lady.”
It was a comment that earned another sneer, but Larson wisely refrained from saying anything else and walked away.
“Since when have I been a lady?” I asked, amused.
Azriel held out a hand. “I didn’t say you were a lady; I just said it wasn’t the correct language to use when in the company of one.”
“Ah, that’s all right, then.” I gripped his hand and let him pull me up.
He didn’t release me immediately, and there was concern in his expression as his gaze searched mine. “Are you up to facing your father right now?”
“No, but it’s not like I have any other choice. Besides, the sooner we find the remaining keys, the sooner the madness destroying my life might just go away.”
“Do you wish me to take you there?”
Yes, I thought, I would. If only to soak in the heat of his touch for a few precious moments. But it would also sharpen the gathering tide of frustration and, right now, I really didn’t need that. “I thought we’d agreed that wasn’t a good option.”
“We had, but the note implies haste is required, and traveling the fields is faster than walking. It also taxes your strength less than you taking Aedh form.”
All of which was true. Ich ster tha hesitated, torn between desire and sanity, then shook my head. “Walking will clear my head. But you could go get the locker key for me. It’s on the dresser—”
“I am aware of its location.”
He winked out of existence. I went into a nearby café, grabbed a can of Coke and a couple of sausage rolls, then started walking. I didn’t actually feel like eating, but I had a suspicion that I was going to need the fuel over the next couple of hours.
And it was premonitions like that I could really do without.
Azriel reappeared as I was halfway through my second sausage roll, and handed me the key. “‘Tidy’ is not in your vocabulary when it comes to your jewelry, is it?”
“No, but I thought you said you knew where it was.”
“I knew the location. I did not know it was hidden under a multitude of twisted chains and charms. Do you not have a better method of filing them?”
“I do, but it involves walking into the closet. It’s easier to simply dump them on the dresser as I’m taking off my clothes.”
“That is not logical.”
“A rather common problem with me, I’m afraid.” I finished the sausage roll and dumped the paper in the nearest bin as we walked past it.
“True.” He was close enough that his shoulders occasionally brushed mine and, as I’d feared, every brief touch had longing coursing through me. But as much as I wanted to step away, I didn’t. I needed the comfort of those too brief moments, if only because the heat of contact went some way toward combating the chill of gathering fear.
It took nearly ten minutes to walk down to Southern Cross Station, which was a riot of noise and bodies thanks to the fact that peak time was approaching. We made our way through the crowd, but my footsteps slowed as I neared the locker room.
“Your father is not waiting within,” Azriel said.
Something I already knew because I couldn’t feel the power of his presence, but that didn’t erase the churning in my gut. “What about Razan?”
“There are a number of humans, but no one else.”
I took a deep breath that did little to bolster my flagging courage, then forced my feet forward. No one looked at us, let alone attacked us. I’m not sure why I’d expected otherwise—Azriel had already said there was no one dangerous here. Paranoia, it seemed, might be becoming a staple in my life.
I stopped in front of the locker and stared at it. Which wasn’t exactly getting us anywhere, but I just couldn’t force my hand up to shove the key into the lock.
Azriel gently took it and did it for me.
What we discovered was another square ward roughly the size of a tennis ball.
This one was white rather than black, but its surface was just as slick and ran with the colors of the rainbow.
“I cannot feel any dark energy coming enblack, off this one,” Azriel commented.
“Did you feel it coming off the other one?”
“Yes.”
I glanced at him. “Then why didn’t you say something?”
“Because you wished to explore the option.”
Against my advice. He might not have said the words, but they swam through my mind nevertheless. The link between us was definitely getting stronger.
“So what sort of energy has this one actually got?”
“It is Aedh, and therefore neither light nor dark.”
My gaze returned to the stone. It sat there, all shiny and harmless-looking. Yet I suspected there was nothing harmless about the magic that went into the creation of this thing, whatever Azriel might think. “Does the Raziq magic also sit between the two?”
It certainly hadn’t felt like it, but after what they’d done to me every time they’d used it, it was probably fair to say I was a somewhat biased judge.
“Their magic is darker, but it is not powered from the dark path; rather it springs from darker desires.” I felt his gaze on me. “Trust me, even if you do not trust your father. You will not be harmed if you pick it up.”
I took a deep breath, then reached inside and gingerly picked up the stone. It was a little too warm against my palm, suggesting that it was more than mere stone. But I knew that already.