There was a soft rustle of movement. Haken turned sharply, the light at his hands brightening. He stared across the grass for a second, then I saw his stance shift. A shield of fire sprang up around him, and he lifted a hand to point towards an empty patch of grass. “Show your face or I’ll burn you out.” His voice was sharp and dangerous.
For a moment the landscape was silent, then a man seemed to fade into view, standing on the grass only twenty feet from Haken. The gun he’d been using was nowhere to be seen, and the glow of Haken’s fire magic reflected off his face. “No need for threats,” Cerulean said.
“Why were you shooting at Verus?”
“Because I wanted to kill him,” Cerulean said. He nodded over Haken’s shoulder. “Haven’t you got something to do?”
Cerulean looked far too relaxed for someone in his situation. Despite everything that had happened there was something bland about him—my eyes kept wanting to slide over him, and I had to keep dragging them back. “I’m getting really tired of your shit,” Haken said. “Give me a good reason I shouldn’t fry you right now.”
Cerulean shrugged. “For one thing, you wouldn’t make it off the estate alive. Where’s Verus?”
“Gone, since you decided to fuck things up.”
“I didn’t shoot until he ran.”
Haken swore. “That’s how diviners work, you moron. It doesn’t matter if you’re invisible. All he has to do is look into the future to see what would happen if he runs, and if he sees you shooting, he knows you’re there!”
Huh, I thought. Haken’s got a pretty good understanding of divination. Would explain how I’d been having so much trouble spying on him. Though right now, I was a little bit too well placed for spying on them, at least for my own comfort. Maybe if I waited until they were busy with each other, then edged away . . .
“Maybe you should have used a fireball instead of trying to block him off with a wall,” Cerulean said.
“You know what?” Haken said. “How about you explain to me why you want him dead.”
Cerulean cocked his head, as though listening to something. “Vihaela.”
“She didn’t clear that with me.”
“Guess you’re not in the loop.”
“Don’t fuck with me.” Haken’s voice was dangerous. “This wasn’t part of the deal.”
“Why don’t you tell her that?”
Haken started to answer, then stopped. He looked up, over Cerulean’s shoulder, as though he’d noticed something. A second later, I heard it too: people coming closer, lots of people. The wavering white glows of flashlights were showing through the bushes. Shadows moved and Haken took a step back into a defensive posture. Then a woman stepped out into the light.
Chapter 13
When I’d seen Vihaela’s decoy a few hours ago, I hadn’t realised at first that she was a fake. It’s hard to identify someone from a picture—you can match the features, but what really sets a person apart is their actions, the way they move and stand and speak. I’d known that there was something off, but I hadn’t known what it was. Often that’s how it happens, when you see an imitation—it doesn’t look totally convincing, but if you don’t have anything to compare it against, you’ll probably accept it.
Until you see the real thing. And then all of a sudden, you can’t understand how you could ever have been taken in by the fake one.
Vihaela—and I knew this was the real Vihaela, knew it instantly and without needing to check—was tall and dark-skinned, though so perfectly proportioned that the only reason I even registered her height was that standing next to Cerulean, she was taller than him. She wore layered clothes of brown and black and red, with white gloves that stood out in the darkness, and moved with the graceful indifference of a bird of prey. Beautiful, but the kind of beauty that intimidates rather than attracts. Looking at her, I understood why Leo had been so afraid of her. She scared me, and I hadn’t even seen her do anything.
This was way more than I’d bargained for. I’d been planning to lose Cerulean and Haken in the darkness, then either call for backup or gate out. All I could do now was hold very still.
“Hello, Haken,” Vihaela said. Her voice was musical, quite pleasant to the ear. “Where’s Verus?”
“Gone,” Cerulean said.
Vihaela gave Haken an inquiring look. “He ran,” Haken said reluctantly.
Vihaela turned to Cerulean. “Fetch the sniffers. Take the outer guard. Find him.”
Cerulean nodded and slipped away into the darkness. Beyond the ring of Haken’s light, I could hear him giving orders. The men outside the circle drew back; I saw Haken’s eyes flick in their direction and he seemed to relax a tiny bit, though he was still on guard. “This would have gone a lot faster,” Haken said, “if you’d just come to talk.”
“Oh, did you like my little surprise?” Vihaela smiled. “Short notice, but I did my best.”
“Hilarious,” Haken said sourly. “You couldn’t have just showed up?”
Vihaela raised an eyebrow. “You really thought I was going to surrender to your little task force? I would have thought you and Levistus would be grateful. You wanted a way to wrap this up quietly.”
“Having your constructs come in shooting was not ‘quietly.’”
Vihaela waved a hand. “Relatively quietly. I think you need more realistic standards.”
Haken took a breath, obviously controlling his temper. “I don’t have much time here. Can we get down to business?”
“Oh, business?” Vihaela clasped her hands and smiled. “That sounds good. So what does the great Levistus have to say?”
“I think you know. By now half the Light mages in Britain have heard that those data focuses can be read. More importantly, they know that you lost one. Every mage who’s used your ‘services’ is scrambling around trying to put a lid on things.”
“Sounds very inconvenient for you.”
“Look,” Haken said. “I’m a Keeper. I don’t know what you guys have got going on here. What I do know is that because of that focus getting out, a lot of Light mages have got a problem. And because Levistus depends on those mages for support, that means he’s got a problem. And since he’s got a problem, he makes it my problem, which means it becomes your problem. So I would appreciate it very fucking much if you could stop doing things like trying to assassinate a Keeper auxiliary in the middle of an operation.”
“Hmm. You’re right.” Vihaela tapped a finger to her lips, studying Haken thoughtfully. “You really don’t know much about what’s going on here.”
I heard Haken grit his teeth.
“Getting rid of Verus wasn’t my idea, by the way,” Vihaela said. “That came down from Marannis. He thought that with Verus gone, we could pick up his apprentice and find out what he did with that data focus. Or maybe it was his idea of mending fences with Levistus.” She shrugged. “Oh well, who cares?”
“Killing a mage on Keeper business isn’t going to mend fences with anyone. You’re smart, you’ll call off the hunt on Verus now.”
Vihaela sighed. “No, that was what Marannis wanted. Try to keep up.”
“I’m not here to—”
“No. You were here to deliver Verus. One simple thing.” Vihaela paused. “Do you have any idea how much work it’s been to get you Keepers moving? I’d thought you’d at least make your raid here. Instead you send your whole assault force after the smallest house we have. I suppose I should have expected it, really. Losing a mage seems to be the only thing that motivates you.”
All of a sudden I knew what Vihaela was going to do. Shit. Who’s she really working for? I very briefly thought about doing something, then abandoned the idea and started looking for ways out.