“Ah yes, the new shifter. Broken Sue, wasn’t it? How do you like your Rolex?”

“It’ll fit perfectly around my dick,” Brochan growled.

I widened my eyes. That was unexpected. And strangely hilarious.

Elliot took a step back and then shivered. “I’m not even there in the flesh and that freaked me out. You’re quite the power player. Austin Steele has found a protégé.”

“Why aren’t you in the… How aren’t you in the flesh?” I asked.

He winked at me. “It’s a pretty common practice for those of us in the know. And with enough power, of course. One of the mages at this party is too weak to manage it. I invited him to attend so as to make a fool of him. It’s a personal grudge. Petty, some might say, but…” He shrugged. “And then there’s you—you have plenty of power but not enough experience.”

“You aim to make a fool out of me, then?”

“Hardly.” He chuckled. “I would like to inform you, however, that you will be the only female head mage at this gathering. That was an intentional decision. I fully intend to demean many of the mages here, one way or another. To taunt or condescend to them. Since female mages are routinely treated that way in the magical world, I didn’t want to add to their…misfortunes. They’re also better at ignoring such behavior, which makes them more dangerous. It’s also simply more fun to taunt those who are not used to being taunted. They get angry and flustered. It’s comical.”

“Then why am I here?”

“Not because I thought I could get one over on you, that’s for sure.” He paused, and I just blinked at him, waiting for the answer. His smile told me he knew what I wanted and didn’t intend to offer it up. “All the other mages have only been granted one seat at the table. You get two, one for you and one for your shifter. This is because you treat him as your equal, do you not?”

“Yes, I do.”

“It’ll raise contention with the others. Make you look weaker. Are you sure that’s what you want?”

“Yes. He’s my date.”

“I thought as much. You don’t care how people perceive you…”

I shifted from side to side, frustrated. After all these months, I’d actually gotten an audience with the guy who’d been plaguing me, and he wasn’t physically in front of me. Worse, he was one hundred percent leading this conversation. He held all the cards.

I pointed at the wall. “Kinsella.”

“Ah, yes.” He took a step closer. “He gave you some trouble, I believe.”

“What is this wall?”

“That wall represents my illustrious status as the Mage Most Wanted. I am claiming my kills to serve as proof that I have done what the Anal Repository Guild, as some call it, says I did. One of the mages that walks these halls is on the cusp of financial ruin. Given the repository has a huge price on my head, I suspect our greedy little mage will try to cash in.”

“You’re intentionally painting a target on your back?”

“I always have a target on my back, Miss Ironheart. All powerful mages do. You will have a larger target than I do, just you wait. Your power level, your power type, and your dirty little fetish for laying animals…”

His eyes glinted, and a deep, dark rage washed over me, followed by a powerful undertow, sucking me under. My magic stuffed the tunnel, churning and spitting and electric, a hairsbreadth from being unleashed.

“Not here,” Austin said softly, and I felt his calming touch on my back and through the link. “Don’t unleash whatever that is, babe. I hate to say it, but he’s right. It could jeopardize the structure of the tunnel.”

With incredible effort, I forced down the blackness seeping into my blood. The rage. The disgust. I blinked, trying to clear the red haze from my vision.

“I apologize,” Elliot said, his smile dripping off his face, his eyes laser-focused on me. “I was just testing your…closeness to your alpha. I didn’t mean the last. Don’t get me wrong, that will be a common thought, but it isn’t shared by me. As I said, I think shifters are my favorite magical type. I would’ve liked being a shifter. Anyway, yes, Kinsella was one of the mages that I took out. Quite recently, in fact, as I’m sure you know. You just met him, didn’t you?” He touched his pointer finger to the edge of his nose. “I’m well informed.” He surveyed the wall again and slipped his hands back into his pockets. “There are many, many more faces that could go on that wall, but the repository doesn’t care about lesser mages, or those without money. It’s a pay-per-play system, you see. Bribe them, and get protection and what passes for justice. Ignore them, and if you’re small potatoes, you are also ignored. But if a wealthy, powerful mage like me ignores them, they won’t stand down so easily. You might want to establish that professional relationship soon. It’s easy for bodies to pile up in this business.”

“Why did you kill him, though? Where did you even find him? He ran away from me.”

“Maybe someday I will explain. Maybe I won’t. We shall see.”

Frustration still ate at me. “And Sebastian? Why isn’t he on that wall?”

Elliot’s grin faded. “He was just a kid who liked doing magic. The Mages’ Guild crunches up people like that. They don’t respect them, and they certainly don’t waste time looking into their murders. They are the small potatoes I spoke of.”

“You also crunch up kids like that. Since, you know, you killed him.”

“He chose his path. He accepted what came. As we all will. It’s been really lovely talking with you, Miss Ironheart. Don’t bother looking for those exits—if you break through the wards, I will know, and you’ll be in a world of hurt.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Brochan tense. His fists clenched.

“My goodness,” Elliot said, his gaze slipping to Brochan. “Broken Sue is a good name. His leash will prove faulty. I don’t envy the person who gets on the business end of that wrath.”

“When do I get to see you in person?” I asked him, anger brimming.

He took a step back. “You’ll find out this evening. Goodbye.”

His image vanished.

“He looked like a hologram,” I said, staring at the empty place he’d been standing.

“I wonder if they can use an invisibility potion when they’re like that.” Austin turned, facing me, able to watch both directions of the tunnel out of his peripheral vision. “I couldn’t smell, hear, or sense him.”

“Even if they can’t… They can all do that,” I murmured, starting to walk again. I wanted to see the exit for myself, warded or not. “The high-powered ones can all do it. They can spy without putting themselves in actual danger. Unless there is some sort of risk…” I shook my head. “I’ll need to add that to my list of spells to research, which doesn’t help at the moment because there’s no internet in this godforsaken place.”

“Alpha,” Brochan said, his voice gruff. “I think I was mistaken. When that mage was threatening your mate… I don’t think I have as much control as I thought I did. I might be a danger to your efforts.”

“Understood,” Austin said. I suspected his need to suss that out was the reason he’d brought Brochan with us instead of sending him off with another group.

“Don’t worry about being a danger to our efforts,” I said. “I don’t recall you trying to blast a hologram twice in as many minutes. You’re the least of our problems. I nearly brought the mountain down on us.”

A roar echoed through the tunnel, thick and ferocious. The basajaun ran into view at the other end, his hair puffed out, making him look even larger. He stopped in the center, facing us, and let out another roar. The mountain trembled beneath our feet, as if quaking from the force of his anger.

“Where is the threat?” the basajaun said, looking around wildly. “I felt your blast through the mountain. It quails under your might.”

Niamh and Ulric caught up with him, eyes wide, faces long.

“It’s over,” I said, putting out my hands and glancing behind us down the hall. “Shh. It was a magical trick, basically. I’ll tell you about it later.”

“He crushed someone who barred his way,” Ulric said, breathing hard. “I don’t know if it was friend or foe, but one of the mages has one less person on the payroll.”

“He wasn’t barring the way,” Niamh said. “He was frozen in fear.”

“Well…it comes down to the same thing,” Ulric replied. “He wouldn’t move, and the basajaun doesn’t say please.”

“Jessie, ye might have a problem dealing with that wee hiccup come dinner,” Niamh said. “We weren’t exactly defending ourselves on that one. That was all our fault, so it was. That death is on us. Without internet, I can’t figure out whose camp he might be in, either.”

I sighed, hands limp at my sides.

“Definitely don’t worry about being a danger to our efforts, Brochan,” Austin said. Dark humor and bewilderment trickled through our link. I fell in step with him toward the supposed exit. “You’d be hard-pressed to even stand out amongst this crew.”

“I’m heading into dinner after insulting one mage and killing the staff member of another,” I murmured as Austin and I took the lead. The dim lighting was somewhat welcome. It felt like I was hiding from my problems in a strange way. “Dinner might just be a grudge match.”

“Let’s just hope that’s all it is.”

Seventeen

My bright red dress covered my shoulders but plunged deep down my neckline. The hem reached the floor, but a large slit worked up my leg to my upper thigh, with the loose fabric flowing around it. The material was somewhat stretchy, and the dress could be shed in a hurry. It had almost certainly been dreamed up by a straight male designer envisioning his perfect date.