Bloodfire (Blood Destiny 1) - Helen Harper Page 0,84
completely taking it out of its place and peering down. It was a pitch black well of nothingness.
Despite the situation, I was rather impressed at John’s attention to detail. I wondered if he’d conjured it up himself, dabbling a little in the black arts as a hobby as he’d occasionally been wont to do, or if he’d hired a mage like Alex to do it for him. He didn’t like strangers, no matter who they were, but this was a complex ward that demanded a pretty high level of appreciation. I just hoped that it wasn’t impervious to silver. The little dirk was secreted away in my bag, so I pulled it off my shoulders and unzipped it, hand curling round the hilt. I tugged on it to take it out, but it seemed to be caught on something, one of the seams of fabric perhaps. I tugged harder and was about to yank it free when a shadow suddenly fell across the desk and I heard Corrigan’s furious voice.
“Just what the fuck are you doing now?”
Chapter Twenty Two
I sent an internal prayer of gratitude to myself that I’d not yet pulled the dirk free. Holding silver would be something that even the ridiculous lies I’d so far managed to fashion for His Great Lord Shiftiness couldn’t cover. I straightened and blinked at him, a picture of innocence. If all else fails, then try the truth, I mentally shrugged.
“What does it look like I’m doing, my lord? I am trying to find a way to open this drawer.”
I couldn’t fathom what the expression on his face was saying. His green gold eyes bored into my soul and I felt a small shiver run through me. “And why exactly would you be doing that?”
“Well, it’s obvious isn’t?” I answered brusquely. “The fact that we keep being targeted for attack must mean that we have something that the blue woman wants.” I certainly wasn’t prepared to give up Iabartu’s name to him just yet. “This is the only place that I can think of that is locked and where there might be something that John would have hidden away. If we can find it, then we might have a better chance of understanding what is happening and stopping it.”
“An interesting conclusion, kitten,” he murmured. Oh, great. We were back to endearments again. I just barely managed to keep from rolling my eyes before he continued. “And why,” he said silkily, “didn’t you think to mention this drawer to me before?”
“First of all,” I ticked off my fingers, “I couldn’t find you. And I was pretty sure that you’d have your hands full dealing with the death rites. Second of all, if I’m wrong and there’s nothing in here apart from a couple of shifter girlie mags, then I’d look pretty stupid. Third of all, you’ve already made it pretty clear that you don’t trust me. For all I know, you’d try to suggest that I planted whatever was in there myself.”
“I see,” he drawled slowly. “I must beg to differ on one point, however.”
I waited. Amusement glinted in his eyes but I was damned if I was going to ask him what that point was. He still didn’t elaborate further. Oh for fuck’s sake, fine then. “And what would that be?” I finally asked.
He smiled. Was that a flicker of triumph? Bastard. “I think you’ll find, kitten, that I do trust you. And despite the fact that you’re the most annoying, unpredictable and difficult to control shifter I’ve ever come across, you do appear to have useful skills. I’m not sure I trust you enough to stay here in the countryside on your own before you manage to cause complete devastation. But I think that you’ve proven yourself enough for me to tell you that my offer to join me in London still stands.”
Join me. Not the Brethren. Oh God. Was that a deliberate choice of words on his part or did he just the Brethren as an extension of himself anyway? I swallowed and looked up at him. “Even though I might have deliberately engineered falling into a faerie ring so that I could be absent when the keep was attacked?”
“Mmmmm,” he answered non-committedly, “you’re going to have to tell me one day how you really did escape from that.”
I didn’t even know myself how I’d managed to get free, so I didn’t think I’d ever be able to tell him. “I honestly have no idea, my lord,” I answered truthfully.