I got here ahead of you—didn’t want you arriving and worrying about whether I’d show up at all.”
I probably would have worried if I hadn’t found him here right away. I studied him for a moment, taking in his tanned face, the hint of scruff along his jaw, the slight crook to his nose, the gray-green eyes that gazed right back at me, misty-pale. He was rough around the edges, but in a way I appreciated. It made him less intimidating than if he’d been outright stunning.
This was the first chance I’d had to talk to him directly, even though he was the one who’d set this whole mission into motion. I didn’t really know anything about him. Well, I knew he had enough conviction and guts to approach the new pentacle after he’d fought against them and to try to stop this plot against the barons.
You could say he was the person I supposedly was. Here was a fearmancer standing up for what he believed was right simply because he believed in it, regardless of what he’d grown up hearing. There wasn’t anything in it for him. He was putting himself and his family more at risk by bringing me in like a secret agent.
Maybe I could learn a little something from him so I’d feel like I fit the part more myself.
A waitress bustled over to ask for our orders. I skimmed the menu. “I’ll get a lemonade and a…”
Before I could decide between the options for a snack, Emeric jumped in. “A slice of blueberry pie. For both of us.” He flicked the top of my menu. “It’s the official dessert of Maine, so it’s basically required that you have a piece as soon as you cross the state line.”
The Warburys had a country property off in the wild north of the state where I’d spent a week or two some summers, and I hadn’t known that. Of course, we’d always brought our own chefs with us rather than dining local. I smiled back at him and then at the waitress. “Blueberry pie it is.”
After she left, I glanced around the patio. A few other cars were parked in the lot, a trio of middle-aged women gabbing away at a table in the far corner, and a few patrons visible through the café’s windows. None of them looked like a threat, but how the hell did I know? I was awfully new at this spy gig.
“How freely can we talk here?” I asked Emeric.
His expression clouded slightly, and his voice dropped low. “I haven’t seen anyone I recognize from the local fearmancer community, and it’d be a pretty big coincidence to run into someone out here. But after we’ve got our food, I’ll cast a deflective spell so no one can pay enough attention to what we’re saying to follow the conversation. It’d actually be a good thing if we’re simply spotted together—meeting up like this is part of your cover story.”
Right. The idea was that I’d happened to start talking to Emeric when he’d been at the school visiting his sister, and my dissatisfaction with the current pentacle had slipped out. He’d shared that he felt the same way and told me that there were people in Portland who’d welcome me if I ever wanted to jump ship. I’d reached out to him, and here we were. Before long, he’d be making my introductions around town.
That was when the hard part started. I fidgeted with my paper napkin before setting it on my lap.
Percy swooped overhead and landed on the café roof, some sort of rodent clutched in one clawed foot. He got to work on his snack while the waitress arrived with ours.
Emeric had followed my gaze to the falcon. He said a few magically charged words, and the air quavered with the formation of the deflective spell he’d mentioned. Then he lifted his chin toward the roof. “Your familiar?”
I nodded. “It would have been tough leaving him behind, especially when I don’t know how long I’ll be gone for. But he’s pretty self-sufficient.”
“Portland’s not so big a city that people will stare at a bird of prey flying by, so it shouldn’t be an issue.” He dug into his pie, his fork clamped in one of those gloved hands. I couldn’t help watching his grasp, an odd but not unpleasant shiver running through my chest at the impression of strength it offered.
I broke off a chunk of my own slice and was momentarily distracted