The same. His mind voice was grim. I will stop them, but it will attract attention. It is also possible they are little more than a persion. Stay wary.
"I suspect your mind is not on what you are supposed to be finding," Lucian murmured, cupping my elbow and propelling me toward the row of long rifles. "Wouldn't be bitching to the reaper, would you?"
"What would it matter to you if I was?" I snapped, and yanked my arm free again. "But as it happens, he was informing me that Razan have arrived. Wouldn't be yours, would they?"
His expression darkened. Meaning he wasn't overly excited by this news and, warped or not, it cheered me up no end. I mean, anything that pissed him off had to be a good thing, if only marginally, right?
"I do not have enough magic left to create Razan," he said. "So if they come, they are not mine."
"But has your dark sorceress got enough magic to create them? Or something similar to them?"
He shot me a glance, his expression unreadable. "What makes you think that?"
"Call it an educated guess. You're the one who said you don't do anything without reason. Perhaps your apparent lack of magic strength—by Aedh standards, I'm guessing, not human—is the real reason you're making out with a very powerful sorceress. I bet she could create all manner of magic with a little help from you."
"Perhaps," he said. "But those Razan are not here under my orders."
"Yeah, but maybe they're here under hers."
He didn't answer that particular accusation, meaning I'd hit the nail on the head. And if she was behind the creation of the twisted Razan who'd run interference when the first key was stolen—and who were here now—then maybe she was more involved than we'd thought. After all, there had been male clothes in her Gold Coast apartment. Maybe Lucian was being played just as much as he was playing us.
"Just find that key," he growled.
"It may not even be here," I reminded him. "And don't stand so fucking close."
"Or you'll do what?" he mocked. "Let's not forget who holds all the cards here."
"Not all the cards," I retorted. "You still need me to find the damn keys, and standing so close, radiating tension all over me, is interfering with that."