Page 107 of Incoronate
“My orders are to bring you in, Miss Blackburn,” said Alford, unmoved by the threat. “However difficult you choose to make that is entirely up to you.”
“Orders from who? William?”
“The Senior Magister has requested a private audience with you. He wishes to put an offer to you directly, away from the theater of public scrutiny and other sundry complications.”
I blinked at him. “You burst into my house in the middle of the night and attacked us because William wants to have a chat?” I found that very hard to believe.
“Given your history of cooperation with this Order, we thought it prudent to arrive prepared. My men's enthusiasm, though hasty, was not entirely unwarranted. As I'm sure you will agree.”
I most certainly did not agree. I didn’t trust a single word coming out of his mouth, but Trace and Dominic were still on the floor within reach of three of his men and the satchel was still in his hand, so this was really not the time to say as much.
“Why now?” I asked instead, trying to drag the conversation longer, to buy myself a sliver of room to think. “Why not tomorrow, in the daytime like normal people? He can just as easily say whatever he has to say to me then,” I said, and then another question landed on top of the first. “How did you even get in here when the house is warded?”
“I'm the Sacred Keeper of Temple, Miss Blackburn. Your friend's work was admirable, but it was easily moved. His magic was simply no match for mine,” said Alford arrogantly, and I quietly filed away the slip.
He’d said moved, not broken.
That meant the wards still existed somewhere. They hadn’t been broken. They’d just been displaced.
Interesting indeed.
“As for the meeting,” he went on, brushing a crease from his sleeve, “the Magister prefers this remain off the record. He believes there is still an arrangement to be reached that serves everyone involved. He would prefer to explore that privately, before tomorrow makes certain positions irreversible.”
My stomach knotted.
They knew about tomorrow. How? How were they always two steps ahead of me?
My eyes thinned at him. “And if I refuse?”
“I think we both know that isn’t an option,” said Alford, the corner of his mouth twitching like he was on the verge of a smile he wouldn’t deign to commit to.
My jaw tightened as I held his gaze. Held it on those small, certain eyes. On the absolute absence of anything in them I could negotiate with. My gaze moved past him to the two people I loved most in the world laying cold and lifeless on the floor behind him.
There was no plan B. No way out. Not with that satchel clutched between Alford’s smug fingers.
“What about them?” I asked, jutting my chin toward Dominic and Trace.
If I could convince him to leave them behind, I could still salvage the plan. I’d just have to bump it up to tonight.
“They come with us,” he said simply, nodding once to his men. “As insurance, of course. I'll port us all there and then return the three of you once the meeting is done.”
So much for that.
Alford's lackeys didn't wait for further instruction. Both men reached into their tactical vests and withdrew woodenstakes, the motion almost businesslike, and then drove them into Trace and Dominic's hearts in two quick, brutal thrusts.
The sound of it gutted me. “Was that really necessary? They were already incapacitated.”
“One can never be too careful.”
I curled my lip at him in disgust. He was just as bad as William.
They all were.
“The Senior Magister is waiting,” he prompted.
Like I gave a shit.
I forced myself to meet his gaze, holding it even as every instinct in me screamed at me to fight him. To resist at any cost. What choice did I really have here, though? I wouldn’t risk them.
