Page 53 of Reaper's Quest

Of course. Of course it does. Winter winced, recalling his grumbles and curses.

“Don’t worry.” Aoes smirked. “I don’t think they noticed.”

Aoes dropped into a chair, swirled the amber liquid within the decanter, and then poured them each a drink. Taking a seat across from him at the table, Winter accepted the offered glass and downed a sip. The liquid fire burned the back of his mouth and the length of his throat. When he had emptied his glass, he set it firmly on the table and tapped his finger against the rim.

“Who are these newcomers really?” he asked. “I heard the interaction between the two of you. Who is Bogart? Or Badden? Who is thisoneyou think Chace might be?”

With a sigh and a following frown, Aoes slouched into the back of his seat. “Bogart was a guy I used to do business with. Badden, I don’t know. I never got all the names of Bogart’s associates.”

“Would this business of yours be illegal?”

Aoes swallowed a healthy gulp of his drink, and a look of contemplation flickered across his features. “Life would be so boring without a dash…or several hundred scoops…of spice.”

“Mm-hmm.” Winter tapped a finger against the table.

A smile cracked the lines of Aoes’s face. “Admit it. Most days, life here in the citadel can be less than exciting. You’ve got to be craving spice as much as I do.”

As hard as he tried to hold his expression neutral, stern even, the edges of Winter’s lips twitched upward. He did so enjoy spice. And adventure, puzzles, mysteries, new curiosities.

“Raven,” Aoes said with a lift of his chin. “Is she your current spice?”

Winter narrowed his gaze. “I just met her.”

Although, he wouldn’t mind getting to know her infinitely better. She was, after all, a midnight dream wrapped in curves he’d enjoy memorizing.

“And?” Aoes rubbed his chin with a curled finger.

“And…” Winter leaned into the table. “Who is Chace to you?”

“Ace?” Aoes barked a laugh. “That bundle of excitement isn’t much to me. Nothing more than a boarder.”

Skepticism swept over Winter, but he held the emotion at bay. “But?”

“But there’s something about his energy. Something familiar.” Aoes’s eyes glazed over, his thoughts appearing years away.

Winter waited. His friend would eventually return to the conversation…and the specific point of discussion. For as long as Winter had known Aoes, he usually held his focus and followed through. Usually.

Aoes rocked forward, planting his elbows on the table, and weaved his fingers together. “What do you remember about the time our dear citadel succumbed to our current cursed state and the first few years thereafter? Do you recall the many years in between then and now?”

Winter remembered a lot. Probably more than he cared to recall.

“What event or aspect has your mind occupied?” he asked.

“Well.” Aoes heaved a breath. “Some strange things happened back in the beginning of all this.”

He waved a hand around his head as if he could trace his fingers along the edge of the curse enveloping the citadel. “But about twenty or so years ago, give or take, somethingpossibly more curious went down. Something that included a handful of unusual visitors who happened to exude somewhat similar energies to Ace.”

He finished his drink in one swallow. “I didn’t learn much about them, other than the reason for them being here stemmed back to the start of things, the birth of the curse.”

“Really?” Winter arched an eyebrow.

Before the change to the citadel that dampened the magic within Veritas, Aoes had a rather strong ability to read individual energies.

“These unusual visitors managed to get past the confining magic and into Veritas?”

Aoes nodded.

“And you think Chace is somehow related to these unusual visitors?”