Cassie Palmer Series by Karen Chance

Author:Karen Chance
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780718158828
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2008-11-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Finding Pritkin wasn’t difficult. He and one of his buddies were where they’d been most of the week—holed up a storeroom in the lower levels of Dante’s, poring over ancient tomes. When I opened the door, he looked up from a giant volume with the trapped expression of a hunted animal. His hair, which usually defied the laws of physics, was hanging in dispirited clumps and a smear of red decorated his forehead and one cheek, courtesy of the book’s disintegrating leather binding. I’d gotten the impression that research wasn’t his favorite thing. Maybe because he couldn’t beat up the books.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“Show was canceled.”

Nick looked up from the middle of a ring of books, scrolls and, incongruously, a modern laptop. He appeared harmless, a bespectacled redhead with so many freckles that he almost had a tan, his hands and feet too big for the rest of him, like a Great Dane puppy. But the gangly young man was actually a mage, and since he was a friend of Pritkin’s, he was probably a lot more dangerous than he looked.

He took in my ensemble, which had settled on a watery gray afternoon. A few random orange blossoms scattered across the silk intermittently, as if blown by gusts of wind. It looked a little tired. “Any particular reason?”

“It’s raining.”

Nick’s eyebrows drew together. “I thought you were showing in the ballroom.”

“Frogs,” I clarified.

The small doll-like creature perched on a stack of books at Nick’s elbow finally bothered to acknowledge my presence. “Did you say frogs?”

“Kinda put a damper on things.”

Nick glanced at Pritkin, who sighed. “Go.” Nick didn’t need to be told twice. Maybe he was tired of research, too.

His diminutive companion rolled her eyes and went back to ostentatiously ignoring me. The pixie, named Radella, was a liaison from the Dark Fey king. By “pixie” I mean a tiny, foul-tempered creature who made even Pritkin look diplomatic, and by “liaison” I mean spy. She was here to do two things: drag Françoise back into slavery and make sure I didn’t cheat on the deal I’d cut with her king. He wanted the Codex, too, and figured I was the gal to get it for him. The pixie looked like she was starting to have her doubts.

She wasn’t the only one. I’d agreed to the king’s proposal for a number of reasons. I’d been in his territory and under his control, so saying no might have been very unhealthy. I’d needed room and board for a friend, a vampire named Tomas, in the one place where even the Senate’s long arms couldn’t reach. And the king had promised me help in solving the biggest riddle of my life.

Tony had always avoided telling me anything about my parents. My guess was that he’d assumed I might be a little upset if I learned about the car bomb he’d used to kill them, thereby allowing him to keep my talents all to himself. Or maybe he’d just felt like being a bastard.

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