Tea Set and Match by Casey Blair

Author:Casey Blair [Casey Blair]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Casey Blair
Published: 2022-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

“Are you leading us back to the alley where you tried to kidnap me?” I ask.

“Absolutely,” Entero says. “I brought a mage device back that establishes a private bubble of sound, so no person or competing magecraft device can eavesdrop. It’s set up there.”

I smile. “Look at you, being sentimental. I assume it’s not proof against witchcraft.”

“No,” he says. “The mages don’t really know how to make a device like that, probably because they’re not willing to ask Ostario for help. I’d see if Lorwyn knows, but it doesn’t look like she’s going to be willing to talk to me anytime soon.”

“Lorwyn is much less willing to accept feelings than you are,” I say. “She’ll come around.”

“Or she’ll stay angry forever,” Entero says. “She tried with Risteri.”

“And now they’re friends again.”

“After you meddled.” He slants me a look. “Stay out of this.”

“I intend to,” I say, “but if it turns out I have to fabricate a way you can both only escape a terrible situation by working together, I will.”

Entero snorts. “She’d rather die.”

Possibly. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Your grandmother said something similar, you know,” he says abruptly. “About me and accepting feelings. It’s a little uncanny that no one has ever said that about me before and now I’ve heard it twice in the span of weeks.”

“Really? But your awareness is your greatest asset,” I say. “Of your body, of space, of interactions around you and what they mean. Of course you’d know how your reactions fit and affected your mission so you could account for them. I always thought it was the secret behind your terrifying efficiency.”

He blinks at me, nonplussed, then shakes his head. “She says hi, by the way.”

My chest tightens. “I don’t suppose she said anything else?”

“No,” Entero says, “just to say hello.”

I don’t believe him. Not that this is unbelievable, exactly, but I know Entero, and even though he’s been a spy for years I can tell when he’s lying.

I raise my eyebrows. “Well all right then.”

He snorts, acknowledging my disbelief, and then we step over some invisible line into a bubble with no sound.

No birds, no cart wheels turning, no background chatter.

“What’s going on?” I ask. “Why did my grandmother expedite your return?”

“She had another agent in mind she was planning to send to uncover Kustio’s contacts here, but that one was delayed,” Entero says. “And then the barrier breached, and this couldn’t wait. Since I already know Sayorsen, I was the obvious choice.”

I wonder who her first choice was, but it’s not immediately important. “You’re investigating what happened with the barrier?”

“Yes,” he says. “What do you think?”

I purse my lips. I’m hardly a professional investigator, and yet, I do have thoughts on this. “I don’t want to tell you how to do your job.”

Entero smiles faintly.

Spirits, I missed him.

“Miyara, you’re the best source of intelligence I could ask for,” he says. “I’d be shocked and disappointed if you didn’t have ideas about this. In fact I’m counting on it.”

I blink. “What?”

“You listen to everyone, and people trust you,” Entero says.

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