‘‘Who are you? And where am I?’’

‘‘I am Tej, apprentice to Monish Lakshmanan. This is Paris.’’

‘‘Paris,’’ I groaned, getting painfully to my feet. The laser burns had long since healed, but my wrist was still sore and discolored. The scene with the thief taker and the dark-haired brutish man rushed back. ‘‘What happened to the thief taker?’’

‘‘Porter? He’s claiming his reward. You must please to come this way.’’

I staggered out of the small room, taking quick glances around me to look for an escape. Our footsteps echoed down a long hallway dotted with occasional chairs and small tables. ‘‘Where exactly in Paris?’’ I asked my escort.

‘‘Suffrage House,’’ he answered.

My spirits dropped. Suffrage House was the mansion of a long-dead suffragette, bought by the L’au-delà, and now used as their headquarters. Although I’d been locked in a small, dark room that was clearly used as a holding cell since it contained no furniture whatsoever, I had to admit that I’d been in much worse places.

‘‘Who’s Monish Lakshmanan?’’ I asked, sliding an appraising glance at Tej. He appeared to be Indian, his soft brown eyes watching me warily as we walked down a long gold and white hallway.

‘‘Monish is an oracle, and a member of the watch.’’

Oh, wonderful. The watch was the police force of the L’au-delà, and their members were not people with whom I ever desired to cross paths. ‘‘I hate to do nothing but ask questions, but where are we going?’’

‘‘The almoner’s chamber. You must make a phone call, yes?’’

He threw open a door to what appeared to be an office containing four desks, three of which were occupied by women who bore all the appearances of secretaries.

In front of the nearest one, a familiar man stood arguing. ‘‘-after which he stole her from me. Porter has no right to claim the reward when I did all the hard work and caught her to begin with.’’

‘‘Stop your bellyachin’,’’ the nasty dark-haired man snarled from where he stood to the side. I followed Tej into the room and took the chair at the empty desk that he indicated. ‘‘You know the rules as well as I do-he who brings in the suspect gets the reward. I’ll take that voucher for the benefaction now.’’

‘‘That only applies if the suspect escapes one thief taker, a fact you know very well,’’ Savian said, slamming down his hand on the table. ‘‘The fact is that you stole her from me. You didn’t pick her up after I left her; you stole her from me. As if that wasn’t enough to disqualify your claim on her, there’s the little fact that you were about to conduct an illegal search upon her person when I found you.’’

‘‘An illegal search?’’ The woman at the desk frowned.

‘‘What sort of illegal search?’’ I asked, sick to my stomach at the thought of the man named Porter touching me while I was unconscious.

‘‘You keep your nose out of what doesn’t concern you,’’ the nasty man (evidently named Porter) snarled.

The words echoed horribly in my head. I took a step back, surprise overwhelming the repugnance he had generated. I’d heard something very like those words before, only a few hours ago. Cyrene’s blackmailer was a thief taker? What on earth was all that about? And why had he all but kidnapped me from his colleague?

‘‘He was about to strip-search you, my dear. You may thank me later for saving you from that particular indignity,’’ Savian told me with a little wiggle of his eyebrows.

‘‘Strip-search me? Why?’’ I asked, my mind reeling as I tried to sort out the confusion.

Porter’s expression turned sly as he picked his ear. ‘‘Your word against mine that I did any such thing.’’

I gave a mental shake of my head. Why would he want to search me? The only thing of value I held was the amulet he sent me to get. It didn’t make sense for him to kidnap me in order to get what he’d sent me to retrieve. Not unless he knew that I wasn’t about to hand it over without knowing exactly what it was.

‘‘This is a problem.’’ The secretary frowned again, shuffling some paperwork on her desk. ‘‘I’m afraid I can’t disburse the reward if it is being contested. Both your claims will have to go before the committee for settling.’’

Porter swore loudly and extremely profanely, sending me a look that, by rights, should have struck me dead.

‘‘There’s nothing to be settled,’’ Savian started to say, but the secretary cut him off by a lengthy recitation of the rules regarding claims.

Porter swore again and started stomping his way from the room. I moved quickly to intercept him, speaking in a tone low enough that it couldn’t be overheard by the others. ‘‘Just exactly what game are you playing at?’’

His eyes were hooded and wary. ‘‘What’re you talking about?’

‘‘Let’s try the fact that you blackmailed me into taking a dragon’s amulet, and yet you’re supposed to be upholding the laws of the L’au-delà. You’re a thief taker, but at the same time you’re working for a demon lord stealing who knows what.’’

For a moment, his eyes held a startled look. ‘‘You’re crazy.’’

I leaned closer, tamping down the sick feeling in my gut that being so near him generated. ‘‘It wouldn’t be that hard, you know, to ask around and find out which demon lord you work for. I can’t imagine whoever it is would be happy to know you hold a position in the L’au-delà. Nor would the committee be happy to find out one of their own works for a prince of Abaddon.’’

To my surprise, a slow, ugly smile split his face. He grabbed my arm in a grip that made me yelp, pulling me up against his body until his breath stung my face. ‘‘You think you’re so smart, but you’re not even close. You breathe one word about that amulet to anyone, and you’re dead. You got that? If I don’t kill you myself, the dreadlord will.’’

‘‘If you kill me, you won’t get the amulet,’’ I pointed out, keeping mum about the fact that I already had the item in question.

He snarled something anatomically impossible. ‘‘You’ll get it.’’

‘‘And if I don’t?’’ I asked. ‘‘You can hardly expect me to steal something for someone who treats me this way. Frankly, at this point, I’d almost rather deal with the repercussions if you exposed Cyrene’s actions in Nova Scotia.’’

His breath was foul. ‘‘Get the amulet back, or you won’t have a twin to protect.’’

I stared at him in openmouthed horror, but before I could rally a response to his threat, he pushed me away, storming out of the room. Savian reached my side, frowning after Porter. ‘‘Are you all right? I saw him grab you. Are you hurt?’’

‘‘I’m fine,’’ I said, rubbing my arm. ‘‘Just a little confused.’’

He gave me a long, considering look. ‘‘I suspect you’re not the only one in that state. I don’t suppose you’d like to tell me what all that was about?’’

I shook my head and returned to the desk where Tej stood watching with bright, interested eyes. ‘‘Exactly who am I supposed to be calling?’’

The young man looked vaguely surprised. ‘‘You are to make a call. It is the rules.’’

‘‘The rules? What rules?’’

The woman at the desk behind me dropped a couple of sheets of paper on the desk before me. ‘‘Would you mind signing this receipt for your personal effects, Miss Ling? You were unconscious during the sentencing, or I would have had you sign it then.’’

I stared down at a piece of paper listing the items I’d had on my person: wallet, three passports, cell phone, assorted money, cinnamon gum, two keys, and a small golden figurine.

The last object leaped to mind as I hurriedly checked the inner pocket of my bodice. The lumpy gold dragon amulet was gone. I thought it was odd they got that and not the small knife I wore strapped to my ankle, but I wasn’t about to point out their omission.

‘‘Where are my things being kept?’’ I asked the secretary, worried that Porter might have figured out I was bluffing and was even now on the way to get the amulet.