“You’re welcome, but I was just telling the truth. No thanks needed for that.”

“You’re not a freak, either,” Piaras said solemnly.

“The jury’s still out on that one.”

“I know you’re not a freak.”

I exhaled slowly. “Thank you, sweetie. You can’t know how much I needed to hear that today.”

One of the other spellsingers—a pretty, dark-haired human girl—was stealing shy glances at Piaras.

I gave him a lopsided smile. “Who’s that?”

Piaras looked where I was looking, blushed, and quickly looked away.

“Katelyn,” he said so softly I barely heard him.

My smile broadened into a grin. I bit my lip to make myself stop. “Katelyn who?”

“Valerian,” he whispered.

“That Valerian?”

Piaras nodded. “The archmagus’s granddaughter.” He glanced at her, and she caught him looking. She smiled and gave him a shy wave. The tips of Piaras’s ears flushed pink.

“Have you heard her sing?” I asked.

He looked at Katelyn and kept looking. The kid was enraptured. “It was beautiful.”

I nudged him playfully. “Has she heard you sing?” Piaras nodded. “Yesterday in the maestro’s tower. Her lesson was after mine.”

“And…?”

“And what?”

“What did she think?”

Piaras flushed scarlet. “She said I had the most magnificent voice she had ever heard.”

I grinned and nodded approvingly. “Beautiful and she has flawless taste in men and music. I could like this girl.”

Piaras risked another quick look at her. “Me, too.”

“Piaras!” Ronan Cayle yelled. We both jumped. “It’s your turn. Quickly now. Our host needs his theatre back in another hour.”

I punched him on the arm. “Break a leg, sweetie.”

As Piaras made his way to the stage, I pulled out one of the chairs and made myself comfortable. I was far enough back to see anyone who came into the theatre. When I looked up, Talon Tandu was sauntering toward me like a sleek young cat, all cocky bravado, those aquamarine eyes checking me out from head to toe and taking their sweet time doing it.

I bit back a laugh, and heard Vegard’s muffled snort from behind me. Talon couldn’t have been much older than Piaras—at least in age. Though with his looks, he’d probably already had plenty of experience way beyond his years.

Talon’s pale eyes sparkled. “You don’t look the worse for wear from last night.”

Now that was a pickup line I hadn’t heard before.

“Silver-tongued little minx. I’ll bet you say that to all the girls you roll in the gutter with.”

He pulled out a chair, straddled it, and folded his lean arms across the backrest. His grin was full of fang. “I liked watching you wrestle last night. I think I heard a few of that shaman’s bones break. You went to a lot of trouble for one little book.”

“I take my education very seriously.” I folded my arms across my chest. It was the only way to get the kid to quit staring at my breasts.

Talon jerked his head toward Piaras. “Did he really knock out every Guardian in the citadel?”

“Not all,” I said. “Some of them couldn’t hear him.”

Talon laughed, a bright silvery ring. “Damn, what I wouldn’t give to have seen that. So you’ve come to hear the trained songbirds perform?”

“Sounds like you’re feeling less than honored.”

“Ronan opens the cage once a year and has us warble and trill for wealthy alumni and filthy rich parents.” His eyes were hard as they looked at something over my left shoulder. “How am I supposed to feel?”

I turned slightly. Sanura Mal’Salin had gathered up her entourage and was leaving the theatre.

“I’m here to listen to Piaras,” I said. “But I’d like to hear more about what happened last night. The men who tried to snatch you aren’t known for music appreciation.” I slouched down in the chair and crossed my legs at the ankles. “So what happened?”

“I was on my way to work, and somebody’s hired goons tried to kidnap me,” Talon said casually. “When you do what I do, and look how I look, you attract more than your share of pervs and overzealous fans.”

“You say it like it’s not the first time.”

The goblin shrugged. “I’ve been kidnapped twice before.”

I just looked at him for a moment. “Did Tam come after you those times, too?”

He arched one flawless eyebrow. “Tam? You know the boss?” He grinned slowly. “Exactly how well do you know him?”

“Yeah, I know him. How or how well I know him is none of your business. I asked you a question. Did Tam rescue you those other two times?”

Talon shook his head. “They happened at my previous gig, a spellsinging club in Mipor. It paid well enough, but the owner had an arrangement with certain patrons— wealthy and influential patrons, if you get my meaning.”

“Yeah, I get it.” I didn’t even try to keep the disgust out of my voice.

“If a patron liked what they heard and saw onstage, they’d pay the owner to arrange a private performance. I went once. I tried to leave, but the patron’s bodyguards had other ideas.” The kid’s voice was nonchalant; the rapid pulse in his throat wasn’t. “The next morning, I told the owner I wasn’t going again. Next time he didn’t ask me—”

“He just charged the patron more and had you kidnapped and delivered.”

“Pretty much.” Talon’s bravado was back. “That’s when I came here. I heard Nathrach took good care of his people and paid well. And last night he and some of the bouncers from the club came after me. I’ve never worked for anyone who’d do that.” He scowled. “Though what he makes me do is almost as bad.”

I didn’t move. “What does he make you do?”

“He’s making me go to college.” The kid was indignant. “It’s actually in my contract. If I don’t go to classes during the day, I don’t get to work at night.” He slouched down in his chair. “So that’s how I ended up in the maestro’s flock of performing songbirds.”

“Talon!”

We both jumped. It was Ronan again. I growled. Talon heard me and grinned. If the maestro did that one more time, I was going to give him a quick and dirty lesson in volume control.

“You’ll be after Piaras,” Ronan yelled. “Go warm up.”

Talon stood and gave the maestro a little mock salute. “Yes, sir. Be right there, sir.” Then the kid muttered something under his breath in Goblin.

It was highly creative and physically impossible. I think. He winked at me. “Later, gorgeous.”

As he made his way to the stage, I saw a tall figure in black robes enter the theatre through a door near the foot of the stage.

Carnades Silvanus.

Two other elves were with him. One looked like a bureaucrat. He was a full head and a half shorter than Carnades, blinking in the dim light as he fidgeted with a pair of spectacles perched on the bridge of his nose. The other elf was more familiar. Not him personally. I didn’t know him, just his type. He entered behind Carnades, not from deference, but to let the senior mage attract all the attention. This one didn’t want to be noticed, either personally or magically. He was using Carnades’s arrogant aura of power to cover whatever magic he was packing. Generally, if someone doesn’t want you to see what they’ve got, it means they’ve got a lot. I’d found that out once or twice the hard way. Today wasn’t going to be my third.

I half turned to Vegard. “The elves with Carnades. Who are they?”

“The little one’s Giles Keril, the elven ambassador to Mid. The other is Taltek Balmorlan. He’s with elven intelligence. Don’t know what he does.”

Which was exactly how Taltek Balmorlan and anyone else who worked for the agency liked it.

I’d done consulting work for elven intelligence. I was recruited by Duke Markus Sevelien, the agency’s chief officer in Mermeia, and I’d only worked with him. That’s exactly the way I liked it. Markus was an up-front and moral sort, which was a rare find in the agency. I’d always wanted to think that Markus sought me out because of my superior seeking skills, but I knew differently. Markus thought my being related to criminals helped me know the criminal mind. I didn’t want to come right out and admit it, but he was right. Truth be told, if it can be picked up, pried off, or in any way pilfered, my family’s made off with it at one time or another. Unfortunately those pilfered goods have occasionally included people. It’s not something I’m proud of, but it’s not something I can deny.