I opted not to remind Phaelan that I was officially now a stinking mage.

I’d like to have shared his confidence, but it’d been my experience that with someone like Tanik Ozal, allegiances changed direction as often as the wind.

But Piaras was in the embassy. I needed information. Tanik had information.

So I’d roll the dice and take my chances.

The tunnel ended in someone’s storeroom. I assumed it was someone Tam trusted or did business with. I was glad they weren’t working tonight since we didn’t have Tam with us to do the introductions. The door at the back of the storeroom opened onto a narrow, and blessedly empty, side street. The street beyond wasn’t empty. It was one of Mid’s main thoroughfares. Great. Just great.

I stopped Phaelan with a hand on his arm. “Wait.”

“What for?”

“The streets are crowded, and chances are I’m now at the top of more than a few wanted lists. The two of us walking side by side to the harbor is going to look odd. I have an idea. I don’t like it, but it’s probably the safest way for us to attract as little attention as possible.”

“Dazzle me with your brilliance.”

“I’m shorter than you and smaller, and my cloak is very nice. Fortunately, it’s also got a deep hood. So it’s obvious that I’m a woman. It’s also obvious that you’re a man.”

“Thank you for noticing. Your point is?”

“Anyone looking for me is going to expect me to either be alone, or with you, my cousin. So I don’t think we should act like cousins.”

Phaelan’s grin was slow and wicked. “You’re a naughty girl.”

“I’m a girl whose not about to get recognized and arrested. To keep either from happening, I think that from here to the harbor, I’m officially your doxy for the evening.”

“I don’t do doxies.”

“Phaelan, you do anything female, attractive, and breathing. Just don’t let your hands get carried away while play-acting and I won’t have to stab you.”

“Deal.”

“Good.”

Phaelan put his arm around me and pulled me close to his side. It worked out well. My right hand was free, and so was Phaelan’s left. I was right-handed; Phaelan was a lefty. We’d have to separate to draw any substantial weapon. But if we ran into that much trouble, our charade was officially over anyway.

The nighttime streets of Mid were full of students, in groups and in pairs. The taverns and nightclubs were doing a brisk business. A door to one of the clubs opened to admit a young couple, and the sound of a spellsinger drifted out into the street. His voice was low, his song simple and beautiful. Phaelan tightened his grip on my waist and hurried me past.

“How far is the elven embassy from Tanik’s ship?” I asked.

Phaelan didn’t stop, but he did slow down. “That’s risky, cousin.”

“I thought ‘risk’ was your middle name.”

"It is. I mean it’s risky to let you anywhere near that embassy right now.”

“I’m not going to do anything.”

“I’ll believe that when I don’t see it.”

“I just want to be sure Piaras is there. No use breaking in if Balmorlan has already moved him.”

“Good point. So that means you’re not going to blast holes through the walls.”

“No blasting. You have my word.”

Phaelan smiled and it was warm, no trace of bravado. “You’re a Benares, Raine. Never forget that our word isn’t worth the air it’s spoken into unless we want it to be.”

Phaelan was right. The elven embassy’s wards were red and sizzling. And the place was a virtual fortress. The damned thing actually had battlements complete with armed and patrolling guards. Some of those guards had partners—nearly waist high, dark, sleek, and red eyed. Werehounds.

“Shit,” Phaelan whispered. “Those weren’t there last time.”

“They didn’t have Piaras inside last time. Taltek Balmorlan has his treasure; he doesn’t want anyone taking it away from him.”

Phaelan chuckled. “Stealing treasure is what we do best.”

No one was getting in there who didn’t belong, and no prisoner was getting out without some high-powered help.

I was high-powered help. Thanks to the boost the Saghred had given what I already had, all the brawn I needed was at my beck and call. But magical brawn was noisy. Stealth was called for, so I’d give my brain the first shot at it. No building was impenetrable, every ward had a weak spot, and werehounds could be drugged. I had done all of the above before.

We went around the side of the compound, keeping to the shadows until we found a cozy little alley across the street from the back entrance. Staff and lesser guards came in through the back; the people I didn’t want to see me went in through the front.

“Can you do your seeking thing through those?” Phaelan indicated the gate wards.

“I thought I’d just go over them.”

“I was going to suggest that.” His smile flashed in the dim light. “Great minds think alike.”

I didn’t have an object from Piaras to link with him, but I didn’t need anything to find him. He wasn’t related to me by blood, but that didn’t stop me from loving him like a brother. Family knew their own, no linking objects required.

I used my memories to create a vivid image of Piaras in my mind. Not the terrified and disbelieving Piaras from tonight. I relaxed and breathed deep, and tried to relax some more until I had an almost tangible image of the Piaras I knew and loved. Then I reached out, over the warded gates, through the stone of the embassy walls into the interior. The interior was blurred and indistinct, like looking through greasy glass. An upstairs room was thickly warded and bespelled. I knew Piaras was in that room. I couldn’t actually see him; the wards were too thick, but I knew he was there. Now all I had to do was get in, get him, and get us both out.

And Taltek Balmorlan better hope he wasn’t in my way when I did it.

I pulled back slowly, carefully going out the same way I’d gone in. Wards on buildings were generally for preventing physical entry or high-powered magic from getting through. Seeking wasn’t high-powered. More like a gnat flying through a fishnet. Nothing disturbed, no one would notice.

I squeezed my eyes shut and blinked a few times to clear them. Seeking through thick wards always made my eyes hurt.

“Well?” Phaelan asked.

“He’s in there. Balmorlan has him cocooned in wards and spells. And I’m sure one of them is to keep Piaras’s voice from knocking out every guard in the place.” I chuckled darkly. “Turn Balmorlan’s new weapon against him. I like it.”

“Sounds like a damned fine way to get us out of there.”

“First we need a damned fine way to get in.”

“Tanik’s done some arms smuggling for the elven ambassador. He knows the basements of that place. Let’s get ourselves down to the harbor and reap the benefits of Tanik’s expertise.”

Chapter 21

Tanik Ozal’s yacht was the Zephyr. She was sleek, beautiful, and expensive—the same way I’d heard that Ozal liked his women. She was also docked uncomfortably close to the yachts of the people who most wanted to get their hands on me.

My father had hidden the Saghred in the catacombs of the Mal’Salin family estate in Mermeia. He claimed the safest place to hide something was under the very noses of the people who most wanted to find it. If that was true, right now I was about the safest woman on the island.

The wind was down and the harbor was a dark mirror reflecting the yachts’ deck lightglobes. One slip over from the Zephyr was a yacht flying the royal elven standard. Had to be Taltek Balmorlan’s. She looked fast, and she was definitely armed. Enough slender brass cannons gleamed on her well-lit decks to discourage anyone from boarding—or giving chase once she was under way.

On the Zephyr’s port side were two goblin yachts. One flew the royal Mal’Salin standard with two intertwined serpents battling for dominance, both surmounted by a crown. The flag of the other goblin yacht bore the single red serpent of the Khrynsani. Phaelan had been right; the bow of the Khrynsani ship was pointed toward open water. The deck and the interior were almost completely dark. A few red lightglobes cast a dim glow. Spooky. The only way I could see the Khrynsani flag was from the large harbor lightglobes mounted on posts along the dock.