We reached the safe house early enough most fast food places were still serving breakfast, but I wasn’t hungry. I did help myself to chai from the food service station before allowing him to escort me to a tidy office with a name I wasn’t familiar with engraved on a plaque on the door. The woman sitting behind the pressboard desk, however, was someone I knew well.

“Magistrate Vause.” I turned the cup in my hands, allowing the hot liquid to warm me through the paper. I told myself it was because my fingers were chilly from the AC and not because I had been evicted from a crime scene. “It’s nice to see you again. So soon.”

One of her delicate eyebrows winged high on her forehead. “I somehow doubt that.”

The marshal rubbed a hand over his bristly hair as though straightening it. He must not have counted on getting this close to the magistrate. Usually a private audience took months and an appointment. Which meant he probably didn’t realize she had her guards tucked somewhere nearby. I could almost feel their warm breath tickling my nape.

“You may go.” She flicked her fingers toward the marshal, who bowed his head.

“Yes, Magistrate.” Flushing bright red, he squealed out her title.

Once the door shut behind us, she withdrew a button-sized charm, placed it on the desktop and crushed it with a black metal stapler. My ears popped as the spell activated. If Vause felt the change in pressure, she gave no outward indication.

“What news do you have from Abbeville? Has Harlow been found?” I seized control of our meeting by asking the first rapid-fire questions. “Have they located Charybdis?”

“Charybdis is dead.” She squared her shoulders, preparing for a fight. “I was sent pictures of his corpse for confirmation.”

A prickling sensation told me we weren’t on the same page. “So they found the person responsible for the medics’ deaths?”

“You left the state without checking out of your hotel room.” She dusted the used charm into the trash bin. “Where did you go?”

She offered up her palm, and the scent of hand sanitizer perfumed the room as it squirted from thin air. Invisibility? That was a dangerous magic, though it shouldn’t surprise me to learn the conclave employed it for their high-profile members.

Two could play this game. “I touched one of the corpses, and I’m ready to swear before the full senate of magistrates that whatever killed those medics gave off the same magical signature present at all the previous crime scenes.” I stared her down. “My skills are documented, and my identifications have never been contested.”

“You were last seen exiting your hotel and getting into a cab.” Her clear gaze never left mine as the two different conversations merged into one. “The warg followed minutes later. Where did you go?”