The woman was standing near him, focused on the bracelet. There was a greediness in her eyes that made him want to lash out, to sweep the bracelet out of sight. But he thought of the illusion spell and the reasons she might have paid a Black Widow to create one. Beauty of any kind might be a new discovery for her.

He forced himself to step aside so she could get a better look at the bracelet, but he rested his hand on the counter close to the velvet, a subtle claim and a warning that she could look but not touch.

After a long study, she smiled and moved back to the counter with the brooches.

Wrapping the velvet around the bracelet, Daemon vanished it, promised to return in a fortnight, and turned to leave the shop. At the door, he looked back at the woman, but her attention was on the brooches, not on him. Shrugging off his uneasiness as a reaction to living in Terreille for most of his life, he headed back to the family town house, where he and Marcus would share a midday meal before getting down to business.

3

A few minutes later, Roxie left Banard’s shop with a brooch safely tucked in her small carry bag. She strolled down the street, stopping to look into store windows, until she reached the horse-drawn cab waiting by the curb. As soon as she scrambled inside, the driver pulled into the stream of horse-drawn conveyances and Craft-powered coaches.

“Well?” Lektra demanded, twisting a curl around her finger.

“I think he noticed the illusion spell,” Roxie said, feeling a little breathless now that their plan was truly in motion.

“Doesn’t matter,” Lektra replied. “There are plenty of reasons why people pay for illusion spells to change their looks. Besides, I was assured sensing an illusion spell isn’t the same as seeing beneath it.”

Lektra was the niece of a Queen who ruled a two-village District in Dhemlan, so she was known to many of the aristo Blood in Amdarh and couldn’t afford to draw attention to herself right now—not if their plan was going to work. That was why Roxie had volunteered to get the information they needed. But Lektra had come up with the idea of paying a Black Widow to create the illusion spell so Roxie, a Rihlander originally from Ebon Rih, would look like a Dhemlan witch.

“I bought this,” Roxie said, taking the brooch out of her carry bag.

“This will do nicely,” Lektra said as she examined the brooch. “It’s certainly pretty, and, most important, it has Banard’s mark on the back.”

“There were prettier ones,” Roxie said.

“What do you care? You’re not going to wear it.”