“They have a history of employing the services of bird shifters, but there’s nothing we can do about that.”

“Actually,” he said, “there is.”

I raised my eyebrows. “How?”

“Via a spell.” He cast me an amused look. The frost was definitely fading. Flirtatious Mathi wouldn’t be that far away now. “Birds can’t follow what they can’t see.”

“I take it you’ve purchased one such spell?”

“Indeed. As I said, I have no intention of being run off the road or kidnapped again, so this car is fully shielded to any who might be tailing us, be they in the air or in another vehicle.”

My knives hadn’t reacted, but that wasn’t surprising, given they only tended to come to life if the spell was aimed at me. The spell on the car was external rather than internal, and directed outward rather than in.

“Shielded how, though? A light screen won’t work, because the speed we’re going would shred it.”

“It’s a mix of an invisibility and mirroring spell. Those above will see empty road and those behind will see the car ahead. I activated it when we left Lugh’s, and it will last long enough to get us to our destination.”

“That must have cost a packet.”

A smile tugged at his lips. “My family isn’t exactly poor, Bethany.”

“No.” Just for an instant, our gazes met, and it felt like old times. Which was damn dangerous when it came to this man. Give him an inch, and he’d take advantage of it.

I tore my gaze away, and he chuckled. “You cannot fight it forever.”

“Oh, I can and will.”

“We had something special.”

“So special you were fucking multiple other women.”

“That doesn’t lessen what we had.”

“It does for me.”

“Ah Bethany, were you but an elf.”

“If I were an elf,” I said, voice dry, “you still wouldn’t take me seriously or consider me contract worthy, because I’d probably be servant class.”

“A truth I cannot deny, as much as I might wish to.”

I snorted and moved the conversation to safer subjects.

It took us twenty-five minutes to get to Elsmoot, even with the slow down for roadworks in several spots. Mathi already had Aram’s address in the GPS, so once we were close, he hit the button and followed the instructions. They led us to a long row of rather ratty-looking glass-and-brick three-story buildings. Aram’s place was sandwiched between a pawn broker’s and a Subway. The latter was open, but most of the other premises had closed for the night.

“This doesn’t look the sort of place a high-profile spellcaster would be using,” I commented, somewhat dubiously.

“Which is the perfect cover, if you think about it.” Mathi parked and unbuckled his seat belt. “I’m betting most of his main business isn’t done in the shop, but rather the floors above it. That middle floor certainly looks more like an office than accommodation.”

He might have been driving, but he’d taken in a whole lot more detail of the premises than I had. I sent Lugh a text to let him know we’d arrived safely, then tugged on my coat and climbed out of the car. Thunder rumbled overhead, and the heady scent of rain filled the air. We had three minutes to get undercover before the storm unleashed.