“It is not so much a matter of protecting her from the IIT but rather those she’s working with, as they have a habit of murdering their underlings. That would be inconvenient, given it’s possible she holds answers to questions we haven’t yet got enough information to ask.”

“If one of those questions is the crown’s location, you can ignore whatever she told you. It’s already being moved.”

“How do you know this?”

It was sharply said, suggesting either he or possibly the council had ordered a raid.

“Heard a conversation via the Eye.”

He cursed, meaning my guess had been correct. “Did you hear anything else?”

“Two things—a man called Kendrin was dispatched to move the crown from its current location, and you’ve now become enough of a problem to those hunting the Claws that they’re considering kidnapping you.”

“The latter doesn’t surprise me, especially given Jalvi’s involvement in this plot. There will be plenty of her kin sympathetic to the Looisearch’s cause, even if they do not fully understand the consequences.”

“It does mean you’ll have to avoid deserted alleyways and the like for a while, though.”

He half laughed. “I was in the middle of a main street—in the middle of a fight—when I was dosed with Dahbree, and even then, they didn’t manage to snare me.”

“Yeah, but you did end up facedown in a canal full of hungry ellul,” I said, voice dry. “I might not be around the next time to haul you out.”

“Then perhaps I should endeavor to keep you very close indeed.” His voice was so low and seductive that an image built of our naked bodies entwined around each other, sweaty flesh glowing as pleasure rose... I gulped and barely even heard him add, “One never knows when one might need... saving.”

I was the one who’d need saving if I wasn’t very careful. The man could get addictive in all the delightfully wrong ways...

I pushed the—admittedly delightful—images from my mind and said, “Does the name Kendrin ring any bells?”

“No, but I will make inquiries.” He paused again “And yes, I will let you know the results.”

Unless it involved another relative, no doubt. “Who won the battle over Aram?”

“Neither of us. The council has instead requested Marjorlaine Blackguard—the spellcaster guild’s leader—appear before them.”

“And will she?”

“Yes. The guild cannot risk losing their licenses to practice within old Deva.”

That made sense. Old Deva was a tourist hot spot for nine months of the year, and a good portion of the city’s spellcasters made the bulk of their living within that time.

I hesitated and then said, “Darby told me you burned your hands fairly extensively after I called down the lightning.”

“Yes, but they were healed without problem at the fae hospital. What of yourself?”

“I’m tired, naturally enough, but other than that, came through it without any further side effects.”

“Beira was quite annoyed that you’d had the audacity to reach for that which you could not control,” he said, amusement evident. “Of course, she also called me a fucking idiot because I’m old enough to know better than to reach for someone who’d been storm lit.”