Page 33 of Arcane Entanglement

“This is an information guild, Duke Ravenwood. We gather—” Viggo exhaled a cloud of smoke in Evander’s direction and sneered, “—information.”

Finn snorted by the door. Solomon elbowed him in the ribs.

Evander clenched his jaw, the faces of the dark mages rising before his eyes.

“Does this mean someone asked you to investigate my movements?”

Viggo’s expression grew shuttered at his angry tone. “Nightshadeis the best information guild in the whole of England. I do not state this as a matter of pride. It is a fact. And no information guild worth their salt would divulge details about their work or their clients.”

Evander exchanged a tense glance with Ginny.

Have we walked into the lion’s den?He fisted his hands as he met the stony gaze of the Brute across the desk.No. However much animosity I can feel from this man, I don’t think he or his guild would associate with dark mages. Not willingly anyway.

“The night isn’t getting any younger, mage,” Viggo grunted. “State your business and be gone with?—”

“Last night, my carriage was attacked by a Brute and three dark mages.”

Chapter15

The stillnessthat came over Viggo would have made most men nervous.

Evander Ravenwood’s bewitchingly handsome face remained as calm as his voice, his ice-blue gaze never faltering as he met Viggo’s stare.

“Lady Hartley and I managed to fend them off,” he continued, as if he were describing a tea party where the worst thing that happened was someone broke a cup. “The Brute was taken into custody by the Met. He is currently in one of our holding cells in Scotland Yard.” He paused. “He refuses to speak to anyone unless you’re present.”

Viggo felt a vein throb in his temple. He suspected the only reason the Brute was still in Scotland Yard and not locked up in Coldbath Fields or worse, Irongate Prison, was thanks largely to the man sitting opposite him.

Not that long ago, attacking a mage, let alone one of Evander’s noble status, would have been a crime punishable by death.

“Were you and Lady Hartley injured?” he said brusquely.

The question made Evander’s eyes widen a little. “No.”

“We know how to defend ourselves,” Ginny said curtly.

“I can vouch for that,” Solomon murmured.

Viggo clenched his jaw. “Then, was the Brute injured?”

It seemed a stupid thing to ask. After all, not many people in the world could physically hurt a Brute.

He knew Evander Ravenwood could.

A dual elemental mage able to wield ice and wind magic, he had used his powers to defuse many a potentially explosive situation involving the Met and thralls over the years, all without injuring anyone. So Viggo had read in various reports. Now that he was in the presence of the man, he wondered if he too might struggle to win a fight against the mage.

He’d sensed it all too well a moment ago, when he’d held him up against the wall.

He’d seen the potent magic swirling in the depths of Evander’s arresting blue eyes. Smelled it in the sweet breath that had washed across his fingers. Felt it in the skin his knuckles had brushed. The skin he’d wanted to expose and touch to see if it was as hot and supple everywhere else.

Viggo’s groin swelled as he imagined that sinfully delightful sight. He shifted, lifting his feet off the desk and leaning his elbows upon it to mask his arousal.

Evander Ravenwood was dangerous to him in more ways than one.

He realised the mage hadn’t answered his question. “Well?”

“He has some bruises and cuts,” Evander confessed. “He refuses to see a doctor or healer,” he added at Viggo’s scowl. “He won’t even tell us his name.”

“Describe him,” Viggo said coldly.