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I need a distraction.

Memnon must feel the grip of my magic, because I see his throat work almost immediately.

All right,est amage.All right.

He pushes himself up in my bed, leaning against the headboard.I have been trying to establish myself in this city since I arrived.

With that admission comes something else down our bond, something that feels like maybe desire, only this isn’t a lust for fleshbut for power. It unnerves me, especially because I’ve felt this sensation from him before, when I was Roxilana.

There are other supernaturals here—sorcerers like me,he says.

Okay, I respond, not sure where this is going.

A family of them—the Fortunas—hold most of the power in this area. On paper, their business, Ensanguine Enterprises, is an investment firm, but in reality, it’s…a shell company?Memnon sounds confused about this, like he’s still figuring out these concepts and terms.It’s a criminal organization masked as a corporate entity. Shortly after I arrived in the Bay Area,he continues,I began working for Ensanguine Enterprises. I don’t know if this is how they approach everyone looking for a job, but I was taken to a mage named Patrick, who works directly with the Fortunas. He tried to bind me.

My heart begins beating fast.He tried tobindyou?

What is with everyone trying to bind others?

He believes hedidbind me,Memnon says, rubbing his lower lip, his eyes distant.As do the other supernaturals who were in the room. I touched their minds, altered a few memories, and now when Patrick gives a command, I do it.

Inwardly, I cringe. It was bad enough when I was the only person who was ordering Memnon around. To know someone else is demanding things from my mate… An angry, sick feeling stirs up in me.

Can’t this Patrick tell there’s no bond?If I focus hard enough, I can feel the forged bond I made with Memnon.

He hasn’t questioned it yet.

Lingering in the air between us is the possibility that one day this mage, Patrick, might. And despite all the resentment I still hold toward Memnon, a spark of fear blooms in my chest.

Just…be careful,I say.

Memnon’s eyes twinkle.My queen, are you concerned for my well-being?

Yes.I frown, disturbed by my own concern.Finish the rest of your story,I command.

Patrick is the head of security for the Fortuna family,Memnon says.The Fortuna empire is run by the patriarch of the family, Luca, and he’s who Patrick takes direct orders from. But Patrick’s staff runs security for Luca Fortuna as well as his wife, Annalee, a few mistresses, and Luca’s three children—Leonard, Juliana, and Sophia. There are also a few distant relations, though it seems Luca’s siblings and their children are either dead or on the other side of the world.

I barely notice Memnon’s magic unfurl around him. Its presence is so common in my memories—memories of talking in bed just as we’re doing now—that I barely bat an eye at the tendrils as they brush against my skin and weave through my hair.

Because Patrick believes he exerts total control over me through the bond,Memnon continues,he’s had me stand guard outside buildings and suites where Luca Fortuna and his son, Leonard, have illicit dealings. These aren’t normal meetings,Memnon says.People come out of them bloody—if they come out at all.

I feel myself pale.Is that where you found the murdered witches?I ask.

Memnon gives his head a shake.Those bodies come out of the Equinox Building in San Francisco. It’s one of Ensanguine Enterprises’ properties, and the Fortunas tightly control who goes in and who comes out. Patrick’s called in to dispose of those bodies, which he then has me and a few other men deal with. That’s how I’ve gained access to the murdered witches.

What were those witches doing there in the first place?

So you haven’t seen who murdered the witches or how it’s done?I ask.

Memnon shakes his head.The bodies are usually waiting for us in a car in the parking garage.

I try to hide my disappointment. I was hoping for more. I’d figured all-powerful Memnon would know more.

At least I now know the bodies are linked to that family, the Fortunas. That’s not nothing—especially since Ihaveheard of them before. The Fortunas are an old San Francisco supernatural family. All I really know about them is they raise a lot of money for charities and civic causes.

Is there anything else you know about the murders?I ask.

Only that ultimately, the Fortuna family is behind them,Memnon says down our bond.