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Memories he’d long since buried threatened to surface—of whispered conversations and stolen kisses in the library of the Royal Institute, of moonlit walks along the Seine, and of more intimate moments he dared not recall in present company.

He and the Frenchman had been a perfect fit in the bedroom, a fact that had long chagrined him considering their relationship had been less than perfect out of it.

“Your headquarters is most impressive,” Leon remarked as they entered Evander’s office.“Much grander than our humble facilities in Paris.”

“The Met spares no expense when it comes to magical law enforcement,” Rufus said, his tone suggesting he still found the Frenchman’s effusive manner disagreeable.

Evander gestured for Leon to take a seat.Shaw perched a hip on the edge of his desk, while Rufus positioned himself by the window, arms crossed and expression mildly belligerent.

Leon settled into the chair opposite Evander with the easy grace of a cat.He crossed one leg over the other and regarded Evander with undisguised interest.

“I must say, I was surprised to hear you had joined the Metropolitan Police,” his former lover murmured.“The last time we spoke, you were considering a teaching position at the Royal Institute.”

“Plans change,” Evander said curtly.He leaned his elbows on his desk.“Let’s discuss why you’re here, shall we?The message we received from the French magical authorities mentioned the disappearance of a Professor Henri Chevalier.”

Leon’s expression sobered.“Ah.Straight to business, as always.”He sighed dramatically.“Very well.Professor Chevalier vanished four days ago.Like your Professor Whitley, he was last seen at his place of work, the Paris Institute for the Arcane.He never returned to his residence.His manservant reported his disappearance to the authorities the next morning.”

Evander digested this with a frown.“How did you figure out this was connected to our own missing elemental specialist?”

“Because Chevalier was a clever man and seemingly made plans in case something happened to him.”Leon reached inside his coat.“He left a key and a notarised note with his manservant.It allowed us to gain access to a deposit box at his bank, in which we found this.”He placed a small, leather-bound journal on Evander’s desk.

Evander’s pulse quickened at the sight of it.“May I?”

“Bien sur,” Leon murmured.

Evander reached for the journal.Rufus and Shaw gathered around him as he carefully undid the leather straps holding it closed.

He opened it and began leafing through the pages.

“What the—?!”Rufus exclaimed.

Shaw lowered her brows.“It’s written in code.”

“Precisely.”Leon sighed.“That thing is currently as useful to us as a lead brick.We were about to call on a cryptology expert when news of Whitley’s disappearance reached our ears.We discovered correspondence from him at Chevalier’s home.It was clear they were in regular communication.”

Evander stared at Chevalier’s secret writings, his mind racing.He raised his head and finally met Leon’s gaze.

“Did the Paris Institute reveal to you what Chevalier was working on?”

Leon’s eyes narrowed slightly.“You believe the subject matter of his work is the reason for his disappearance?”

Evander glanced guardedly at Rufus.The inspector dipped his chin, clearly of the same mind.

“How much do you know about the recent dark magic incident in London?”Evander asked Leon quietly.

Chapter14

Leon frowned.“You mean the Charing Cross disaster?Only a little.It made the newspapers in Paris.”

Evander spent the next ten minutes bringing the Frenchman up to speed on the growing tension between thralls and magic users in London, the escalating presence of dark mages in the capital, and the sinister plot the Met had recently foiled.

Leon stared.

“A dark mage commissioned a Charm Weaver to invent a device that can absorb the life force of magicless individuals so that it can be used to fuel magic?”he asked, his tone underscored with disbelief.

“It’s the truth, Leon,” Evander said calmly.“I recovered a crucial component of theBlood Siphonfrom Alastair Millbrook’s murder scene.It’s currently in the possession of the Ministry of Arcane Affairs.”

The Frenchman frowned.He hesitated for a moment.