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“Connor is one of your family’s top enforcers, as is his mother. I don’t need any excuses to attack him. Though I never do anything without at least two good reasons.”

I step away from him to the very edge of the balcony and grip the rail as I stare at the scene below. Two of Gabriel’s men have gone down, and Connor’s still holding his own, but his movements are getting slower. A few of his opponents’ physical blows are connecting, and some of their magical attacks are only being diverted at the last minute. He’s good, but he can’t be expected to pull this off alone. Where the hell are Liam and Chrissie and the rest of the group?

Gabriel strides over to join me and stands by my side, closer than politeness would allow, but carefully not touching. “The rest of your family and associates can’t see through the bubble.”

It’s not clear whether he’s answering the question because he’s taken it from my head or because my thoughts are obvious from the way I’m glancing around.

“Don’t be ridiculous. They’re all powerful practitioners.”

It’s a tacit admission of who I am, but I’m past caring. Little point attempting to keep up the charade when the main person it was intended to fool clearly knows my real identity.

Gabriel shrugs. “I’ve put the bubble up myself. No one can penetrate it unless I let them.”

Now I look closely at him, I can sense he’s doing magic. Something to keep up the more powerful than usual bubble, and something else, too. Perhaps he’s giving strength to his men, perhaps he’s slowing Connor down. Normally, powerful magic requires a degree of concentration, and it surges out of people, impossible to miss if you know what you’re looking for. But it’s flowing out of Gabriel like the air he breathes, barely causing a ripple. And the entirety of his attention seems to be focused on me, while he leaves his spell to get on with whatever it’s doing.

“It’s anyone’s guess who’s going to win,” Gabriel says. “But it’ll go on for a while yet. Leave them to it. Sit down. Have a drink. Let’s talk.”

I have nothing to say to you!I want to yell it out like a heroine in a gothic novel and then run screaming from the balcony and go to Connor’s aid. Not that there’s an obvious exit—it’s seemingly only accessible by magic. But I’m not a hysterical damsel in distress. I’m a professional, and I need answers. Besides, if it comes to it, I can probably fight Gabriel off with my magic. Unless he calls in the lien, of course. Then I’m screwed. Literally and metaphorically.

“I’ll talk.” It feels like abandoning Connor, which is the last thing I want to do, but there’s only so much I could realistically do in a pitched battle—I win my wars with words. “No drinks, though,” I add. “We both know the score on that one.”

You should never accept drinks in another practitioner’s house unless you trust them absolutely. It’s an easy way for someone to draw you into their power. Buying drinks in the casino is safe enough, but taking a drink from the owner feels borderline at best.

“Suit yourself. Now, are you ready to drop all this ‘Kate’ nonsense? I’ve known exactly who you were from the moment you pushed back my magic in court. You don’t spend six years thinking about someone every day, then fail to recognise them when they’re right in front of you.”

“Sorry, what?” I’d thought about him nonstop, sure. But I’d been the victim of his magic and his wiles.

“The thing about a bargain is that it cuts both ways.” With one hand, he pushes my sunglasses onto the crown of my head. With the other, he removes the oversized ring that hides the twisted mark of his lien.

He nods in satisfaction at my practitioner eyes and his brand. “Like I said, I never do anything unless I have at least two good reasons. But that doesn’t mean I always go about things the right way.”

“Are you calling in the debt?” My legal training kicks in and allows me to make my voice as dispassionate as when I’m cross-examining someone about the details of a child’s murder. “I guess it’d explain getting my bodyguard out of the way. And this impenetrable bubble and sealed off balcony.”

He takes my hand and strokes the mark. “There’s truly nothing I’d like more than to lay you down on that sofa and screw you till you’re screaming. Then take you home to Thornber Manor, have dinner, talk, and then do it again, softly and gently this time.”

Every muscle in my body tenses, and my hand burns where he touches it, like he’s unleashed the Greenfire again, though he’s done no such thing.

“But that’s not what I’m here for tonight. Unless you particularly happen to be in the mood. And I’ve told you before, I’m not a monster.”

“There are plenty of people who’d disagree. Everything else aside, the way you blasted me with Greenfire the other day’s not exactly working in your favour. And if you’re too much of agentlemanto use the lien, why inflict the thing on me in the first place?”

“I never said I won’t use it. But, to answer your question: I put you under the lien to hurt your family, and to strengthen the connection that was already there. It wasn’t a spur of the moment decision to take you back with me that night. It was half the point of the evening.”

I frown and snatch my hand back. “What are you talking about? We’d never even spoken to each other before that night.”

A loud cry cuts through my confusion, and I dash back to the edge of the balcony. Connor’s movements are increasingly heavy. The conversation with Gabriel had almost driven away all thoughts of the danger my sort-of-boyfriend is in, which leaves me furious and guilty in equal measure.

Two more Thornber men are on the floor, but that still leaves six, and one of them has made it through Connor’s defences. A blast hits his right arm, rendering it useless. It essentially means he can no longer attack and defend at the same time.

“Stop them, please,” I whisper to Gabriel, who’s back beside me, watching the heart-wrenching scene with mild interest like it’s something in a film.

He shakes his head. “No. You stop it.”

Two reasons. He clearly wanted to have this conversation in order to say his piece and make me confirm my identity. But just like with the Greenfire, he also wants to see what I can do.

During the Greenfire incident, I refused to give him the satisfaction. But that was virtual pain—Connor’s sustaining very real injuries. And that was my body on the line, meaning resisting was stubborn and brave. This time, it’s the body of my lover—who’s also a decent man that I’ve lied to and put in danger. Letting him take the hit out of some mixture of self-preservation and principle is selfish and cruel.

“Be careful what you wish for, Gabriel. I’ve spent years trying to suppress my powers. Force me to start using them again, and one day, I might just turn them on you.”