Page 17

A few days passed before Rebecca came to me in a hurry. I turned my attention from the television where the reporter talked about the new bills Arch Mage Adam had proposed. They would give humans higher pay and more vacation time.

It was something but still not enough. An itch developed from the lack of movement. We had to do something now.

“My queen.”

“Eva,” I interrupted her. “You can just call me Eva. As much as I miss being called queen, it’ll be much easier to keep my identity a secret if you’re not calling me queen in public. Besides,” I offered her my hand from the couch, “I would like to be able to call you my friend.”

Rebecca tilted her head at my hand before taking it in hers, awe decorating her face. “I’m honored, my queen. I mean, Eva. I would be more than happy to call you my friend.”

“Good, that’s settled.” I lowered my hand down to fluff my skirts. “So what did you want to tell me? Hopefully something that will get me off this couch and actually doing something?”

“Yes, it is.” Rebecca moved to the side so I could stand. “We have substantial evidence on Healer Beatriz and are now ready to move on her.”

“When?”

“Today. Now.” Rebecca walked me from the living area to the front door. “My informant told me Beatriz would be home alone, recovering from one of her treatments. If you wanted a time where she was alone and vulnerable, this would be it.”

“Very well. Thank you.” Purple mist wrapped around me but, before I could disappear, Rebecca grabbed my arm.

“Wait.”

My magic settled back in place as I looked at her. “What?”

“Do you even know where you’re going?” Her words came out questioning, and yet there was still a tinge of fear in her. I didn’t want her to be afraid of me. I wanted a friend, but we might still have a way to go on that front.

I smoothed my hands down my skirt. “Actually, no. I don’t. Can you show me? Perhaps a map?”

Rebecca grinned. “Better yet, I’ll drive you.”

Nodding, I allowed myself to be led to Rebecca’s vehicle. A cherry red brick of a creation that would stand out in a sea of colors.

“Won’t this draw too much attention?” I asked as we slid into the seats.

My new friend shook her head, flicking a few buttons and adjusting the music that began to pour out of the cage like spots on the doors. “Not at all. There are a lot of cars out there with this color. If I’d gone with something boring and dull, that would have drawn attention to us.”

I hummed in response.

This new world was still strange to me. There were many hidden rules I didn’t understand. Thankfully, I had Rebecca there to guide me, or I’d be completely lost.

We rode down the street with the music blaring. Rebecca swished her head from side to side as she sang along with the music. This was an entertaining side to her I’d never seen before. Maybe she was starting to loosen up now that I wanted to be her friend?

A female friend was still a foreign concept to me. Someone I could confide in and didn’t want to bed me. Rebecca wasn’t someone I had to manipulate or seduce. I could just relax with her.

I thought I’d had that with the mages who saved me. It had been so easy with them. So peaceful. While none of them had outright tried to bed me right away, it was hard for us not to grow affectionate toward each other.

When Luke kissed me the first time. I’d been surprised and yet not unhappy about it. Being with Luke wouldn’t get me ahead in life. Being with any of them really wouldn’t have put me further on my goal.

Only Adam would have helped me, and he had blatantly told me that I would be in his way. I wasn’t sure there was a way for us to get around that. Our goals were the same, and yet our way of getting there was so different.

“We’re here.” Rebecca shifted a stick like object in the car, bringing us to a stop before a large building.

The amount of windows on it was indescribable. I didn’t think there was ever a building in my time that reached the heavens quite like the way it did. If this was where Healer Beatriz lived, she must have more power than I thought.

Rebecca placed her hand on top of mine, giving it a squeeze. “Hey, you got this. This will work.” A cream-colored envelope appeared in her other hand, which she offered to me. “Just show her the evidence and explain that she’ll be on your side when you make your move.”

“How am I going to find her in that vast castle?” My mouth dropped open slightly as I stared up at the innumerable stories.

Rebecca laughed. “She doesn’t own the whole building, though she does live in the penthouse.”

“Penthouse?”

“The top floor.” A button clicked, and my door opened. “Now get moving before someone recognizes you.”

I glanced down at myself and frowned. Rebecca had a point. Someone might see me. I closed my eyes and gathered my magic for a moment.

As I wrapped it around myself, Rebecca gasped. “Where did you go?” She reached out and touched my shoulder before letting out a little yelp. “I’ve never seen anyone do a cloaking spell like that. Your magic barely even flared.”

I didn’t know what to say. Being able to use and control my magic in the fashion that I did had always been an anomaly. It was one of the many reasons King Midas had been so anxious to have me as his queen. If he married me, he controlled my magic.

Or so Midas thought.

Mages with their humans in tow walked down the sidewalks, most of them with their noses in the air as if the very ground was too lowly for them to acknowledge. The surrounding buildings were just as large and intimidating as the one before me.

On my way into the building, it was becoming clearer that this part of the city was meant for the rich and prestigious. How far away was my mages’house from here? We’d driven quite a ways, so I knew that Rebecca didn’t live in this part of the city.

I kept the cloak around me even as I entered the building. During this time of day, there weren’t many people around the main floor. For a moment, I panicked. How did I get to the top floor?

My eyes darted around the room, searching for stairs. Eventually, I found a sign for the stairs and began to move toward them. Then a ding rang in the air. Turning toward the sound, I watched as the wall opened up, and two mages stepped out.

Curiosity getting the best of me, I stepped up to the wall and watched as the sides began to close. I reached out to touch them and then jerked back, but my touch seemed to open the wall back up.

I quickly jumped through the opening before it closed again.

I found myself in a strange chamber. Mirrors covered the top part of each wall, reflecting a shimmery blob of myself, the only visible evidence I was there. My eyes locked on a wall with circles, each with a different number on them. I cocked my head to the side. Were these the floors?

The numbers went from one to fifty and then there were three with letters on them. LL, L, and PH. Didn’t Rebecca say something about a penthouse? Could the PH stand for that?

Before I could second guess myself, I touched the one with PH. It lit up, and the floor rumbled beneath my feet. I grabbed the wall, my eyes pinched closed as fear and uncertainty swept through me.

The rumbling was over before it barely had begun, and the walls opened with a resounding ding.

My hand on my racing heart, I pushed off the wall and stepped out. Air dragged into my lungs like painful knives daring me to go on. Why did I think I could do this on my own?

I’d stepped out of the transportation box and into a world of black and white. Everything from the floor to the ceiling was decorated in the monochrome colors. Deep black floors made me worry that the next step would be into a never ending abyss. The walls so white that it hurt to look at them straight on.

For a moment, I wondered if I was in the right place and then I came face to face with a large life size portrait of Healer Beatriz.

For a woman who used illegal means to stay younger, it only made sense she would idolize her own face in her home. It made what was coming both easier and harder. This woman was vain. So vain that she would do anything to keep her secret unknown.

Hopefully, she would be smart enough to take what I offered her. Otherwise, this might get bloody.