Page 18

Chapter 18

Frost

It was strange to think it, but it was just like old times. Kit was the boss, of course, because he was the clever one who knew how to read people and make them do what he wanted. More important to me, I could read Kit.

I’d known instantly when he’d insulted the man instead of smiling and moving on, that he’d wanted a fight out of this. I didn’t know why he wanted a fight, but Kit was the one who knew what was going on.

If Kit wanted a fight, I’d give him one.

He’s a shifter? I asked Vex.

Yes , Vex answered, casual, low, and somehow, something in his tone reminded me of a coiled snake, ready to snap forward and sink its teeth into its prey. Shifter. Something small and inconsequential, but he thinks it’s impressive .

Oh, you can read minds now?

Vex scoffed at that. No, I can tell his shift is irrelevant because his stone isn’t even sentient. But he thinks it’s impressive because otherwise he wouldn’t be picking a fight with you .

And damn it all, but that all made sense. This was why I couldn’t deal with people like others could. Because I’d seen the latter, but it hadn’t even occurred to me that he wouldn’t pick the fight if he didn’t think he could handle it. Obviously, I hadn’t known anything about the man’s stone, but I couldn’t read stones or see the future or anything like that. I could just pause time in very small areas, for a limited amount of time.

Not that I had any complaints. Honestly, Vex’s company, his pithy commentary, and his ability to see what people were up to and willingness to talk to me about it were the biggest boon of all. His friendship.

Come to think of it, Vex . . . was a lot like Kit. Huh.

Of course I am. That’s why he wasn’t just your brother. He was your best friend. And that’s why you haven’t entirely forgiven him for leaving you just yet .

I almost froze at the realization, but I couldn’t afford to do that. I had to handle this fight Kit wanted me to pick.

Vex gave a put upon sigh. Yes, yes, and you can talk to him about it later. For now, let’s kick this guy’s ass. How about we freeze just his leg, and make him fall on his face?

That seemed like a reasonable idea. I wasn’t good enough with people to know whether the embarrassment would make him attack or run off, but there was only one way to find out. Besides, like all of my siblings, I was well trained in dueling. I might not be an actual duelist as I was pretending to be, but I could do the job if it was required.

“Just get rid of him,” Kit finally said, dismissive and rude, turning completely away from us and striking up a conversation with the person on the other side of him. I wasn’t facing the man Kit was talking to, but he sounded confused and distracted. Understandable, since there was a near-fight happening three feet away from him.

I crossed my arms over my chest, making sure I was completely between the two of them, and with my height, it wasn’t hard to do. “Look, kid, you took a shot. It missed. Move on. Unless you want your ass kicked? I’m not into that kink, but I can do it for you if you need it.”

He bared his teeth in a snarl and launched himself at me, his features going slightly more pointed and feral as he moved. Interesting. Something canid, almost certainly, but I’d never seen a shift that went partway before. Not that I’d known many shifters at all.

I let Vex slow him just enough to make him look like something from a movie special effect, then I grabbed him by the throat as he approached, shoving him back and down before letting him go, allowing him to fall to the floor on his back.

For a moment, he stayed there, unmoving. Likely he was trying to parse what had happened, since to him, it had happened so fast he couldn’t have possibly followed it. Then, he exploded upward, shifting in a mess of ripped club clothes and snarling growling anger.

A second later, a coyote stood before me.

I supposed, that given the way his teeth were bared, it was intended to be frightening. If the circumstances were different, perhaps it would have been. If I’d been a child, without Vex, or unready for a fight, or . . . well, I was sure many people would have been frightened by the enraged creature before me. He was also larger than an average coyote, which was the norm for humans who shifted—he was a coyote who weighed as much as the human he’d been a few moments earlier. I suspected it had to do with the conservation of mass, as only the most powerful stones and people seemed able to change mass from one form to another.

Doubtless, he’d have not been thrilled that I found someone able to shift into a mouse more impressive than him. Yes, the people who could add mass were the rarest and most impressive, according to our information, but really, shifting into a mouse? You could sneak anywhere, do almost anything.

Being tiny sounded amazing to me.

Not much like being a big dog, which was essentially what he was.

A throat cleared behind him, and we both turned to look. It was a man in a suit, who looked less than thrilled, but whose eyes were focused on him, not me. “Still haven’t learned to take no for an answer, Danny?”

In an instant, he was a man again, and very naked as well. I averted my eyes, but most of the other people around didn’t seem to notice. This, then, was probably why laws about public nudity were so lax in Sunrunner lands. Shifting made it almost inevitable, and made the people entirely inured to seeing that much naked flesh.

“He was being an asshole,” the guy protested.

The guy turned to look at me, raising a brow. I raised one back. “He was harassing the boss. The boss said he wasn’t interested.”

I was, as we’d determined long ago, a terrible liar. Fortunately, this was the truth. Kit was the boss on this little expedition of ours, and he’d told the guy to get lost, because he wasn’t interested. Maybe Kit had done it in the rudest possible way, hoping to cause a fight, but he hadn’t actually started the altercation.

The man smiled, but it wasn’t at me. It was past me. At the cue, I stepped back and out of the way, letting Kit take charge.

“I told him I wasn’t looking to have drinks with a child,” Kit informed the man. “And he responded by throwing a tantrum.”

A couple of people nearby chuckled, and there were some nods, so clearly they thought the other guy was the one in the wrong.

“Let me apologize for the interruption in your evening, Mr . . .”

“Emrys,” Kit answered, and I was more than a little shocked. Sure, it wasn’t his actual last name, but it was apparently the one he’d been going by as a duelist. I hadn’t expected that much truth. “Kit Emrys.”

Half the people around us went silent, staring at my brother.

Damn , Vex whispered. I don’t want to be like him. I want to be him when I grow up .

You’re more than a thousand times older than him , I pointed out.

And yet, I’m clearly not living my best life. These people are terrified of him. It’s fucking awesome.

I did my best not to roll my eyes but took another step behind Kit.

That drew attention to me, including the man who had approached us. “Are you . . . training a protégé, Mr. Emrys?”

Kit grinned, wide and vulpine. “Not in the least. But I accept your offer. Shall we go to the office?”

The man’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded, motioning for Kit to follow him. Caspian and I fell into line behind them, leaving the naked former coyote grumbling something about arrogant assholes as we passed him by.

Nearby, someone was whispering something about the Dawnchaser’s assassin, which, well . . . as much as I’d have liked to deny it, there was no point. First of all, it didn’t matter what they thought. Second, it would have been out of character to correct mistakes like that. And finally, well . . . it might not be true any longer, but it had been true long enough for the reputation to form.

I wasn’t even sure Kit didn’t like it, as reputations went. It certainly led to people giving us a wide berth as we passed through the bar into the back. Whispers started the moment we were out of the room, and I had little doubt that whatever Kit’s fame, we’d somehow just added to it.

Just by me knocking a guy on his back in a cheap bar.

The guy showed us into a room that was, frankly, nicer than the front bar had ever been. It was bright—both well-lit and the walls covered with paint that wasn’t old or worn—and the furnishings looked new, or near it. I recognized the huge sectional leather sofa as the same brand Mother bought a few years earlier, a place in Duskbringer lands with an excellent reputation. The liquor at the small wet bar in the corner was all higher shelf than anything they’d had behind the bar in front. There was even a bartender standing there, who smiled at us and immediately asked, “Get you anything?”

Kit looked at his bar. “The scotch, please.”

“Please, all of you,” the man who’d led us back said. “Have a drink. On the house.”

I inclined my head, but then shook it. “Thank you, but we’re working. Have to keep clear heads.”

Caspian nodded, but didn’t look up from his tablet. He also didn’t take off his sunglasses, which continued to impress me. I knew Kit had told him not to, but wearing them in all these dark clubs and bars had to be a pain.

Finally, the guy nodded to me and turned back to Kit. “I think I’ll just go ahead and get the boss. Yeah?”

“Please,” Kit agreed, accepting a glass from the bartender as he seated himself in the middle of the huge couch.

The man left the room, and I lifted a brow at my brother. He didn’t even glance at the bartender, just shrugged insouciantly. “We were getting nowhere. That jackass was an opportunity to get somewhere. Also, he doesn’t give a fuck what we talk about, but he will report it all to his boss when we leave. He’s a bodyguard.”

I blinked up at the slender, young looking man, who met my eye and gave a shrug, then pulled up his vest slightly to show that he, like Caspian, was carrying a gun.

I let myself fall onto the sofa heavily and met Kit’s eye. “Why this place?”

“Because I know the owner.” He lounged back on the couch, draping an arm across the leather and looking like he belonged there. “It was the first place we’ve been where that was the case, and we’re getting nowhere fast. It was time to try a different tack.”

“You think we were going to get a no from everyone else on the list,” I said, trying not to think about why that would be the case. I glanced at Caspian from the corner of my eye, and his bowed head told me he’d caught the implication anyway.

Kit sighed but nodded. “I do, yes. So Victor seemed like a better way to seek out more in-depth information.”

Caspian’s head shot up. “Victor? Not?—”

“Victor Berents,” Kit said, smiling and standing up as the door opened, and a different man joined us.

Caspian, behind the end of the couch, paled, turning around and breathing almost like he was panicked. Did he know the man? Were they enemies? I resolved to keep myself between Caspian and this new stranger, whether my brother liked him or not. I loved Kit, would always love Kit, but I’d learned the lesson well that sometimes it was unwise to trust him entirely.