Lisa Shearin - Raine Benares 02 (19 page)

Piaras
flushed scarlet. “She said I had the most magnificent voice she had ever
heard.”

I
grinned and nodded approvingly. “Beautiful
and
she has flawless taste in
men and music. I could like this girl.”

Piaras
risked another quick look at her. “Me, too.”

“Piaras!”
Ronan Cayle yelled. We both jumped. “It’s your turn. Quickly now. Our host
needs his theatre back in another hour.”

I
punched him on the arm. “Break a leg, sweetie.”

As
Piaras made his way to the stage, I pulled out one of the chairs and made
myself comfortable. I was far enough back to see anyone who came into the
theatre. When I looked up, Talon Tandu was sauntering toward me like a sleek
young cat, all cocky bravado, those aquamarine eyes checking me out from head
to toe and taking their sweet time doing it.

I bit
back a laugh, and heard Vegard’s muffled snort from behind me. Talon couldn’t
have been much older than Piaras—at least in age. Though with his looks, he’d
probably already had plenty of experience way beyond his years.

Talon’s
pale eyes sparkled. “You don’t look the worse for wear from last night.”

Now
that was a pickup line I hadn’t heard before.

“Silver-tongued
little minx. I’ll bet you say that to all the girls you roll in the gutter
with.”

He
pulled out a chair, straddled it, and folded his lean arms across the backrest.
His grin was full of fang. “I liked watching you wrestle last night. I think I
heard a few of that shaman’s bones break. You went to a lot of trouble for one
little book.”

“I
take my education very seriously.” I folded my arms across my chest. It was the
only way to get the kid to quit staring at my breasts.

Talon
jerked his head toward Piaras. “Did he really knock out every Guardian in the
citadel?”

“Not
all,” I said. “Some of them couldn’t hear him.”

Talon
laughed, a bright silvery ring. “Damn, what I wouldn’t give to have seen that.
So you’ve come to hear the trained songbirds perform?”

“Sounds
like you’re feeling less than honored.”

“Ronan
opens the cage once a year and has us warble and trill for wealthy alumni and
filthy rich parents.” His eyes were hard as they looked at something over my
left shoulder. “How am I supposed to feel?”

I
turned slightly. Sanura Mal’Salin had gathered up her entourage and was leaving
the theatre.

“I’m
here to listen to Piaras,” I said. “But I’d like to hear more about what
happened last night. The men who tried to snatch you aren’t known for music
appreciation.” I slouched down in the chair and crossed my legs at the ankles.
“So what happened?”

“I
was on my way to work, and somebody’s hired goons tried to kidnap me,” Talon
said casually. “When you do what I do, and look how I look, you attract more
than your share of pervs and overzealous fans.”

“You
say it like it’s not the first time.”

The
goblin shrugged. “I’ve been kidnapped twice before.”

I
just looked at him for a moment. “Did Tam come after you those times, too?”

He
arched one flawless eyebrow. “
Tam?
You know the boss?” He grinned
slowly. “Exactly how well do you know him?”

“Yeah,
I know him. How or how well I know him is none of your business. I asked you a
question. Did Tam rescue you those other two times?”

Talon
shook his head. “They happened at my previous gig, a spellsinging club in
Mipor. It paid well enough, but the owner had an arrangement with certain
patrons— wealthy and influential patrons, if you get my meaning.”

“Yeah,
I get it.” I didn’t even try to keep the disgust out of my voice.

“If a
patron liked what they heard and saw onstage, they’d pay the owner to arrange a
private performance. I went once. I tried to leave, but the patron’s bodyguards
had other ideas.” The kid’s voice was nonchalant; the rapid pulse in his throat
wasn’t. “The next morning, I told the owner I wasn’t going again. Next time he
didn’t ask me—”

“He
just charged the patron more and had you kidnapped and delivered.”

“Pretty
much.” Talon’s bravado was back. “That’s when I came here. I heard Nathrach
took good care of his people and paid well. And last night he and some of the
bouncers from the club came after me. I’ve never worked for anyone who’d do
that.” He scowled. “Though what he makes me do is almost as bad.”

I
didn’t move. “What does he make you do?”

“He’s
making me go to college.” The kid was indignant. “It’s actually in my contract.
If I don’t go to classes during the day, I don’t get to work at night.” He
slouched down in his chair. “So that’s how I ended up in the maestro’s flock of
performing songbirds.”

“Talon!”

We
both jumped. It was Ronan again. I growled. Talon heard me and grinned. If the
maestro did that one more time, I was going to give him a quick and dirty
lesson in volume control.

“You’ll
be after Piaras,” Ronan yelled. “Go warm up.”

Talon
stood and gave the maestro a little mock salute. “Yes, sir. Be right there,
sir.” Then the kid muttered something under his breath in Goblin.

It
was highly creative and physically impossible. I think. He winked at me.
“Later, gorgeous.”

As he
made his way to the stage, I saw a tall figure in black robes enter the theatre
through a door near the foot of the stage.

Carnades
Silvanus.

Two
other elves were with him. One looked like a bureaucrat. He was a full head and
a half shorter than Carnades, blinking in the dim light as he fidgeted with a
pair of spectacles perched on the bridge of his nose. The other elf was more
familiar. Not him personally. I didn’t know him, just his type. He entered
behind Carnades, not from deference, but to let the senior mage attract all the
attention. This one didn’t want to be noticed, either personally or magically.
He was using Carnades’s arrogant aura of power to cover whatever magic he was
packing. Generally, if someone doesn’t want you to see what they’ve got, it
means they’ve got a lot. I’d found that out once or twice the hard way. Today
wasn’t going to be my third.

I
half turned to Vegard. “The elves with Carnades. Who are they?”

“The
little one’s Giles Keril, the elven ambassador to Mid. The other is Taltek
Balmorlan. He’s with elven intelligence. Don’t know what he does.”

Which
was exactly how Taltek Balmorlan and anyone else who worked for the agency
liked it.

I’d
done consulting work for elven intelligence. I was recruited by Duke Markus
Sevelien, the agency’s chief officer in Mermeia, and I’d only worked with him.
That’s exactly the way
I
liked it. Markus was an up-front and moral
sort, which was a rare find in the agency. I’d always wanted to think that
Markus sought me out because of my superior seeking skills, but I knew
differently. Markus thought my being related to criminals helped me know the
criminal mind. I didn’t want to come right out and admit it, but he was right.
Truth be told, if it can be picked up, pried off, or in any way pilfered, my
family’s made off with it at one time or another. Unfortunately those pilfered
goods have occasionally included people. It’s not something I’m proud of, but
it’s not something I can deny.

Most
of my work for Markus involved finding pilfered elves—diplomats, intelligence
agents, assorted nobles. The kind of people the less savory members of my
family would love to get their ransom-grubbing hands on. It was gratifying work
and I was good at it.

The
agency was always looking to acquire fresh talent.

I sat
up slowly. Sometimes they acquired without asking the talent.

Carnades
spotted me—I’d already seen him—and the tension in the room popped up a couple
of notches real quick.

"Ma’am,”
Vegard warned.

“Don’t
worry. I’ll be good if he will. But if he’s looking for trouble, I
will
give it to him.”

“I’ve
been ordered to sit on you, ma’am,” the Guardian told me. He didn’t sound very
enthused about trying.

“I
know.” I gave him my best evil grin, then turned back to watching Carnades and
his merry minions.

They
sat at one of the tables closest to the stage. Piaras had just finished his
warm-up.

I
tensed, but kept my seat. Me going to Piaras would just get him the wrong kind
of attention. He would be performing a sleepsong, but this version wasn’t for a
battlefield; it was for a nursery. If Taltek Balmorlan or anyone else in the
theatre came to hear a weapon, they were going to be really disappointed. But
that didn’t mean we couldn’t let everyone know that messing with Piaras would
be a very bad idea.

“Vegard?”

“Ma’am?”

“I
know all these Guardians are for me, but could you spare a few to discreetly,
but obviously, arrange themselves at the base of the stage when Piaras is
singing?”

The
big Guardian was instantly beside me. “The boy’s in danger?”

“Not
immediately, but someone here might be spellsinger shopping.”

Vegard
knew exactly what I meant and growled something that summed up my thoughts
perfectly. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Thank
you, Vegard.”

“Always
my pleasure, ma’am.”

He
went to Riston and they spoke quickly in lowered voices. Even I couldn’t hear
what they were saying, but I didn’t need to. Within half a minute, five fully
armed and really good-sized Guardians had arranged themselves around the base
of the stage, their broad backs to Piaras, their stony expressions toward the
audience. Piaras looked out at me; his eyes widened briefly. I smiled and gave
him an encouraging nod. Piaras didn’t know what was wrong, if anything, but he
knew that me and the boys had it under control.

Piaras
walked to the middle of the stage. He looked out and saw who was in the audience.
He didn’t know any of them, but he couldn’t have liked that every eye was on
him, anticipating his first note. Piaras closed his eyes and took a breath and
let it out. It was shaky. Then he raised his head and resolutely fixed his gaze
on the back of the theatre where there was no one staring at him.

Piaras
sang without accompaniment. No instrument marred his voice’s pure, unadorned
perfection. The words and tune were a soothing lullaby, but flowing beneath
them was a depth of power most spellsingers could only dream of. The sleepsong
was for a baby, not a battalion, but that didn’t matter. Piaras couldn’t hide
his strength. And he had the rapt attention of everyone in the theatre. There
had been talking during the other spellsingers’ practices. No one spoke now or
even moved. Entirely too many people in that audience had just had their
suspicions confirmed. Damn. I couldn’t see the faces of anyone at Carnades
Silvanus’s table. But I could see some of the goblins, and I didn’t like the
looks Piaras was getting. To them the Guardians were just furniture to be
pushed aside or ignored, and Piaras a treat to be taken and enjoyed. In that
moment, I understood why Carnades hated goblins.

I
didn’t hate goblins, but I could have a momentary change of heart for that
bunch.

Piaras
finished his song to thunderous applause. One of the goblins gave him a
standing ovation. He had the high cheekbones and handsome, angled features of a
pure, old-blood goblin. His black eyes were bright as he shouted, “Bravo!”

The
bastard.

Piaras
left the stage and stopped to confer with Ronan. Two of the Guardians moved
closer to him, blocking anyone from access. No one tried. I had to hand it to
Mychael’s men—they had the bodyguard thing down pat.

I
felt a presence brush my skin like fingertips. I sat perfectly still.

It
was Tam.

I
couldn’t see him, but I didn’t need to. I could feel him just fine.

“Raine,
you shouldn’t be here.”

I
gasped at the sudden intimate contact. Tam’s voice brushed against my mind like
dark silk.

Vegard
looked at me, and I quickly coughed.

“Dry
throat,” I rasped at his concerned expression.

Tam
and I had spoken mind-to-mind before. Many times.

“Mychael
didn’t want me here, either,”
I said
.
“You know I never do as told. Especially when I haven’t been given a good
reason. Now what the hell is going on?”

I
slouched in my chair. Keep it casual, Raine. I wanted answers from Tam; I
didn’t want to tip off Vegard. I turned my head toward the stage as if the
human kid up there now running through scales was simply fascinating. My eyes
flicked up to the right of the stage, then up to the first dining suite.

There
he was. The dining suites were dark and Tam blended in perfectly. My elven eyes
could just see him, his beautiful, silvery face silhouetted against the
shadows. Vegard was human and if he looked at the suite, he would only see the
shadows.