to hunt down the other two.”
“That’s all, huh? Just go out and find them?”
“That’s all.”
“And what then? You and I form a new, kinder, gentler society?”
“Yes. We clean the serpents out of the nest. This whole legion-of-brutal-killers thing isn’t working. It’s a losing strategy. We can do better.”
She didn’t respond, and I couldn’t read her expression in the dark. We returned to the van.
“Ray, this is incredibly dangerous. You don’t even understand how dangerous it is. You’re just my stupid wooden man.”
“Don’t throw my own words in my face—”
“Some things should never be easy.”
“Dammit, Ray! I’m the peer and you’re my wooden man! You belong to me!”
“I know I do, boss. You’re in, though, right?”
“Fuck, yeah.”
I started the engine and pulled onto the highway. It took a long while to get up to speed. “Where to, boss?”
“Straight through to Vegas,” she said. “You look like you could use some sleep. Then we’re headed east. You’re going to the First Palace. The peers want to meet you.”
“Um, really?”
I wasn’t sure if I should be pleased about that or not, so I changed the subject. “Can you convince the society to work with Talbot? He’s an asshole, but he saved my life.”
“I’ll make a call. It probably won’t do any good, but I’ll call.”
“Damn. He was really looking forward to living a century or three.”
“Not everyone earns a golem-flesh spell.”
I turned to her. “What?”
“Not everyone earns that spell,” she snapped, annoyed at having to repeat herself. “Especially in the last few years. Only older peers like Csilla can even manage it anymore.”
I touched the spell Csilla had put under my left arm, the one that healed me when I ate meat. Annalise had called that mark golem flesh.
For once, she understood my expression. “Didn’t I explain that part?”
“Jesus.” I wasn’t sure what to say. I was going to live to be, what? Five hundred? Older? “How long until I talk gibberish like Csilla?”
“Gibberish? She was telling you the secrets of the universe.”
Be sure to check out the first two novels
of the TWENTY PALACES series,
CHILD OF FIRE
Ray Lilly is the lowly driver for Annalise Powliss, a high-ranking member of a secretive group of mage hunters known as the Twenty Palace Society. When Annalise is injured on a mission, Ray must carry on in her stead and defeat a powerful sorcerer who is sacrificing dozens of innocent lives. As if that wasn’t tough enough, Ray only knows one spell! Can Ray best the virulent wizard and destroy the source of his inhuman magic?
“Excellent reading … delicious tension and suspense.”—JIM BUTCHER, author of The Dresden Files
GAME OF CAGES
A small town in the North Cascades is the site of an unholy auction in which a shadowy group of wealthy collectors gathers to bid on a dangerous creature that could exterminate all life on earth. Ray Lilly is assigned only as backup to the Twenty Palace Society investigator, but all hell breaks loose when the creature escapes and Ray, armed with his single spell and a mean left hook, is forced into survival mode.
“Will enthrall readers who like explosive action and magic that comes at a serious cost.”
Table of Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
