“Elysium?” He had to bellow to be heard over the noise of the warehouse. “Dawson’s the only person we sell to there. Our main customer is the Order of the Elements. They buy in bulk and return them after use wherever possible. Rest of the Parallel hasn’t caught on yet.”
“The Order?” Damn. I’d thought they avoided dealing with Parallel-based businesses. Not that I knew very much about the Order except that they policed magic on the other side of the nodes and really hated spirit mages. Not to mention people like me.
“Is this Dawson the only person you deal with in Elysium?” Ryan asked. “Got an address?”
“Ask my assistant.” He pointed to a young man standing nearby, who Ryan waylaid. I couldn’t hear a word he said, so I made a mental note to ask Miles for the name of the Spirit Agents’ supplier later. If there was only one major cantrip supplier in Elysium who bought supplies from Arcadia, I was pretty sure it must be the same one.
The question was, was said supplier involved in the illegal cantrip trade, or had the cantrip bearing the Family’s mark come from somewhere else entirely?
I followed Ryan out of the warehouse, they promptly launched into a conversation with Trix which I couldn’t follow.
“What in the world are you talking about?” I asked.
Ryan’s jaw clenched. “Nothing.”
“Dungeons & Dragons,” Trix supplied. “We’re designing Ryan’s character’s backstory.”
“Okay…” I had only a rudimentary knowledge of popular hobbies on the other side of the nodes, but Ryan looked like they’d be more comfortable riding to war than sitting at a table partaking in fictional battles. “Dex plays, too, he told me.”
“Want to join us?” Trix said.
“No,” Ryan answered for me. “So there’s one supplier in Elysium, who also sells cantrips to all the Houses. If they’re the one illegally selling to the Family on the side, I hope you’re ready to face a world of trouble, Bria.”
Not really. Though it’d slipped my mind that this Dawson person must supply the Houses as well as the Spirit Agents. Either the Family was getting their cantrips from elsewhere… or they were closer to my allies than I’d thought.
5
Ryan flat-out refused to go to Elysium without reporting to their master first and proceeded to talk to Trix all the way back without saying a word to me. I felt distinctly like a third wheel as we walked back to the node at the edge of the Death King’s territory, at which point Ryan called up a horse. Neddie, of course, growled at the sight of me and refused to let me mount him.
“I’d like to learn to ride one of those,” Trix announced.
“I can teach you,” said Ryan.
It’d have been nice if you’d offered the same to me. I bit back my protest and attempted to coax another horse over to me, to no avail. While the others rode ahead of me, I walked on foot, fuming, until I reached the castle.
“The Death King’s in the hall,” said Felicity, catching sight of us. “What’s your friend doing here?”
“Visiting,” said Ryan. “Trix, can you wait outside? I won’t be long.”
“What’s the deal with him?” I followed them up the steps to the castle. “I thought you didn’t want anyone from outside to come in here.”
“I’m careful not to let untrustworthy people in here,” Ryan corrected.
“Ouch.” I put a hand over my heart, eyeing the skull-covered pillars on either side of the doors. “Those things are creepy, you know. Has anyone ever tried improving them by sticking fake moustaches on them or something?”
Ryan didn’t answer, pushing open the oak doors in front of us. We entered the hall and found the Death King standing on the dais at the back as though he hadn’t moved since we’d left the castle.
“There’s been a change of plans,” said the Death King, before either of us could speak. “The House of Fire wants to hand over their prisoner now, and they’ve requested your help in restraining Adair while they complete the transfer.”
“Me?” I halted in front of the dais. “Seriously?”
They couldn’t possibly trust me to stop Adair from making a quick getaway, surely. Harris had all but accused me of working with him once already.
“I mentioned that you had a transporter spell,” said the Death King.
Right, of course. “I do, but I’m not sure it would work on two people at once.”
“Then use it to transport Adair through the node and into the castle grounds, and I’ll have people waiting on the other side to restrain him,” he said.
I could think of a dozen ways that might go wrong, but I had the sense that I might as well be talking to a brick wall. Besides, the hardest part would be getting Adair onto the other side of the gates in front of the castle. Once he was there, the collective strength of the Death King’s army ought to be able to subdue him and drag him into the jail, but that didn’t mean Adair wouldn’t try to initiate an escape attempt anyway.
Ryan cleared their throat. “We asked at the warehouse about the suppliers in Elysium, but it seems there’s only one person in the city who buys cantrips from Arcadia’s markets. I have the name and address.”
“Deal with that later,” the Death King said. “Bria, go back to Elysium as soon as possible and speak to the House of Fire about helping transfer their prisoner. Without taking any detours this time.”
Had he known I’d gone to visit the Spirit Agents on my way back? “Can’t I at least grab lunch before I leave? I’ve been on my feet all day.”
The Death King’s cold gaze turned on me, and I had the sudden mental image of him reaching out and ripping out Adair’s soul. I couldn’t deny that was an
