“I suppose. I still want to know what she’s talking about.”
Jessica gave him an annoyed look, and she flashed a smile at Alex before guiding Wrenlow away.
“I’m sorry about him,” Gavin said. “He doesn’t always see what’s obvious.”
“And he provides your intelligence?” Alex asked.
“He’s smart, but it doesn’t mean he’s smart.”
“Sounds like the two of you are quite the pair,” Gaspar said.
“Careful,” Gavin said.
“Or what? You’re going to continue to harass me?”
Alex laughed softly. “What happens if she comes back?”
“Seeing as how we stopped her for a little while, we don’t have to worry about that just yet.”
Though Gavin doubted they would have much longer.
“What I don’t really understand is why she would’ve needed me to get you out of the Captain’s fortress,” he said. “As powerful as she was, I would’ve expected that she’d have been able to rescue you herself.”
“It wouldn’t have been a rescue,” Gaspar said.
“Fine. Not rescue, but break her out. Why did she need us?”
“There are protections around the fortress,” Alex said.
“You were aware of them?”
“The Captain warned me. He told me I wasn’t going to be able to do much there. He said it would get better.”
“That your magic would get stronger? More controlled?”
Alex shook her head. “I don’t really know.”
Gavin leaned back, crossing his hands in front of him while thinking. The man had enchantments, that much Gavin was certain of. The Captain’s indestructible nature suggested that those enchantments were powerful and that somebody was creating them for him.
“What else can you tell us about your time there?” Gaspar asked.
“I was only there for a few days. They fed me, and then he had people working with me.”
Gaspar frowned. “What do you mean they were working with you?”
“They were testing me. I think he was trying to see how much I knew.”
Troubling. There had to be a reason she’d been brought there, and a reason the Captain knew about her. None of this made any sense to him.
Jessica came out of the kitchen carrying a tray of food and drinks, which she set on the table in front of them.
Gavin got up and tapped Gaspar’s shoulder. “I need a word.”
Gaspar joined him, and they headed to a table in the back corner of the tavern.
“Something about this isn’t adding up,” Gavin said.
“It’s about time you saw that.”
“Have you been able to figure out what’s going on?”
“No, but I share your concern,” Gaspar said.
“What do you think it is?”
Gaspar looked over to where Alex sat quietly at the table. “I don’t know. You said she was powerful when she attacked you?”
Gavin nodded. “That was controlled magic, Gaspar. I don’t know how much experience you had with that in your previous occupation, but this was someone who was in control of what they were doing. I had to use every bit of focus I had to withstand it.”
“Are you sure it was your focus that helped you?” Gaspar asked.
“What else would it have been?”
“You know you have other potential.”
“Let’s not go into that now,” Gavin said.
“Are you afraid to?”
“I’m not afraid to get into it, but I think we have a more pressing matter at hand.”
“And I think they’re connected,” Gaspar said.
Gavin took a deep breath. “Possibly.” He couldn’t deny that there might be something more taking place. “If so, we still need to know what they intended.”
“In that, we agree.” Gaspar frowned. “Your friend does have a good idea though.”
“Which is?”
“This other job you were offered. This Zella,” he said, frowning again as he did. “I can’t help but think that we might be able to borrow some information from that job.”
“Borrow?” Gavin asked.
“Perhaps that’s not the right word, but we might be able to find this group of enchanters and uncover more about the Mistress of Vines,” Gaspar said.
“It sounds to me like we know all that we need to about her.”
“Are you sure about that? She almost single-handedly took down all of us. Think about what she was able to do to you. You, a man trained to fight and control himself, someone who has the ability to handle all sorts of different dangerous scenarios, was nearly overpowered by this Mistress of Vines.”
“She surprised me,” Gavin said. He hated admitting it, but it was true that she’d surprised him and nearly overwhelmed him, though he wasn’t going to tell Gaspar that.
“Of course she did. She’s powerful.”
Gavin breathed out slowly. “It won’t happen again.”
“I hope not.”
He glanced over at Gaspar. “So are we going to find this group of enchanters?” He looked around the tavern, locking eyes with Wrenlow for a moment before he turned his attention back to his notebook and began writing.
“It sounds like it,” Gaspar said.
“Good. I need the coin,” Gavin said.
Gaspar looked over, his expression darkening. “What?”
Gavin shrugged. “The job would pay an additional third when I find Zella.”
“If she’s there, you need to be cautious. We don’t know anything about this jade egg.”
With everything else that had been going on so far, Gavin knew better than to get locked up in another job. Alex had been enough of one, and now that he had another…
He sighed. “That’s where we need to start. Find the egg. Find the enchanters. Help Alex.”
Gaspar clenched his jaw. “You might be right.”
“You don’t have to sound like it hurts you to say it.”
“It does hurt to say it. I don’t like the idea of you being right. Been right too much these days,” Gaspar growled.
Gavin smiled at him. A rare compliment from Gaspar. “You know, I am right more often than I’m wrong.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Gaspar said.
“I think you want to work with me more than you’re letting on.”
“See? Now you’re just proving how often you’re wrong.”
Gavin chuckled as he shook his head. “Where do we start?”
Gaspar sighed. “As much as it pains me, I feel like we need to go back to Desarra.”
“Why Desarra? Because she was the one who got us the plans to the Captain’s fortress?”
“That… and another reason.”
“What other reason?” Gavin asked.
“I’m not going to share
