Jessica wandered over and joined him. “Thank you,” she said.
“What for?”
“For protecting me.”
“You knew I would,” Gavin said.
“And for protecting her.”
“Why wouldn’t I have protected her?”
She smiled. “You could have let this Mistress of Vines take her.”
“You know I couldn’t have,” Gavin said. “I don’t really know what to make of all of this, but I’m not much of a fan of people with magic tossing it around and harming those without. I’ve had a few experiences with magic users.”
“More than just Yoran?”
Gavin nodded. “More than just Yoran.”
“I figured. You handled the El’aras attack much better than anyone else would have. I guessed that you had some experience.”
“Unfortunately. More than what I would’ve liked.”
“What has it involved?”
“Mostly it’s involved trying to keep from drawing notice.”
“It’s been more than that,” she said.
“Before I came to Yoran, and really before I even partnered with Wrenlow, I spent time wandering, which brought me to other places. Yoran isn’t alone in banishing magic, though they do a better job than most cities. There are still places that welcome magic. They embrace it. Most of them aren’t even all that far from the city. Places where they use magic to protect their people—and where they use magic to rule.”
“You have experience with it.”
Gavin shook his head. “I’ve tried to stay away from those places. The man who trained me warned me against spending too much time there. They were dangerous. Not just to outsiders, but to people trained like me.” Now that he’d started to wonder about the nature of his abilities, he had to question whether Tristan had known about his potential for magic and if that was the reason he’d been warned to stay away.
“Have any of your jobs dealt with magic like this?” Jessica asked.
“You mean like my most recent jobs have?”
“I suppose so.”
Gavin shook his head. “Not many. Well, there was one, but it didn’t go so well.”
She raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”
“Let’s just say that I didn’t complete the mission.”
“No?” Jessica started to smile. “What exactly happened?”
“I was hired to take out a dangerous ruler. I didn’t finish the job.”
“So they’re still in charge?”
“No. Thankfully, I at least pushed them out of the city, but there’s always the risk that they might return.” He frowned. “I don’t like it when I can’t finish the job.”
“What about what’s happening here?”
Gavin took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t like having jobs that are incomplete. Even when they deal with magic.” He glanced over at Alex. “She beat me, you know.”
Jessica chuckled. “Are you sure it was her?”
Gavin shrugged. “At the time, I thought it was, but now having seen this Mistress of Vines attack, I’m not even sure anymore. Maybe it wasn’t Alex.”
“I can’t imagine what that’s like,” she said.
“It’s not as bad as you’d think. There are some uses of magic that are quite outstanding. Think of all the enchantments you have. I don’t know much about what Yoran was like before all of that was banished, but I can imagine there were plenty of enchantments that allowed power and amazing things to happen.”
“There were. There were also dangerous and deadly things.”
“Such as?”
“People disappearing. Battles in the streets. Sorcerers fighting sorcerers. Did you know that before the Captain, the person with the most power in the city was a sorcerer?”
Gavin smiled tightly. “That’s not surprising. That’s been the case in many of the cities I’ve seen. And the Captain isn’t without his magical connection. He might not be a sorcerer”—though Gavin wasn’t entirely sure if that was true or not—“but he certainly has enchantments. He has his own connection that enables him to maintain his standing in the city.” He had no idea how extensive that magical connection might be, nor did he know just what the Captain did to keep that position.
Even though the Captain had enchantments, his guards didn’t. That surprised Gavin.
If this was all about sorcery and all about using magic in ways that were hidden, then why wouldn’t the Captain have kept others with him with that kind of power? Why would he have been the only one to have enchantments?
“I don’t think Gaspar likes getting back into this,” Jessica said, leaning across the table and shifting so that she could look at both Gavin and Gaspar.
Gavin glanced over at the old thief. “Getting back into the magical world?”
Jessica nodded slowly before turning her gaze back to him. She smoothed her hair back with one hand, and her brow furrowed.
Was she thinking about how much she still had to do to clean up the tavern?
“In his mind, he was done with it before,” she said.
“Is that why he and Desarra can’t be together?” Having seen the two of them, it seemed strange to Gavin that they couldn’t. They obviously wanted to.
“I don’t know. It’s more complicated than that, and don’t you go pushing me for more answers, Gavin Lorren. I don’t have them. I just know. And I know you don’t need to be pushing Gaspar when he doesn’t want to share.”
“He wants to go back to her for the job.”
“He does?” Jessica asked, watching Gaspar closely.
“I think he believes she has something to offer us so we can figure out what’s taking place. He thinks Desarra might be able to help us find where these other enchanters are.”
“What do you believe?”
Gavin shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter what I believe. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to finish this job.” Maybe he could finish both jobs.
“Then what?”
He looked over at Jessica. “You want me to stay.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t, but you don’t have to. I can see it in your eyes.”
“Are you sure about that, Gavin Lorren? Are you so sure that you can see my thoughts? Do you know what I want?”
“I know you’re the reason the rumors were spread throughout the city.”
“And I’ve told you that I’m not. You can choose whether or not to believe me,
