The Eldritch Conspiracy

“She and some of the other queens are already here and have requested the large conference room for later today.” Adriana’s eyes flashed dangerously. Chiyoko was definitely a tough customer, but I wouldn’t want to cross Adriana with that look on her face. “Don’t worry about a thing, Mother. I will take care of it. Concentrate on getting well. You will have your throne to come back to.”



Apparently Lopaka had seen the same steel in her daughter that I had. She smiled, proud and pleased. “I don’t doubt it. You will be a fine queen, daughter.”



There was a flicker of warmth in the green eyes. Adriana spoke again, with a heavy sigh. “I don’t worry about my safety for the moment, but I won’t be able to leave Serenity for the duration of this impromptu queens’ council. Celia, I must ask for your help. Someone must be responsible for obtaining the bridesmaids’ dresses. And someone must guard Natasha and Olga as well.”



I hated it, but she was right. If someone was whittling down the wedding party to disrupt the event, the bridesmaids were certain targets. But while Adriana was confident about her safety, I didn’t know that I agreed. A lot of people live on Serenity, not to mention the many visitors arriving for the wedding. No doubt the queen’s guard and security force was going to be pressed to the limit, running background checks on every guest and citizen. I certainly couldn’t be at two places at once. Serenity. Who was on Seren—? Okay. I had a thought about a scenario I could accept. Lopaka must have been listening in to my thoughts because she lifted delicate blonde eyebrows just as I once again raised a hand to catch everyone’s eyes. “Sorry to interrupt, but how about this—I’ve worked with Helen Baker of the Siren Guard. I trust her skill, and her loyalty is without question. If she’s available, I’d be willing to work with her as a partner in protecting Adriana and the Rusland bridesmaids. Partners protect each other, which meets your desires, and I can trust her to guard Adriana while on Serenity, meeting my goals. Would that be satisfactory?”



Lopaka nodded. “That would be satisfactory. Her skill is renowned and I would trust her with my life … or that of my daughter. I will make her available.”



Adriana mirrored her mother’s dip of the head. “Baker is acceptable.”



It didn’t appear that Dahlmar had met her, even though he was once on the island when she was working with me. He deferred the issue about the protection of his future bride to Creede by looking up at him with a questioning expression. Creede said, “I’ve met her. She’s qualified. Quick, a good shot, smart. No objection from me.”



My cousin actually breathed a little visible sigh, as though a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. “Then it’s settled. Celia, as for the dresses, at this point I honestly don’t care what they look like or how much they cost. Just get the bridesmaids into a shop and find something suitable. Your taste in clothing seems to be similar to my own.”



Wait. She wanted me to shop for the bridesmaids’ dresses? With Olga and Natasha? I bit my tongue until I tasted blood. I wasn’t going to say anything because anything I said would come out bitchy. I might think all kinds of things, and the telepaths might hear them, but my lips would be sealed.



Creede raised a single eyebrow, and I swear I saw the hint of a smile twitch at the corner of his mouth. Surely he couldn’t read my mind from such a long distance? Surely not.



Could he?



Another smile twitched at his lips. But when he spoke his voice was utterly bland and businesslike as he changed topics. “The authorities have spent the last several hours going over the magical signatures of the evidence. Both Mr. DeLuca’s signature and mine were on some of the artifacts that had been shattered and worked into the bullets. So the authorities were very interested in what the two of us have been up to. I was detained and have been answering questions. As, I believe, has Mr. DeLuca. Fortunately for each of us, it was obvious that the items had been created some time ago.”



Oh, crap. That explained why Bruno looked like hell. Frankly, I was a little surprised he’d gotten out as quickly as he did. It had to have been ugly. I was surprised neither of them was still in custody or being questioned. I looked from one to the other. They might have been friends if not for me. As it was, they respected each other as men, mages, and rivals.



Creede continued, “There was a more recent signature I didn’t recognize. Bruno, had you seen it before?”



I stepped back so that Bruno could stand on the X. “It was vaguely familiar.” He ran his hand through his hair in an unconscious gesture of frustration. “I know I’ve seen it somewhere, but I can’t pin down where. I’d thought it might be from when we worked with so many people on the rift. But if you don’t recognize it, that can’t be it.”



That got me thinking: Where had Bruno spent time with a bunch of magic users without Creede?



The answer was obvious, at least to me. “The college.” Emma echoed me an instant later as Kevin nodded. Clearly I hadn’t been the only one to figure it out.



Rizzoli looked from me to Bruno, to Creede, to Kevin and Emma. “All right, people. Somebody spill it. What college? What are we talking about?”



I didn’t answer, just turned to Bruno. Rizzoli was quick. He’d catch on in a second without a blow-by-blow. “It’s got to be. Who there has enough juice—”



Bruno’s expression was thoughtful. I could tell he was going through everyone on staff in his mind. He turned to Emma. “Em? Who’s tested the highest in the GAs?”



“Jan.” She turned to Rizzoli. “No question. Jan Mortensen is one of the graduate assistants at the university. He’s a powerful mage and the most secretive person I know. He always works magic by himself, and he always cleans up even the tiniest trace of his workings once he’s done. I’ve never met a mage as careful as him.”



“I’ve never worked with him,” Bruno admitted. He sounded surprised, like it should have occurred to him that it was unusual, but it hadn’t before.



“No,” Em said. “And that’s weird all by itself. Because Sloan’s been having you work with everybody. You do amazing artifact work, better than even our tenured professors of magic.” Wow. I do believe he actually blushed at the compliment. Admittedly, Emma is pretty stingy with praise.



She continued, musing almost to herself as she spoke. “But Jan’s never even seemed interested in spending any time with you and keeps avoiding me when I try to schedule it. But there’s a good chance something he worked on is in Dr. Sloan’s office somewhere. Sloan was his advisor last year.”



“We will need to question this Jan.” Dahlmar spoke softly, but his voice sent chills up my spine. I’d had a chance to see some of Dahlmar’s retainers in action. And while they’d never done anything untoward, I got the distinct impression they would, just as soon as the setting was a little more private.



“No, Your Majesty.” Rizzoli stepped onto the X as Bruno vacated it. His voice was as hard as granite, and about as warm. “We will need to question him. The attack was on American soil. We will be happy to cooperate and share information, but we are the lead investigators and are in charge.” He stepped off of the X, and in what was probably the most carefully planned “accident” of his career, stumbled and wound up stepping on the red button on the power strip, bringing the video conference to an abrupt end.



Just as well. Because while the king hadn’t had a chance to say anything, his expression said more clearly than words that he’d do what he damned well pleased. Lopaka’s face had looked much the same.



It seemed a lot of powerful people really wanted to talk to Jan. We’d just have to see who got there fastest.



14



I slathered myself with sunscreen—Emma kept extra bottles on hand for me—and checked my weapons while Rizzoli called for backup to meet him at the university. Rizzoli, Bruno, and I walked out toward the cars, leaving the others behind. We were halfway across the parking lot when the guys exchanged a look. Rizzoli turned to face me, pulling his hand out of his pocket; he was holding something that I couldn’t see.



“What?” I looked from one man to the other, trying to figure out what was going on.



“Sorry, honey. You’re not coming. Not this time.” Bruno didn’t sound sorry. He sounded smug. I’d barely opened my mouth to argue when I heard the crack of a spell disk breaking and found I couldn’t say anything.



I’d been hit with a full body bind. I couldn’t move a muscle.



The bastard.



Once upon a time I’d suggested this exact spell to Creede. He’d worked out the kinks and started mass-producing different variations. The one favored by law enforcement froze all of the major muscles, but left the heart and lungs alone. Some people could even manage the occasional finger twitch. The binding lasted for ten minutes—long enough for the bad guy to be cuffed and put in the back of the squad car. From what I’d heard, John had been making a fortune off of them. They were certainly useful. I wasn’t surprised Rizzoli stocked them. I was just surprised he’d use it on me.



“He’s right, Graves,” Rizzoli said. “You’re sitting this one out. I respect you and you’re capable as hell. But you’ve been named a target by these guys and you’re a civilian. I can’t risk it. I wouldn’t be taking DeLuca here if I didn’t need him for permission to search the office. I am sorry.” At least he sounded like he meant it. Of course that didn’t make me any less pissed when I watched him walk over to my Miata and let the air out of two of my tires.



“I can’t believe you did that!” Emma stood in the doorway, glaring from Bruno to Rizzoli and back again. Kevin, a step or so behind her, was chortling.



“She’ll be fine in ten minutes,” Bruno assured her. “And you know how Mortensen feels about her, and even vampires can be killed by magic. Do you really think she should come along?”