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"The journey did you well"

I raised a brow "How do you figure?"

"Some metal, inferior metal, will break if you attempt to smelt and refine it Quality steel only becoht make sense, if I were a weapon"

He snored that, despite the shiver of dread it raised on my spine I’d wondered before if the blade ino? Can you get ive me bus fare?"

"I treat ently "But I see you’ve lost your protective charive you another--please try to be more careful with it, and don’t remove it until I tell you"

"Until we’ve laid the trap"

"Yes It will drive Montoya mad when his sorcerer failsand fails and fails He’ll contact you, if I know him at all He’ll try to draw you into the open"

"And I’ll go," I said softly

"But of course You’ll insist on a face-to-face to settle things He’ll see it as very Wild West He likes that If you live, I’ll pay you handsoave me his back

Clearly dismissed, I strode toward the door Paolo opened it In one hand he held an amulet similar to the one I’d worn before This one whispered of a different caster; I listened to its secrets with half an ear as I looped it around my neck

"Aren’t you worried that the tiht here?"

Paolo shook his head, s with patient amusement "The whole place is warded I’m surprised you can’t feel it"

Now that he y struck my feet as I walked, as if the floor itself had been laid withon another plane, I was so eager to get to Shannon, Jesse, Eva, Butch, and Chuch that I’d run all the way to Texas

"Where’s Kel?"

"Your co for you in the kitchen I have instructions to feed you both and then have our pilot take you to Laredo"

I didn’t want food I wanted to leave But since I needed Kel beforehalls

Kel sat with a plate untouched before hi door The kitchen was as large as one ht expect, but emptier The space echoed, and there were no servants to be seen For a nonsensical moment, I wondered if this mansion was like that haunted castle, where cos came to life to tend the beast

"Are you ready?" I asked him

He stared at Paolo until the boy shifted uncomfortably "Give us ain one who had surely grown immune to intimidation, Paolo disappeared the e’d co what to expect He rose and crossed the floor to iven hied to one of the burly henchmen

"You look lovely" And he seemed surprised to hear the words, as if he hadelse Kel stopped just short of touching me

"Thanks" That hy I’d worn the dress, after all, but I felt stupid, trying to please him as if he were the kind of s

"He’s sworn to protect you?"

"Mission acco the amulet

"I have a new one It’s supposed to last until we’re ready to deal with Montoya"

"Ah," he said, and a whisper of regret salted the syllable

My breath hitched "No"

"The risk fades to acceptable levels once you secure the alliance with Escobar You’ve done so My oing with you any farther"

"New orders?"

"Yes"

Maybe they’d deo and people to kill I appreciated hiht even be borderline disobedience, the sort of thing that earned hiation before I wouldn’t make it worse for hied a light tone "Maybe our paths will cross again someday"