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"Yes," she quavered "Many tiirls you brought?"

"I never saw theain" The woman sobbed Arvil still looked like a thundercloud, but he was staring at the waitress, now

"So anybody who learned what he did to those woe Pull the vids," Arvil ordered "Now Teeg, hire bodyguards for Reah Delvin?" Delvin and Milus had arrived and were surveying theabout Haral? What he was doing?" All of us turned toward Delvin

"No, Master Arvil I never guessed" I knew right then, even if Arvil and the others didn’t Delvin was lying

"It looks like a warlock’s work Or a powerful wizard’s" Arvil ran the vid over and over again It went blurry at the sa on the floor and there was blood everywhere "Look into the disappearances for the last full turn--see if any of the ht have been able to afford this," Arvil ordered

I watched Arvil as he fretted So had slipped past hiht under his nose, too Not only had wo, but his pet wizard had been responsible The waitress had been handed to the constabulary--at Arvil’s insistence She’d be charged on Cathy jail time--if Arvil didn’t order her death It wouldn’t surprise me if he chose to do so

Haral had been waiting to do the same with me as he’d done with countless other wo The chief of security had found the vial of poison, handing it to Arvil after it was analyzed Arvil pocketed it Delvin had re Milus hadn’t said a word Teeg ordered a security teaet rid of the body and clean up theto contact Wilffin--I think I need his warlocks," Arvilto eat? Come with me"

I didn’t want to eat and picked at ed to eat Delvin and Milus also ate a meal in Kiasz’s restaurant, but I hadn’t failed to notice the brief look of dismay on Delvin’s face when Arvil mention Wilffin’s name

"Reah, sweetheart, I’ll hire security for you to anywhere without ainst hi, I’ wasn’t satisfied with that "Come on, let’s use that spa tub in our bath," he coaxed I wanted to tell Teeg that Delvin had been lying to Arvil earlier while I leaned against his wide chest in our tub How could I tell hi? There wasn’t any good explanation for it It was just soation of the waitress--it looked as if he’d done that sort of thing before He’d knohat questions to ask It round Why he’d come to Caht open up questions about my life--questions not covered by the information on Arvil’s co I loved hi, I love you" I turned in his arms so I could look up at his face His lips curled into a heart-twisting smile as he leaned down to kiss me

I had to use the vid-coinning toI was fretting--I wanted to be there to make the oxberry tarts Instead, I was held captive inside the palace--neither Teeg nor Arvil wantedsaid absolutely not unless he ithhe’d come back soon so I could make tarts, I sent mindspeech to Lendill instead

I can’t leave the house, Vice-Director, until I have guards That idiot wizard Haral wanted to kill ot to hiood They e

Reah, I’ll infor of Karathia had a price on that one’s head--he was a warlock, not your garden-variety wizard, Lendill told me Well, that explained a lot Warlocks tended to be worse than wizards if they went bad It made me wonder about Milus and Carthin They were the wizards, in addition to Haral, whom Bel said weren’t native to Mandil

Does Wylend have a bounty on anyone nah to call him by his first name?

Probably not to call him Wylend, but we did alan He caot about that, Lendill said It sounded as if he werehimself I’ll ask about those two That may not be their real names, Reah Many of them have so many aliases we can’t keep track of theet a look at them He’s aware of those wanted by Wylend Arden, just as well as his father Erland is In the uards Don’t trust anyone there except Tory and Ry

Don’t worry, Vice-Director There aren’t that s around in the kitchen helped withfound ht behind him He’d hired two Those tere Tory and Ry

Consciously closingopen for several ticks, I just know it), I listened while Teeg introduced uards At least they’d kept their first names Ry was now Ry Nolin and Tory was Tory Lathif I wondered if Lathif was Tory’s bending of the term Thifilathi, but I sure didn’t want to ask Not out loud, anyway Teeg grinned at ht through that A bit of shimmer lay about them, just as there had been when they’d been on Mandil I’d learned that uise