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The waiter filled our glasses and politely asked for the starter order I went for the seared scallop

"Make that two," Garen said, and ere again alone

He studied ht"

"Mmm?"

"Let’s be honest with each other"

"How honest?"

"Brutally Ask me any question, and I’ll answer honestly No shields, no attempt to block the probe I ask the salass "That’s a dangerous game"

"I realize that"

"You won’t like e"

We faced off across the table, like two gunfighters, arlasses of wine instead of six-shooters

"Go ahead," he dared me

"Have you or a member of your fa the third piece of an artifact, which was located in the statue in the Bridge Park?"

I had considered that question carefully That’s how the conspiracy showed itself the first tiue Prime called Adam Pierce Pierce wanted to burn Houston down, but he needed an artifact to auarded secret, entrusted to the Emmens fae, had a hex i their secret The est e out of his mind, despite the hex, the same way I had done with the oldest member of the family, except in my case he had volunteered to help me save Houston

A truthseeker had cracked the hex in the younger Emmens, and I wanted to know if Garen was that truthseeker Asking him about the Emmens family was useless He may not have been told the name of the man whose mind the conspirators wanted unlocked However, if Garen had anything to do with breaking the hex, he would know the location of the object

"I don’t knohat this is about, but that is oddly specific No"

True Relief washed throughI didn’t realize that on some level, I liked him I didn’t want him to be connected to the conspiracy

He studied me, a hint of predatory anticipation in his eyes Despite all his char honesty, Garen was a Prihter?"

"Yes"

The waiter appeared with our appetizers and asked for our orders

"Red snapper," I said

"Medallion de Marcassin à l’aigre-doux"

I won the bet He did order in French

The waiter departed

"Let’s continue," Garen said "Your nificance of a wavy line?"

"I don’t follow"

"When you’re facing someone with hard mental defenses, and you want to loosen their will instead of bashing through it by brute force, you draavy line inside the amplification circle Why do people freak out when they see it?"

Garen stared at ulped all of the wine in one s "Have you done this?"

"Yes Answer the question"

"They freak out, because it’s a spell of House Tremaine Nobody else does it" He leaned forward, focused on me "How do you determine the pattern of the waves?"

"You tailor it to the specific defenses of the person By feel"

"I knew it" He slapped the table lightly "I knew it We’ve been trying to duplicate it for years Will you show ht about it "In the office, when I asked you the last question about ?"

"Yes" I cut a s cold, and it looked delicious It would be a shame to waste it