Exhaling heavily, he gathered his bearings and looked around. The omniscience spell certainly came in handy at times, but it took too much energy, and he couldn’t hold it for long.
He stepped out of the shadows and began weaving in and out of the crowd, his height giving him a clear advantage to scope the gathering. Had Cadmus not mentioned Lexa’s possible presence, Arim would have used a locator spell. But he wanted to keep his presence here fairly discreet. Of course, his physical presence would be noticed, but by toning down his aura, he would seem more a human look-alike than the great Arim, Sorcerer of Tanselm.
He planned on taking Lexa by surprise, and not the other way around.
Glancing about, he noted a familiar woman serving drinks at one of the bars. She was surrounded by men clamouring for her attention.
“Ellie,” he murmured, studying the woman who’d so captured Cadmus’ thoughts. If she was Djinn, she didn’t show it. She was certainly the loveliest woman in the club, but she didn’t possess the Djinn’s spark, that outer flame of darkness that crackled when it met the Light.
Ellie was, however, a sensual woman a man would be hard-pressed not to immediately desire. She was tall and slender, with an athletic frame that pleasingly carried full, rounded breasts. Her skin was not as pale as Alandra’s, but rather that of a woman who liked the sun. He mulled the thought, another detail that made her less a Djinn and more a xiantope female.
Long, blond hair was pulled back from her face, framing sculpted cheeks and a strong chin that hinted at stubbornness. Her full lips parted in a smile as she looked to her co-worker, and as the lights flashed over her face, he saw her eyes were a bright, burning blue.
She rose on her toes to reach for a glass above her and something twinkled from her abdomen. She’d had her navel pierced, and a sudden recollection of Cadmus’ feelings about the ring made Arim’s pulse race.
His nephew was obsessed about the woman, no doubt. But was she the Djinn Cadmus had encountered? Was the Djinn his nephew had met truly evil?
For all that Aerolus seemed sure the Djinn influence over Cadmus wouldn’t harm him, Arim had his doubts. Ellie might be innocent and she might not. But until he dealt with her one on one, he wouldn’t know for sure.
He started forward with the express intent of taking the woman for questioning when a sudden stillness settled over the club.
“Dammit.” He seethed as he watched the people around him slowing, the beer at the taps moving like heavy syrup until it stopped flowing altogether. Another time distortion, courtesy, no doubt, of the Aellei.
“Don’t you Shadren ever learn?” he snarled, not about to let his only lead to Cadmus slip away. As he combated the affects of the time warp, he noted slithering creatures clinging to the dark mingling amongst the frozen club patrons.
Great. He not only had Aellei to deal with, but wraiths as well. And he had to do his best to kill them without harming the innocent xiantopes around him. What else could go wrong?
Much later, he had disposed of the wraiths and all but two of the Aellei. He scowled when he noted Zartic was one of the surviving warriors.
“Didn’t learn a thing from our earlier encounter, hmm?” he asked, making his tone as menacing as possible. His ribs hurt, and he had to wipe at the blood from a cut above his eye. The slight burning in his side reminded him he wasn’t yet immune to the wraiths’ blue flame, despite the measures he’d been taking to withstand it. He felt tired but otherwise fine, and his anger grew as he realised Ellie had disappeared while he’d been battling to protect the crowd and himself.
“My lord, please,” Zartic begged, his face smeared with blood. He lay propped against a wall, his legs at an odd angle from his torso. His gaze darted beyond Arim, and he blanched. “So many dead, and for what?” he asked bitterly.
“Yes, for what?” Arim asked quietly, wanting an answer. Why the show of force? Why come after him in such a public forum, or had they been after someone else, Ellie, perhaps?
“For me,” a hard female growl answered before Arim felt himself shoved from this world to the space between.
Alandra rubbed at her forehead, a sudden shifting of Shadow making her wince.
“Alandra?”
She waved away his concern as the throbbing in her head faded. “I’m fine. Probably tension from thinking about this mess.” Her eyes fell to his impressive erection, and her loins quickened. “Of course, I’m certain you’ve a cure-all just waiting for me.”
He grinned and her heart turned over in her chest. She cleared her throat, squirming against the moisture pooling between her legs. “As I was saying, Lidra and Zartic, her Der captain, were lovers on and off again for several years. I’d learned growing up that knowledge was power, and if I truly wanted out of the royal courts, I’d need something really good to escape.”
Aerolus shook his head. “You’re talking about blackmail.”
“Of course.” She frowned. “Don’t even try acting holier-than-thou with me. You don’t grow up in a castle without being familiar with politics and intrigue, Prince Aerolus.”
He sighed. “Point taken.”
“I knew Zartic was Lidra’s current lover, so when they’d meet, I’d give them a few moments to do their thing.” She ignored his slow grin. “Then I’d listen in. And it usually paid off. On one particular night, I overheard Lidra talking to Zartic about Tanselm.”
Aerolus stilled.
“I hadn’t thought about Tanselm in ages, not since I studied your world in our battlements class. But I still grow tingly when I think about the power resonant there. Tanselm teems with magic, from the soil to the animals to its people.” She stared at him, suddenly aware of his close ties with the land. “Tanselm is part of who you are, isn’t it?”
He nodded. “Our elemental magic is tied directly to our world. My winds are Tanselm’s, Darius’ fire her fire, Marcus’ water her waters. And Cadmus, he is perhaps the closest to her bounty.”
“The Earth Lord,” she murmured. “It’s funny how alike you all are, but I don’t see any of them as powerful as you.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Maybe.” She stared at him, seeing the sensual magic that flared as he watched her, a tangible energy reaching out to her, and she hurried her explanation. Shadow’s Bend, but if she didn’t take him inside her soon, she was going to die of frustration.
“When Lidra mentioned Tanselm, I listened. I couldn’t believe what she meant to do. She ordered Zartic to take several dozen of the Der to meet and escort a Dark Lord, one of Lidra’s newest friends, into Aelle. The Dark Lords are greedy. Aelle is a land of Shadow, yes, but we’ve kept them out of our world for centuries because we know they aren’t to be trusted.”
“They’d take Aelle as surely as they’d try for Tanselm.”
“Yes. So I was shocked when Zartic nodded and left to do Lidra’s bidding. I was further stunned when, after he left, ‘Sin Garu appeared at her side.”
“He was there, in Aelle?”
“Yes. And none of us had known.” Her thoughts turned to Sava, who, contrary to his assertive nature, had begged Alandra to keep quiet about what she’d seen. Perhaps he’d been more aware of Lidra’s schemes than she knew. Glancing at Aerolus, she noted his eyes blazing with curiosity and continued.
“The Dark Lord began applauding, causing Lidra to burst into eerie, high-pitched laughter. I was creeped out, from ‘Sin Garu’s presence as much as Lidra’s apparent insanity.
“I stuck around for a while, until they continued where she and Zartic left off.” She could still see ‘Sin Garu’s bone white skin, the blue fire tattoo covering his lower back swirling and glowing as he mounted and thrust the Aellein queen into Darkness.