Maybe that came through in my expression. I think it did; I wasn’t trying to hide my intentions and Onyx sensed it. ‘Get out,’ Onyx said. He kept his eyes on me, but the message wasn’t for us.
The crowd obeyed. They didn’t quite break into a run – they moved just slowly enough that they could pretend that they weren’t being chased – but they didn’t dawdle either. Only Pyre and Onyx didn’t move. The door slammed and the four of us were alone in the room.
Onyx lowered one hand and leaned back on the table. ‘Okay, Verus. Talk fast.’
Okay, so far so good. ‘You and the Council have a mutual enemy,’ I said. ‘They want to make a deal.’
‘Yeah?’ Onyx said. ‘Who?’
‘Richard Drakh.’
The half-sneer vanished from Onyx’s face and he stared at me blankly. Seconds ticked away.
‘Well?’ I said when Onyx didn’t answer.
‘This some trick?’ Onyx asked at last.
‘No.’
‘You trying to push something?’ Onyx took a threatening step forward. ‘If you’re lying again—’
‘No!’ I snapped. ‘If I didn’t mean it, you think I’d come here?’
‘So why?’
‘Because while the Council might hate you, they hate Richard a lot more,’ I said. ‘That raid on the Vault was a step too far and now he’s at the top of the Council’s hit list. Enough that they’re even willing to make a deal with you.’
Onyx gave me that blank stare again.
‘It’s a trick,’ Pyre said, speaking for the first time. His voice was quite at odds with his appearance; deep and masculine.
‘How would it be a trick?’ I said.
‘You want us to do your dirty work,’ Pyre said.
‘You mean, get rid of Richard yourself?’ I said, and shrugged. ‘That would be nice, but realistically speaking, I think we both know that’s not going to happen. If you could do that, you’d have done it already.’
‘Then what do you want?’ Onyx demanded.
‘They want a time and a place,’ I said. ‘Find Richard. They’ll do the rest.’
‘They,’ Onyx said. ‘You won’t be anywhere near, huh?’ The sneer seemed half-hearted; I had the feeling he was thinking.
‘He’s lying,’ Pyre said.
‘Shut up,’ Onyx said absently. He walked across the room, began to wander back, turned on me abruptly. ‘How much?’
‘An imbued item,’ I said. ‘Or amnesty for something, if you want, so long as it’s not too heinous.’
Onyx laughed. ‘Gonna have to do better than that.’ He walked back to his chair, dropped into it, then looked at me with an unpleasant smile. ‘I want all of them.’
‘All of what?’
‘The imbued items from the Vault,’ Onyx said. ‘The ones you’ve got back, and the ones Drakh still has.’
I stared at Onyx for five seconds – just long enough to check the futures – then shook my head. ‘You’re delusional,’ I said. I glanced at Anne. ‘Time to go.’ I turned and started towards the exit.
Anne followed instantly, the picture of obedience … at least on the surface. In my head, she sounded less certain. Is this a good idea?
Trust me.
Pyre’s watching us. He’s thinking about it.
I know.
I reached out and took hold of the door handle, and Onyx’s voice sounded from behind me. ‘Okay, okay. I’m just fucking with you.’
I turned to see that Onyx was grinning. Pyre wasn’t. ‘You ready to be serious?’ I asked.
‘Let’s say ten,’ Onyx said. ‘Five from Drakh’s, five from your stores.’
‘The entire contents of this mansion and the people in it aren’t worth ten imbued items,’ I said. ‘Two.’
‘From your vaults?’
‘Onyx, I’m only talking about the ones in our vaults,’ I said. ‘Because you and I both know that you’ll steal anything you can get your hands on from Richard’s stores, no matter what we agree on.’
Onyx didn’t bother to deny it. ‘Seven, then.’
I relaxed very slightly. There was no violence in the futures any more. Maybe Onyx would keep his word and maybe he wouldn’t – actually, I was fairly sure he wouldn’t – but you don’t bargain with someone you’re planning to kill. We argued back and forth, Onyx alternating between haggling and threatening. Pyre said nothing, watching us with his blue eyes.
Being a diviner is all about preparation. Whenever I go to a meeting like this, I gear up first – for every one hour I spend talking to mages I don’t trust, I spend five to ten hours planning for contingencies and getting hold of the right gear. Admittedly, this meeting had been more extreme than usual, but the basic situation was the same. When you’re a diviner, pretty much every mage you meet has the potential to kill you in a straight fight, which is why you don’t give them one.
But the thing about preparation is that you usually don’t end up using it. Every now and again, when I go to one of these meetings, all hell breaks loose, and when that happens, my preparation and skill are the only things keeping me alive. But for every one meeting that goes like that, there are ten more where nothing in particular happens. It probably doesn’t seem that way if you listen to me tell you about it, but that’s because if everything goes to plan, there’s nothing to tell. And most of the time, meetings do go like that. It’s just that the ones that don’t are the ones that get you killed.
In the end, the meeting with Onyx turned out to be one of the uneventful ones. Despite our past history and despite his threats, we finished up our negotiations, said our goodbyes and left on as good terms as could realistically be expected. And half an hour after arriving, Anne and I were walking back out through the front door.
I can’t believe that worked, Anne said.
Please don’t jinx it, I said. Anyone following?
Just that boy, but he didn’t get too close. Onyx and Pyre stayed in the ballroom. I think we’re clear.
Yeah, well, keep scanning just in case. I switched mental frequencies. Vari? We’re out. Be ready to gate.
There was a moment’s pause, then I heard Variam’s voice in my head. Got it. Ready to go as soon as you are.
There’s always a rush of relief after a successful operation. We didn’t completely relax until we were past the second staging point, but once we did, you could feel the tension go out like flowing water. By the time we arrived back at the Hollow, the others were laughing and cracking jokes.
‘So what’s the plan?’ Vari asked me.
‘I go back to somewhere where there’s a phone signal and give Talisid the news,’ I said. ‘And probably hear him complain about what I had to promise Onyx.’
‘He’d better not after all this,’ Luna said.
‘You can come along and tell him that if you want,’ I said with a grin.
Luna shook his head. ‘Nah. Vari’s got his Keeper thing and I said I’d come along.’
‘Keeper thing?’ I asked Variam.
‘Drinks and stuff,’ Variam said. ‘They said I could bring a guest.’
‘Oh, don’t be so modest,’ Luna said. She looked at Anne and me. ‘It’s the Carpenter Club. It’s only supposed to be for Keepers with at least three years’ service. It’s Vari’s first invite.’
I looked at Variam with interest. ‘Sounds like they’re impressed with you.’