Read Online My Wicked Enemy by Carolyn Jewel - Free Book Online Page B

way to her shoulder. Her fingers went numb again. “Ouch.”
    “What?”
    “Static electricity, I guess.”
    “You felt that?” He leaned forward, staring at the carving. “That’s very interesting, Carson.”
    She transferred the figurine to her other hand so she could shake out her arm. Her other hand tingled, too. The stone was warm on her palm. In addition to the warmth, it was unusually heavy for its size. Up close the carving was even more detailed than she thought at first glance, down to the locking pattern carved into the hem of its robe. “This is why Magellan is after me,” she said. “I stole it from him because he thinks he needs it for the rituals he’s been writing about. The one he was trying that night. I thought if I took it, maybe he wouldn’t try killing anyone else.”
    “That’s damn noble of you.” Nikodemus ran his fingers through his hair and left his hands clutching his head. “Do you know what that is?”
    “A talisman. A good luck object for the bearer. In the world of the desert-fiends and their worshippers, used as a way to communicate with a personal god or perhaps a revered ancestor.”
    “Close enough.” He let go of his head. “There’s a myth about this one that makes it special.”
    She kept turning the figurine in her hands. The material looked like basalt, but it wasn’t as cool to the touch as it should be. If she were prone to flights of fancy, she’d have said it felt warm from the inside. “Really?”
    “There’s a fiend inside, locked there by a mage. Only a mage can release him. So the story goes.”
    She didn’t look at him, even though he was far too close. She rubbed a forefinger up and down the black rock. “It’s not uncommon for a culture to develop myths about objects they endow with human or godlike characteristics. But I’m sure there’s more to your story than that.” Carson waited for him to continue.
    “Yeah. There is. A lot of mages today would give their firstborn child in order to release the fiend inside that thing. A mage like Álvaro Magellan would want to crack this wide open and take the power into himself.” Carson’s pulse thundered. “Anybody who studies the past knows there’s a price to pay for everything, especially power. You have to take a life in order to crack this thing open and get at the spirit inside. And if the mage succeeds and lives through the aftermath—trust me, that’s not a given—he’ll become invincible. Possibly even immortal.”
    “That’s what Magellan wants,” she whispered.
    Nikodemus tipped his head, exposing his star-ruby cabochon again. “Of course, the mage can’t kill just anybody.”
    “No?”
    “He’d have to kill someone like me.”
    Her heart clenched. “Are you really from China?” she asked, looking at him from under her lashes. “The Gobi Desert?”
    “What do you think?”
    She ran her gaze up and down him and couldn’t tell he wasn’t just like her. He stood close, too close. If she moved her knee even an inch, she’d hit his leg. “I don’t know anymore.”
    “The world has changed, Carson. We pass for human most of the time.” He rubbed his upper arm. “Adapt or die.”
    “What do you really look like?” When she closed her eyes, she saw the creature on the table. She saw the room where Magellan had stood with red dripping down his arms, the tangy smell of blood in the air. The thing dying on the table had looked into her eyes, and his rage and despair pierced straight to her marrow. No one should die like that. No one.
    He spread his hands. “This is the only form you need to worry about.” He didn’t back away. He was too close. Way too close. Making a point.
    “What now?”
    “That, sweetheart, is the question of the day.” Her body twitched from wanting to back up, but she didn’t want to concede the territory. “Hell, that might even be the question of the century. What am I going to do with Magellan’s witch now that I’ve got