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only going to have one chance with you in the house, and I don’t want your magic not working like you think it should.” His voice was grave, and the weight of what they were doing fell on Nalah. It wasn’t her and Esh and their baggage anymore. This was a mission. This is where she or Esh or the man behind her could die.
    Dread pooled through her extremities, leaving her fingers icy numb. She’d never taken lead before. She’d been on missions before, but she was always in the back as support, and even if there was fighting she’d been surrounded by so many others, the possibility of being hurt almost didn’t exist. Now, she was in an unknown place, allied with a guy she didn’t even know what he looked like.
    They were nearing the apartments. Another minute tops before they had to separate. He asked, “The Cage King – is he a tool or part of the operation?”
    Esh would hate to be called a tool. And though she tried to convince herself in the beginning that he was only a cog… “He’s part of it. He doesn’t know how to find the artifact though. That is only me.”
    And there was the door. In a whispered rush, the man said, “The artifact is most important. I’ll try to escape with you and the Cage King, but if I must leave either or both of you to secure the artifact’s safety-”
    “I wouldn’t expect anything else. Don’t worry about it.”
    He opened the door, and as she entered he gave one final warning. “Watch for Lian. You are in his sights now. You were before, as he has an obsession with Esh. He will report you to Beylor. Beylor has a severe underestimation of women. Lian does not, and Beylor will leave it in Lian’s hands.”
    “I’ll watch my back,” she said, but the man was already gone.

Chapter Nine
    ‡
    “T he illustrious Cage King. Truly an honor.”
    The tone said it was anything but, a sentiment Esh had plenty of experience with. “Fuck off,” Esh said, not halting his work on the bag, the give of the fabric not even close to the density of skin and muscle underneath his knuckles, but all he had for now.
    The voice lost the insincerity and now held only resentment. “What, you’re too good to even speak to the rest of us?”
    Jealousy, loud and clear. With a glance, Esh took him in. A guard, not a fighter, so maybe he lost money on a betting against Esh. Or maybe he was a fighter on the outside, one unable to get into the Tour, and now he was taking it out on the man known to have turned down several offers. Whatever the guy’s background, his tone was personal, and the guard had a hard-on for him specific, not fighters in general.
    The bitterness was seeping out of the man, but there was cunning as well. This man wasn’t stupid. Too early to tell if this guard would harm Nalah to hurt Esh or not, but guard-boy needed to be watched. “I’m in training. What do you want?”
    “There was a small problem with your female companion today. I found her wandering the grounds.”
    “Is that all?” Esh began on the bag again. “She’s not a dog. Let her go where she wants.”
    “That’s not the rules.”
    “Right, since we’re rules followers here.”
    Malice dripped from the man’s words. “So you’re okay with others sharing your woman?”
    Esh quit the bag and turned, and the guard lost the smarmy smile. “Let me be real clear. My woman is mine . She is not to be touched, and I don’t care what your fucking rules say, I don’t care if she’s breaking them or not – if anyone touches her, I will rip their ribs out of their chests and beat them to death with ‘em. And if any of you dumb-fuck guards get in my way, I’ll break so many bones no healer in the New Realms will be able to put you back together. Are we understanding one another here?”
    The guard swallowed hard, but that was the only sign Esh’s words got to him. “Just get your woman under control.”
    “I’ll talk to her. You talk to everyone else and tell them what I said.”
    The guard