“This is it.” I nodded towards the pale stone building ahead. “This is where we’ll find the forger.”
Callan gave me a curt nod while his dark eyes shifted from the area around us to the house. Oil lamps burned in their glass domes along the street, helping the pale moonlight illuminate the otherwise dark city. We were close to one of the parks, and crickets chirped their nightly songs in the thick green bushes a short distance away. I drew in a calming breath of clear night air and then flicked my gaze towards Callan.
I didn’t want him with me when I talked to Paige. Mostly because I didn’t want him to know more about me or my contacts than was absolutely necessary. But also because he had laughed at Paige’s name, and if he were to mock Paige to her face, I would kill him where he stood. And we still had a mission to finish before I could get to that part.
A wicked plan formed in my mind. Ah, yes, that’ll keep him occupied.
“Callan.” I raised a hand and pointed towards the street that would take him to the other side of the building. “Go to the back door and make sure she doesn’t run. We have a complicated history so I’m not sure how she’ll react to seeing me.”
For a moment, it looked like he was about to argue, but then he just nodded again and started in the indicated direction. An evil smile spread across my lips. Oh, he was in for a surprise.
I closed the final distance to the door and rapped my knuckles against it in a predetermined pattern. Or at least, that was the pattern it had been last time I’d seen her.
Seconds passed.
Then the door was edged open and a blond woman peered out. Shock pulsed in her blue eyes as she met my gaze.
“Audrey,” she pressed out. Before I could reply, she opened the door wider and motioned for me to get inside. “Come in.”
I moved into the darkened hallway while she closed the door behind me. There was candlelight coming from a room up ahead, so I started towards it when Paige nudged me forwards.
A cozy study met me as I crossed the threshold. There was a beautifully carved desk and a comfortable-looking chair by the wall, and a couch in front of a small fireplace. Potted plants with thick green leaves dotted the room and a plush carpet covered the stone floor.
Stopping in the middle of the room, I turned around to face Paige.
“You’re alive,” she said before I could open my mouth.
“Yeah.”
“I hoped you were, but I was never sure.” Her eyes searched my face. “What’s it been? Five years?”
“Six.”
“You’ve grown up.”
“So have you.”
She held my gaze for another few seconds, her expression neutral. Then a wide smile lit up her face and she closed the distance between us, wrapping me into a hug. Warmth swirled in my chest as I hugged her back. For a moment, we just stood there. Locked in an embrace that was long overdue.
Paige ran her hands down my arms as she released me and stepped back. “I knew that you made it out, but I never knew what happened afterwards.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I couldn’t risk contacting you.”
“I know.”
“Did you go through with the…?”
“Yeah.” When she saw the sadness that blew across my face, she just gave me a small smile and shrugged. “Oh, don’t worry about me. This was the path I chose, and I don’t regret it for a second.”
Paige was a water mage. Or she had been when I escaped Eldar. I had always suspected it, but now I knew for certain that she had stayed at the academy and gone through with the graduation ceremony. So now she was just a mediocre mage with access to a little bit of everything through the Great Current. However, her true skills had always lain elsewhere.
“Your parents used our story, by the way,” she continued. “They twisted it so that it sounded like you moved to Castlebourne to start a new life after a serious falling out with your sister.”
“Yeah, I heard.”
“She has started a school for troubled kids. To help them get back on the right path.”
I snorted. “Of course she has.”
Paige laughed too. Then she turned serious as she once more searched my face. “But you didn’t risk your life coming here just to say hi. You need my help with something. Were you caught? Do you need me to help you get out again?”
Gratitude warmed my wicked heart. Even after all these years, Paige was still ready to help me with my illegal acts. A wistful smile blew across my lips. Dark mages didn’t have friends, but I had always considered Paige to be a small exception to that rule. After all, she was the reason I’d even managed to escape Eldar in the first place.
We’d been friends back at the academy. Early on, she had realized that she was really talented at copying people’s handwriting. That had later led to her starting up a small side business as a forger while we were still in school. In each other, we had recognized the same need to excel at whatever we did, along with a certain penchant for breaking the rules, so we’d become friends. When I at last made the decision to run, Paige was the one who forged the documents that allowed me to just walk right out the gate. If she hadn’t done that, I wasn’t sure how I would have escaped.
“I’m in serious trouble,” I answered. “In fact, all dark mages are in serious trouble.”
“Because of Lance Carmichael and his campaign?”
“Yeah.”
She nodded and then held up a hand. “Don’t tell me any more than I need to know. It’s safer that way. For both of us.”
I inclined my head in acknowledgement before saying, “I need two documents of citizenship.”
“From which city?”
“Castlebourne, and I need them as fast as possible.”
Rubbing her arm, she glanced over at the clock on the mantelpiece before nodding to herself. “Two, you said? I should be able to get that done tonight.” She waved a hand towards a notepad on the desk. “Just write down all the information there.”
I moved over to the indicated notepad. Paper rustled faintly as I pulled it closer and began writing down all the information that needed to be included in the documents, and also where to deliver them once they were done. When I was finished, I straightened and turned back to Paige.
“Thank you.” Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the stack of cash I had put there before Callan and I stashed our packs at the end of John’s smuggler tunnel. I held it out to her. “For this. And for last time.”
She let out a light laugh and waved me off. “Nah, you get the friends and family discount.”
I kept holding out the rather large pile of money, but she still refused to take it so I placed it on her desk instead. Another huff of amusement escaped her lips as she shook her head at me. Leaving the cash on the smooth tabletop, I closed the distance between us again.
“Thank you for what you did for me back then.” I held her gaze. “I’m sorry I couldn’t return the favor.”
“Don’t be.” She smiled back at me. “I’m happy with my life just the way it is. I could never have been a dark mage. It’s too lonely. And violent.”
Tangled emotions blew through my soul. Well, she was right about that. Dark mages always had to fight each other for the limited territory in the hills and grasslands outside Eldar. And because of that, trust was scarce and the most respected currency was power. Dark mages had enemies and people who served them. But not friends. Not lovers. No one who wasn’t bound to them by either threat or money. That was how we survived.
“I’m glad you’re happy,” I answered, and gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “You deserve it.”
“So do you,” she said as she reached up and squeezed my hand back.
Stepping back, I just smiled at her in response. “By the way, bold move setting up shop in this particular house.”
“I know, right?” Mischief glittered in her eyes as she grinned at me. “And that’s why it works. The constables don’t think anyone would ever be stupid enough to run an illegal business right next to their favorite break area.”
“You always were a clever one.”
“Well, I won’t argue with you on that.” She laughed again before turning serious once more. “Good luck, Audrey. With everything.”
I nodded back at her.
After one final smile, I turned around and strode towards the door, leaving Paige behind. Clear air enveloped me as I walked back out into the night.
A malicious grin tugged at my lips.
Now, I only had to find a certain force mage and see just how badly I’d managed to screw him over this time.
