Page 102 of Forged Bonds

“That’s because you haven’t been on the other side of her wand yet,” Oswald said with a snort.

He rounded the couch and came up behind Nolan and I, placing one hand on each of us.

Julian was confused for a moment, before recognition flickered through his features. “Oswald Fontaine. Never thought I’d see you alive again. Last I heard, you were a fluffy orange cat and cursed to wander the Earth for all eternity.”

Fontaine? What kind of swanky fucking last name was that? And I thought Oswald was a conceited enough first name.

“You two know each other?” I asked.

“I didn’t think he would remember me,” Ozzy said, looking a little bitter at the reference to his hundreds of years as a cat. “I was only a courtier, and not even for his area of court.”

“You were too much of a cunt to forget, I’m afraid.”

My snorted laugh couldn’t be contained, despite how it made Oswald pout. Knowing him now, and knowing he’d gotten himself cursed back then, I could imagine how much he was disliked by anyone who met him. If he hadn’t been a cat when we’d met, I may have punched him in the face.

“Regardless, I’m glad you were able to bring yourself back to your human form. Being a familiar for eternity is far too harsh a curse, in my opinion. Allegra was rightfully furious at your duplicity, but went too far.”

“I figured out how to break it eventually.”

I caught myself before I rolled my eyes. ‘Figured it out’ was giving himself a bit too much credit. He’d thrown himself in front of an arrow for Nolan, but he’d been unaware it was what he needed to bring him back to his original form. It was pure luck he was alive.

“Since you two know each other, that only leaves Emmett to introduce,” Nolan said, bringing the conversation back onto the rails.

Em was hovering at the far end of the room, wary of the newcomer. Julian strode over to him with a hand outstretched and Emmett took it. Only because he didn’t want to be rude, from what I could tell. “Bear shifter,” Julian said. “From the Ridges? You have the posture of someone from there, plus everyone in the Ridges hates me profusely.”

“There is a reason for that,” Emmett said, his tone polite even as his words cut.

“Yes, baseless rumours. I understand, though. Every society needs someone to hate.”

My mate held his tongue, as I’d expected he would. Em wasn’t the one to start a pointless argument, especially not with someone we needed to help us.

Julian waited a few seconds, expecting Emmett to take the bait, before he sighed and turned on his heel. Perching on the arm of the couch across from ours, he folded his arms over his chest. “Let’s get to business, then. You want me to help you kill Kylan, and I’ve told you time and time again I couldn’t do anything that would implicate me in a crime such as that. It would alienate some of my political allies. What do you think I can do for you that wouldn’t do that? I’m assuming you have some ideas, or you wouldn’t have been so adamant when you called for me.”

“How did you get in here, by the way?” I asked, looking at the faintly shimmering portal remnants where he’d appeared. “There are wards in place.”

“My witch beats your wards. Don’t worry, she said they were strong. I doubt Kylan’s snivelling weasel will be able to worm his way past them if they find you.”

I wanted to meet whatever witch he was employing, considering how easily she’d slipped him past me. Not many witches were stronger than I was, and I wasn’t saying that to be cocky. It was simply true.

Nolan took over before I could voice that desire, his hand grabbing my thigh as if a touch were enough to shut me up. “We were hoping you would be able to tell us where Kylan is. It’s hard for me to find him when he’s in Zemterra. I don’t have many contacts there. I was also hoping you might be able to find me some swords for hire.”

“Didn’t all your swords for hire flee the second Kylan began attacking us?” I asked Nolan.

He hadn’t gone over this idea with me yet, and I couldn’t say I liked it despite how useless we’d been on our own.

Julian scoffed, answering before Nolan could. “On Earth, people are afraid of Kylan. That’s why the contractors fled. In Zemterra, Kylan’s status isn’t a deterrent. The only people assassins are hesitant to kill in Zemterra are Dukes, and he’s not one of those. He’s fair game.”

“So you’ll give me some contact information?” Nolan asked.

“It’s not like they have phone numbers. Half the men who’ve worked for me have no idea what a phone is because they’ve never been to Earth before. I can tell you where sellswords hang out and who to avoid for a task such as this.”

“I’ll take it.”

“As for telling you where Kylan is, it’s obvious. He spends most of his time in Zemterra at his mansion on the outskirts of Eimburn. However, I don’t see how you’re planning on getting anywhere near him in that damn place. The witch rarely leaves his side, letting him portal away at will, and it’s his most heavily guarded property.”

“There’s a plan in place,” I said.

Julian raised an eyebrow incredulously. “Is there? Do tell.”

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