Page 65 of Death Warden
There had to be.
CHAPTERTWENTY
We drove for what seemed like forever. The dispute was on the outskirts of Frostgate, on the border to Bayview, a small coastal town. Evergreen Road was a posh residential area dotted with evergreens trees, hence the name, I guess.
It started snowing as we parked Drake at the end of the street and headed toward the huge building opposite. A Circle worship house, in partial ruins now, boarded up and unused, sat on the corner of the street. Two small groups of women stood outside it, indifferent to the snow now falling heavier.
The angry buzz of their voices filled the air.
I caught a couple of curses—not swear words, actual ridiculous curses—which helped identify these women as Mageri.
“Ladies, ladies.” Curo held up his hands. “What seems to be the problem here?”
They broke off their curse battle and turned angry eyes on Curo.
“This is Circle business,” a woman with thick eyebrows said with a scowl. “We don’t need Grave Spirit intervention. We take care of our own business.”
“And we usually let you, but unfortunately, we’ve had several complaints of disorderly conduct.” He winced. “This is a quiet neighborhood, and you’re not being very quiet.”
He tucked his hands into his pockets and shrugged, employing his disarming pose, the one that said, hey, I’m not a threat, I’m just a hot guy with stunning eyes and silver hair and abs for days, and… I needed to stop thinking about his physical attributes and focus on how arrogant and annoying he was, except he’d been showing me these flashes of sweetness that were complicating everything.
“I don’t give a flying toad about the neighborhood,” caterpillar brows said. “This is Circle business and if anyone interferes, they’ll be sorry.”
“Excuse me?” Curo’s tone hardened. “They’ll be what now?”
Caterpillar brows opened her mouth to retort but another mage beat her to it. “Please excuse Sister Magda. She’s very passionate about our claim to the worship house.”
“You have no claim,” a mage in the group opposite them said.
“A curse of maggots on your firstborn,” caterpillar brows said.
“May your artifact crumble,” someone retorted.
There were gasps of horror at that one. I stifled a chuckle.
“Enough!” Curo snapped. “This building is owned by the city. Neither of you have claim on it.”
“We’ve lodged an offer to utilize it as a place of worship for the Sisters of the Golden Apple,” Sister Magda’s friend said. She looked back up at the house with an expression of yearning. “We received confirmation this morning.”
“So did we,” the mage on the other side said. “The Sisters of the Lamp will worship here.”
I stepped forward. “Um… you both got confirmation?”
They all glared at me.
“What’s this?” Magda said. “Your aura says mage, and yet…what is that…” She stepped closer, her gaze zeroing in on my chest where the amulet lay beneath my coat. “What are you harboring, child?” Her eyes flew wide. “Oh…that energy. What is that?” She licked her lips. “What is your artifact?”
There was something feral and hungry in her eyes, and I resisted the urge to take a step back. “I’m a necromancer.”
“You can join us,” she said. “We have room for another sister.”
“I’m good, thanks.”
“We received paperwork this morning,” the nicer Sister of the Golden Apple said. “We have permission.”
“So have we.” The Sisters of the Lamp held up a manila envelope.
“Can I see?” I held out my hand and they handed me their paperwork. Time spent working with Logan had made me an expert at skimming contracts and legal documents. Both of these were legal, aside from the fact that both covens couldn’t use the building. “There seems to have been an error.” I pulled out my phone. “Let me call in and check.”
