Wild Card by Lisa Shearin Read Free Book Online

goblin nachtmagus turned and looked directly at me. He turned back to those at the table with him, said something I couldn’t hear, and scooped his chips into a pouch at his robe’s belt with one smooth move. He stood and left. The two goblins guarding the entrance to the card tables stood aside for him, as did the crowd gathered around the ropes. Even if they didn’t know who or what he was, their primitive self-preservation instincts told them he was to be avoided.
    The cries coming from somewhere on him grew louder once he’d cleared the wards.
    I swore and followed him—at least I tried. No one got out of my way. Apparently I didn’t activate anyone’s survival instincts. I went around them, pushing my way past the bar to where Mortsani would have emerged from the crowd.
    Nothing.
    He was gone, vanished. So were the cries, or any sense I had of the nachtmagus’s presence. 
    The bastard had cloaked.
    Mortsani wasn’t at a gaming table, so he could use all the magic he wanted. An invisibility cloak would certainly be within his skill range.
    A hand gripped my upper arm. I tensed, my hands closing into fists, expecting Nathrach or one of his bouncers.
    It was Phaelan.
    “You don’t follow a goblin in the dark,” he told me, “and you sure as hell don’t tail a nachtmagus at night. Who told me that? Not that I’d ever be stupid enough to do either one.”
    I unclenched my fists and blew out my breath. “I did.” 
    A mage of Mortsani’s skill could stay cloaked for over an hour without taxing his power. If he didn’t want me to follow him, he was more than capable of evading me. The doors to the stairs were open and had been all evening. Even if they hadn’t been, Mortsani could have followed someone going out and I’d never know.
    I’d lost him.
    More importantly, I’d lost the terrified source of those cries. 
     
    *
     
    The next morning I vowed not to go without coffee or sugar knots. Maybe if I had both, today would go better than yesterday—and especially better than last night.
    I stopped by Maira Takis’s bakery and got both. The place was full and Maira was busy in the back, but she saw me and gave me a smile and a wave, which I returned. The sun rising woke me up, but the promise of Maira’s pastries was what got me on my feet. And this morning I needed help. Just because I hadn’t chased after Sethis Mortsani last night didn’t mean I’d gotten any sleep. Every time I was on the verge of dozing off, I’d heard that little boy crying.
    Soon after sunrise, I’d gone to Lady Kaharit’s home to collect Sethis Mortsani’s logbook and give her my report. I’d also hoped to return her ring. Lord Mortsani hadn’t come home last night, and if he tried it now, he was in for an unpleasant surprise. His wife had had a lock mage come and do the magical equivalent of changing the locks. Apparently the house was in her name and had been bought with her money. She also had a high-powered friend or two judging from the armed guards around her home who looked nothing like the elderly retainer who’d accompanied her to my office yesterday morning. I’d felt guilty taking the book since I didn’t have a ring to give her in return. She’d done her part; I hadn’t done mine. When I’d told her what I’d heard last night, she was just as baffled and disturbed as I was.  
    I was taking the book to Chief Watcher Janek Tawl. He was human, Brenirian by birth, and a watcher by natural talent. People trusted Janek, even if they weren’t particularly trustworthy themselves.
    Janek was good people and an even better watcher. We trusted each other. I guess that made us friends, or at least close colleagues. The city watch had seekers on staff, but Janek said I was better. He still tried to recruit me from time to time, but I’d always turned him down. Being a Benares and working in law enforcement just didn’t feel as though they went together. I wasn’t a criminal by any stretch of the