Page 38 of The Thief

“Your empty home suggested you fled, but no moving company had done business with you. Where would Mercy Breedlove store her most valuable possessions?”

I wrung my hands beneath the table.

Argento kept his eyes on mine. “The owner of a storage facility was most helpful. He offered me the address where your belongings were shipped. The rest was easy. Your moped is very distinct in a small town—if you can even call this a town.”

I needed to start parking that thing behind the building. “Who are you to me?”

He suddenly reached across the table and seized my wrist. “You betrayed me.”

I snapped my arm free. “Don’t you ever touch me again.”

“Everything all right over there?” Calvin called out.

“Just fine,” I answered, still staring at Argento. “If you’re mad about what happened to your Learner, I’m sorry. But he threatened me, and I had no choice but to defend myself. I didn’t mean to kill him.”

“I could report you to the higher authority.”

The Mageri oversaw Mage issues. The higher authority handled higher crimes or criminal issues that involved two different Breeds. They also threw people in jail and executed them, so I wasn’t eager to challenge his threat.

“But you haven’t,” I pointed out. “You came all the way to Texas from who knows where, and I’m guessing it’s not to tell me you’re gonna turn me in. Otherwise, you would have already done it.”

“You talk too much.” He sat back in his chair. “I should have killed you the night I caught you breaking into my house.”

Instead of answering, I stayed quiet. Maybe if I let him talk, I could ascertain how we knew each other and what he wanted.

“I thought I had your absolute loyalty,” he continued, his words sharpening. “You took my light and made a vow to serve me.”

I jerked my head back. “What do you mean, took your light?”

Was he crazy? A Mage could share light with another Mage, and for them it was addictive. But to everyone else, a Mage’s light was painful if not deadly.

“I’m not a Mage,” I stated. “Energy hurts me.”

“Of course it does.” He pursed his lips while staring at my head. “Have you not wondered why we have the same hair color? Why my progeny was silver haired?”

“It wasn’t one of my top questions, to tell you the truth, but I’m listening.”

He slowly removed one of his gloves. “There is a side effect when my light is absorbed by another—one that causes the hair to permanently silver. It makes killing especially difficult since it’s like leaving a fingerprint behind. It happens to all my progeny and anyone else who’s touched by my light.”

“Were you trying to kill me?”

“I do not use my power on just anyone. That is why I wear gloves. You offered me your loyalty, and I gave you my light to seal the deal—to make you mine.” He chuckled softly, like a madman remembering his first wicked deed. “You flew across the room like a tiny sparrow.”

“Real nice memories you got there.” At least now I knew the reason behind my hair color, but I hated that it linked me to him. “I don’t know what we had going on back then, but I’m not that person anymore. I won’t be loyal to someone I don’t even remember.”

“It is interesting,” he said, putting his glove on. “Your accent was strong in the beginning and faded with each decade. Now it’s as if you’re pretending to be that young, naïve woman again.”

“I’m neither young nor naïve.” I put my arms on the table and leaned in. “We weren’t intimate, were we?”

He scoffed. “I have taste.”

I felt my temper rising, but it wasn’t because of his flippant remark. “Did you do this to me?”

He canted his head.

“Did you wipe away my memories?”

Ignoring my question, he said, “I wonder who you conspired with behind my back.”

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