Page 68 of Blood on the Ice

The mage closes his eyes, murmuring under his breath as he holds his hands in the air. I feel the magical shockwave hit ashe sends it out in concentric circles to find what’s bothering me. His eyes pop open and he turns to me with a serious expression. “You’re right. There’s powerful magic here—a lot in varying types. It’s as if different magic wielders have touched the space somehow.”

I nod as I rub my arms with my hands. “Ones with bad intentions. It’s vibrating in the moisture in the air. I can hear the tiny hum of disturbance in the atmosphere.”

Walking around the car, he shuts my door before turning to place his hands over mine. “Tuere quod meus est. Serva malum ab animo. Proles Hecate praecipiunt.?1”

Sniffing at him, I frown. “I hate when you use Latin. My Latin sucks, Iggy. You know the aquatics prefer Greek.”

His hands squeeze mine and he chuckles. “Well, I prefer the strongest spell possible and you know witches, wizards, mages, and such are more powerful when we use Latin. I don’t know why, given the history of our powers, but it’s simply the way it is.”

I step back, inhaling slowly before I nod. “Fine. Do you need to protect Morgana or anyone else? Maybe the Prince acted without words?”

Iggy shrugs as we head for the front of the station. “I don’t know. I’ll be able to sense if they’ve been taken care of, as will you. I assume Jackson has his team permanently warded by something like a brand or tattoo. This would be the most efficient for their work.”

“That’s kind of cool,” I murmur. “Like very badass super spy shit. We should do that.”

He opens the door, arching a brow at me with amusement in his eyes. “Are you going to be the one to ask Morgana to get branded? If so, let me know ahead so I can bring popcorn.”

As we enter, I notice people are determined not to look at us as we head toward the back. The text from Channing gave us their location, but I thought someone would meet us when we arrived. Apparently,. they’re far too busy to pause and the rest of this building has stayed the fuck away.

Probably not the worst outcome; Iggy’s not very compliant when questioned by people he thinks are beneath him.

I finally spot Foley at the very back edge of the big squad room and he jerks his head to the door behind him. We pick up the pace, reaching the bored-looking redhead as he’s swiping a card that cannot belong to him.

“Aye, lads. We’re about done. The granite lass and my boss gave them a good what-for and now we’re waiting for the paperwork to be cleared, so we’re certain nothing lingers in the system.”

“Did they actually arrest him?” I ask worriedly. That kind of shit is hard as hell to erase, and I don’t think we have time for that kind of distraction.

Jackson’s man shakes his head. “No. Boss is gonna have a helluva lawsuit prepped by next week; you can put your savings on that. Nothing about today was kosher and we can’t figure out how anyone was roped into it.”

Iggy blinks, then clears his throat. “We may have answers—vague ones, but at least it’s a lead.”

“You just got here, Magic Man. How could you possibly know what’s going on?” Foley says as he rolls his eyes. “You lot are too full of yourself down here.”

Ignoring the weird ‘down here’ comment, I gesture around us. “From the second we got out of the car, I could feel magic in the air. My gifts are in water and the vibrations hum at different frequencies on the moisture in the air. He sent a pulse out with his magic and agreed that this place is polluted with magic from various magic-wielding supes.”

“So?”

My roommate huffs at the disdain, shaking his head. “Dense is a poor look, McNamara. It’s not a leap to extrapolate that the outrageous behavior of the people involved in Lucas’s faux arrest might be under spells or compelled. Since the signatures here are all over the place, I believe whoever is framing him must have access to alotof different species in their little… ring.”

Foley hums for a moment, his expression thoughtful and then finally nods. “Alright. You’re not as dumb as I suggested and you might have a point. If that’s the case, my team is well protected. But what about your people?”

“It depends on whether the players were infected here, one by one, or in some other way. If it was here, I placed a shield on Slade. I, of course, have my own. We hoped the Prince might have handled the others.” Iggy walks to the door Foley has his hand on and gestures for him to open it. “But we should verify that quickly.”

“Compulsion and control spells are extremely verboten and carry harsh punishments,” I murmur as we make our way to our friends. “Whoever this is, they aren’t scared of anything.”

That’s what makes them so dangerous.

Foley mentionedthat the small conference room is better than the interrogation viewing room the others endured. Lucas is cuffed, but he’s so big and muscled that I’d be surprised if he couldn’t break out of those without breaking a sweat. With a furious look, Jackson fills out forms while everyone else sits at the far end of the table.

Prince Liam has his fingers steepled in front of his face, his eyes on the cops at the door. He smiles briefly when he sees Iggy and me, leaning back in a more relaxed position. “Welcome to the nuthouse, gentlemen.”

“Fucking right,” Rainier snorts as he continues texting on his phone. Eli is working on multiple devices next to him, but he lifts a hand to give us a thumbs-up. “These people are dead—legally, of course—when Jax gets through with them. I cannot believe this bullshit.”

I tilt my head as I look around. The only missing people are Kaspar and Kendrick; I dread asking where those fuckers went. “Foley said they’re releasing you?”

“Yeah, dude. Jackson scared the fuck out of them and once he’s done, we can go.” Lucas sighs heavily, looking tired. “We’re going back to the lair. The grumpy silent dudes got sent to… I don’t know…. beat answers out of people.”

Morgana smiles at me, gesturing to a chair nearby. “Come sit with us. I’m glad you came.”

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