Page 281 of Seer Prophet

Understanding flooded the seer’s light at Revik’s words, however.

Along with that, some of his surface wariness dissipated.

“Ah! Well, that explains it, of course,” the seer smiled. “I had wondered.” He clicked under his breath, an overdone affect of sympathy. “It is a terrible tragedy, what happened to that once great city. So deeply horrible?”

“It is an epic poem,” Revik said, his voice short in Arabic. “Brother, are the items in question still available? For I must answer to someone other than you, and he will not be happy that I missed this pre-sale on his behalf, if it means he has lost his chance at merchandise he so desired. Telling him you sympathize about the loss of his previous home in New York will not appease him, I’m afraid… although I’m sure he appreciates the sentiment.”

“The female is gone,” the sheik said at once, smiling in apology. “Regrettable, but as you said, she was quite alluring. She was the very first item sold.”

“Who?” Revik said. “Who bought her?”

“You wish to buy her from him?” the sheik said, his eyebrows lifting.

“I feel quite certain my employer will wish to make him an offer, yes. One he will doubtless want to consider.”

The sheik’s smile widened. A glint came to his dark eyes.

Revik could almost taste the greed he saw reflected there.

“He is a very wealthy client, as well, of course,” the sheik trader mused aloud, as if considering Revik’s words very carefully. “…and he, too, prides himself as a collector.” The man tapped his lips with a forefinger. “Still, he is not a man of sentiment. And he, like all of our race, can be quite sympathetic to rational and well-funded appeals.”

He smiled at Revik, wide enough to show teeth.

Revik didn’t return it, or change expression.

Unable to get a response from him, the sheik shrugged with one hand, seer-style.

“For a small commission, I couldperhapsfacilitate such a thing,” he said carefully. “The buyer in question owns a club in Deira that is quite popular. He even mentioned to me during the sale that he thought your Lao Hu friend would fit in quite nicely there.” He gave Revik another smile, that one more predatory. “No promises that he will be willing to part with her, of course, but Ican,perhaps, provide an introduction there this evening, if you so desire…?”

Revik glanced at Dalejem, giving him a stare that made the other male flinch.

Revik didn’t linger on it.

He looked back at the seer in the pristine white robe.

“I do desire it,” he said, inclining his head. “Set it up.”

Chapter51

Owned Again

Something about this whole situation felt irritatingly familiar.

Of course, it would help if I wasn’t worried about my spouse going homicidal any minute and blowing all of our cover, and likely getting himself shot down in the street for his trouble. Or the fact that an op that took us six weeks to plan got thrown completely off-playbook before we’d even breached the city limits.

Dubai itself was interesting.

I didn’t do a lot of traveling on my waitressing salary back when I lived in San Francisco, so a small part of me could appreciate my surroundings on that level, at least.

Whoever this mystery guy was who bought me, he lived in the Burj Khalifa, probably the most iconic building in the city, even if it was no longer the tallest in the world.

My eyes returned to the length of its glass and steel spire, looking up through the transparent dome of the covered walkway. The building looked like an elongated pyramid, timeless in its simplicity, yet somehow foreign-looking and high-tech at the same time. Compared to the other skyscrapers I’d seen, it stood relatively alone, surrounded by a flat expanse of parkland, man-made lakes, snaking walkways and shockingly bright lawns and fountains.

I couldn’t help finding it all weirdly beautiful, despite the cloying heaviness of the construct and knowing slave-labor built and maintained most of what I could see.

Buildings appeared to float on a man-made body of water to our left, connected to the shore by small walkways surrounded by more elaborate fountains. Some had white, ionic columns like something out of ancient Greece. Others I saw looked hyper-modern, with egg-like, etched-glass domes?white and lapis-lazuli in the sun, glinting with crystals designed to reflect light.

The people I saw were a mixture of traditional and cosmopolitan.

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