Page 10 of The Elven Spymaster's Thief

“I already have it.”

“How?”

“Your brother named you as next of kin on his contract.” I picked up her discarded book from the edge of the table. “I have had it all along, yet I didn’t use it.” Arching an eyebrow at her, I passed by her to reshelve the tome.

She stood and followed me, practically on my heels. “Then why didn’t you use it to get me to give you the dagger?”

I halted abruptly, turning to face her.

She stumbled so that we almost ended up standing nose to nose, with me looking directly down into her widened eyes.

Leaning close so that my breath brushed her face, I quietly stated, “No moral being would take a person’s will from them.”

She quirked her head to the side, studying my expression. “And you consider yourself a moral being?”

“I do.” I turned away and slid the tome into place. “Do you want food?”

“Yes, please.” Her sudden and effusively genuine grin hit me in the gut. Oh, to be so uninhibited...

We left the library and headed toward the kitchen down on the first floor.

My household manager and childhood friend, Ergon, awaited us just outside the dining room door.

“Pardon, Master Whispier, but the dining room is still being cleaned.”

I glared at him. Typically, Ergon kept the household running like a well-oiled machine, all the parts silently working in the background and out of sight and mind.

“Voles,” he mouthed to me.

I groaned.

“Voles?” Avril asked.

“They ate through the roots of the table, making it unstable, and the chandeliers are shedding their leaves.” Ergon’s gaze flicked from me to Avril and back. “Would you prefer to eat in the study or the library perhaps?”

“The study,” I declared. “I am not sure if my new pet is housebroken yet.”

Avril snorted softly.

“Very well.” Ergon flashed Avril a smile before bowing and gliding off in the direction of the kitchen.

I frowned after him. When had I last seen Ergon smile? He wasn’t exactly an effusive personality.

When I returned to my study with Avril on my heels, I was annoyed to find Ergon had already anticipated my choice. Two place settings were spread on either side of one of the table’s corners. I efficiently moved one setting around to the opposite side of the table, so the whole width lay between us.

“I don’t bite.” Avril claimed the chair opposite the door. She bounced into the chair and flung her slender legs over one chair arm. “Despite your accusations.”

Too restless to sit, I began pacing the length of the table opposite her. My mind turned over the details of the morning reports. The fact that unrest continued to spread among the warlords was disquieting alone. However, the possibility that the warlords could be joining forces against the woodwose, an un-antagonistic warrior species, added extra concern. If it was true, I needed to know why. What was motivating them? Were they acting of their own volition or under the influence of a rogue magus? My stomach soured.

“What are you doing?”

“Thinking.” I mentally reviewed the list of known magus lamias. None had been reported in the area recently, and all had been accounted for within the last month.

“With your feet?”

I snorted softly. “Movement calms my brain and helps me focus.”

“So, when you were exercising—”

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