“He’s not wrong.” Gabrielle winked, then took Elle’s place in embracing Angelique while Elle hugged Quinn farewell.
While Gabrielle hugged Angelique, Puss butted his head against Angelique’s cheek and purred deeply.
Angelique smiled and hugged Gabrielle back, then noisily kissed Puss on the top of his head despite his yowls of protest. “Then we will have to report in—to both Loire and Arcainia.”
“Good,” Gabrielle said with great satisfaction.
“I knew it wasn’t a mistake to talk Elise into giving Loire the funds necessary to buy and enchant the mirrors.” Puss licked his chops and happily quirked his tail.
Elle backed up so she no longer stood in their way. “Be careful.”
“That goes for both of you.” Gabrielle stood with Elle, her hand straying to caress Puss.
Angelique scrambled onto Pegasus’ back, settling into the saddle with the ease that comes from long practice. “You both be safe, as well.”
Quinn climbed into her saddle and patted Fluffy’s neck, then smiled at their traveling companions. “And do your best to stay warm.”
“Yes,” Angelique shivered. She still wasn’t wearing her dress—and wouldn’t as long as they were in Mullberg. She wanted to avoid any Conclave mages, and her dress had practically become a brand for her.
The charms in my dress must be excessively well made—I’ve got two heat charms, and I still don’t feel as warm.
Angelique tugged her charmed mittens on tighter, then picked up Pegasus’ reins—though she held them so loosely, they were more ornamental than anything else. Pegasus would go where he pleased. “Thank you, again.” She met first Elle’s gaze, then Gabrielle’s, and ended with Puss. “From the bottom of my heart. Until next we meet.”
Pegasus turned in a tight circle, then immediately shifted to a trot. The clattering of his hooves was almost deafening in the protected courtyard, and Fluffy’s strangely cleft hooves only added to the cacophony.
“Goodbye!” Gabrielle shouted.
“Good riddance,” Puss said.
“I’ll come find you again!” Elle promised.
The trio shouted some more, but their words were lost to the howl of the wind when Angelique, Quinn, and their mounts left the relatively protective huddle of the manor, following a shoveled path that led out to the dirt road.
They joined the road, following it north.
Angelique flexed her fingers in her warm mittens, and Pegasus—sassy from his weeks spent at his home in the night sky—pranced along the road and trumpeted loud enough to echo across the snow-covered land for miles.
She patted him once he impatiently slowed back to a trot, snorting at Fluffy as the somewhat terrifying animal quietly trotted along.
We’ll ride north, into Verglas, and then east into Mullberg.
The more direct roads traveled from east Loire, through a tiny bit of Arcainia, and then cut north into Mullberg. Those roads were the most traveled, as they were used by most mages leaving the Veneno Conclave and heading out on assignments.
But Angelique wanted to avoid Veneno Conclave mages and attention in general.
A painfully bright emotion stirred in her chest. Not just hope—it was something lighter than that—but something dangerously akin to it.
She’d found information on Evariste; her friends had helped her, and even now she wasn’t alone.
For the first time in a long time, Angelique felt happiness.
“Fluffy is warmed up,” Quinn called above the howling wind. “Are you ready to pick up our pace?”
Angelique planted her rear more firmly in the saddle and laughed as Pegasus tossed his head. “Am I ever!”
Chapter 14
Angelique tested the lid of a wooden crate. Finding it loose, she pried it off and peered inside. “Oh. Just two books on black magic, a scroll in what I think might be elvish, a pair of spelled boots and…a paperweight. Quite the assortment.” Angelique replaced the lid, then set her gaze on a barrel, which had been packed so sloppily, the lid rested on the floor in front of it.
The barrel was stuffed with straw, which made her sneeze as she pawed her way down to the bottom, unearthing a very large porcelain pot. “This doesn’t even have any magic in it. I suspect it’s illegally obtained artwork.”
Angelique continued down the line, inspecting the illegal/stolen goods with a lot less shock than she used to, given how commonplace it had become for her.
She stopped at a small chest that was knocked on its side.
“Really. This is the sloppiest hold-out we’ve found yet. We’re in the docks, and they keep all of these illegal goods heaped around all casual-like? Mullberg needs more shipping restrictions if they can operate so blatantly.”
Angelique crouched by the chest and nudged the lid—which wasn’t even fastened—up a bit so she could get a look at the goods it held. “What’s this? We’ve got some illegally mined jewels here.” She squinted in the dim light as she checked her magic senses to make sure the jewels hadn’t been enchanted before prodding a few of them. “The Chosen must have finally realized Nefari was captured since these are here and most likely getting shipped out by sea instead of being sent south.”
“It’s been over a month since Elle sent word that they’d apprehended him,” Quinn said, finally responding to Angelique’s judgmental assessment of the place. “I imagine his extended absence—or silence—raised some alarm.” She sounded a little muffled since she stood outside the dilapidated warehouse. She was supposed to be standing watch, but Angelique had fetched her the logbook when they first arrived, and given there was almost no likelihood of the Chosen employees assigned to man the warehouse returning anytime soon, it was safe enough for Quinn to stand outside under the sputtering light of a torch and try to make out entries.
Though judging by the packing job they’ve done here, I’d be surprised if those entries have more than the day—and probably not even the right day.
Angelique peeled back a magic carpet that was pinned to the wall, checking that nothing was hidden behind it.
It’d been fairly obvious that none of the storage containers in the warehouse was big enough to hold a mirror—at least a mirror big enough to hold a man.
But the warehouse was the last spot they had to check on Mullberg’s east coast, and she was going to be thorough!
“Do you want me to head back to the inn and buy the workers another round of mead?” Quinn asked. “They were exuberantly toasting the inn’s portrait of Queen Faina and Princess Snow White. They might have tossed back all the drinks we bought them in advance by now.”
“Nah. I’m almost done here—and you already had them drunk as skunks when we slipped out of the inn to sneak in here. I’m pretty sure they’ll pass out there for the night.”
That was how life had progressed for Quinn and Angelique.
When they first started breaking into Chosen strongholds, they had gone through great efforts to sneak in and out of hideouts. Without Elle’s skills it had been much harder…until they realized the Chosen workers in Mullberg were a great deal less intelligent and cautious than those in other parts of the continent. It was an easy thing to stake out their usual drinking holes, lure them all there, and get them roaring drunk. Their inebriation gave Quinn and Angelique the chance to take their time in their searches and be a great deal more detailed about it.