Page 25 of Claimed

It seems that fate has found a way to throw us back together and see its plans come to pass. Lucien doesn’t believe in fate. At least, not my version of it. Not Darius’s version. But he’s about to be proved wrong, isn’t he?

I have hunted The Covenant of Shadows for years. It is the one thing that can make Darius’s vision of our future come true.

And now it’s here in Cambridge.

How could Lucien refuse to see the serendipity in that?

Perhaps he will when his little project with the Phoenix and her mates is over.

I’ll admit, it gave me a pulse of satisfaction to see him enjoying himself. Running around with the descendants of The Original Six; it seems, even after all that has passed between us, I take pleasure in my brother’s happiness.

But the silver-haired fire bird holds no interest for me. Witches never have. They are a magick born from the evils of humanity. And, no matter what you think about supers, humans are always capable of worse.

The question of what to do about witches when the time comes – and The Covenant brings the shadows to power – is an interesting one. But not something I need to decide now.

Now, I need to get my hands on The Covenant before anyone else realises it is here in the city. And I know precisely who can lead me to it.

I’ve encountered Yuri before, digitally, at online auctions. And when The Covenant surfaced in a recent lot, I knew he was the one I needed to talk to about it.

Now here I am, staring at his little ‘antiques’ shop, waiting for the last customer to leave.

I let myself in a few minutes after closing.

Yuri is behind the counter. He is small and hunched, and when he looks up and sees me standing between the shelves where no customer was a moment ago, he knows exactly what I am.

“We’re closed,” he says.

“And yet here we are.” I pick up a brass compass from the shelf beside me, admire it, put it back. “You’re a man who knows things, Yuri. Aren’t you?”

What little colour he has drains from his face instantly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Except you do.” I tap the screen of the ancient desktop computer sitting on the counter. “Because those little online auctions you frequent?” I lean forward and smile at him. “I’m the auctioneer, Yuri. I’m the voice behind the screen. And those auctions are not as anonymous as the participants believe.”

Yuri swallows hard. “That’s—” He looks like he’s searching for a word similar to illegal, but there isn’t one that would fit a black-market auction that is, itself, banned by the Supernatural Defence Bureau. His expression hardens, and he tries to stand up a little straighter. “What do you want?”

“I want The Covenant of Shadows.”

Yuri frowns at me, then releases a thunderclap of laughter. “And you think I have it? If you know the identity of the bidders, you know I had nothing to do with that exchange. The Anti Magick Alliance bid The Covenant in exchange for the Sceptre of Dissolution. So, you need to find whoever stole the Sceptre from the museum. Which is nothing to do with me.”

“The Anti Magick Alliance never had The Covenant, Yuri. The username was fake, and not particularly inventive.”

I lift myself up onto the counter and sit with one leg crossed over the other.

“I still don’t know how you think I can help?” Yuri lifts his hands and steps back a little, like he’s worried I’m going to bite his scrawny, aging neck.

I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. This is so fucking tedious. “Yuri, what I’m going to tell you may be hard to follow. So try to keep up.”

He frowns again and wrings his hands together in front of his stomach.

“The auction was a set-up. A ruse. Designed to distract my brother, Lucien Thornfield. Because he owns the museum and is currently hunting for the Sceptre that was stolen from him.”

Yuri’s frown deepens.

“The Anti Magick Alliance was never involved in the auction. The person who bid the Sceptre and the person who bid The Covenant were the same person. Same IP address. Same location. Do you follow?”

Nodding slowly, Yuri says, “But why…?”

I exhale through thin lips. The why doesn’t really matter, but I decide to humour him. “Because they wanted Lucien to think the Sceptre had left the country.”