"And I've brought two guests." I stepped aside so Barrett could see them, especially Agata.

My majordomo had aged entirely too much during the time I had been away. Most people wouldn't have noticed it, but I did. I had caused it. Not myself directly, but my actions had brought the wrath of Sathrik Mal'Salin and Sarad Nukpana down on my family, and I included Barrett as one of them. He'd played a large part in raising me, but as I had done with all who had tried to guide me, I had ignored his guidance, discarded his advice, and nearly destroyed my life, and by association his as well. Barrett and my parents and brother had welcomed me back with open arms. I hadn't deserved it, but I was beyond grateful for it, and was determined never to put any of them through that again.

"I take it your meeting went well only to a point," Barrett noted with his usual reserve. "And judging from your collective smokiness, I assume Magus Azul gracing us with her presence wasn't her choice."

"Unfortunately correct on both counts, Barrett," I said.

Agata sighed. "After Chancellor Nathrach's visit, my home is now a pile of smoldering cinders surrounded by assassins. I was left with little choice."

Barrett graciously inclined his head. "Regardless of the reason for your visit, be welcome in this house, Magus Azul. Since his return, His Grace has developed an annoying tendency of bringing guests in through the sewers. I'm beginning to fear he's lost any trace of the manners that I assure you he was taught."

Kesyn barked a laugh. "Beginning to fear?"

Barrett stood aside on the landing. "Hospitality and chivalry demand that we immediately see to Magus Azul's comfort and needs."

As always, Barrett saw to all of our comfort and needs.

Needs were met in the form of a guest room for Agata so she could clean up, and then food for all of us.

Our comfort came when Barrett informed us that the goblins lurking outside were lurking under Imala Kalis's orders. They were guards to protect me, not assassins sent to kill me.

That was an unexpected and pleasant surprise.

Though right now, I thought that Imala, who had just arrived, might be reconsidering their orders.

"They're armed and were lurking outside my house," I said. "What was I supposed to think?"

"If you had accepted my offer of guards the first five times I offered, you would have known about them and we wouldn't be having this pointless conversation." Imala's voice was a silk-covered stiletto. Most goblin women were tall and coldly beautiful. Imala Kalis was petite and-though I'd never say it to her face-adorable. Adorable and deadly, with dimples. She wasn't showing me her dimples now. In fact, I didn't think I'd be seeing them anytime soon. I towered over her by a good foot, but that had never stopped her from getting in my face, figuratively speaking.

"My wards are sufficient," I told her.

"Are they now? And what if this mage had decided to come here rather than capture you and Agata in the street? From what Kesyn told me, she would be more than able to get through your pride and joys."

I didn't say anything. Just because a statement might be true didn't mean I had to acknowledge it.

"You were lucky I happened along when I did," Kesyn said, enjoying himself far too much at my expense. "I came by here earlier, thinking you'd be back, but Barrett told me you hadn't come home yet. I knew you couldn't still be talking to Aggie. She's got more sense than to fall for your tall, dark, and charming act. So I figured you-or the two of you-had gotten yourselves into trouble."

"We didn't get into trouble," Agata told him. "Trouble set fire to my house."

Kesyn's eyes flicked between the two of us. "Which one were they after?"

"The ones you met wanted Agata," I said. "And seemingly for the same reason I did. I don't know what the pyromaniacs wanted, other than to flush us out of the house."

"You think they were working together?" Imala asked.

My mind flashed back to the assassin being consumed by the black magic-spawned darkness. "I have a feeling they weren't."

Imala pushed back a curl of dark hair that'd escaped from her long battle braid. "I received intelligence that some out-of-town talent would be paying Regor a visit. Considering the level of the talent, I assumed they were here for Chigaru and Mirabai. When I determined that wasn't the case, you were second on my list of people most likely to have a price on their heads."

"Unfortunately, you were right."

"Yes, I was."

"You don't have to sound pleased about it."

"It's so rare to have you acknowledge when I'm right. How else am I supposed to act? When I found out that Agata's house had been firebombed, and knowing that you were going to ask her to go on the expedition-"

"Wait, how did you find out that-"

Imala just looked at me. "I'm the chief of goblin intelligence. It's my job to know everything." She flashed a dimpled grin, but it wasn't friendly. "When I got here, I asked Barrett where you were. I extrapolated the reason for your visit based on your not having asked Cort Magali yet."

Agata was glancing between us, sipping a cup of tea Barrett had prepared and enjoying the show. "Ah, so I wasn't your first choice. Cort Magali would have done a fine job."

I shot Kesyn a look. He had described Magali the same way.

"I didn't tell her about Cort," Kesyn said.

"He didn't have to," Agata said. "Cort was anticipating your visit, even though he did not know the reason for it. The thought of going to Aquas would have terrified him-and the thought of going to Aquas with you would have terrified him even more."

"Even he realized you were trouble with feet," Imala muttered.

"That wasn't what I meant, Imala," Agata said. "Well, at least not entirely. Cort Magali is deathly afraid of being out of sight of land. Then there's the seasickness. Cort would have been quite worthless to Chancellor Nathrach."

I realized something. "You ladies are on a first-name basis. Magus Azul said she knew you-"

"Imala is one of my best clients," Agata said. "I've kept the palace in sentry gems for the past year."

That gave me pause. "Impressive work. They're the best I've ever seen."

The gem mage inclined her head. "Thank you. My clients expect the best, and that is precisely what I give them."

"Agata is not only one of the best gem mages in the Seven Kingdoms," Imala said, "but better still, she is eminently sensible for one so young." Imala quirked a smile. "Which would be a highly desirable-and needed-addition to your expedition."

I ignored her last comment. "Did the Khrynsani ever seek you out to provide crystals for the temple?" I asked Agata.

"With annoying regularity."

"I take it they were on the list of clients you refused to work for."

"They were-and they are."

"Have you been contacted since the fall of the temple?"

"Oh yes."

"If I may be so bold as to ask, who wanted to hire you?"

"Unknown. They communicated with me via courier. Their letters were lengthy. My replies were quite short. There aren't all that many ways to say no."

"Why did they want to hire you?"

"They hadn't reached the point of revealing exactly what they wanted. But considering that I'm a gem mage, I suspect it's the same reason that it always has been-to locate and use a stone of power for them."

"Speaking of stones of power," I said, "this mage knows Sarad Nukpana."

Imala went still. "You mean knew."

"I wish I did. She said to me, and I quote: 'Sarad speaks very highly of you. It was he who warned me of your strength.'"

"Do you think she may have been merely toying with you?"

"I hope she was, but..."

"I saw that bull demon carry him away."

"Carried away doesn't equal killed," I reminded her. "That type of demon may play with its food, but it always kills and eats it, and not necessarily in that order."

Imala's silvery skin was a little paler than usual. "You're saying that-"

"I'm saying it's possible. When I eliminate an enemy, I prefer to see the dead body myself to ensure that it's absolutely positively deceased. I didn't have that option with Sarad."

Imala looked to Kesyn. "You believe it, too."

"I heard her," my teacher said. He tossed his now empty pipe in one of the trays I kept here for him. "I don't think she was lying. She planned on killing Tam and taking Aggie. She wanted to see the look on Tam's face before she finished him off. I didn't detect anything but the truth coming from her."

"So he could be here," Imala said.

"I don't think so," I told her. "If he warned her of my strength, that tells me he's not here. He may not still be in the Lower Hells, but if he were here, he wouldn't be able to resist showing himself."

Imala gave me a level look. "Unless he's on the Isle of Mid, showing himself to Raine."

Chapter 14.

I contacted the Isle of Mid and asked to speak with Mychael Eiliesor, not Raine.

Definitely not Raine.

I hadn't told her about the Heart of Nidaar when I had spoken to her earlier, so I sure as hell wasn't going to tell her that in all likelihood Sarad Nukpana wasn't only alive, he might be on the same plane of existence as the rest of us, possibly on the same island as her.

Considering what had happened this evening, I no longer had an option of keeping the search for the Heart of Nidaar a secret. Tonight had revealed that we had even more bad guys than we'd anticipated, and their interest in Agata Azul said that they knew not only about the expedition, but what we'd be searching for once we got there.

I needed every good guy I could get on my side, and good guys didn't get any better than Mychael Eiliesor. As the paladin and commander of the Conclave Guardians, Mychael needed to know not only about the Heart of Nidaar, but also that the Khrynsani and their invader allies were after it, and that I would be going after them. He also needed to know about Sarad Nukpana.

I told him everything.

If keeping him in the dark had annoyed him-and I knew it had-Mychael showed no sign. I was a goblin, and goblins kept secrets. We hoarded secrets like a miser hoarded gold. I hadn't done it without a good reason, and Mychael realized that.

Though there was one thing I didn't share.

The book written by Rudra Muralin and found behind Sarad Nukpana's Khrynsani temple bookshelf. I wasn't really keeping anything from Mychael, because other than where it was found and who wrote it, that was all I knew. Once I had a chance to examine it, and if it contained anything Mychael needed to know, then I'd tell him.

Though if Mychael valued his life-and the continued affections of his new bride-he'd tell her about Sarad Nukpana. I gave him permission to put the blame for not telling her about the Heart of Nidaar squarely on my shoulders. I was far enough away not to worry about the wrath of Raine. Hopefully, by the time I saw her in person again, she would have calmed down. If not, I'd take my medicine.

The Guardians had had the dubious honor of being the keepers and protectors of the Saghred for the past thousand years, give or take a couple of decades. Until about five months ago, they'd done a fine job. That was when the Saghred had selected Raine Benares to be its next keeper, and Sarad Nukpana caught up with her and the stone, sending the possible fate of the Seven Kingdoms into a death spiral.

We'd thought that was all over. Two weeks ago, right before her marriage to Mychael, Raine discovered that not only had she retained much of the power the Saghred had given her, but whatever had given the Saghred its power was now inside of her. That night in the Khrynsani temple, Raine had released the souls the Saghred had held prisoner, then she had shattered the empty orb.

Or what she and the rest of us had assumed was empty.

Even after the souls were gone, her hand had still been fused to the Saghred, meaning that it had merely appeared to be empty. It still had power. The orb had been the Saghred's body, and when Raine had been about to shatter it, the entity that was the Saghred saved itself in the only way it knew how.

The last soul the Saghred took through Raine Benares had been its own.

Only a few people knew the truth.

The entity, the power which we had called the Saghred, now resided inside of Raine. All that new power was going to take a lot of getting used to-and a lot of support from her family and friends.

That was the real reason I hadn't wanted to tell Raine anything I didn't have to. She had enough to deal with.

But with the possibility of Sarad Nukpana's return, that choice was no longer mine.

Raine needed to know, and Mychael would do the best job of telling her.

When I came back in my study, Imala and Agata had their heads together like a pair of conspirators. Believe me, I've seen enough of it to know it on sight. That I was the topic of their discussion was a given, but it was confirmed when they sat back with an identical glint in their eyes, which also confirmed that they didn't care if I knew it.

"We were discussing what Agata should call you," Imala said. "I assured her that being stuck on a ship with you for over a month will give her ample time and opportunity for name-calling. It's merely a matter of how long it will take for her to reach the breaking point. By the time the ships reach Aquas, she'll have all sorts of names she wants to call you."

I ignored everything that said or implied, and turned to Kesyn. "Speaking of epithets you want to call someone, that spell you blasted those demons with could've killed us."

"Not a chance. Well, not unless your shields were crap."

"They weren't."

"Of course, they weren't. I taught them to you. All I needed to do was put a little light on the subject." My teacher tossed a marble-sized ball of intense light in his hand. "Blow a little sun where the sun doesn't shine."

"With that?"