Free The Dragon Heir by Cinda Williams Chima Page A

with
someone.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Who?”
    “My partner wants to
remain anonymous until we're sure we can do business.”
    D'Orsay sat back in his chair
and smiled like a cat with a bird between his paws. “We can be very
persuasive.”
    Leesha's heart flopped wildly
but she managed to keep her voice steady. “My partner wouldn't like it if
anything bad happened to me.”
    “Did you bring the
document with you?”
    “Do I look stupid or
what?”
    D'Orsay shrugged. “One
can never tell by appearances. Where is it now?”
    “You should be thinking
about what kind of deal you're willing to make.”
    “I could offer to trade
you for the Covenant.”
    Leesha sighed. She groped in
her bag for her compact and reapplied her lipstick, trying to keep her hand
from shaking. Playing for time. “I'm just the hired help, you know? I  can
be  replaced. But my associate might be  annoyed enough to decide to sell the
piece to someone else.”
    “No one else would want
it.”
    “Please. I'm a trader. I
know who wants what. The Roses want to destroy it because it takes power out of
their hands and puts it in yours. The underguilds want to destroy it because it
keeps them subservient to wizards. You want to consecrate it and enforce it. I
bet we could get a three-way auction going.”
    D'Orsay raised his hand.
“I hardly think that's necessary.” He smiled, as if acknowledging defeat.
The man was a charmer, no doubt about it. And good looking, for someone so
totally old.
    D'Orsay rose, laid another log
on the fire, and returned to his seat, taking his time. “Has your
associate given you leave to negotiate the sale?”
    “He has.”
    “Then I assume he's
shared with you what offer he might be willing to accept?”
    “He has.”
    “And…?”
    “He wants to be written
in.”
    D'Orsay shoved back his
sleeves. “Excuse me?”
    “The new Covenant states
that all of the magical guilds including the Wizard Houses will be ruled by you
and Gregory Leicester and your heirs. Leicester is dead, and he has no blood
heirs. My partner wishes to be named legal heir to Gregory Leicester and so, co-ruler
of the guilds.”
    “Your partner is out of
his mind,” D'Orsay said pleasantly.
    Leesha took a deep breath,
cursing the day she'd become entangled in this. “That's his price. Take it
or leave it.”
    “Who does he think he is?
Does he really think I would bring him in as a full partner? Leicester and I worked
on this project for years.”
    “Look at it this way.
What can you offer that the Roses can't? I'm sure they can come up with more
money than you, if everyone puts in. Plus, if they destroy the Covenant, then
my associate doesn't have to worry about living under your rule, which,
having read the document, seems risky. The only way to ease his mind is to
allow him to come in as an equal.”
    D'Orsay pressed his fingertips
together. “If I knew who I was dealing with, if I knew we would be
compatible …”
    If you knew if he'd be easy to
kill, Leesha thought. No doubt both partners would be hiring assassins before
the ink on the agreement was dry. With any luck, they'd kill each other.
    “This is my inheritance,
too,” Devereaux said, leaning forward. “Let's take her to the cellar.
We can make her tell us whatever we want.”
    Getawayfrommeyoumiserablelittlecreep,
Leesha thought, perspiration trickling between her shoulder blades. She made a
show of looking at her watch.
    “Let me handle this,
Dev,” D'Orsay said. The wizard massaged his forehead, as if it hurt, then
turned back to Leesha. “Perhaps we could negotiate a private sale, you and
I.”
    Leesha considered this. In
fact, she'd considered this long before she ever entered the Ghyll. “I
don't actually hold the original.”
    “Perhaps you could obtain
it.”
    “That would be …
difficult.” Impossible, actually, with things as they were, but she
wouldn't tell him that. “Your partner could meet with an accident.”
    Leesha liked that idea a lot.
“He