Free The Sorcerer Heir (Heir Chronicles) by Cinda Williams Chima

a fight with a mainliner while you were there as a guest. Especially someone on the Interguild Council. Especially someone who ended up nearly stabbed to death.”
    “If you’re talking about DeVries, that was a rescue,” Jonah retorted. “It seemed like the right thing to do. Would you have preferred that I let him carry Emma off to his lair?”
    “What possible reason would Rowan DeVries have for kidnapping Emma?” Gabriel asked wearily.
    “Why don’t you ask him?” Jonah said, knowing that Gabriel never would, even if Rowan survived. Counting on it, in fact. “Probably, he was just doing the usual wizard thing—taking what he can’t get any other way. If I’d known he was going to get stabbed, I would’ve been more circumspect. Anyway, whose idea was it for us to sign on to play at this party, Gabriel? It wasn’t mine, I’ll tell you that. I fought it tooth and nail.”
    “Still, you agreed to go. I used to be able to rely on your good judgment when it came to interacting with mainliners. Now—I don’t know what to think.”
    “Well, I don’t know what to think either,” Jonah shot back. “Sometimes I get a vibe from you, like you hate mainliners. Absolutely despise them. Other times, it’s like you’re more worried about them than you are about us.”
    “I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Gabriel said, radiating white-hot fury. “After I’ve spent a lifetime trying to undo what happened at Thorn Hill, you think I favor mainliners ?”
    Jonah had no answer for that. “I’m sorry, Gabriel,” he said. “That was out of line. If not for you, Kenzie and I would be dead.”
    Gabriel searched Jonah’s face, then nodded. “Apology accepted.” He hesitated, as if trying to choose the right words. “You know I have to ask this, Jonah—were you involved in any way in the killings at McCauley’s?”
    “No,” Jonah said without flinching.
    Gabriel finally sat down across from Jonah and leaned forward. “All I’m saying is, if you were, we would put all of our resources behind you—the best legal representation, the best expert witnesses—whatever it takes. It certainly complicates things that one of the victims was Moss’s younger sister, but—”
    “I said no , Gabriel. Who do you think I am? Do you really think I would murder a little girl?”
    Gabriel rubbed his chin. “Well. We can hope that DeVries survives. Maybe he’ll be able to shed some light on this.”
    Jonah was reading something odd in Gabriel. Was it doubt? Suspicion? Disappointment? That was it. Disappointment. Did it mean that Gabriel didn’t believe him? That he didn’t trust him? That he thought that Jonah had actually done the murders?
    Change the subject. “Where are Natalie and the others?”
    “I told them to go home and go to bed,” Gabriel said. “I’m concerned about PTSD, what with the bombing at Safe Harbor, and now this.” He raked his hand over his close-cropped hair.
    “The bombing’s still unsolved, right?” Jonah said. “I wonder if the police ever questioned anyone in Trinity about that.” He paused, but Gabriel didn’t take the bait. Jonah had pushed Gabriel to act on those suspicions, but Gabriel never seemed to want to engage.
    “Is Emma all right?” Jonah tried not to sound too interested. “I mean, Childers seemed to suspect her of something.”
    “He’s just a small-town cop,” Gabriel said dismissively. “He’s probably bigoted against outsiders. And people of color.”
    “That’s not the way I read him,” Jonah said. “I think he just wants to solve this. To find out what really happened.”
    Gabriel snorted skeptically, then swung round to face Jonah. “I need to know the truth, Jonah: this thing with DeVries and Emma. Is this some kind of love triangle? Is something going on among the three of you?”
    “Remember who you’re talking to,” Jonah said, raising his gloved hands, wiggling his fingers. “No love. Not for me. Not ever. It didn’t look like there