Free Smoke and Mirrors by Jess Haines Page A

person in need than you might think.”
    She gave a weary nod, but it was clear by her slumped shoulders and dull, reddened gaze that it was all she could do to keep from further disgracing herself in front of him by bursting into tears.
    Cormac had been out of the loop for some time, but even he had heard about the young naga tricked into servitude by some upstart mage looking for a way to fast track himself to the top of a major coven. The mage’s single-minded greed was too much of a turn-off to the magi who might have helped him realize his ambitions. Thus far, even the good luck granted him by the serpent hadn’t led James beyond his own small slice of land bordering the Everglades. Though he had done exceptionally well at the casinos.
    Sam, the naga, was naïve and too sheltered in his temple to know how cutthroat some magi had become in their efforts to secure a powerful, intelligent Other as their familiar. Considering his background and his kind’s proclivity toward setting themselves up as minor deities in their remote riverside and jungle temples, it was no wonder he had fallen for the offerings and praise. Sequestered from the world as he was, any Other raised in a tradition of being worshipped as that naga had been would have found the mage’s flattery disarming. His folly had become something of a cautionary tale to the rest of the Other community; a reminder that letting yourself be shackled into servitude to a mage wasn’t a guarantee of mutual respect, admiration, and assistance like it had been in the past.
    Cormac still thought both Kimberly and Eleanor were a few beers short of a six-pack if they thought he was going to do anything other than keep the girl off the scent of any true dragons.
    Yet her despair was genuine, as was her distress about what she had seen the other mage do to the naga. He tasted no deception whatsoever in her scent or words thus far. The shimmer of the luck charm the naga had bestowed on her didn’t have the power to alter his perceptions, but he could readily tell that it was making him more inclined to be helpful. Had he minded or thought she was deliberately using the charm to get what she wanted, he could have twisted that aura of good luck into its polar opposite.
    As it was, he didn’t think she had grasped what kind of gift Sam had given her or how to use it. Most magi he knew would have wielded the luck like a weapon, aimed straight at their heart’s desire. Kimberly gave no sign of being aware of the subtle shifts it was causing in the ley lines around her, tiny gold threads twining through the natural blue, white and green streams of power only visible to those with Sight to see it. It was something like moving chess pieces in place to improve her chances of success. He also considered the naga might have had the right idea and used his grip on her hand to buffer the charm with some of his own magic, strengthening the spell.
    He was starting to rethink his original plan, too. Rather than keeping her off the trail of any Other who might be persuaded to accept her, perhaps a pseudo-dragon like a wyrm, wyvern, or maybe even another naga (if he could find one as foolish and naïve as Sam) might suit her. If only he didn’t dislike the idea of letting someone else do something so intimate as bond with her. His possessive streak was the damnedest thing; he couldn’t put his finger on what was drawing him to her, but his instincts rarely lied.
    Regardless, he still had questions that needed answers. First and foremost, he wanted to know more about her and the path that had brought her to him. His efforts to delve into the magical side of her parentage through skrying and divination had turned up nothing, and he wasn’t about to ask Eleanor. Distasteful as he found it to be so blunt, he supposed if she could be brave enough to sit here and bear his scrutiny despite her discomfort, he could do her the courtesy of being as direct as his nature allowed.
    “I would like to