Free The Scofflaw Magician (The Artifactor Book 3) by Honor Raconteur Page A

healthy swallow, her mouth feeling almost numb around the edges. “Is
everyone in Sa Kao spice addicts?”
    “This isn’t
spicy,” he objected, still grinning.
    Looking down at
the bowl, she made plans to bring food back when she went to Big tonight. If
this dish wasn’t spicy, she was in trouble.
    Xald abruptly
went still, his focus on a crowd of men that came through the front door. They
were an amiable group, discussing something between themselves as they headed
for a table, and Xald shifted in his chair to track them.
    Sevana noted
this behavior and paused while ripping a piece of naan free. “Has our man
arrived?”
    “Yes, I think
that’s him. Black turban, the one sitting with his back to us.”
    From her pouch,
Sevana drew her box lens and lifted it to her eye, focusing it by using the
dials on the back. It glowed a soft blue as she activated it, and the world
turned interesting shades, as if everything around her was overlain with
spirals and lines of energy.
    “I’ve seen you
pull that out several times now,” Xald said in a questioning tone. “But you
still haven’t told me what it’s for.”
    “To read
magical signatures.”
    He ruminated on
that for a moment before offering, “Didn’t you tell me before that magicians
can tell with the naked eye if magic is about?”
    “Normally,
yes,” she answered absently. “But if it’s camouflaged or under a glamour,
that’s not always the case. Our evil magician, whoever he is, was able to get
in and out of the palace without the court wizards being able to tell what he
was. That means that he has a very powerful glamour of some sort on him. This
lens will tell me if something is off or possibly let me see through a part of
the glamour.” It was the easier option for her even if it was obvious what she
was doing. The only other method was to do some long incantations and spell
work, and she didn’t have the energy for that.
    It took seconds
for her to do the fine adjustments on the lens so that she could truly examine
every part of him. Then the answer was obvious and she lowered the lens with a
sigh, turning it back off before returning it to the pouch.
    “Not him,” Xald
stated, not needing her to say anything.
    Sevana braved
another bite of the curry. “Mark him off. Aside from our two suspicious people,
we have three more to find. Can we do that tonight?”
    “Likely not.”
    “Then let’s
finish our dinner and head back. We’ll start again in the morning, after we go
see Petran’s house.”
    They ate in
amicable silence for several minutes before Xald spoke again. “What you told
the king and queen earlier, about what has happened to the princess, is that
truly what you think has happened?”
    She gave him a
quick glance before focusing on the naan. It was the safest thing to eat on the
table. “Yes. Why?”
    “You don’t
think the little princess is dead?” he pressed.
    Ah, that was
what he was worried about. “I don’t. Xald, I’m not kind enough to lie to people
or give them false hopes. I don’t believe in that.”
    He let out a
soft breath of relief.
    Incredulous,
she slapped a hand against the table. “You thought I had! You idiot, would I
really be dragging you around the city like this, getting sunburned, if I
thought she was dead already?”
    “You are upset that a magician has crafted a spell you can’t decipher.”
    Alright, well,
he had a point there. Sevana was mad enough about being intellectually stumped
that she would likely keep pursuing this even if she thought the princess was
dead. “Still, I wouldn’t be doing a dog and monkey show just for the sake of
putting those two at ease. I’d pursue this man by other means, even though it’d
take longer.”
    “These words
soothe my heart. I am glad.”
    Sevana snorted
and took another bite of curry. “The idea, really.” To her horror, she realized
mid-chew that her mouth could no longer taste anything, her taste buds having
shut down in self-preservation.