Whisper of Shadows (The Diamond City Magic Novels) Read Online Free Page A

but it wouldn’t have helped. I understood. He’d always made me special by making sure everybody was watching out for me and protecting me. That put Taylor always on the outside. She didn’t complain, and she and I had managed to be close for the most part, even though she lived with a constant wound. It amazed me sometimes that she didn’t hate me.
    “I agree with Mel. Dad might have been telling the truth about his enemies wanting to get at his family. I don’t think you should go home. Your house doesn’t have enough protections.”
    “Actually, it does,” Price said. “Gregg and I had them installed this week. There’s also a twenty-four/seven watch on the place, and Taylor’s got bodyguards who travel with her now, too.”
    I eyed him in surprise. This was the first I’d heard about any of that. I looked at Taylor, lifting my brows in a silent question.
    Her expression turned sour. “I told them no, but arguing with the two of them is like arguing with a couple of rocks. Or Jamie and Leo, for that matter.”
    Price smiled. “All part of the service. After all, we’re family now.”
    “You are?” Jamie said, choosing that moment to return. “Since when did you adopt my sisters?”
    Price snorted. “Adopt? Oh no. Riley is most definitely not my daughter. She’s—”
    I looked at him. Just what exactly was I to him? But just then someone pounded on the door. With a battering ram. Wood cracked. It was a very solid door.
    We all jumped.
    “What the hell?” Jamie exclaimed. “What the hell are they doing? Why didn’t they just knock? Mom, you’re one of them.”
    My stepmother’s face had turned to alabaster, her lips pinching together in fury. She made herself relax, smoothing a hand over her hair. “I’m sure they’ll have a good explanation,” she said, but I couldn’t imagine what explanation would be good enough. ’Course, her colleagues might be having a conniption fit about her inviting the brother of a major Tyet player to her house for dinner. Or maybe it had to do with my dad. It was awfully coincidental that this invasion happened now, right when he showed up for his first visit in a decade.
    “Maybe it makes them feel like they’ve worked hard,” Leo said with forced calmness, taking a seat at the bar. “Earned their money. How about another drink for me?” he asked Taylor. “I think I need it.”
    “Me, too,” said Jamie, sliding into a seat. Red flags rode high in his cheeks. “Make it quick. They won’t be long.”
    The battering ram slammed the door once again. Leo’s jaw tightened, the muscles visibly knotting.
    “Another one and they’ll be inside,” Jamie said, taking a strong pull on his drink.
    Mel joined them at the bar.
    “What do you suppose they want?” Taylor asked as she slid a neat glass of scotch over to Mel. “Think they came because of Dad?”
    “Or Price,” I said tightly. “Or me.”
    That caught their attention.
    “You?” Jamie asked.
    Just as I thought—they hadn’t quite gotten around to putting that particular two and two together. “I’ve not exactly been Miss Clean lately,” I said. “You know, interfering in an FBI investigation. A whole lot of breaking and entering. Trespassing. Theft. Consorting with a known Tyet kingpin. Not to mention generally having a magic talent that everybody seems eager to get their hands on, including the cops.” I listed the highlights, but there were a lot more crimes the FBI could scrape up to throw at me, many of which I was actually guilty of.
    Mel, Jamie, Leo, and Taylor exchanged looks.
    “I don’t like this,” Mel said, the corners of her mouth deepening into a frown.
    I hadn’t liked the situation before she said that. But now that she had, my level of apprehension went zooming into the stratosphere.
    I didn’t get a chance to wallow in it. Just then the doorjamb finally splintered and the ornate double doors banged against the tables on either side of the entry. Incredibly expensive