Southwest Days (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 2), Kal Aaron [book recommendations based on other books .txt] 📗

about trust, going there is extremely dangerous and foolhardy. That’s especially true if this most recent incident is the result of some high-level conspiracy, as you suggest.”

Lyssa grinned. “If I die, Aisha will avenge my death.” She grinned. “Assuming Tristan St. James doesn’t take me out when I’m halfway there.”

“What does he have to do with anything?” Samuel asked, anger filtering into his tone.

“I don’t know,” Lyssa replied, blinking at Samuel’s reaction. “You tell me. I have circumstantial evidence that he might be tangentially involved in something related to Chris, but that’s all it is. It’s not like I know the guy.”

“I would avoid him,” Samuel said. “He’s closer to a rogue than you might suspect.”

“Meaning what? Come on, Samuel. Give me the truth. Right now, I could use more of it.”

“He’s conducted assassinations prior to approval.” Samuel spat the last three words. “He has operated without the sanction of the Tribunal.”

“Then why isn’t he considered an official rogue?” Lyssa frowned. “It seems like a bad idea to use someone who can get away with that kind of thing.”

Samuel hesitated for a moment, uncertainty in his eyes. “Because they were all targets where evidence later arose that would have led to their extreme punishment or execution. That complicates matters. The Tribunal wouldn’t want to appear to support true rogues, even tacitly.”

“Do you know where he is right now?” Lyssa asked.

“No.” Samuel shook his head. “And I think that’s best for both of us.” He stood and smoothed his jacket. “I think we’re done here, Miss Corti. I’ll submit your request and let you know their response. Again, I can’t guarantee anything.”

“All I ask is that you try.”

Lyssa rolled onto her side in bed, sighing. “Do you think Samuel was right?”

“You need to be more specific,” Jofi replied.

“Right about me going to Last Remnant?” Lyssa asked. “We stopped the monster, and it doesn’t seem like it was a trap for me, but I have a hard time ignoring some of the lines in the email and not thinking I was targeted. But that doesn’t change anything about Chris’s regalia.”

“I can’t say what the right course of action is. I’ve never been there, and my experiences with you color my view of the Illuminated Society. But from my perspective, it will at least allow you to continue your investigation concerning your brother.”

“Even Samuel admits there’s something weird going on,” Lyssa said. “He just doesn’t agree about who it is. Could I be wrong? Has everything lately just been a coincidence?”

“Adrien Allard’s pictures are suggestive of something more,” Jofi said. “It’s hard to link them directly to the current incident. In addition, if someone is targeting you and they’re connected to the Society, there is a higher probability that they know your true identity. That is even more true for Elders.”

Lyssa sat up and frowned. “I don’t know what to make of all this. I feel like someone wanted an investigation of that mine before it was too late, but I can’t be sure. I also wonder if the same someone wanted me to be the one to investigate the shard-smuggling, too. I’m still convinced that person knew about the shard-smuggling and pushed me onto that case by sending the emails.”

“What emails are you referring to?” Jofi asked.

“When Damien was following up on the Alvarez raid, he found an email mentioning a message from someone in ‘the bureau.’” Lyssa glanced at her phone. “We never did figure out who that referred to, but someone might be going around using shards to send fake emails. I don’t know, it might be a stretch, but I don’t like all the weird manipulations happening around me.”

“Or you could be falling down a hole of assumptions and paranoia where you see connections that don’t exist,” Jofi replied. “Out of a desperate desire to get closure over your brother.”

“Being paranoid doesn’t matter if I take down a lot of bad guys. It’s a survival trait.” Lyssa sighed. “And I’ve already accepted Chris might be dead at the end of this. I hope he isn’t, but I’ll keep investigating and find out the truth if he is.”

“What’s your immediate plan, then?” Jofi asked. “Samuel will do what you want and push for Last Remnant, but that will take time.”

Lyssa nodded. “I know. My plan is simple. If jobs come up, I’ll do them well. Otherwise, I’ll wait for Samuel to tell me I’m approved to go, eat some strawberry ice cream, and go out on another date with Bill.”

“Instead of Lieutenant Lopez?” Jofi asked.

“I never wanted to date him.” Lyssa groaned. “And I’m beginning to feel like I need to separate the Torch from the woman. Sometimes, it’s nice to check out and forget who and what I am.”

“I think no intelligent being can truly do that,” Jofi replied.

“Hey.” Lyssa licked her lips. “I didn’t want to bring this up until everything settled down, but what did you mean when you said I wasn’t ready?”

“I don’t understand the question,” Jofi replied.

Lyssa frowned. “You said it when I thought I was dying after firing all three showstoppers. First, it sounded like you thought I was ready and then said I wasn’t.”

“I have no memory of that. Are you sure you weren’t hallucinating due to the side effects of the enchantment?”

Lyssa’s gaze ticked to where her safe was hidden. No, she couldn’t be sure she wasn’t hallucinating, but she also couldn’t ignore that she’d used very powerful spells at Jofi’s request—spells that could risk breaking his seal.

Could he be lying?

That didn’t seem possible. Everything she’d been told by Lee didn’t suggest the breaking of the seal would be that subtle, let alone that Jofi could manipulate people in his original or sealed forms.

The spirit had praised her for trading her life for others. None of that added up to him returning to his true nature.

“Forget it,” Lyssa said. “I made it out of there okay, I’ll be going to Last Remnant soon, and I have a guy I can