《Catalyst (Magic, Romance, and Murder)》 Potential Victim #1 A Formal Treatise on Techniques for Negating Thermologic Assaults and Other Fire-Based Attacks that I''d managed to hunt down. Hopefully it would serve as my salvation. "I was in the library. I found it misfiled among the fire spells." Potential Victim #2 Something pretty¡­? So why now¡­? Potential Victim #3 It had to be a test. If it were a test, then it was simply a matter of figuring out the rules of the game and playing along. But if it wasn''t a test ¡ª if Brendan was being honest, as absurd as that idea was ¡ª then the very doctrines that had governed my life for the last six years had changed overnight. Because no mage would ask this. Because no Catalyst would agree to it. Because the Brendan I knew would never permit this, let alone encourage it... thoroughly entertained today, though he was still maddeningly vague about what all was included in "entertained" ¡ª his computer chimed. He swiveled away from me mid-syllable, a satisfied grin seizing both corners of his mouth. he walked through the door, I felt my expression crack. It had to be a test. most entertained." Maybe determining the correct answer was part of the test. He had to be testing my loyalty. Identity Damn it. This is the only chance I''m going to give you, Juhan. "Tell me what?" Morality What?" Wait. Would it have been a normal request if I hadn''t been a mage? Is it normal for him to ask you to sleep with people?" wouldn''t. Catalysts have to be willing. It''s impossible to force the power out of them." Encounter #1 Shit. Something rose behind my eyes, and it wasn''t my Catalyst power, or that strange icy ocean. It was a different type of moisture entirely. I swallowed hard, then dropped my face to bury it against the front of his coat. I would not, damn it, I would not¡­ Won''t be tolerated, not in my city." Encounter #2 Fuck. My bare feet landed a little too hard on the linoleum floor as I dropped back down. What the hell was Brendan doing outside my door? Double fuck. I froze. Was he guessing, or had Juhan told him? my Catalyst." the Shadowmage, and he didn''t have his Catalyst with him. The question was more if Brendan would risk putting a potential alliance at risk over a mere kiss? Oh. His mouth was firm against mine, and lower down his free hand clasped my waist. Encounter #3 Be reasonable, Severine. You know multiple mages. There was no reason to panic. All I needed to do was call Brendan, and he would come back and heal the injury. Even if it hadn''t been incurred during sex, he would have healed it. Brendan wasn''t the type to tolerate an imperfect Catalyst, not when he could fix it. He would fix it. Simple. Look at how calm and rational I was being. Shit. I hadn''t thought this part through. I swallowed past the awkwardness and tried again. "Brendan was here and¡­" And I don''t want to tell you that part; I want you to think better of me. Another conversational dead end. I fumbled over words, landed on: "Can you do a healing tonight?" What did he think had happened? Brendan could be rough, but not¡­ into me. That feeling I had never quite gotten used to, the tingling sensation that was halfway between uncomfortable and sexual as it sank down into my flesh, made my whole body come alive until my teeth were chattering with it. Offered me a choice, and I was the one who picked the Shadowmage as my lover for the night. But I couldn''t bring myself to say that, to admit my own deviant tastes to Kasimir. all the bruises were gone. Not just on my left arm, but on my right as well, and on both legs. "Won''t he wonder why they''re gone?" and telling Kasimir was something else entirely. But Kasimir was worth the risk. I gave in with a sigh. "There''s a ring. He wasn''t wearing it in the morning, and he didn''t have it on when we returned to the office, but Juhan wore it when he kissed me. I didn''t see it, but I felt it. I think it''s part of the test. An amulet of some sort." He''d kissed me. Twice. In one night. Not on the lips, but he''d kissed me. He hadn''t so much as blown me a kiss in six years of flirtations. Murder sleep in on the bathroom mirror. Juhan. Brendan. Kasimir. Pull it together, Severine. It would be dangerous to be distracted like this when I entered Brendan''s office. Just because he had been indulgent last night didn''t mean anything had changed. He was still my Wielder; I was still his third Catalyst. Not his lover. I needed to act like it. P. It couldn''t be. Brendan had threatened him, but he hadn''t meant it. Couldn''t have meant it. He was too smart, too suave, too strategic to attack a guest as important as Juhan Parkkonen. To do what? Just a normal day in the office; nothing to see here. Evasion Shit. If it had been Kasimir, I might have tried to talk it through, to reason with him. There was no reasoning with Siobhan. She would strike first, and not even ask questions later. Could Juhan take her? Mark Severine!" I can''t¡ª" Trust me, he said, and then his hand clamped down over my wrist. Trust me, he said, and then it was lightning that filled my body. Electricity shot through me, a new and sharper type of pain, cutting jagged lines back and forth across my senses as it arced from my wrist to my limbs, to my heart, to my lungs. The mark on my wrist became a burning star, a constellation of agony, a white-hot supernova that exploded out over me. Trust me, he said, and then the blackness came and ate me alive. like Brendan could. Heat tried to rise to my cheeks as I thought about the last time Brendan had used his shadow magic, but I fought it back down. Instead, I focused on fiddling with the loose edge of the bandage around my wrist. Certain details I definitely did not need to offer up to Juhan. "What''s the plan, then?" Ring marked me, Juhan." What?" Club other services, separated from the main room by a chest-high partition. The other wall boasted a polished bar, stocked with a rich assortment of liquor. At the far end was a tiny kitchen; nothing gourmet, but enough to squeak out a few appetizers to help soak up the booze. Justin." After Dark vampires." what?" you weren''t bothering me."