Winter Embers [ Book 2 ]

Chapter Fourteen

        Claire's eyes shot open and she nearly drowned herself in an effort to reach the edge of the pool and her discarded clothing. Coughing and sputtering, Claire pulled herself close to the tiled wall before she peered into the darkness and frowned.

       She knew that voice.

       "Draz?" she called out.

       "The one and only," the voice replied. There was a rustle of fabric and a moment later Draz came sweeping into view, his arms latched around one of the decorative drapes hanging from the ceiling. His feet hit the floor with a light thud and he swept his hair from his face in order to grace her with an impish grin.

       "It seems foolish to ask all things considered..." he eyed the pool of water where Claire was doing her best to keep her naked form from view, "are you okay? That bastard hasn't hurt you has he?"

       Claire shook her head. "I'm fine. Xeiren keeps insisting I am his guest."

       Draz scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Of course he does, he's always working an angle."

       "You know him then?"

       "I didn't recognize him at first, he wasn't wrong, time has changed us both," Draz replied with a shrug. "I used to run errands for him, collect payments, acquire things ... things I'm not proud of doing."

       "You aren't that person anymore, Draz," Claire reminded him.

       "Yeah, maybe," he said, his tone distracted as he looked around the room. He saw the balcony and headed towards it. "Did he say what he wanted?"

       "Something about a business deal, someone apparently hired him to kidnap me," Claire replied.

       "The best laid plans and blah blah blah, let's get you dressed and get out of here," Draz said, leaning over the railing of the balcony. "Yeesh, that's quite a drop."

       "I think we should wait," Claire replied.

       "Wait? What do you mean wait? Xeiren isn't someone to be trifled with," Draz said, walking back into the room. "He comes across as dashing and gentlemanly in that borderline psychotic kind of way, but I've seen the other side of him, the dark side of him. His loyalty only extends as far as your next payment, so unless you have a pile of coins stashed away somewhere that you haven't told us about, you aren't going to negotiate, you aren't going to get any more information out of him then he feels prudent to share, you aren't going to appeal to his humanity."

       "I can't leave without finding out who is funding this little fiasco," Claire insisted. "If we don't, we'll always be looking over our shoulder wondering where the next attack will come from."

       Draz groaned and looked like he wanted to protest further but was interrupted by the sound of a young woman's voice.

       "Is everything all right, mistress?" Meili called, the sound of her feet against the marble floor barely audible as she approached.

        "Everything is fine," Claire called back.

       Meili came into view a moment later, a frown looking out of place on her petite face. "I thought I heard voices, mistress."

       Claire glanced to where Draz had been but the fire mage was nowhere to be seen.

       "Um, nope, just me," Claire said with a shrug. "I was playing around, talking to myself, maybe that is what you heard?"

       Meili looked skeptical and for a moment Claire worried she might push the matter. Finally the girl nodded.

       "Yes, mistress, perhaps that was what I heard," she said. "It is time to get dressed and join Master Zou for dinner, mistress."