Blackbird Crowned (The Witch King's Crown #3) - Keri Arthur Page 0,3

than that. Errand boys don’t have the control over demons that he had.”

“Except this one was also consort to a would-be king, and that would undoubtedly give him power. But he was in the end just a half-breed. Dark elves would never have rallied around one such as he.”

I stopped beside her. The rain lashed the road below and raced along the gutters, but there was no sign of movement. That didn’t necessarily mean anything, given concealment spells were easy enough to access. I wasn’t spotting any of the usual tells of such magic, however.

“If they’re already up on the roof,” I said, “they’re not yet attempting to cut through the tarp.”

“Given their lack of success in previous attacks on us here, it’d be logical for their next attempt to be a two-pronged one.” She let the curtain drop and stepped back. “I’ll head upstairs and place a snare across the roof. You keep an eye on the front door.”

I sheathed both knives and headed for the stairs. While I felt decidedly safer with them in my hands, the growing intensity of the lightning flickering down Nex’s sides would quickly give the game away to any intruders who lurked below.

I paused at the landing and squatted close to the wall. Nothing appeared out of place below, and there were no shadowy figures to be seen, either within the store, in the section of street visible through the windows, or the inset entrance.

The heated flickers of Nex’s power, now pulsing through the leather sheath and warming my thigh, very much suggested that appearance was a lie.

I silently padded down the stairs and paused again on the bottom step, my gaze sweeping the service counter and the three lines of shelving that dominated the main shop area.

There was nothing out of place and no evidence that anyone or anything had entered. The front door remained locked and bolted.

Whatever Nex sensed, it wasn’t as yet in the building.

I walked down the nearest shelving aisle and stopped just behind the small T at the end. By removing a couple of ornaments and books, I’d be able to see the front door while still remaining hidden.

Magic touched the air, a familiar caress of power. Mo, creating her net underneath the hole in the roof. I couldn’t help but hope it wouldn’t be necessary. The last thing we needed with a storm in full fury was a sliced-open tarp incapable of keeping the weather out.

A hulking, half-shadowed figure moved across the front window and stopped close to the inset doorway. My heart leapt into high gear, beating so fast it felt ready to tear out of my chest. I knew exactly what that figure was. Knew the damage he could inflict. And I certainly knew from bitter experience just how easily the energy whip coiled in his left hand—a hand that was the size of a shovel—burned through metal, wood, and flesh. I still bore the scars of my encounter with the last one.

I sucked in a breath and resisted the urge to draw the knives and cinder his ass. Until I was sure there wasn’t anyone else out there, I had to be patient.

Patience had never been one of my strong points.

I shifted from one foot to the other, then stilled as a faint sparkle formed around the door’s sliding bolt; a heartbeat later, it was open. A similar sparkle assaulted the deadlock, then the handle turned and the door opened to reveal … no one.

Which was impossible, of course. The giant hadn’t moved and certainly couldn’t have been responsible for unlocking the door. He was a half-demon and incapable of magic.

I narrowed my gaze and gripped Nex’s hilt. That was when I saw it—a faint shift in shadows.

A Blackbird.

The giant was with a fucking Blackbird.

While I was well aware that Darkside had their hooks into witches right across the spectrum, I hadn’t expected the Durants to be amongst their number. They were the ancient protectors of witch kings and still offered their services to the current royal family, even if that duty had technically ended when the crown had passed from witch to human. Their main skill set was the ability to manipulate both light and shadow, and it made them dangerous enemies, especially when many of them were also spell capable.

But it did at least explain why the spells protecting this place hadn’t reacted—Mo had recently redefined who could and couldn’t enter the building after hours, and in that process had added an