Damien left Lane in her room to try and sleep. Hearing you’d been targeted for murder could give a person insomnia. Still, he hoped she could get a little rest. The moment the connecting door closed behind him he sent streams of soul force around every inch of the suite. He sealed the doors and every crack so tight an ant couldn’t find a way through.

In truth he didn’t expect anything to happen tonight. Whoever tried to kill Lane had no way of knowing she didn’t eat the poison. When she walked into the meeting in the morning, however, all hell might break loose.

He hoped it did.

The instant anyone made an overt move against Lane the negotiations would be over and he’d have a free hand to handle things however he wished. He’d gotten to like Lane and the fact that they’d tried to kill her made him want to deal harshly with the barons.

He sighed and lay down. Everything was so complicated.

Damien woke early and found his barrier intact and no sign that anyone had attempted to breach it. Good. For once things seemed to be going how he expected.

The meeting was scheduled to begin around midmorning, leaving him four or so hours to kill. His stomach rumbled. He hadn’t eaten since lunch the day before. Maybe he could sneak down to the kitchen and find some untainted food for breakfast. With the suite sealed Lane was in no danger.

Damien had no interest in conversation so he wrapped himself in invisibility before leaving his room. He scanned the hall outside before he stepped out. If anyone saw the door open and close by itself they might grow curious.

The kitchens were at the rear of the castle on the first floor. Damien strolled through the empty halls, seeing no one save a servant hurrying along, carrying a mop and sloshing bucket of water, and completely unaware that he was walking a couple feet to her right. Damien smiled. It was fun walking around with no one knowing he was there.

Damien smelled the kitchen long before he reached it. The pleasant, yeasty scent of bread mingled with cooking bacon. His mouth watered. A bacon sandwich and cold mug of ale would suit him just fine. Knives thunking into cutting boards and someone shouting about burning rolls told him he was getting close.

He rounded the corner in time to see one of the bodyguards from last night grab a servant by the arm and drag her away from the kitchen door. He didn’t know the man, Damien had only spoken to Sloan. What could he want with the servant?

Damien could only think of one thing and if that’s what the bodyguard wanted Damien would have to step in. He followed them down a long hall toward the back of the castle. The guard pushed a door open and dragged the girl out into the yard. Damien slipped through the open door and followed them toward the stable. It looked like he had the right idea.

Damien almost canceled his invisibility, but hesitated. He didn’t want to give himself away unless he absolutely had to. The girl wasn’t screaming for help, but from her frightened eyes and pale face he felt certain she didn’t want to be going along with him. Maybe she knew no one would help if one of the barons’ bodyguards wanted to have his way with her.

They ducked into the stable and Damien hurried up behind them. If he pushed her down into a pile of hay Damien would step in, disguise be damned. He peeked through the doorway. The guard had released the servant and she rubbed a red spot on her arm where he’d gripped her.

“You didn’t have to be so rough,” the girl said.

“I had to make it look like I was dragging you off for a tumble. Do you have any poison left?”

Damien tensed. Were these two behind the attempt to kill Lane?

The servant dug two little pouches out of a pocket in her uniform. “There isn’t much. I put two scoops in the woman’s food like you said.”

The man snatched the poison out of her hand and stuffed it in his pocket.

“When can we leave? If I have to put up with one more of Master Kannon’s pinches I fear I may slap him.”

“Soon.” The bodyguard held out his arms and she went to him. The girl buried her face in his chest and he held her with one arm. The other arm reached around and pulled a dirk from a sheath at the small of his back. “Don’t worry, I’m almost done.”

Damien wrapped the girl in a soul force barrier an instant before the bodyguard tried to stab her in the gut. The servant’s eyes went wide when his weapon bounced off her uniform. Damien wished he could have seen the look on the bodyguard’s face.

He slipped into the stable, wrapped the man up in a cocoon of soul force, and stiffened the shield around the servant so she couldn’t move. With his prisoners secure, Damien let his invisibility fade. The girl’s eyes got even wider and the bodyguard tried to move, but only managed to fall over. Damien surrounded the stable with a sound barrier so no one would overhear them.

“I think we need to talk.” He turned to the girl. “You put poison in Lane’s food?”

Her lip trembled. “He promised to take me away. He said to just put a little powder in her food and she’d get sick and not be able to finish the negotiations. It’s so awful here. I just wanted to escape.”

Stupid girl. “You’ll find the mines a good deal less comfortable, assuming they don’t hang you.”

She started bawling and Damien gagged her with a strip of soul force. He should feel sorry for her. The guard clearly used her and it sounded like the baron took advantage of her. Maybe if she’d poisoned Kannon he would have been more understanding.

He turned his attention to the bodyguard lying on the ground. The cocoon around his head vanished.

“Help! Sloan! James! Anyone!”

Damien crouched beside him. “No one can hear you. We’re going to have a chat. If you tell me what I want to know I won’t crush you into a bloody mush.”

“I won’t tell you anything.” He spat at Damien.

Thankfully the spit slid right off Damien’s personal shield. Damien clenched his fist and the cocoon shrank, squeezing the guard’s body. The man gasped for breath.

“Who told you to kill Lane?”

“Go to hell!”

Damien shook his head and squeezed again. The guard moaned and fell silent when he couldn’t refill his lungs. Damien let him suffocate for a minute before he allowed the guard take a breath.

“The next squeeze will break ribs. Consider your words carefully.”

“All right, I’ll tell you whateve—”

The guard screamed when dark fire shot out his eyes and ears. Black tar oozed out of his nose and he stopped breathing.

“Damn it!” Damien slammed a fist on the stable wall. A warlock had put a binding on him. Poor bastard probably didn’t even realize it. He turned to the servant and found her unconscious on the stable floor. “Damn it!”

Now who could tell him what was going on?