Getting Wilde Read Online Free PDF Page A

children you’re so eager to protect, you would be of no use to me at all.”  
    He had a point. I shrugged. “So?”  
    “So, I have dispatched a team to meet him and the young family you’ve identified in Chartre, to get them to a safe location.”  
    “Awfully nice of you. You must need me pretty bad to put yourself out like that.”    
    He didn’t bother answering that one either, and I blew out a breath and stretched my legs, my scuffed boots jarringly out of place in the lush limo. “Okay, next topic. Why all the interest in this seal I grabbed tonight? From what I heard, it’s been floating around Europe for the better part of the last three centuries in private but not particularly inspired collections, before the Louvre picked it up. And they haven’t exactly been treating it special. What changed?”  
    “You said it yourself back at that unfortunate bar, Miss Wilde. The black market of magical artifacts is heating up. What was formerly of little interest now has a greater cachet.”  
    “Which is fine, except that little Roman Frisbee you have in your pocket has no business being treasure of the year. The seals of Ceres were never coveted artifacts, and you know it. They couldn’t enter a Roman temple without tripping over one.”  
    He inclined his head to agree with that. “Perhaps the one you liberated was special?”  
    “Doubtful.” I shook my head, though the idea of hiding a valuable artifact amidst a pile of worthless trinkets was exactly the kind of subterfuge the Romans would have enjoyed. “Because here’s the thing. The Louvre assigned it to an infant to carry across the city. If that seal was actually worth something, the museum would have had stricter transport protocols in place. And for those keeping score, there were two parties after the thing. My client and the Swiss Guard, or whoever they were. Who somehow managed to bug the pouch without ever tracking it.” A bug which I’d missed in my careful inspection, so that was some Grade-A tech. “Why?”  
    Armaeus shot back a question of his own. “Why did your client say he wanted the seal? Or do you continue to insist on not asking even the most reasonable questions before you take on a job?”  
    Another sore point with us. “I ask the pertinent questions. Like what and for how much. I don’t worry myself with the why, at least not through any official channels.”  
    “And what did your unofficial channels say?”  
    His words were offhand, but his manner had sharpened ever so slightly. As the Magician, Armaeus didn’t usually have to interrogate someone. He could simply rifle through their thoughts. With me, however, he could only go so far. I’d somehow thrown up barriers without realizing it. Which was a total bonus ninety-five percent of the time.  
    In this case, though, I didn’t care enough to keep the information from him. “My client’s family wanted it for leverage, is what I’d heard. Obviously, since they asked specifically for me, I figured there was some arcane connection, but I figured it was the typical goddess-veneration stuff. Lot of that going around these days.”  
    “And you don’t think that anymore?”  
    “Gee, I don’t know. I’ve been playing hot potato with it for the past five hours, and now we’re racing away toward your secret lair in the woods.” I rolled my eyes. It’s a particular skill of mine. “You say those ninjas weren’t the Swiss Guard, but I think you’re wrong. One of them definitely had the papal seal tatted on his neck, so they had something to do with the man upstairs.”  
    Armaeus appeared unimpressed with my ocular gymnastics. “Your assumption about their provenance was not an unreasonable one,” he said. “And not far off the mark. But I will leave that discussion for later this evening. The arrival of their squadron on scene is interesting, but not any more than your client’s interest in the seal.” His jaw twitched. “Who was