The Cage King Read Online Free PDF

every book he got his hands on – though how he got them she never asked. And at night, he’d listen for hours as she discussed whatever she’d learned that day. “He protects himself by sticking to areas where magic is useless and he’s surrounded by fighters and warriors. Man’s not stupid.” He drained the glass and set it on the counter before coming to stand in front of her. Anew, desire shaped itself low in her stomach as the scent of sweat and leather and that something that came to be labeled Esh in her mind hit her, but Nalah dug deep and refused to back away. She wouldn’t concede any ground to him. “Why are they sending you, outside of the very important reason they’re hoping you’ll convince me to get you to the Tour? Did you turn into a master thief while you were away? Because if you aren’t, can’t see how you going matters.”
    And here it was, the moment she’d been dreading. Laying herself bare in front of the one man she wanted to be shielded from. “Remember when I was a kid and always talked about feeling things? We thought maybe I had some magic in me but I never passed any tests and we decided that wasn’t the case.”
    “Yeah, except for that old fortune-teller. She always said you were in contact with the spirit world. I don’t know how the hell anyone took her seriously when she smelled like a bar.” And for one moment he smiled, open and free and emotionally intimate, and it was the three of them again, making a scruff of their neck escape and laughing about it once danger had passed, and the jolt that passed through her chest when Esh turned that smiling gaze to her.
    “Well, anyway,” she said, not responding to his smile, breaking the moment, and his face settled back into harsh lines, though he didn’t back away. “I can’t cast magic – I’m not a wizard, that’s true – but I can sense magic, and I can break it. I can unwind it, reverse the spells, make it like they never existed. It’s known as being a Magic Breaker.”
    Esh’s eyebrows rose, though no other signs of hesitant disbelief appeared on his face. Considering she’d never heard of Magic Breakers until the Guild entered her life, she wouldn’t have blamed him if he laughed outright at the thought. “You can’t cast spells?”
    “Nope,” she said, popping the p at the end.
    “But if you come to a house that has a magical lock on the door…”
    “I can open it, twist the handle and go right on in. It’s amazing how many people will lock up their houses with layers of magic but not use a ten-dollar deadbolt.”
    Esh crossed his arms over his chest and breathed deep, as if settling everything he’d learned inside him. “So the Guild thinks Beylor, what, lives in one of these magic-free zones you were talking about and they expect you to walk in and grab this piece of jewelry?”
    He looked skeptical, and she didn’t blame him. “Not quite. I’m not going to be alone. There’s a thief I’ll be meeting there. I need to find the item, and they’re going to steal it.”
    His hands went to his hips and he widened his stance, and damned if she was going to admit the dominating aura did anything to her insides, because like hell she’d ever give him that type of ammunition. “If they got a thief, why do they need you?”
    “Beylor is known for making multiple fakes of his valuables. Multiple fakes in multiple vaults, so I’m needed to lead my contact to the correct item.”
    “And it’s got to be you because you’re a Magic Breaker?”
    “Exactly. A wizard would be useless, but what I’m able to do isn’t the same, so I’ll be able to function.”
    His stance was still aggressive, those large hands resting on trim hips. “That’s all well and good, but you’re not a warrior. Beylor’ll have an army of thugs wandering around.”
    “I’ll deal with it.”
    Wrong thing to say, because he went from calm to pissed, veins in his neck raising beneath the skin. “Like fuck you’ll