Arcane Entanglement (The Mage and His Brute #1)

Chapter 14

Viggo’s office was at the end of a gallery lined with desks and chairs. The soft glow of candle lanterns and oil lamps washed across heaps of paperwork stacked upon the surfaces and loaded bookshelves on the walls.

It was becoming increasingly clear to Evander why Nightshade was so successful. Viggo Stonewall not only ran a tight ship, it seemed he’d made sure his guild members received more than just a basic education.

The door was slightly ajar when they reached the room.

Jack rapped his knuckles on the wood. “It’s me.”

“Come in. I’m almost done cleaning up.”

Viggo’s voice was deep and gravelly and did all kinds of unseemly things to Evander’s pulse.

Jack pushed the door open.

Evander’s first impression of Viggo’s modest office was of books.

He blinked. They were everywhere.

On the solid oak shelves and cases lining all the walls bar one. On the weathered walnut desk buried under piles of ledgers. On the floor, stacked in haphazard towers that threatened to tumble at the mere whisper of a breeze.

It took a moment for his startled gaze to find the man he’d come to see.

Viggo stood with his back to them to the left of the room. He was splashing his face and neck with cold water from a basin, rinsing away the sweat and grime from the fight. He reached for a flannel hanging on a hook and started wiping his face as he straightened.

Their eyes met in the mirror above the basin. Viggo froze.

Evander wasn’t quite sure how to describe the feeling that swept through him in that moment. It was like being struck by lightning, his body tingling and sparking from dozens of blistering shocks. He felt dizzy and breathless, as if he’d run a considerable distance.

One thing he did recognise, much to his chagrin.

The sharp punch to the gut he was experiencing could only be sexual attraction. It was immediate and so wonderfully and terrifyingly strong, Evander found it a miracle he wasn’t sporting an erection.

Viggo turned.

“Who is this?” he asked, his expression cryptic.

His gaze flitted to Ginny before locking on Evander once more, like he couldn’t look away from him either.

Jack introduced them. “This is Lady Hartley.” He paused, wariness creeping into his voice. “And this is Duke Evander Ravenwood.”

The change that came over the Brute was sudden and spine-chilling.

One moment he was on the other side of the room, the next he’d crossed the floor, lifted Evander up by the collar of his cloak, and slammed him into the bookcase on the opposite wall.

“Evander!” Ginny cried out.

Evander grunted and grabbed Viggo’s wrist, books spilling out around him. His heels found purchase on a shelf.

Viggo’s eyes burned with the rage of a thousand suns as he glared at him.

“Don’t!” Evander snapped when he saw Ginny reach for her pistol out of the corner of his eye.

He dared not look away from the Brute.

Evander’s heart raced as he met Viggo’s livid gaze. It was taking all of his will power to fight his body’s instinct to unleash his magic and defend himself.

Solomon and Finn framed Ginny, their expressions vacillating between concern for their boss and open hostility towards him.

Jack approached and placed a hand on Viggo’s shoulder.

“Stop,” he told his nephew firmly. “He came here to talk. Says he has some information for you.”

Viggo clenched his jaw, his hand hot against Evander’s skin. He could no doubt feel the pulse drumming frantically at the base of his throat.

For a moment, Evander thought he would not listen to his uncle.

The fury blazing in Viggo’s pupils slowly abated.

He let go of him abruptly and retreated to his desk, wiping his hands on the flannel he held like he wanted to clean any trace of Evander from his flesh.

Evander swallowed, mouth dry where he’d braced his back against the bookcase. Though his knees were shaking, he couldn’t let it show.

He could sense the tension vibrating through the Brute all the way from behind the table. Showing any sign of weakness in front of this man would be akin to a lamb exposing its throat to an apex predator.

“What do you want, Ice Mage?” Viggo ground out. He grabbed the shirt on the back of his chair and shrugged into it.

Evander wondered at the ability of his libido to note the enticing way the Brute’s muscles moved as he angrily buttoned the item of clothing, while still in the midst of a rather precarious situation. He swallowed a curse.

Jasper and Ginny were right. I need to blow off some steam.

“May we sit?” he said after he’d recovered his breath. He indicated the book-laden chairs in front of the desk.

Viggo looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.

Evander sighed. “This may take a while.”

Viggo scowled, sat down, and crossed his heels on the table, his boots striking the wood like death knells.

Evander took this as a sign the Brute wasn’t bothered what he chose to do with himself and headed over to the chairs. Ginny joined him as he carefully moved the books to the floor.

Jack came over to stand by Viggo while Solomon and Finn took up position by the door. Evander noted this with interest.

Looks like they’ve been in this kind of situation plenty of times before.

From Ginny’s guarded expression, she too had clocked the way the men had positioned themselves. It was an arrangement meant to intimidate their guests.

Unfortunately, Evander and Ginny had navigated far worse waters at the society balls and dinner parties they attended to be cowered by such a display.

“You are being rather tight-lipped for someone who wanted to talk, mage ,” Viggo said sullenly, the last word uttered on a tone of pure contempt.

His gaze dropped briefly to Evander’s mouth. He removed a cigar from a drawer, clipped it expertly, and lit it on the candle lantern on the desk.

“I see you like Homer.”

Viggo blinked, nonplussed.

Evander indicated the worn copy of The Iliad on the shelf behind the Brute. “That tome looks rather well used.”

“I got it from a second-hand book stall in Spitalfields market,” Viggo grunted.

He seemed surprised by his own answer in the next moment, as did Jack.

Evander suppressed a smile. He suspected he’d just discovered one of Viggo Stonewall’s weaknesses.

The Brute furrowed his brow, like he could guess what Evander was thinking right now.

“If you came here to discuss our mutual tastes in books, I think you’ll find you have far more in common with those posh nobs you mingle with at The Prestige .”

Ginny barely managed to mask a gasp. Evander’s body grew cold.

The Prestige was the name of the gentleman’s club he frequented.

“How do you know I attend that place?” he asked tightly.

“This is an information guild, Duke Ravenwood. We gather—” Viggo exhaled a cloud of smoke in Evander’s direction and sneered, “—information.”

Finn snorted by the door. Solomon elbowed him in the ribs.

Evander clenched his jaw, the faces of the dark mages rising before his eyes.

“Does this mean someone asked you to investigate my movements?”

Viggo’s expression grew shuttered at his angry tone. “ Nightshade is the best information guild in the whole of England. I do not state this as a matter of pride. It is a fact. And no information guild worth their salt would divulge details about their work or their clients.”

Evander exchanged a tense glance with Ginny.

Have we walked into the lion’s den? He fisted his hands as he met the stony gaze of the Brute across the desk. No. However much animosity I can feel from this man, I don’t think he or his guild would associate with dark mages. Not willingly anyway.

“The night isn’t getting any younger, mage,” Viggo grunted. “State your business and be gone with?—”

“Last night, my carriage was attacked by a Brute and three dark mages.”