Lyon was right. There was something wrong about the man in my office. He was standing near the fireplace when we entered, noting the books I had resting on the shelf there, and when he turned to face us he gave us a smile that would have been friendly if the expression actually made it up to his emotionless eyes.
"Miss Rose," he extended a hand, "pleasure to finally meet you in person!"
I gripped his hand tightly and tried to find something behind his dark brown eyes, some kind of hint of emotion. "Wish I could say the same Mr.?"
"Bordeaux," he bowed with a flourish. "Ceil Bordeaux. I assume you know why I'm here?"
"I do," I said and gestured to the chair in front of my desk as I took my own, Lyon opting to stand protectively behind me, "but my answer remains unchanged. You can tell Deilos-"
"His majesty," Ceil corrected me with a wry smile.
I clicked my teeth together in annoyance. "You can tell his majesty that he can offer me all the riches and pleasures in this world and my answer will still be no."
"Surely his majesty can offer you more than this...quaint little town," he grimaced. "The capitol is a much more enchanting place for woman of your talents."
"And which of my 'talents' are you referring to?"
"I see there's no beating around the bush with you," he said as he folded his hands neatly in his lap. "You have quite the reputation as an efficient killer, Miss Rose. His majesty has many enemies and he would pay you kindly to, how shall we say, keep them from him."
"He has many enemies for a reason Mr. Bordeaux and you and I both know that the only reason he wants to hire me is so he can be assured I'm not going to kill him."
"Regicide is a serious crime Miss Rose. He would simply be taking precautions."
"I have no interest in the killing of kings. I have my hands full with Lyca as it is."
His eyebrow shot up in intrigue. "Oh? A small town like this can't have many problems can it?"
I reached into my drawer and pulled out the files of jobs I had completed this month and dropped them heavily in front of him. "Does this not look like 'many' problems to you?" I began to flip random files open. "Jerimiah Blake, marked for killing his boss over a dispute on payments. Sarah Cline, marked for killing women that looked like her mother. Brigitte Wright, marked for selling children into slavery, the Reaper gang, marked for assaulting young women in the slums as a form of initiation," I shut the folders. "And that's not including the array of Soulless I've dealt with."
"Ah yes," he mused. "I heard your town had a bit of a lesser daemon problem. It's part of why I am here."
"What is the king's interest in lesser daemons?"
"Oh the king has little interest in daemons currently. The interest is my own. See I'm a Daemonologist."
I tasted blood as I bit my tongue to hard, and winced as my nails dug into my palm. Behind me Lyon's grip on my shoulder tightened. "And what implores you to study daemons?" I asked through gritted teeth.
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on my desk, and flashed me a madman grin. "I just think they're fascinating don't you?"
"Not when they're harassing my town I don't."
"Speaking of harassment," Lyon glared down at Ceil before removing his hand from my shoulder. "I think it is time you leave Mr. Bordeaux."
"I see I've overstayed my welcome," he stood, straitened his clothes, and made way for the door. "I'll be in town for a while Miss Rose, should you change your mind. Good evening."
Lyon closed the door behind him and waited a moment to make sure Ceil was gone before he turned to me with a concerned frown. "This could be bad Saph."
I rubbed my temples. "I know Lyon."
"If he studies daemons he could find out about you. This guy's different than the others. He's smarter and it's like something is missing from him."
"His humanity," I sighed. "He puts on a good front and to the untrained eye he would seem like a charming man but nothing reaches his eyes."
"You need to watch when and where you change from now on," he had begun to pace.
I shook my head. "I don't believe there is a point to that. I have a feeling he already knows."
"But how? The only people who have actually seen you change from one form to the other has either been people you trust or people who died shortly after. So how would he have known."
"That is the big question."
I jumped at the gentle knock on my door. Lyon opened it to reveal Jayde and I waved him in, smiling as Shade trailed in at his feet. Lyon gave him an ear scratch, tossed a few playful punches with Jayde, then excused himself to his room.
"What's up kiddo?"
"I'm not a kid," he grumbled and sat on the floor to rub Shade's belly. "Galen finished up his cooking duties for the day and Kari didn't have anything for me. She told me to see if you had something for me to do."
"Not at the moment," I stood from my chair and stretched. "It's been a pretty long day for you, a lot has happened in such a short amount of time, you should get some rest."
"What was the king's Daemonologist doing here?" He asked as he stood and brushed the fur from his pants.
"You've heard of him?"
"You haven't?"
"I don't particularly keep up with politics, or much of anything from the capitol really. I purposely keep my business out of the walls that surround it."
"I hear people talk about him. Apparently he hardly leaves the capitol unless there's a Soulless issue. They say he's nice."
"He is anything but nice Jayde, he simply puts on a charming charade. Be careful around him should you run into him, this likely wasn't the last time we will see him."
"But why was he here to begin with? I haven't seen a Soulless in town in years."
"You're welcome," I huffed.
"You fight Soulless?" Jayde had made his way to my desk and leaned across it to stare at me in wonder. "I heard only highly trained soldiers could deal with them."
I flashed a cocky grin and pointed at myself. "I'm the best assassin in the country kid. Soulless aren't a joke though. Without a host they can't really do much but the second they latch onto a body they become incredibly difficult to deal with. They're damn near invincible unless you can destroy their heart and, trust me, they don't make that easy. I've gotten my fair share of scars from them but I've never lost to one."
"So he's here because there are Soulless outside the city?"
"No I think that's really just a bonus to him. He was sent here by Deilos in an attempt to recruit me."
He slumped back into a chair. "The king wants to hire you? When are you leaving?"
I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I'm not leaving Jayde. He's been trying to recruit me for years and my answer is always no."
He stared back at me in shock, mouth agape. "You said no...to the king?"
"I say no to him often."
"Wow. You must really be scary for him not to kill you for that."
I groaned and stood out of my chair, leading Jayde back to his room. "I'm only scary to bad people kid. Now get some sleep. Kari will be waking you up early tomorrow to help her clean this place up from the overnight drunks."
"Sounds fun!" He flashed a smile and wrapped his arms around my waist in a tight hug. "Goodnight Sapphyre!"
I awkwardly patted his back and fought the embarrassing blush creeping up my face. "Goodnight Jayde."
He waved as he closed his door and I made my way down the hall, knocking on Lyon's door a few times before being told to enter. "Everything alright?"
"Just a bit tense after our visit. I'm gonna go out for a bit, stretch my wings."
His face fell in concern. "You sure that's a good idea? I mean Ciel seems to be on the hunt for daemons."
"You worry to much Lyon. It's dark now so I'll be harder to see. I'll be fine."
He sighed, concern still etching his face. Then, he covered it with an unconvincing smile and playfully punched my shoulder. "You better be."