City of Magic: The Complete Series by Helen Harper (book club recommendations TXT) 📕

I bit my lip. ‘I’m not sure that’s true. Although he’s been wearing that suit, there’s a strange purple aura around him. No one else has one like it, not even his guards. Whatever the reason for the colour, there’s certainly more magic round him than you’d expect.’

Monroe sucked in a breath. ‘The suits don’t work after all, then. Do you think Barrett has realised that? If the British government thought there was any chance he had magic, they’d have locked him into quarantine before you could say abracadabra.’

I snorted. ‘Especially given they call it the Plague.’ Then I paused. ‘According to Barrett. It was Barrett who said that the outside world calls magic the Plague. That might have been a lie.’

I mentally slapped myself. I’d not been taking my own advice; I’d not been picturing the range of hands that the billionaire could be holding. I’d massively underestimated him from the beginning. We had to consider all possibilities. ‘He could be planning to enter the city earlier than he told us.’

‘We have a large contingent posted at the door just in case. And if there is a secret tunnel, enough of us are out and about that we might get lucky and spot something if he tries to enter another way.’ Monroe glanced up at the next building. ‘Let’s check inside this one.’

We walked up to the main door and pushed it open. Monroe lifted his head and sniffed. ‘Anything?’ I asked.

He shook his head. ‘Not yet.’ He flicked me a look. ‘But they could be masking their scent.’

All possibilities. I pulled back my shoulders and followed him in. There was too much undisturbed dust on the marble floor. This wasn’t the place.

‘The one thing we have going for us,’ I said, as we wandered outside again, ‘is that he doesn’t know we know. He obviously realises I’m suspicious of him, but he won’t know that we’re all onto him. That’s why he made sure he wasn’t here when the fire started. Plausible deniability, as you said.’ I sighed. ‘But I bet he has a contingency plan for that scenario.’

‘He could bring in more guns,’ Monroe said. ‘“Here,”’ he mimicked, ‘“have some chocolate and bread and Vegemite – and do what I say or you’ll take a bullet in the teeth.” The group by the door are prepared for that eventuality but even so, it’s worrying.’

I winced at the thought. Worrying indeed. ‘When he first arrived, Barrett handed the guns over without a pause. He left plenty of them outside the walls as well. He was desperate to gain our trust in any way that he could.’

Monroe’s eyes grew sharp. ‘You didn’t find any more weapons inside his tent?’

‘Nope. I’d have told you if I did.’ I halted in mid-step. ‘Wait,’ I whispered.

Monroe stilled. ‘What is it?’

‘The chimney stack that almost fell on my head,’ I said. ‘If we assume that Barrett was behind that, we can also assume that I wasn’t the sole target. It could have been intended for both of us.’

He bristled with unspent fury. ‘I should have confronted him about that at the time.’

‘I doubt it would have changed anything,’ I said. ‘But why us? Why target just us?’

Monroe sniffed derisively. ‘You’re the enchantress. In a city where everyone has magic, you have the most. Plus, I’m a powerful alpha werewolf.’

‘And Julian?’ I asked.

‘He’s also a powerful werewolf.’ Monroe’s tone made it clear that Julian would never quite match up, not in terms of physical strength. In running the enclave from day to day, Julian would beat us all hands down.

‘I know that. But,’ I waved at the empty buildings around us, ‘if Barrett’s ultimate goal is to control the city and he thinks the three of us are the top dogs, what’s he likely to do?’

Monroe’s eyes met mine. ‘Bring us all down. He’d never manage it, though. He’s already failed once. And even with twenty of those guards, Barrett wouldn’t win against Julian in a fight. Or me.’ He shrugged. ‘Or you.’

‘Perhaps. If Fabian Barrett wants supremacy, he’ll have to do something more underhand than fight. He’s not you,’ I said softly.

‘Not a monster, you mean?’ Monroe’s expression was suddenly flinty.

‘Not straightforward. You don’t beat around the bush or prevaricate or use words like weapons to subvert and manipulate. Barrett does.’

‘Words will only get you so far.’

I wasn’t so sure about that but I didn’t think I’d persuade Monroe. Not right now. In his world, problems were faced head on and actions were king. Fabian Barrett was a different breed entirely.

‘Don’t underestimate what a slick tongue can do,’ I said. ‘But he has other avenues to use in order to get what he wants. Like a pile of bricks falling out of the sky onto someone’s head. Or those guns he brought in being used against us.’

‘Julian told me he locked them in a safe. They’re out of the way. Barrett can’t get to them.’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘but…’ I didn’t finish my sentence. A distant howl sounded from across the city. I looked at Monroe.

‘The billionaire is back.’ He smiled in such a way that a shiver ran all the way down my body. ‘Let’s get home and await his arrival. The game is truly afoot now.’

I exhaled. We still didn’t have enough information. We still didn’t know enough about what Fabian was up to. Unfortunately, however, we were also out of time.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Fabian Barrett’s expression was the very definition of triumphant. He walked into the enclave, his shoulders straight and his head held high, although he was still wearing the same orange-striped hazmat suit as before.

I narrowed my eyes, noting the purple swirl that continued to cling to him. He might think he’d been staving off the magic with that daft attire, but his magical aura was stronger now than it had been before. And yet it was still different to everyone else’s. If only I could work out why. He’d been away from