Southwest Days (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 2) by Kal Aaron (best book recommendations TXT) 📕

looking for a smile. “Is this your idea of a joke? You know me, and I’m the one who came to you to ask for backup. That’s how seriously I’m taking it.”

“The monsters might not be stable,” Samuel replied with a dismissive flick of his wrist. “There are ways to rapidly create armies if one doesn’t care about them lasting. You already found they have one significant weakness.”

“What about the Lemurian line in the email?” Lyssa asked. “There’s a possibility that not only is this a rogue, but they might even be targeting a Torch.”

“As I said, a game of sorts.” Samuel offered a thin smile. “It might have been a mocking statement with implied antiauthority intent.”

Lyssa shook her head. “I’m also worried that some of the other parts of the email were specific to me.”

“Depending on interpretation, yes.” Samuel sounded disappointed in her. “But there’s no certainty of that.”

She didn’t care. It made no sense for him to drag his feet after he’d gone to the trouble of bringing Antoine in to help her. Jofi was right. The reasons didn’t matter. Whether the monsters would die early or not, they represented a threat.

Lyssa scrubbed a hand over her face. “I don’t get it. I thought we were on the same page on this. I’m trying to be responsible and reasonable. We need to clear out the mine, which means I need help other than Antoine. With most of the closest Torches unavailable, it makes sense to bring in outside help, and I offered a suggestion. Someone we both know can fight.”

“Aisha Khatri,” Samuel stated.

Lyssa nodded. “I thought I made that clear in my message. If you want to send someone else too, that’s fine, but I’ve worked with her recently and trust her, and she’s got an essence that’s good for killing monsters.”

Samuel let out a long sigh. “Is that what this is really about?”

“Yeah.” Lyssa spread her arms. “You want to join us in the muck dungeon from hell filled with snake-roaches? Be my guest. I’d love to see your nice white suit stained with all that crap, and I’ll take anyone’s help to clear out that mine.”

“Requesting Miss Khatri’s assistance will require coordination with Elder Theodora,” Samuel replied. “That complicates matters.”

“So what?” Lyssa frowned. “You had Aisha help me not all that long ago. What’s the big deal?”

Samuel pinned her with his gaze. His mouth tightened. “I suspect this is only partially about wanting Miss Khatri’s assistance. It is also about testing Elder Theodora, for whom you’ve repeatedly expressed distrust.”

Lyssa stared at Samuel. In all her paranoid mental scenarios, she’d imagined all sorts of people targeting her, but ironically, she’d not associated Theodora with this case.

Now that Samuel mentioned her, the idea didn’t seem crazy. It’d make sense that an Elder could find someone with the skill and resources to pull off something like this. Taking down the smuggler might have disrupted her plans and influence webs and given her a reason to double down on targeting Lyssa.

“I wasn’t,” Lyssa replied, her voice low. “I have my issues, but I do get that not everything is about me. And I’m not asking for anything unreasonable here. If you’d given me more assignments recently, we wouldn’t be down as many Torches now. All I want to do is kill monsters and take down a rogue.”

“If I’d given you more assignments, you might be injured and recovering.” Samuel scoffed. “You should tread carefully, Miss Corti, if you want to be able to go to Last Remnant.”

Lyssa glared at him. “I took out a shard-smuggling ring and a rogue. I’m about to help take down a monster army, and I cleared out a decent-sized one already. I’ve been playing nice with the local cops and the EAA. I do want to go to Last Remnant, but this isn’t about that now.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Samuel threaded his fingers together and set them in his lap. “There’s nothing for you there but pain.”

“I’ll get over it,” Lyssa said. “Knowing is better than not knowing. You tell me since you brought it up. After this is all over, are you going to support my request or not?”

“Talent and success that benefits the Society should be rewarded,” Samuel replied. “And it’s not, in my opinion, an excessive reward, but I’m one Elder. I can only do so much if you make enemies.”

“Asking for Aisha isn’t about Theodora.” Lyssa frowned. “And I think working across regions would help you both score some points. For now, though, screw the politics. We’re down to days before this becomes a huge potential problem and more innocent people die. If someone wants to jerk my chain about Last Remnant after we clear out the mine, I’ll bitch loudly, but at least I’ll sleep well at night, knowing I saved people’s lives.”

Samuel was quiet for a long while before saying, “I shall expedite your request for the current job.”

“Then can I get Aisha?” Lyssa asked in a hopeful voice.

“I’ll contact Elder Theodora,” he replied. “Miss Khatri will have to agree. Ordering her to do it isn’t worth the political capital.”

Lyssa smirked. “She’ll agree without a second thought. Anything that involves me asking for her help feeds her ego. She’ll spend the next ten years reminding me I asked for her help.”

“Very well, then.” Samuel cupped his chin in thought. “I’ll also discuss this with some of the other Torches under my supervision. I don’t want to bring in everyone in case something unfortunate happens. We can’t risk losing all our regional Torches until this is resolved, but some of the wounded should have recovered by now. Mr. Keller can also accompany you for healing and confirmation of the elimination of the monsters.” A flicker of concern passed over his face. “If your team of four feels they can’t clear it out by themselves, the Society can take more stringent measures, or we can recommend the government do so. The latter is our least-acceptable option. Failure to clean up