Frozen Desires (Asylums for Magical Threats 2)
If that man was the one responsible for the fires, then Cam had plenty to worry about. Quite frankly, she was surprised the man with the scarred neck was still alive.
She was just about to ask Marco if they could go somewhere else when she noticed him put a hand to the west, and the air on the outer edges of the park started to become solid. The ice ring slowly rose until the ice came together above them.
Marco had created an ice dome.
She couldn’t help but stare at him. Most of the first-borns she had met had weak, barely manageable powers. Even most of the first-borns she’d met who’d never been inside an AMT compound had lacked Marco’s control.
Everything pointed to him being a Talent, but he had denied it earlier, and for some reason, she believed him. There was something he wasn’t telling her and she was curious to find out what it was.
A far-fetched story from her childhood came to mind, but she pushed it away. The special training academies for elemental magic users had been disbanded decades ago. Like many aspects of Feiru history and culture, that information had been lost to time.
She looked up to study his creation better. The light reflecting off the ice was beautiful. Not only that, but the cloudiness of the dome would shield them from anyone who happened to walk past. Then she realized Marco’s stupidity.
“Are you crazy?” she hissed. “Ice in southern Mexico is strange enough, but a dome over a park? Melt it so we can leave.”
Marco shook his head. “No, beauty, we’re safe.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because a rainstorm is about to start, and no one’s going to come to a park in the middle of the night in a downpour.”
She listened, but she didn’t hear anything. “There’s no rain, Marco. And if you won’t melt the ice, I’ll just break—” Rain started to patter against the ice dome. She looked up, and despite the streams of water running down the sides of the dome, the ice stayed frozen. She looked back to Marco. “Did you do that?”
He shrugged. “Tell me about the man in the picture, and I’ll tell you about the rain.” He moved to the nearest bench, sat down, and patted the empty space beside him.
Remember, you promised honesty and to treat him as an equal. Cam moved toward the bench, but hesitated to sit down. Anytime she was that close to Marco, she tended to forget important things and relive the kiss they’d shared earlier.
Then she remembered the man she’d seen in the picture and decided her hatred of him would overpower anything her hormones threw her way.
Cam sat down and said, “The man in the picture Maria showed us is named Harry Watkins. He’s a former co-member of the Fed League, and I want to be the one to bring him in.”
“Before we start making plans, you need to tell me more about him first.”
Even if she didn’t like it, if Cam had been in his position, she would’ve demanded the same thing, so she said, “When I was still with the Fed League, Harry Watkins was the best assassin they had. He did what they asked, every time, without question.” She looked up at the dome and watched the water run down the sides. “But in my opinion, he liked his job a little too much.
“He never worried about collateral damage. If he could hurt one person related to the AMT, he’d dismiss ten innocents as part of the process.” Cam turned and looked Marco in the eye again. “He’s going to be difficult to catch, but I might know of a way to find him.”
Marco had been simultaneously listening to Cam’s information and staring at her profile. But while his ears perked up at her saying she might know a way to find the man in the photo, he also noted the hatred in Cam’s eyes. “Who is Harry Watkins to you?”
She started. “Why would you ask me that?”
He gently tucked her hair behind her ear and was glad she didn’t flinch or bat away his hand. “I can see you hate him, Camilla, and I want to know why, especially if it’s going to affect your performance.” She opened her mouth, but he beat her to it. “This isn’t about you being a woman or me trying to be in charge. We both know that during an operation, emotions can end up costing lives.”
Cam stared at him a few more seconds before she sighed and said, “You’re right. I hate him, but with good reason. He’s the one who cut my cousin Adella, to force me to do assassin work.”
Marco gripped the edge of the stone bench. Just knowing the man had hurt Cam made him hate the man even more, but he kept his tone even so Cam wouldn’t notice. “Tell me how you think we can catch him.”
“I have a contact here in Merida who still knows people from our time inside the Fed League.”
“Is this person trustworthy?”
“She’s been vetted by Neena, so I’d say yes.”
Interesting. Despite having worked for DEFEND for three years, Marco learned something new about their leader just about every other day. “How soon can you get in contact with her?”
“Not until tomorrow. There’s a specific location this person likes to meet and it’s a shop that would be closed by now. I can try to set it up for tomorrow morning.”
“That would be fantastic.” He noticed Cam was looking at him strangely. “What?”