Tricksters Consort (Three Tricksters Book 3), page 1
Tricksters Consort
Three Tricksters: Book 3
Carrie Whitethorne
Three Tricksters
Tricksters Consort
By
Carrie Whitethorne
©2019
Contents
Author’s Note
Epilogue
Prologue
1. Maia
2. Rhett
3. Maia
4. Amos
5. Maia
6. Amos
7. Maia
8. Rhett
9. Maia
10. Rhett
11. Maia
12. Silas
13. Maia
14. Rhett
15. Maia
16. Maia
17. Amos
18. Rhett
19. Silas
20. Maia
21. Maia
22. Maia
23. Amos
24. Maia
25. Maia
26. Maia
About the Author
Copyright © 2019 by Carrie Whitethorne
All rights reserved.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Edited by Danielle Fine and Mandy Pederick
Cover Art by Fiona Jade Media
Formatted By Kassie Morse
www.carriewhitethorne.com
Author’s Note
Dear reader.
Finally!
It’s been one hell of a year and I can’t thank you enough for sticking with me.
I hope this is the ending you wanted.
Carrie x
I think this calls for a bottle of wine, don’t you?
Epilogue
You were born to be real, not perfect.
Anon
Prologue
They watched from the beach. One by one the ships sank. Back on land the armies fell. Her expression was blank as she scanned for Cleopatra’s ship, her guard at her back.
Set broke the silence. “I believe that I have won.”
“It would appear so. Where is she?”
“Not far away,” he said dismissively. “Dead. Both dead. A pity, they had some promising ideals.”
“Ma’at…”
Silas’s warning went unheeded as she stepped closer to Set. “Your bed or mine?”
Set dragged his eyes up and down her body, his face twisted in revulsion. His guard laughed. “Ma’at, the only thing I wish to do with your body is feed it to my pets.”
The djinn reacted immediately, Silas launching directly for Set but the god had anticipated every eventuality. His two hounds appeared before Amos and Rhett, halting any attack they planned, and the head of his guard intercepted Silas with a kick to the side of his head. He landed awkwardly, watching powerless, as her head was severed from her body. Before she hit the ground the world tilted, and they were transported.
Every god, regardless of status, was gathered in the hall. None moved as Set’s guard held the djinn at knife point. None attempted to intervene, none seemed to care that Ma’at, their colleague and in some cases friend, was dead in her own hall.
The hulking god of violence approached the djinn with a sneer.
“Have you any last words?”
Despite the sharp kris at his throat, Silas spat at Set’s feet in defiance and stared him down.
Amos looked past him, his focus at the back of the room.
“Yes.”
Set laughed in Rhett’s face. “Truth. Of course, you have something to say. Make it quick.”
“Enjoy your victory. She will reclaim her right.”
There was no signal, but the blades sliced through their throats in unison. There was no bloodshed and there was no sound as the three vanished in a plume of smoke.
1
Maia
Between them they’d washed my hair and every inch of my body. I left the bathroom feeling like a queen. Amos sorted my hair, magically drying and physically plaiting it for me as I sat on the edge of the bed. “Where did you learn to do that?”
“My hair was shoulder length for thirty or forty years and I kept it braided. I was tired of maintaining it so cut it short,” he said, then kissed my cheek before stepping off the bed and moving toward the stairs. “Breakfast is ready.”
I followed him down, trying to imagine him with long hair.
Rhett was watching me again as I walked down the stairs. I hadn’t made an effort with my outfit, picking out a pair of denim shorts and a cami top to wear, and I hadn’t bothered with any makeup, so I wasn’t sure why he looked so impressed. “What?”
He looked away, picking up a toasted muffin and buttering it. I shrugged and sat at the table opposite Silas and began loading my plate with fruit. “Where did you go last night?”
He didn’t answer immediately, instead taking a mouthful of coffee and a bite of his muffin. I grabbed a slice of toast and picked up my butter knife. “Silas?”
“Looking for something.”
“Where?”
“Wimbledon.”
“What?”
He sighed. I knew he hated being questioned but I wasn’t going to back down and he knew it. “Your cuffs.”
I put my knife down and looked at him with my head tilted. “Please tell me that bloke doesn’t live in Wimbledon.”
That bloke being the archaeologist, Dr Reuben Mortenson. After being attacked by Set in our very own home, it was clear we needed to move more quickly. My twentieth birthday had been and gone and had been a complete disaster. It started with a migraine, then a fever. That, apparently, was my power manifesting. It was something of an anti-climax, looking back. When Set turned up in his animal form and chewed a hole in Adam, I’d discovered some of what I was capable of on the fly. I sent the bastard back to wherever he came from with a feather dagger in his neck, but he wasn’t defeated. I’d have to find my way to Duat to manage that. It seemed Silas had taken matters into his own hands when it came to getting answers.
Silas smirked. Fucking child.
“What did you do?”
He shrugged. “I asked him some questions.”
I remembered how Silas extracted information from the cat. By threatening to punt him over a balcony two stories up. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
My eyes flicked to Rhett. He was watching our exchange with an amused expression, sipping at his tea. “Of course he is lying.”
“For fuck’s sake, Silas,” I snapped, picking my knife up and pointing it at his chest. “When we’ve had breakfast, you’re taking me right to him.”
Amos touched my arm gently. “I don’t think you should—”
“I don’t want to hide here anymore, Amos. I’m safe with you. He might respond better to me, anyway, depending on what’s already been said and done.” I gave Silas a pointed look.
He raised both hands defensively. “I haven’t touched him. I didn’t lay a single finger on him, I swear.”
I knew he wasn’t lying but looked to Rhett anyway and he gave me a nod. “That is the truth.”
I returned to my breakfast. “You’re a fucking nightmare, Silas. You know that?”
His grin was ridiculous. “I want one thing.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “What?”
“If you’re going in there as Ma’at, you have to be Ma’at. I expect you to own it.”
I looked at him, shaking my head. “You’re a prick.”
I should have known he’d utilised the lamp. It was the one place that was completely safe since I’d had it sent to Adam’s mum’s loft. He hadn’t even restrained the bloke, who was sitting in Amos’s armchair, reading one of Rhett’s books when we arrived. The familiar feeling of distrust hit me in the stomach. He may have been an upstanding member of the archaeology community in public, but I could tell he was shady as fuck just by standing next to him.
“Doctor.”
“Miss Reeves.” He eyed me coolly. Smart prick.
Silas really hadn’t harmed him, at all.
Silas flopped onto his cushions without a word. It was Amos who looked as though he was going to kill the guy. I took his hand and gave it a squeeze.
“Have you remembered where my stuff is?”
Doctor Mortenson flipped forward a few pages but didn’t look up. “You know, this information is fascinating. It’s boggling that he would leave me here with all this when he’s supposed to be keeping his identity secret.”
I laughed. “Who the fuck are you gonna tell? Nobody believes in this shit; they’d think you’d gone mad.”
“Perhaps. But the cuffs, if they are what he thinks they are,” he said, pointing directly at Silas, “would be incredibly valuable.”
“To me.” I didn’t know that, but if he could use whatever magic they had, it wouldn’t end well.
“I disagree. I have a wealth of knowledge on your deity, Miss Reeves, and if the Ancient Egyptians knew of her power and left us so many documentations of her role, then I suspect they witnessed her might. If that is true, then those cuffs hold power.”
“They’re useless to anyone but me. A pointless little nobody like you wouldn’t get any use out of them and they won’t melt down, so...”
He flinched at me calling him a pointless nobody but c
I looked down at Silas. He shrugged and lay back with his hands behind his head. Dickhead wasn’t going to get involved. “What will it cost me?”
“One genie.”
I couldn’t help myself; I laughed in his face. “Fuck off.”
“Then we have a problem, Miss Reeves.”
I was curious where this confidence had come from. Maybe Silas had been too nice. “They aren’t mine to give away, Reuben.”
He looked irked at me dropping the formalities, but I didn’t care. I felt sick. I was furious. “Of course they’re yours. Everyone kn—”
I honestly don’t know how I hadn’t slapped him yet. My blood boiled with rage at that suggestion. I didn’t own them. She may have, but I certainly didn’t. They weren’t animals to be traded; they were living, breathing, feeling people. He wasn’t having them. Nobody was getting near them. Nobody. They’d only abuse their power. “How much of that did you get through? Looking at you, not too much since you’ve obviously slept. Did you get to the part where they came to me?”
His mouth opened, but he didn’t have a reply, so he closed it again.
Amos stepped behind me, and I carried on speaking. “They found me. They chose to work with me. And I wouldn’t do that anyway. They aren’t slaves to be traded.” I took a step closer to him, my hands bunched into fists at my sides. “But they will do exactly what I ask them to do. Would you like a demonstration?”
I looked down at Silas, then over my shoulder to Amos but settled on Rhett who had moved toward his bookshelf. “Rhett, can I have a cup of tea, please?”
Silas looked amused as Rhett crossed the room. He waited until he was in full view of the pompous prick before materialising a clear glass mug of steaming hibiscus tea into his. I thanked him as I took it and took a sip. The archaeologist didn’t look impressed. “Amos, can I have a Kopesh, please?”
That got his attention. The crescent-bladed sword appeared in my other hand and I raised it in front of my face. “They’re pretty, aren’t they, Reuben?”
“Umm.”
“Not the swords, my djinn.”
“You said they—”
I threw the hot tea into his lap and stalked forward as the glass hit the ground with a thud. He shouted and moved to stand up, to escape the hot liquid, but Rhett was behind him, shoving his shoulders down as I snarled in his face. “Sit down and shut the fuck up. You know how sharp this fucker is? One wrong answer and I’ll cut your fucking head off. Where are my cuffs?”
“I don’t know.”
I could already tell but I looked up to Rhett anyway.
“He is lying.”
I raised my arm, the blade flashing in the light of the room. “I’m so sorry, but you were given enough chances.”
The sword cut through the air with a swish. He flinched, but he couldn’t go anywhere as Rhett held him firmly in the chair. The sword vanished. I leaned down, placing a hand on each arm of the chair and lowered my face to his. Silas broke out in peals of laughter and I cocked my head.
“My cuffs.”
“They’re hidden, in the museum storage facility.”
“Which is?”
“I’ll get them for you. I’m expected down there on Thursday, there’s a new—”
“Shut up, you’re boring me.” I pushed away, looking at the small table by the chair. There was a pen and paper there, and I snatched it up, scribbling my number on it and throwing it at him. “Get my cuffs, tell me as soon as you have them and we’ll collect them. Have it done by Thursday. Silas, heal that burn and take him home.”
“Who the fuck do you think you are?”
“You will not speak to her like that again.” Amos’s deep, menacing voice sent a shudder up my spine. Reuben’s eyes widened.
“I’m Ma’at. You know what that means. So get my cuffs or you’ll see precisely what I can do. Silas.”
I turned away as Silas rose gracefully from his reclined position, crossed the room, and grasped the archaeologist by the upper arm, hauling him from the chair. His eyes were twinkling as I said, “See you soon, Reuben.”
When they were gone, I blew out my cheeks, pressed my palms together and rested my chin on my thumbs. Amos pulled me into him, holding me tightly. “You did well.”
I was shaking. “I’m sorry I used you like that. I was angry when he said… I meant it. You’re not animals.” I steadied myself, taking a few deep breaths. Being so close to Amos helped. “I can’t be that person often. I don’t want to…”
Rhett ran his hand over my hair. “You have to if you want to be taken seriously, Maia. We know it is not who you really are. Consider it your work persona.”
I shook my head. I didn’t like the sound of that. That sounded like I’d have to be like that much more often.
“Maia, when you face Set…” Rhett began to explain.
I closed my eyes. “Okay, got it.”
“That was fucking amazing.”
I turned sharply as Silas returned. He was still laughing. “You can’t just kidnap people!”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Yeah I can. You think he’ll deliver, Rhett?”
“He was truthful then, but whether he delivers or not…”
“I think he’s seen enough to know what will happen if he doesn’t,” Amos said, a menacing undertone to his voice.
I looked up at Amos, surprised, but he looked perfectly calm and relaxed. “He’s got my number.”
“Okay, that’s enough for one day, shall we go home?” Silas asked, sounding very happy with himself.
I was still a bit pissed off. “No. Silas, you can’t fucking do that. Really, you can’t. Promise me you won’t do it again.”
I didn’t like the look on his face. “Okay. No more kidnapping.”
“Say it.”
He rolled his eyes. “Okay, I promise not to kidnap anyone else. Unless you tell me to.”
I opened my mouth and closed it. That wasn’t what I meant either. “Bollocks. You know what I mean!”
Amos pulled me back into his chest. “Relax, Maia, he’s winding you up.”
“No fucking kidding. I just don’t want you getting hurt. Or hurting anyone else, unless they deserve it.”
Oddly, it was Rhett who piped up. “He does deserve it, he has stolen your cuffs and lied to your face. Twice.”
When he put it like that, he kind of had a point, but I didn’t agree. “Okay, just consult me first, please. I don’t like surprises, remember?”
Silas held out his hand. “Noted. Shall we go home?”
The rest of Friday was spent in front of the television. Rhett disliked it, but I refused to do anything else since Silas had gone against our agreement, and pinned him to the sofa with my legs. We weren’t supposed to do anything until Monday, yet he’d gone straight out as soon as my back was turned, so they all had to suffer.
To his credit, that had made it easier for us to stick together, provided he didn’t run off again, which I couldn’t trust him not to do because he was a pain in my arse.
“Maia, please. I’m losing the will to live,” Silas said with a sigh.
“Seconded.” I scowled over at Amos. And he held up his hands. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t…”
“What else is there to do?”
Amos gave me a look that suggested he knew precisely what we could do. “As tempting as that sounds, no. I’m still sore and I don’t much like choking to death on cocks.”
He looked amused. Silas chuckled, and I didn’t even bother to look at Rhett, since he was shaking with restrained laughter beneath my legs.
When they had stopped tittering, Rhett said, “There is always the theatre.”
