I untangled myself from Juhan’s arm as soon as the doors to Brendan's office swung shut behind us.

It was too hard to think when I was pressed so close to his body, when his subtle fragrance of sage and musk filled my head with every breath. And I needed to think.

Did Brendan actually want me to lie with Juhan to help lubricate this business dealing, or was it a test to see if I was loyal enough to be entrusted to Kasimir's care? Or was I just a pawn in a plan to test the Parkkonens' sense of honor?

"This has to be a test," I muttered under my breath as we strode across the thankfully empty foyer. Maybe if I could work on being annoyed by him, or at least by the situation, I could keep my own hormones under control and my thoughts in a straight line.

A relaxed chuckle was his first response. "Of course it is. Brendan didn't get where he is by blindly trusting his allies." Juhan paused, offering me his arm again. "Relax, Severine, I know what I'm doing."

I stared at the proffered arm, debating. The safest route was to keep my distance. If Brendan really did want me to sleep with Juhan and I refused, I could at least hide behind the excuse that, as a Catalyst, it was unfathomable to sleep with any mage beside my Wielder. And if it was a test, rejecting Juhan was obviously the correct choice.

But if it wasn't a test… if Brendan had no intention of awarding me to Kasimir… then Juhan might be my only chance to satisfy some of that aching hunger that gnawed at me from lower than my stomach.

And he was fucking gorgeous.

Damn it.

Juhan lifted his arm a little higher. "Come on. Let's not give anyone here reason to report that you're not following the boss's orders."

That did it. I hooked my arm on his, fingers resting on his forearm. "Just until we're out of the building."

He purposefully flexed the muscles beneath my hand, flashing that too-perfect smile. "Of course."

---

I pulled away again as soon as we reached the parking garage. The elevator ride down, from top floor to subterranean garage, had done nothing to clear my head. If anything, my thoughts were even more muddled than before. What the hell was I going to do…?

Headlights flashed as Juhan unlocked his rental car. I'd expected something flashy, either a quick little sports car or a massive, tank-like SUV. Instead, his vehicle was a rather sedate four-door sedan, something that would blend in in just about any neighborhood in the city. Somehow that made me think better of him, even if I had no plans to get into that car.

"Brendan has drivers," I pointed out. "It will be easier than navigating an unfamiliar city." That had been the plan for the day. A chauffeur could act as a chaperone — testify that we did not sneak out alone for a couple of hours to get frisky. Or maybe to testify that we did, if I chose to go that route.

"Drivers have ears," he shot back with a smile, swinging the passenger door open. Juhan gestured for me to get inside. "Just to allow us a brief, private discussion."

I studied him with narrowed eyes. Handsome as he was, I couldn't shake the wrongness of simply being alone with a mage who was not part of Brendan's circle. The last time it had happened had been over six years ago, before I'd even identified myself as a Catalyst. I had known what I was earlier, of course. Even in my teenage years, it had been clear enough. But it had taken me some time to decide it was a career path I wished to pursue. Once committed, extrication was all but impossible.

Aeliana, it was rumored, has been with Brendan since the Renaissance, though I was not close enough to her to know if she had ever wished to be freed of him. If she had, I wasn't sure it would have mattered. Like me, she would bear his mark until her corpse had rotted to dust.

Still, my job was to be with Juhan for the entire day. If I could not get over the disquiet of being alone with him for these few minutes, it was going to be a very long day. With a huff, I swung up into the passenger seat and allowed Juhan to close the door behind me.

A moment later, he settled into the driver's seat, twisting behind the wheel to face me. "You've certainly got the Catalyst act down, at least."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

Again with that dazzling grin. Did all mages use magic to straighten and whiten their teeth? "Let's not ruin the fun too early, shall we?"

My mouth dropped into a frown. Juhan was gorgeous — but so was Brendan, and Brendan was an asshole. If he was going to act like another Brendan, another mage who liked to dangle secrets over his lessers' heads like carrots before starving mares, then it was best to stick to Plan A: keeping the physical contact to the bare minimum. I was going to need to start building that wall between us, so I could focus on listening to my head and not my baser organs.

Perhaps Juhan had seen something in my face, seen the chill that had started settling into my features, the distance growing in my gaze, because his grin faded to something halfway between confused and chagrined.

"Brendan really didn't tell you," he started, breaking the silence that had formed between us. I could feel the weight of his eyes moving over my skin, as if he would be able to read some unsaid truth in the crease at the corner of my mouth or the curve of my lashes.

This is the only chance I'm going to give you, Juhan. "Tell me what?"

Leather creaked beneath him when he shifted in his seat, his eyes dropping down to the console between us. I saw his brow furrow, his mouth tighten. After a moment, Juhan looked up at me again, all the lightheartedness bled from his voice. "My father has discovered a way to detect Catalysts. To prove it, I'm to determine whether you are the real thing or an imposter."

I had to swallow to keep the shock off my face. No wonder Brendan had wanted me to be so uncharacteristically friendly with Juhan, because it would be the most un-Catalyst thing I could do. If I threw myself at him, slept with him, and he still declared me a Catalyst, it would be compelling proof that the Parkkonens could do exactly what they promised.

The thought must have made Brendan salivate. What mage would not want a way to pinpoint every Catalyst within his city? To discover even one or two more would be a goldmine.

It horrified me. It was one thing to have the choice: to live a normal life, away from the mages' scrutiny, or to volunteer to enter into a binding agreement with one. It was quite another to be dragged out into the light against your will. I might have chosen servitude, but at least it had been my choice.

"So perform your assessment and be done with it," I snapped, all thoughts of carnal dalliances forgotten. I turned to look out the window, staring at the endless cement of the garage, the unnatural overhead lighting blaring too bright against all that dingy grey. It made the structure look like a fortress, or a prison.

"That is rather the problem," he answered. "Catalyst or no, you are one of Brendan's people. If you know the assessment is being performed, then you can report back to Brendan precisely what it is and what it involves. Instead, I get the whole day with you, so you will not be able to guess when it is happening."

I spoke without looking at him. "You're worried Brendan will figure out how to backwards engineer the spell, and produce it on his own, without needing to enter into an agreement with your father. You do all the hard work, and he gets all the benefit."

"Now you're sounding more like a mage than a Catalyst."

I twisted to peer back at him, not bothering to hide the scowl that tugged at my lips. "Why? Because Catalysts are dumb?"

"Because mages are scheming," he said flatly.

That much I couldn't argue with. It was either Brendan's love of scheming, his perverse sense of humor, or some combination of the two that had made him decide it was better to not to tell me what was going on. Perhaps he thought if I was clueless, it would be even harder for Juhan to guess what I was. Or perhaps Brendan was just being an asshole. Always a valid theory.

Still, just because Brendan was a deceptive jerk didn't mean Juhan also wasn't one. "And why should I believe any of this?"

Juhan reached out, and I pulled away from his hand — but he was only going for the glove box in front of me. He popped the panel open, snatching a bundle of papers from within.

"Look, this is proof I'm not lying," he said, unfolding the top sheet.

I recognized Brendan’s handwriting immediately. Maybe it was an effect of his age; while he happily embraced technology and all its modern conveniences, when something was truly important, he reverted back to the old ways of pen and paper. A quick skim of the familiar, looping script established the scenario that I already knew: that Juhan would be introduced to a woman who may or may not be Severine Lison, Brendan’s third Catalyst, and by the end of the day, he was to report back whether or not she was truly the Catalyst she claimed to be.

"So you have to decide if I'm the real thing, and Brendan did not tell me what was going on," I said, handing the page back. "Or if I am an actress, transformed by Brendan's magic, and pretending to be an unknowing Catalyst."

"At first, I was pretty convinced you were a decoy, just based on the fact he was sending you off with me for the day." Juhan gave the letter one last look before slipping it back into the glove box and snapping the panel shut. "But now, until I know otherwise, I'm going to treat you like a real Catalyst." Those hazel eyes found my face again, and for the first time there was something somber and — dare I say it? — perhaps a little sincere about his expression. "I'm not here to make you miserable, Severine. Obviously you're used to mages behaving a bit more seriously, so let me tone it down, and we can still have a nice day together. You take the lead, tell me what you are and aren't comfortable with, and I'll work within those bounds. Deal?"

I stared at his outreached hand.

In truth, I appreciated his honesty, even if I did not appreciate the situation. At least he had told me what was going on, when Brendan had not.

Assuming Juhan wasn't keeping secrets of his own, of course. And he definitely was.

But no matter how I sliced it, liar or honest man, I was stuck with him for the next several hours. It could be a tense, fraught day with my own suspicions gnawing at me like a thousand viper strikes — or I could try to relax a little, give Juhan a modicum of trust, and try to enjoy the opportunity to explore the city without needing to worry about a surprise summon from Brendan.

And if, in doing so, I could prove my loyalty to Brendan, and perhaps be considered as Kasimir's second…

Decided, I gave a quick nod as I laid my hand in his. "Deal."