Balancer (Advent Mage Cycle) by Honor Raconteur

prince “—well, it’s just unbecoming of a prince. I’ve known your mother for several years, and while her standpoint on politics did not meet with your father’s approval, she is still a fine woman. I can’t imagine what she would think if she saw you here like this. This whole situation is simply untoward.”
    Audax didn’t blink an eye, just responded in a mild tone, “So you are not harboring any Star Order Priests or their affiliates?”
    The Dom drew himself up straight, shoulders back, chest out, chin squared, and strongly declared, “I am not.”
    Despite the posturing, his eyes darted from person to person, giving away his nerves.
    Shad had no patience with bluster and simply turned to look at Bornemeier, who was standing directly behind him. “What’s the count, kid?”
    “Thirteen,” Bornemeier responded without looking up from his crystal. “Ten are in the basement of the house, but three are in some kind of outbuilding around back.”
    All of the blood just drained from the Dom’s face, leaving him pasty white. His mouth moved, but no articulate sound came out, and he started to take shaky steps back into the house.
    With a feral smile Shad ordered, “Bohme, Sloves, Rossi and Janae—go deal with the ones in the back. The rest of you with me.” The four named peeled off and headed for the back of the house at a quick jog.
    Audax waved to the soldiers standing beside him. “Take the Dom into custody.”
    “Your Highness!” the Dom wailed, eyes wild with panic. “You must believe that I did not know about any of this!”
    “Your guilt or innocence will be established later,” Audax responded coldly.
    Judging from the smoldering anger on Audax’s face, Shad bet that the Dom would have to pull in some pretty hefty proof to “establish” innocence. Every person that harbored Priests like this, every effort they expended to protect the Order, delayed Nolan coming home. For a father, the continual delays must’ve been torturous.
    In Audax’s place, Shad would not have been so patient.
    Of course, with the prince in this fine mood, if they broke a few things they shouldn’t, well…odds were they’d be forgiven for it. That thought put a smile on Shad’s face. He waved his hand in a casual flick.
    “Alright, Bornemeier, show me where they are.”
    The Wizard came to stand at Shad’s left elbow and he enthusiastically moved forward at a fast walk. “There are three in this back corner, but most of them are right under our feet.”
    The basement, eh? Most basements opened up near the kitchen, at least in Shad’s experience. He didn’t really feel like searching this entire main floor to verify that theory, though. Just this viewpoint made the building look like a museum. Whoever had built the house originally put in smooth, pale oak flooring that appeared white under the massive chandelier lights. The walls were stark white as well, not that you could see much of them with very expensive paintings, tapestries and huge statues taking up every square inch of the wallspace. From here, he could see four different hallway intersections, and not one of them hinted at being a servant’s route.
    “Somebody find me one of the staff. We need a tour guide!”
    “No need, Captain,” Loewen denied with a predatory smile of satisfaction. Out of all of the Remnant magicians that’d came over for this mission, she was the shortest and in Shad’s opinion, the scariest. He had enough experience in the world to look past her diminutive build, heart-shaped face and feminine look to see the razor sharp intelligence in her eyes. In the day that he’d known her, she had already shown an amazing knowledge of magic, fighting, and tactics. It was no surprise to him when she waved her wand in a small, circular gesture and a glowing blueprint of the house drew itself in light blue lines into the air. “I put a tracer spell on the house as soon as we arrived. This is the main floor and basement area. The