Hive Queen by Sinclair, Grayson (ereader iphone .TXT) 📗

as he composed himself. Even if they were friends, Liam will be back in a few months once he respawns.

"Well, aren't you full of surprises," Aliria said from beside me before she leaned over to whisper to Magnus.

I strained my ears but couldn't pick up more than half a word or two. Nothing that could help me make sense of anything. As Aliria broke away from him, Magnus spoke.

"You make an excellent point. I hadn't considered that." He turned his head to me. “Very well; you say you wish to help. If you have the skills to defeat Liam, then despite my reticence, I could use your assistance."

I don't like this one bit. I rose from my chair. “Why do I feel like this is a trap?"

Magnus smiled at me, back to his cheerful self. “Not a trap, a test. It’ll be dangerous, risky. I won’t lie, but if you truly want to help…”

I'm going to regret this, but what the hell. "All right, what do you need from me?"

Magnus set down his cup of tea and pushed the remains of his breakfast away from him. He picked up the pristine white cloth in his lap and dabbed at the corners of his mouth, wiping non-existent stains away. "Why don't we continue this conversation in the war room?"

"The what, now?"

Magnus grinned wide, his eyes sparkling with anticipation. "Oh, you're going to enjoy this."

Chapter 4 - Just Another Job

Magnus said I'd enjoy the war room, and what met me as we stepped through the heavy iron door did not disappoint. The room was large, easily the same size as the dining hall or throne room, but there were no windows or stained glass here. No, there was floor-to-ceiling stone. Bright green lights hung along the walls and in gigantic wrought-iron chandeliers from the roof. They all bubbled and frothed effervescent, casting dancing shadows onto the muted gray wall, which came alive with darkness.

The lights were mesmerizing, and it took a concerted effort to pull my gaze from them. I growled under my breath. What the hell is Magnus thinking? "Some warning would have been nice, Magnus. Mage lights aren't things to play around with."

He cast a small grin my way. "If you can't handle little mind games, you’d be utterly useless to me."

“Little mind games.” I scoffed. “People can go insane from just one, and there’s hundreds here.”

“You’re not people. I stand by what I said, but I now have much higher hopes for you.”

As we walked through the room, we came across the first area. The entire room was divided into sections, each one taking up one-fourth of the space. The first one looked like nothing short of a military command center. It held an exact replica table of the one in his study, though this one had a few noticeable changes. From a quick glance, I could tell what this table was for: planning conflicts, assessing threats.

I scanned over it, but I’d already seen its tricks in his study, so it was far less impressive a second time.

When I stood up from the map table, I caught the glint of metal in the far corner of the room, and when my eyes adjusted, I saw what the latter half of the room was hiding.

Rows and rows and rows of armaments. Hundreds, if not thousands of them. What must have been one of nearly every weapon in the world, lined up in neat order next to one another.

A full rack of swords was next to a rack of spears, which continued to a rack of daggers.

None of them were below hero-tier. Which put just one little rack at easily the most expensive thing I'd ever seen.

And there were dozens upon dozens of weapon racks.

I'm staring at tens of millions of gold, just in weapons alone. By the nine kings of hell.

This, more than anything else I'd seen since coming here, terrified me to my bones.

Magnus was a truly powerful man, but his magic was so far out of my purview that I didn't understand it. I was so far out of my depth regarding him, but I understood these weapons. I understood the unthinkable amount of wealth they represented.

If Magnus so desired, he could overthrow the entire Compass Kingdom, could topple the five kings, and proclaim himself emperor of humanity…and he hadn't.

This amount of money was enough to corrupt even the Whisper herself, and I knew deep in my soul that I wouldn't have been so noble; this money would have destroyed me with the power it could grant.

And this was just one-fourth of the room.

The other half was a mixture of over two dozen sets of armor, each one clearly hero-tier, the highest quality that existed. Alongside the armor were quite a few sets of mage robes. All of them humming with untapped power, even to my nearly magicless senses. I couldn’t ignore the power they gave off.

And if the weapons and armor weren't enough, the last section of the room was dedicated to miscellaneous items. Potions of every kind. Every one I'd ever seen, as well as many more that I'd only ever heard about. On a large wooden bookcase next to the potions was a small library of scrolls, sectioned off and labeled.

The more I looked, the more I was amazed. Jewelry and charms, magic items that did gods knew what. Everything was neatly organized and displayed like a prized collection, but I knew exactly what I was looking at.

An armory.

This room was an armory, built to wage war, and I believed with my entire being that there wasn't a force alive that could stand against Magnus.

He might as well be a god, and with his unnatural powers, he might actually be one.

I turned to him, my mouth hanging to