Somewhere in Antwerp:
"Give me your report."
Tara Clarence commanded the man bowing in front of her.
"Yes, Lady Tara. The assassination attempt on Lord Lionel has failed."
"Why aren't the mages who were given the task here to report?"
"That brings me to the next part of the report. Four of them haven't returned and it's safe to assume they are dead."
"And the fifth?"
"It's Miss Sol, however, she joined Lionel's convoy with another mage who protected him, and now she sleeps in the same mansion as that mage."
"Are you saying she betrayed us?"
"I suspect it's worse, she might have… played us right from the beginning. The mansion they're staying at belongs to Lord Lionel as well."
Although he said 'us', Tara was irritated to no end by the way he implied she was led by the nose into a trap, making her lose a mage subordinate. It might also cost her the support of Jack's father, a local viscount.
"Who is the male mage?"