an excerpt from the first book in the tempest spin-off trilogy, stormbringer.

Lyrian held up a gloved finger, the light of his cell catching the metallic threads of fabric. "I'm only here to establish an alibi."

Callista snorted. "Do you really expect us to believe that?"

"No," Lyrian said, matter-of-factly. "But you have no choice."

Callista held the sorcerer's gaze, looking for any signs of deceit in the twisting, smoky depths of his violet irises. Lyrian stared right back, as if he knew what she was doing. The thought sent a shiver down Callista's spine, and she forced herself to quell it.

Lyrian was a liar and a manipulative one, to boot. He'd gotten away from them time and time again. He always seemed to be one step ahead of Callista, no matter how adept she thought she'd become at figuring him out.

Callista frowned. The ghost of a smile tugged at Lyrian's lips, exposing the outline of a dimple on his cheek.

"Come on, Callista," he crooned under his breath. His smile seemed to deepen, the words appearing to reverberate through the holding room. "Trust me."

Callista held his gaze once more, looking for the chink in his armor. They were desperate. They needed this push, from whichever direction it came. Just enough to build their momentum, until they could run on their own.

"Fine." Callista took a deep breath, rolling her shoulders back. "Talk."

Lyrian's subtle smile stretched into a full grin and Callista wondered if this was the first time he'd smiled like that when someone wasn't being tortured in some terrible way. She shook her head to dispel the thought.

"I did not damage your feeble security infrastructure," Lyrian began. "Not only was I not around at the time, but that sort of tampering is just childish."

"Lyrian," Callista warned.

The sorcerer put his hands up in mock surrender. "What? It's the truth. Any sorcerer worth a damn could have done a whole lot worse. I could have done a whole lot worse."

The sad thing was that he was right, Callista realized with a reluctant huff of a breath. She'd seen the kinds of sorcery and tricks Lyrian was capable of. If he really wanted to disable them, he wouldn't have aimed at their security. He'd have sent their entire base up in flames or sent beasts from the Rift through the halls.

"Where were you?" Gideon asked from his laptop. He pushed up his glasses with a glance at Callista before looking back to Lyrian.

Lyrian leant against the wall with an exhale. "A gentleman never tells."

"So out with it then," Callista said without missing a beat.

Like clockwork, Lyrian slid his violet eyes over to meet Callista's and the rest of the room seemed to fade away. It was almost like it was just the two of them on this plane of existence. That bond Callista felt just above her naval in times like this seemed to strengthen, urging her to go towards him.

"My, my, Callista," Lyrian said with a breath. "Someone's got a tongue on her." His eyebrows raised. "Although I'd like to see what—"

"Okay!" Camille clapped her hands together, stopping Lyrian before he could defile their ears. "That's enough out of you."

Lyrian smirked. His gaze remained on Callista's for a lingering moment before returning to the rest of the group. "I was at the Siren all night, and you can ask the barman to affirm that. After how much I spent, he's bound to remember."

The sound of keys clacking filled the room as Gideon got to work on verifying the information. A few moments later, security footage from the Siren's cameras was streaming onto the holding room's screens. Sure enough, there was Lyrian, dressed in darkness as per usual, laughing uproariously as he downed more drinks and threw down more coins.

Callista locked eyes with Camille and Mae, the three girls glancing back and forth at one another. With proof like this, Lyrian's story seemed to check out. But he was still Lyrian, the most wanted sorcerer of their age. Who was to say he wasn't playing them right now, waiting for the moment to earn their trust just to stab them in the back?

"Is there anything else you'd like to verify?" Lyrian's smooth accented voice filled Callista's ears, averting her attention back to him.

Before Callista could speak, another person's voice filled the room. A voice that didn't belong down in the holding rooms, let alone while an evil mastermind was present.

"Prove it isn't your signature," Ainsley said, bounding out from behind a bookcase.

Callista's eyes widened and she looked between her little sister to Lyrian to her friends and back. "Ainsley!"

"Oh, dear," Lyrian drawled, sarcasm dripping from his every word. "Appears the locks are failing."

Callista resisted the urge to flash him a gesture and walked over to her sister, looking up at her tiredly. "What do you think you're doing down here? You aren't of age."

Ainsley gave her a look that read girl, please. "I've been down here the whole time, and that's such a bogus argument! I've helped you guys before."

"Inadvertently," Gideon chimed from his desk. "You're not old enough, Ains."

Ainsley stamped her foot, and Callista thought she'd won. That was, up until Ainsley spun on her heel and ran towards Lyrian's cell.

"Ainsley, no!" Callista shouted. Did she run to her sister, did she grab a weapon, what? She nearly stamped her foot in frustration, too.

But it was too late. Ainsley pressed a finger to the thumbpad. "System override."

A resounding click filled the room and the glass separating Lyrian from the rest of the team disappeared.

Callista's hand floated to the pommel of her sword, eyes locked on Lyrian. He looked down at Ainsley as if puzzled, but a benevolent smile stretched on his face as he met Callista's gaze.

"I see she got the nice genes from your parents," he said.

Callista sucked in a breath. "You touch one hair on her head and—"

Lyrian rolled his eyes and made a flicking motion with his hand. Arcs of magic fizzled like dying fireworks in the air, but nothing stuck.

"There," Lyrian said. "My signature, or lack thereof."

"I'm sorry, what?" Camille asked.

Ainsley turned around, smiling proudly. "Sorcerers and magic manipulators leave a signature of cosmic and kinetic energy anytime they use a significant amount of their power. Had Lyrian committed this crime—"

"—My signature would be all over the place." Lyrian motioned around the room. "But seeing as there is no trace of me on this base, that should serve as proof enough."

Callista felt all eyes in the room shift to her and she tensed. She'd asked for proof, hadn't she? Here it was.

But still...

As if reading her mind, Lyrian made a face at her, tilting his chin down as if to say really?

Callista shut her eyes, exhaling through her nose. Whoever her parents were, she wondered if they'd be upset with her for what she was about to do.

"Fine." She opened her eyes, setting them on Lyrian. "You're not our culprit."

"But don't you want to know who is?" Lyrian asked.

"That would be the point to all this, yes," Callista retorted.

"Then let me tell you." Lyrian rolled his shoulders back, smiling. "The person you're looking for is the Timewraith."