The Toymaker's Hoard

by Megan Derr

  Cadmus tried not to be pleased that Harren was fussing over him, as it was clearly something he simply did, but he treasured it all the same. "Do you say the same things to yourself when a case keeps you at the office or on the streets overlong, Chief?" He winked when Harren looked at him. "Or is that different?"

  Harren opened his mouth, closed it again, and finally settled for a disgruntled silence.

  Cadmus laughed long and loud. "I think, Chief, that your daughter comes by her headstrong nature honestly."

  For a moment, sadness fell over Harren's face, but only the barest sliver of it remained as he said, "Yes, her mother was much the same. It's how I know she's up to something—she has all the exact same tells that Sharon possessed."

  "I'm sorry."

  "Thank you. It was some years ago. Serena was just turned three."

  Cadmus had known that, or at least that it had happened a long time ago. Everyone knew the story of the man who'd still been a detective, his beautiful wife killed by a pack of footpads the department had been trying to find for months. Two weeks after burying his wife, Harren had found them, and they'd not survived the encounter. The subsequent investigation had cleared him, but tongues still wagged. "I had a good friend die when I was a child from a terrible, tragic accident that could have been easily prevented. The man responsible paid dearly, but it did not bring my friend back."

  That garnered him a smile, soft and understanding, their eyes lingering on each other briefly. Cadmus half feared his heart would pop, but oh, it would be worth it for this small moment.

  They reached the coffee shop a moment later, chased in by an increasingly frigid wind and the marvelous smell of fresh coffee.

  Once they were seated with drinks, however, Cadmus faltered, not certain now where the conversation would go.

  "I'm sorry again for how I treated you earlier," Harren said gruffly. "Normally I do not get quite so vexed about, or even involved with, Serena's shenanigans, but she is being stubborn about a particularly important and delicate matter and I'm about at my wits' end. But our family troubles should not affect you. I've seen your creations around the city, in the homes of all the wealthiest and most powerful. They don't move like the usual clockwork devices at all. I cannot imagine the effort and time that must go into such precision."

  "Half the credit belongs to the gremlins I commission to make various custom parts," Cadmus replied. "But thank you. I like knowing my work is admired and enjoyed. I know you said your daughter has no need of one, but I hope she enjoys it when I'm done all the same."

  "No one needs many things, and yet we do need them all the same. So how did you get into such business? I have not met a dragon before, at least not past the few minutes I needed to ask them questions about something they witnessed. Dragons are uniquely well-behaved as a whole, though I'm certain there must be exceptions somewhere."

  Cadmus's mouth twisted. "The only time a dragon will break a law is when their hoard is threatened, and then it's more like going from obeying all to breaking all."

  Harren gave a short, bright laugh. "Stealing a hoard is a capital offense for a reason. I'm glad no one has been stupid enough to steal from a dragon in this city. Now I'll ask no further about it. I know dragons are rightfully secretive and protective of their hoards. So what do you do when not making your clever devices?"

  "Mostly I spend time looking for new bits and bobs with which to make future pieces," Cadmus replied wryly. "Sometimes a grateful customer will invite me to some ball or reception or whatnot that normally I'd never be invited to attend, and I go to those. It's fun, doing something so outside the main on occasion."

  "I envy you still enjoying such things. For me it's all politics and favors and dodging the incessant so when are you getting married again, don't you think it's past time."

  Cadmus wrinkled his nose. "That seems rude even for that set."

  Harren snickered, nearly upsetting the coffee he'd just lifted. "Completely normal, I'm afraid." He set the coffee down and eyed Cadmus thoughtfully. "That's how I know you. We danced. You should have said! Now I feel even more the cad. You were a good dancer."

  Face going hot again, fighting the smile that wanted out, Cadmus took another sip of his coffee and tried to figure out what to say that would not make him sound like an absolute nimbus. "I'm self-taught, I'm afraid, from going to all the parties I'm invited to. I'm glad I'm not terrible."

  Oh, there was no mistaking that smile as anything but interested. "Assuming my job ever gives me enough free time to manage it, you'll have to let me take you dancing. In fact, there's a soiree…" Harren's smile vanished, eyes fastened on the door. There was resignation on his face, but also a warmth in his eyes, like fondness. Maybe they hadn't been flirting after all, if he already looked at someone that way. But hadn't he just said he wanted to take Cadmus dancing?

  "Imperia, how many times am I going to have to drag my son back from trying to sneak off for a rendezvous with your daughter?"

  "It's not like I haven't been trying to stop Serena from doing the same," Harren said with a sigh.

  Cadmus called for more coffee as the new figure made himself comfortable at their table. Unlike his own average height or Harren's positively petite frame, this new man was huge. He was probably bigger than Harren and Cadmus combined. His clothes were well-tailored and of the finest material, but he still looked on the verge of splitting right out of them. There was a tiny shaving nick low on the right side of his jaw, the barest pale scar on his warm brown skin. His dark hair curled around his head in a soft cloud, threaded here and there with hints of silver, and his eyes were as gray as the steel Cadmus used in his devices.

  "I know," the man grumbled. "Thank you," he said as coffee arrived, and promptly dumped so much cream and sugar in it there was more of that than coffee. "Who are you then?"

  "A toymaker."

  "Serena went to see him to commission something. I think they are trying to be clever about passing notes or something now we're on to all their other methods. But she won't tell me for certain."

  "Oh, that must set you right to growling," the man drawled. "Toymaker…toymaker… Ah, the dragon, am I right? Do you have a name, dragon toymaker?"

  "Do you?" Cadmus asked.

  The man laughed. "Many, in fact, some of them not terribly polite. I am Lord Sula Paali, youngest son of Duke Heath. Has he told you the whole of what you have been conned into?"

  "I'm just a toymaker."

  Sula grinned. "That's a no if ever I heard one. My son Temnis and Harren's daughter have decided they are madly in love and will not be stopped by their evil parents, for what could we possibly know of the matter?"

  Cadmus didn't groan, but it was a near thing. Both men laughed, though they sounded as pained as they did amused.

  "My son is betrothed to the queen's second-eldest daughter; they're to marry in two more years. He has decided that's a fate worse than death and that he will only marry for love, so on and so forth. I tried to raise him properly, but I'm afraid he's inherited my romanticism and none of his mother's pragmatism." He drained his coffee. "Being pragmatic, she has dumped him on my doorstep and fled to I know not where with her new husband. She's rather a cruel woman."

  "I see," Cadmus said, not seeing at all. He was a simple shop owner. Why was he sitting here being told of family matters he had nothing to do with?

  And yet he could not make himself stand and bid them farewell. When would he next get to enjoy sitting at a coffeehouse with two such handsome, fascinating men—one of whom might actually return an interest Cadmus had never taken seriously enough to pin real hopes on.

  "So, um, you think they are determined to be together and are using me to further that goal?"

  "Indubitably," Sula replied. "Welcome to the exciting world of children old enough to think for themselves and too young to be terribly intelligent." He set his cup down and grinned. "I tried to tell my son they would not actually get on together very well once the thrill of defiance and f
orbidden love was over, but what could I possibly know, I got divorced."

  Cadmus did laugh at that, quickly smothering it with the back of his hand, but even Harren grinned. "They would be happier as friends—I daresay they could be as close as siblings—" Harren said, "but I feel only time and a minor scandal will get that through their heads, and I'm about to let them get on with it because frankly, I am too busy to go around town shouting at people the way I have been the past three weeks."

  "You? Stop shouting at people? Voluntarily?" Sula pressed a hand to his chest. "Imperia, I am shocked."

  "I'm more than happy to shout at you if you keep up your nonsense," Harren retorted.

  Some of Cadmus's earlier hope withered as he watched them flirt.

  On the other hand, did they realize they were flirting?

  Oh, wouldn't that infuriate the young lovebirds, to see their own destined romance thwarted while their fathers fell in love. He almost smiled, but then they'd probably demand to know his thoughts and Cadmus wasn't really all that great a liar.

  "I hope they don't cause you too much further trouble. I cannot forsake keeping a customer's confidence, but I promise that if they seem to be about something dangerous, I will let you know. Will that suffice?"

  "Yes, quite," Harren said. "Come, I'll walk you back to your shop. You never did say if you would let me take you dancing."

  "And he's going to stop working for a night, wonders never cease," Sula said as he rose with them. "Master Cadmus, you are making our resident Chief of Police into a civilized person. You are a worker of miracles."

  "Oh, be quiet."

  Cadmus smiled and sketched Sula a bow, faltering briefly at the look he caught Sula giving Harren—wistfulness, longing. So Sula at least knew they were flirting. Somehow, despite having only just really met Harren, it didn't surprise him at all that Harren would miss Sula was pining. He'd probably only noticed Cadmus by pure chance, given the nature of their conversation, and a coffeehouse was far less distracting than a soiree.

  "I'll no doubt see you soon, Paali, though hopefully not because of our children."

  "Don't hope too high on that point," Sula said, and bowed in farewell.

  The walk back to Cadmus's shop was quiet, but not unpleasantly so. Cadmus had always deeply appreciated people who did not need to talk constantly.

  When they reached his shop, Harren took his hands firmly in his own. "There's a small soiree two weeks hence. If I can get the time off, would you like to come as my companion?"

  "I would love to," Cadmus replied, though the flush of joy rushing through him was dampened by that wistful look on Sula's face. But it wasn't a problem he could fix now, even pretending it was his problem to fix. He'd deal with that moral conundrum another day. For now, he simply wanted to savor this sweet, unexpected moment he'd never in a thousand years thought would happen. "Despite our initial encounter this morning, it's been a pleasure."

  "The pleasure has been entirely mine." Harren lifted one of his hands and softly kissed the back of it, then let go, stepped back, and gave a short half-bow. "Good day, my dear toymaker. I'll send a note about the soiree."

  "Good day," Cadmus replied, and watched him go before going off to finally get some sleep, humming all the while.

  Chapter Two

  "Oh, my stars, it's beautiful!" Serena clapped her hands, a gleeful audience of one from which Cadmus was more than happy to accept adulation. "This isn't even finished? I wouldn't know if you hadn't told me."

  Cadmus laughed. "Trust me, you would if you knew what the final result is meant to be." He pointed to the mock-ups of the figure, bookcase, and a little cat on the floor. "The boy and cat will have jewels eventually, and I've got the books half done. The rest I'll finish this week. Once I have the last mechanical bits in, I can finish that part and begin putting everything together for real, instead of just this rough mockup."

  "I didn't know you'd be able to do it so quickly. I mean, you said it would be a rough, so I expected something more… bare bones. This is extraordinary."

  "I have no other projects, and most of the components were already in-house. This is why I take work strictly on commission, and not that many pieces a year. It allows me to get them done much more quickly, but I don't have to rush." Or deal with ten screaming, fussing, nagging customers at once. He'd decided quickly as an apprentice that he would never have a shop like that terror he'd learned in. "If all looks good to you, I'll get to work on the final parts and should have the whole thing ready well within the promised two weeks."

  She clapped, then threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.

  Cadmus didn't squeak and pull away, but it was a near thing. He'd never get used to how effusive some humans could be. He disentangled himself and stepped back, clearing his throat before saying, "Now then, I will get back to work and let you get on…" He stopped as the doorbell rang and a familiar figure stepped inside with a smile. Looking distractingly handsome in his uniform.

  They'd exchanged many a note the past week, but Harren had never had the free time to see him, or have Cadmus meet him somewhere. Some big case was keeping the entire department busy, according to his notes and the shrieking opinions of the newspapers.

  "Father!" Serena said. "I cannot believe it! How dare you!" She charged across the room, throwing her arms out, and had her hair been loose, Cadmus didn't doubt she would have tossed it. "The nerve of you, following me like this!" She gripped her parasol as though about to swing it. "I cannot believe—"

  "I cannot believe you're my daughter, with this bratty behavior," Harren said, voice so frosty Serena stilled. "More importantly, what have I told you about making assumptions?"

  She bristled. "Why else would you be here if not because you're stalking your own daughter."

  Cadmus wouldn't have thought it possible, but Harren's voice grew even frostier, and even he shivered in a wholly unpleasant way, though he was also faintly amused the pair seemed to have forgotten him entirely. "Young lady, that is enough. If you stopped thinking about yourself for one minute, it might occur to you that pathetic old man though I am, I do have a life of my own—a life that brought me here and had nothing whatsoever to do with you."

  "Why would you want to come see Master Cadmus?" Serena demanded. "You get mad when you have to buy a new pair of boots! Why would—" She clapped her hands together. "Oh, my goodness. Papa, were you here to buy me a present?"

  "Even if I had been, I certainly wouldn't after your behavior. But no, the reason I'm here is none of your business."

  "You are stalking me, even though—"

  Harren chopped the air sharply. "That is enough. I am not stalking you, I have never stalked you or set officers upon you or anything else. Now if we are quite finished making a spectacle of ourselves, I have matters to discuss with Master Cadmus."

  Serena looked torn between pouting and scowling, her bottom lip sticking out in a way that undoubtedly looked adorable when she was five, but not so much now. "Papa—"

  "It's time for you to go." Harren didn't wait for her reply but continued on across the shop. "My apologies, Master Cadmus. You should not have had to stand here listening to us, especially considering this is your shop. I would assure you I really am civilized, but that is twice now you've seen me losing my temper and acting quite untoward." He extended a hand.

  Cadmus placed his own in it, smiling softly as Harren bowed over it, squeezing gently before letting go. "Never fear, sir, I completely commiserate. I am a little over three hundred, you know. I have been on both sides of such an argument—the indignant child and later on in the role of frustrated uncle. The nephew in question is currently the personal assistant of an ambassador somewhere."

  That got him a beautiful laugh, though he couldn't help but notice that Serena was looking less than pleased.

  "You know each other?" she asked, looking between them. "I didn't know you were friends."

  "We're not, though I hope to change that fact," Harren replied, his le
vity fading as he cast Serena a light warning look. "We met last week, and I asked him to the Hemingway soiree."

  Her mouth dropped open. "You—you're taking him dancing." She looked between them, and Cadmus almost winced at the thoughts flickering across her face. "Is this just to get information—"

  "I've had enough," Harren said, voice quiet but thunderous. Serena flinched. Storming across the room, Harren took her by the arm and dragged her outside. "You will wait here. Do you understand me?"

  "Yes, Father," Serena said meekly, looking like a withered, trod-on flower.

  Harren slammed the door in her face and returned to Cadmus. "I'm so sorry. That's not why I asked you—"

  "I know." Cadmus took the hand that had earlier been holding his and squeezed it gently. "I told you, I have been the bratty young adult acting out, and the beleaguered uncle waiting for them to outgrow this particular phase. I am sorry you're dealing with it, and I know how miserable it is to have an audience that I assume you were hoping to impress, but don't worry on my account. You seem a good father, if a quite vexed one."

  The tension bled from Harren's body, and he smiled, twisting his hand so he was now holding Cadmus's. "Thank you. So dare I hope you still want to attend the soiree with me?"

  "I am greatly looking forward to it." He was also muchly enjoying Harren in uniform and standing so close. Cadmus wanted to stroke the soft wool, the shiny gold buttons, then undo them and strip the uniform off to stroke a lot of other things.

  Something of his thoughts must have reached his face because Harren's smile turned hot and playful. "See something you like, toymaker?"

  "You have caught me out, sir," Cadmus murmured.