Trailer Park Fae

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Trailer Park Fae Page 27

by Lilith Saintcrow


  Mikal? But then why did he not kill the man—

  The world jolted underneath her, a stunning blow to her shoulder, a great spiked roil of pain through her chest. Mikal screamed, but she was breathless. Sorcerous force spilled free, uncontained, and other screams rose.

  She could possibly injure someone.

  Emma came back to herself, clutching at her shoulder. Hot blood welled between her fingers, and the green silk would be ruined. Not to mention her gloves.

  At least they had shot her, and not the mentath.

  Oh, damn. The pain crested again, became a giant animal with its teeth in her flesh.

  Mikal caught her. His mouth moved soundlessly, and Emma sought with desperate fury to contain the force thundering through her. Backlash could cause yet more damage, to the street and to onlookers, if she let it loose.

  A Prime’s uncontrolled force was nothing to be trifled with.

  It was the traditional function of a Shield to handle such overflow, but if he had only wounded the fellow on the roof she could not trust that he was not part of—

  “Let it GO!” Mikal roared, and the ætheric bonds between them flamed into painful life. She fought it, seeking to contain what she could, and her skull exploded with pain.

  She knew no more.

  BY LILITH SAINTCROW

  GALLOW AND RAGGED

  Trailer Park Fae

  BANNON AND CLARE

  The Iron Wyrm Affair

  The Red Plague Affair

  The Ripper Affair

  DANTE VALENTINE NOVELS

  Working for the Devil

  Dead Man Rising

  Devil’s Right Hand

  Saint City Sinners

  To Hell and Back

  Dante Valentine (omnibus)

  JILL KISMET NOVELS

  Night Shift

  Hunter’s Prayer

  Redemption Alley

  Flesh Circus

  Heaven’s Spite

  Angel Town

  Jill Kismet (omnibus)

  A ROMANCE OF ARQUITAINE NOVELS

  The Hedgewitch Queen

  The Bandit King

  AS LILI ST. CROW

  THE STRANGE ANGELS SERIES

  Strange Angels

  Betrayals

  Jealousy

  Defiance

  Reckoning

  PRAISE FOR THE WORKS OF LILITH SAINTCROW:

  Dante Valentine

  “She’s a brave, charismatic protagonist with a smart mouth and a suicidal streak. What’s not to love? Fans of Laurell K. Hamilton should warm to Saintcrow’s dark, evocative debut.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Saintcrow’s amazing protagonist is gutsy, stubborn to a fault and vaguely suicidal, meaning there’s never a dull moment…. This is the ultimate in urban fantasy!”

  —RT Book Reviews (Top Pick!)

  “Dark, gritty, urban fantasy at its best.”

  —blogcritics.org

  Jill Kismet

  “Nonstop rough-and-tumble action combined with compelling characterization and a plot that twists and turns all over the place. Saintcrow… never fails to deliver excitement.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “Loaded with action and starring a kick-butt heroine who from the opening scene until the final climax is donkey kicking seemingly every character in sight.”

  —Harriet Klausner

  “Lilith has again created a vibrant, strong female heroine who keeps you running behind her in a breathless charge against forces you just know you would never be able to walk away from completely unscathed.”

  —myfavouritebooks.blogspot.com

  “This mind-blowing series remains a must-read for all urban fantasy lovers.”

  —bittenbybooks.com

  Bannon & Clare

  “Saintcrow scores a hit with this terrific steampunk series that rockets through a Britain-that-wasn’t with magic and industrial mayhem with a firm nod to Holmes. Genius and a rocking good time.”

  —Patricia Briggs

  “Saintcrow melds a complex magic system with a subtle but effective steampunk society, adds fully fleshed and complicated characters, and delivers a clever and highly engaging mystery that kept me turning pages, fascinated to the very end.”

  —Laura Anne Gilman

  “Innovative world building, powerful steampunk, master storyteller at her best. Don’t miss this one…. She’s fabulous.”

  —Christine Feehan

  “Lilith Saintcrow spins a world of deadly magic, grand adventure, and fast-paced intrigue through the clattering streets of a maze-like mechanized Londonium. The Iron Wyrm Affair is a fantastic mix of action, steam, and mystery dredged in dark magic with a hint of romance. Loved it! Do not miss this wonderful addition to the steampunk genre.”

  —Devon Monk

  “Lilith Saintcrow’s foray into steampunk plunges the reader into a Victorian England rife with magic and menace, where clockwork horses pace the cobbled streets, dragons rule the ironworks, and it will take a sorceress’s discipline and a logician’s powers of deduction to unravel a bloody conspiracy.”

  —Jacqueline Carey

  GLOSSARY

  Barrow-wight: Fullblood Unseelie wights whose homes are long “barrows.” Gold loses its luster in their presence.

  Brughnies: House-sidhe; they delight in cooking and cleaning. A well-ordered kitchen is their joy.

  The Fatherless: Robin Goodfellow, also called Puck, the nominal leader of the free sidhe.

  Folk: Sidhe, or clan within the sidhe, or generally a group, race, or species.

  Ghilliedhu: “Birch-girl”; dryads of the birch clan, held to be great beauties.

  Grentooth: A jack-wight, often amphibious, with mossy teeth and a septic bite.

  Kelpie: A river sidhe, capable of appearing as a black horse and luring its victims to drowning.

  Kobolding: A crafty race of sidhe, often amassing great wealth, living underground. Related to goblins, distantly related to the dwarven clans.

  Quirpiece: A silver coin, used to hold a particular chantment.

  Realmaker: A sidhe whose chantments do not fade at dawn. Very rare.

  Seelie: Sidhe of Summer’s Court, or holding fealty to Summer.

  Selkie: A sealskin sidhe.

  Sidhe: The Fair Folk, the Little People, the Children of Danu.

  Sluagh: The ravening horde of the unforgiven dead.

  Tainted: Possessing mortal blood.

  Twisted: A sidhe altered and mutated, often by proximity to cold iron, unable to use sidhe chantments or glamour.

  Unseelie: Sidhe of Unwinter’s Court, or holding fealty to Unwinter.

  Wight: “Being,” or “creature”; used to refer to certain classes of sidhe.

  Woodwight: A wight whose home or form is a tree, whose blood is resinous.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Welcome

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Chapter 1: A Different Beast

  Chapter 2: Simulacrum

  Chapter 3: A Mortal Failing

  Chapter 4: An Arrival

  Chapter 5: A Brueghel Painting

  Chapter 6: To Sell Herself Dear

  Chapter 7: Vengeance Enough

  Chapter 8: A Mortal Quotient

  Chapter 9: Lee to Give

  Chapter 10: Territory to be Gained

  Chapter 11: Shadowcoin

  Chapter 12: For that which Matters

  Chapter 13: A Reversal of Anger

  Chapter 14: A Certain Satisfaction

  Chapter 15: Mortal Worth

  Chapter 16: Sense And Breath

  Chapter 17: Wight, Knight, and Hound

  Chapter 18: Small Cathy

  Chapter 19: Locked and Silent

  Chapter 20: Mercy in his End

  Chapter 21: No Small Proposition

  Chapter 22: Long and Long

  Chapter 23: No Part of This

  Chapter 24: The True Danger

  Chapter 25: Gave you
an Answer, Do

  Chapter 26: As Planned

  Chapter 27: Heart of the Riddle

  Chapter 28: Sidhe Enough

  Chapter 29: For Joy Or Sorrow

  Chapter 30: Guilt Must Wait

  Chapter 31: What Price?

  Chapter 32: What Would Please

  Chapter 33: Of Unwinter Vintage

  Chapter 34: Whistling at Death

  Chapter 35: Cannot Carry Two

  Chapter 36: The Horn

  Chapter 37: Lips Instead of Throat

  Chapter 38: Gleam in the Gloaming

  Chapter 39: Simple Betrayal

  Chapter 40: A Boon

  Chapter 41: Most Marvelous Meat

  Chapter 42: Primrose Darling

  Chapter 43: No Liar in this Case

  Chapter 44: Between Impossibles

  Chapter 45: Poison, Bread, Salt

  Chapter 46: Who Could Forget

  Chapter 47: Full Night

  Chapter 48: Soon Enough

  Acknowledgments

  Extras

  Meet the Author

  A Preview of Gallow and Ragged Book 2

  A Preview of The Iron Wyrm Affair

  Also by Lilith Saintcrow

  Praise for the Works of Lilith Saintcrow

  Glossary

  Copyright

  Copyright

  Published by Orbit

  ISBN: 978-0-356-50632-6

  All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2015 by Lilith Saintcrow

  Excerpt from Gallow and Ragged: Book 2 copyright © 2015 by Lilith Saintcrow

  Excerpt from The Iron Wyrm Affair copyright © 2012 by Lilith Saintcrow

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  Orbit

  Little, Brown Book Group

  Carmelite House

  50 Victoria Embankment

  London, EC4Y 0DZ

  www.littlebrown.co.uk

  www.hachette.co.uk

 

 

 


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