by M. J. Scott
“I asked about you,” Bryony said, placing the teapot on the tray and rotating the cups before passing her hands over them in a blessing.
“I’m all right,” Lily interrupted, not looking at me. She wasn’t really looking at anyone, more staring into a neutral point in the distance.
“No, you’re not,” I countered. She still didn’t look at me, leaving me once again contemplating the wisdom of applying my head to the nearest hard surface. I’d thought, back there in the ’cab and the hackney, that I’d made some progress. That she’d been starting to give me some small shred of trust. But now she had withdrawn again, back into her icy armor. She sat rigidly upright in the chair, tension drawn clearly in the vertical sheer of her spine.
“She got clawed by a Beast earlier,” I continued. “I healed the worst of it, but it needs cleaning and more work.”
Bryony tilted her head at me.
“I was drained,” I said, proffering the same story I’d fed Lily for not finished the job myself. Hopefully Bryony would leave it there. Because my lack of power wasn’t the entire reason I’d stopped.
No, the more prudent reason for not finishing the healing had been the sheer temptation of how good it felt to have my hands on her. Lunacy to be so drawn by casual contact. I was a healer, for sun’s sake, a professional. Yet putting my hands on her skin had nearly set me on fire.
I’d felt an answering heat thrumming through her, as much as she was denying it. Because that much was also clear: she was denying it. Holding it at bay with a ruthless force of will that could probably move mountains should she set her mind to it. I’d almost been able to feel the battle in her nerves as I’d coaxed the vessels and fibers of her flesh to re-form. A confusion of pain and lust that flared and was tamped down and flared again with every beat of her heart.
Still, her rejection of what lay between us was clear enough. So I’d stopped touching her before my body overruled my sense of decency. I stared down at my hands, flexing them slightly where they lay against my thighs. Feeling her skin instead of the buckskin of my trousers. Gods and fucking suns.
“Simon?” Guy said.
Damn. I’d missed something. “Yes?”
“Bryony asked you a question.”
Indeed, and when Bryony spoke, everyone jumped, even my brother. But today, I wasn’t in the mood to pander to Bryony. Not unless she was about to sing a different tune when it came to Lily. Her sending us in the back way was hardly a good sign. “I was thinking.”
“Never a good idea, little brother,” Guy said.
“How would you know?” I shot back.
Bryony held out a teacup to me. “No squabbling.”
Guy’s mouth closed with a snap. I tried not to smirk at him as I accepted the cup. Pale green liquid steamed within. Mint and comfrey tickled my nostrils. No doubt there were other things in the brew. No self-respecting Fae would brew a tea with only two ingredients, and they delighted in being able to bamboozle their guests with complex blends a master herbalist would struggle to decode.
Lily also received a cup, though Bryony placed it on the desk in front of her instead of handing it over directly as politeness would dictate. Lily picked it up, held the china closer to her face, and sniffed but made no move to drink. Her gray eyes were suspicious as she watched Bryony. I wondered if she knew she was being as rude as Bryony by not drinking.
The air between them almost crackled with aversion.
“It’s a tonic. Perfectly safe.” I swigged mine to reassure her and ease the mood.
“Indeed. It will help the healing,” Bryony said, looking from me to Lily. Still without meeting Lily’s gaze. “Drink.” Her expression was rigid, the way it was when she dealt with an uncooperative patient. My neck prickled. Suns. I hadn’t wanted to believe Lily’s warnings about her likely reception from the Fae, but it seemed she’d been right.
“I heal fast.” Lily’s voice was low and cool. Icily neutral.
“So I would expect. Faster still if you drink.” Bryony’s voice was, if anything, colder than Lily’s. She tapped one finger on the teapot’s handle, staring at Lily’s untouched tea.
Lily made no move to raise her cup to her lips. “Simon should be attended.”
Which almost made me spit tea all over Bryony’s precious silk rugs.
“Simon is not the most pressing problem,” Bryony said.
“No,” Guy agreed. He rocked on his heels slightly. The clank and rattle of his mail sounded loud in the small room. “She is.”
“Her name is Lily,” I said, putting my cup down a little too forcefully on Bryony’s desk. Thankfully the china didn’t break. Fae work was tough. Like the Fae themselves, I was reminded as Bryony pressed her lips into a thin line of disapproval. I didn’t react. St. Giles would take care of Lily. I’d given my word.
“Then Lily is the problem. What is it about you that Lucius wants you back so badly?” Guy said, looking at Lily.
“Well, it’s not as if he has another of the shadow kin to hand,” Bryony said tartly. “I imagine he misses his pet.”
“Bryony,” I snapped. “Lily has claimed Haven in this hospital. She is to be treated with respect.”
Bryony didn’t change her expression, but the rainbowed chain around her neck darkened a little. Angry. Which made two of us.
“What’s more,” I continued, “she is hurt and she needs treatment. That is our priority in any situation.” I rose and crossed the room to yank the bellpull to summon somebody. Bryony could argue as much as she wanted, but Lily would still be seen to in the meantime.
Bryony’s eyes snapped ice at me. “As you wish, Master Healer.”
Suns. I really was in trouble if she was using my title rather than my name. But I’d been in trouble before, and seeing to it that the hospital treated Lily like any other patient was a key component of my plan. Treat her like dirt and why would she even think of helping us? Not to mention she didn’t deserve anything less than any other person who crossed our threshold seeking help.
There was a soft knock on the door and Chrysanthe, one of Bryony’s Fae aides, senior healer in her own right, appeared.
“Fetch Harriet,” I told her before Bryony could speak. Harriet was human, which seemed a safer choice if all the Fae were going to react to Lily in the same way as Bryony. Chrysanthe, always quick on the uptake, nodded at me and disappeared.
“Lily is to be treated with courtesy,” I warned as I turned back to Bryony. “By everyone in this hospital.”
“The truth is always courteous,” Bryony said with a sharp smile. “A belief, I would imagine, your friend here doesn’t share.”
Lily raised her chin. “Why should I? I’m not Fae. That has always been made perfectly clear to me. I owe nothing to your beliefs.”
“Yet you wish to be protected by them.”
“I thought Havens were treaty law, not Fae belief,” Lily said.
“Enough!” I stood abruptly, regretting the movement as my ribs shot dull fire up and down my nerves. “I brought Lily here to be healed.”
“Risking the Haven by doing so,” Bryony said, standing herself.
Before she could say anything further, a soft knock sounded and the door swung open to reveal Harriet and Chrysanthe. Either Harriet had been working close by or Chrysanthe had run to fetch her. Chrysanthe’s face was apprehensive and she twisted her Family ring—a small band of green and yellow stones—nervously. Harriet’s brown eyes, in contrast, looked merely curious.
“Harry, this girl needs treatment. See to it.” Bryony ordered. “Chrysanthe, Master Healer DuCaine requires your attention.”
Lily’s expression turned stubborn. “I’ll wait for Simon.”
I looked down. “It’s all right,” I said gently. She needed to learn to trust me, and now was as good a time as any to start proving to her that she could. “Harry is very talented. I won’t be long.” I beckoned Harriet over and briefly filled her in on Lily’s wounds and my earlier treatment. Then told her to take Lily t
o my office rather than a ward. She would feel safer with fewer people around.
Lily looked like she wanted to protest, but she merely tightened her hold on the hilt of her dagger and rose to follow Harriet.
“It really is all right,” I said as she passed me. She merely looked disbelieving.
“Veil’s eyes, Simon,” Bryony said as the door shut firmly behind Harry and Lily. “What were you thinking bringing that here?”
I looked pointedly at Chrysanthe, who hovered beside me trying to pretend she wasn’t there. Smart girl. Still, I wasn’t about to discuss the plan with her in the room. The less people who knew what Lily was—though Chrysanthe might already have sensed that much—let alone why she was here, the better. “I was thinking that this is a Haven and that Lily,” I said, stressing the name—gods-damned Fae and their stiff-necked prejudices—“needed help.”
Bracing a hand to my side, I stared at Bryony, waiting for her to respond.
After a moment or two she made an irritated clicking noise with her tongue, then came around the desk. “Chrysanthe, I’ll look after Simon. I’m sure you have other duties to attend to.”
Chrysanthe looked like she wanted to ask why she’d been summoned away from those duties in the first place but then obviously decided that discretion was the better part of valor or something similar and inclined her pale blond head a fraction before leaving the room, stalking like an annoyed cat. Guy and Liam both watched her go, expressions vaguely envious. Come to think of it, Liam didn’t need to be here either. I turned to Guy. “I’m sure Liam has things to do as well.”
Guy raised his eyebrows but nodded and sent Liam on his way.
“Are you shielding this room?” I asked Bryony as the door clicked softly closed for the second time.
“Of course.” Bryony sounded even more annoyed. “Now take off your shirt and let me look at your ribs.”
I lifted an arm to obey, then froze as fire shot across my side, a groan escaping despite my better efforts.
“Let me,” Guy said, stepping between us.
“Don’t you start,” I warned.
Guy shrugged as he started to ease my jacket off my shoulders. He seemed to know how to do it so as not to hurt me. He’d probably had cracked or broken ribs a time or two himself.
“I’ve already said what I think. And that I’d help you.”
“Both of you are he’ti’al,” Bryony snapped.
“Nothing wrong with my sanity,” Guy replied. “Though I’ll admit, I do sometimes wonder about little brother here.” He nodded at me as the jacket slid free. “Can you unbutton the shirt?”
I nodded and did so, then let Guy help me shrug it off.
Bryony jerked the top off a jar of salve, directing her annoyance at Guy with a jerk of her chin. “If you’re not crazy, why are you helping him? Bringing a wraith here?”
“God believes in redemption,” Guy said.
Bryony muttered something under her breath. It didn’t sound complimentary. Guy’s expression didn’t change. I wished sometimes wished I shared my brother’s deep, calm faith. But we mages had our own beliefs, which were somewhat more complicated.
As did the Fae.
Normally I could respect the differences, but in this matter, in their treatment of their half-breeds—the Fae were simply wrongheaded.
“I’m not asking you to approve of her,” I said. “Just to treat her fairly.”
“You’re being led around by your cock,” Bryony said as she picked up another jar, sniffed the contents, then banged it down on the desk.
Guy snorted, then controlled himself when I glared at him.
“My cock is none of your business,” I said. “And I assure you, my head is in charge. We need her.”
Bryony picked up another jar, then rejected it for another with a jerky movement. The chain round her neck was darkening rapidly, warning of her mood. “Need her? For what?”
My ribs ached as I sucked in a breath. “She can help us.”
“Help us? She tried to kill you!”
Guy had a loose tongue, it seemed, if he’d told Bryony that much before Lily and I had arrived. “And today she saved my life. Any other objections?”
“She’s an abomin—”
“She’s seeking Haven.” I cut her off before she could launch into another diatribe on abominations and soulless creatures. “The rest is politics. We treat Beasts here. We treat Fae and humans. We treat Blood.”
“She is none of those things.”
“She needs our help. That’s all that matters.” I took a deep breath. The air smelled like antiseptic and the various salves. Usually the smells of the hospital soothed me, but right now they were just irritating. “And we need hers. You’re not looking at the situation from the right angle,” I said.
“Oh? What other angle is there?”
“She’s Lucius’ shadow. Yes, she tried to kill me. And the important thing about that fact is that she is the only proof of it, other than my word. She can give evidence against him.”
Bryony looked like she might choke. “You think she will turn against him? Why in the name of the Bright One would she do such thing? You truly are he’ti’al.”
“She will. I can convince her.”
“You’re thinking with your cock again.”
“I’m not. We can use what she knows to our advantage.”
Bryony’s arms folded, the amethysts and sapphires in her Family ring glinting in the sunlight. A reminder of everything she was and everything she believed. Everything she risked to serve as a healer here. “I disagree.”
“As you’re perfectly entitled to,” I said, even though right now I longed for some way to shake some of that Fae-wrought superiority out of her. “But you’re not entitled to let your prejudices prevent the hospital from sheltering her. Or you’ll be breaking the laws.”
“You’d treat Lucius himself if he came here,” Bryony spat.
Guy coughed suddenly. I recognized a smothered laugh in the sound. At least someone was enjoying himself. “Yes, I would,” I agreed. And then, as soon as Lucius stepped one inch off Haven grounds, I’d quite possibly do my damnedest to remove the vampire’s head from his body, but that wasn’t the point to make at this exact moment. “That’s what abiding by the law requires.”
“Some laws are foolish.” Bryony motioned Guy aside and laid her hand along my side over the fractures.
I held still while she focused on the injuries. But I wasn’t going to hold my tongue. “Yes. And I’d imagine most humans think the iron and silver restrictions that protect you and the Beasts and the Blood are amongst them. But we abide. The law prevents things from returning to how they were.” A return to the wars between the races would be to no one’s liking or benefit. Except, perhaps, whoever came out temporarily victorious.
“Perhaps you could look at it another way,” Guy said. His low voice held a slight rumble of amusement, but it was scrupulously polite as it always was when he addressed Bryony.
Bryony looked livid as she turned her head to Guy. A sensible man might have retreated a step or two. But no one had ever called Guy sensible. It wasn’t really high on the list of desirable qualities in a Templar. “Oh? And how would you suggest that I look at it?”
“Regardless of what Lily’s intentions are,” Guy said in that very polite tone, “isn’t it better that she’s here where we can watch her rather than loose in the Night World doing Lucius’ bidding?”
I resisted the urge to grin. That was a subtle way to work around to our real agenda. Nobody was going to convince the Fae of Lily’s worth overnight, but surely even they could see the benefit of depriving Lucius of one of his weapons? Then again, maybe not, I thought as the pressure on my ribs from Bryony’s hand increased abruptly.
“How do you know she’s not doing his bidding?” Bryony said as she hit me with a jolt of power that felt like a horse kick to my broken ribs.
Chapter Nine
“She has had several opportunities to kil
l me today,” I replied when the pain from Bryony’s burst of power subsided. Never annoy the person about to heal you. “I’m still alive. That fact counts strongly in her favor.”
“Maybe she’s just waiting for nightfall, when she’s stronger,” Bryony said, lifting her hand from my side.
“She’s not exactly helpless in daylight,” I said, remembering Lily fighting at Halcyon and shooting the Beast. I didn’t think mentioning the Beast would help right now. “Perhaps you could consider giving her the benefit of the doubt?”
“Why? She’s a killer. Lucius’ assassin. She’s probably killed hundreds of people.” She passed me a jar of salve. Clearly I was to apply it myself.
“Are you so concerned about the deaths of Beast Kind and Blood? I’ve never heard that he’s sent Lily against a human before.” I stretched gingerly, testing my ribs. No pain. Bryony did good work; even anger couldn’t change that. Unless the patient was Lily perhaps. I dug a gobbet of salve out and started to apply it. The bones were healed and the worst of the damage, but the herbs would help my body speed the rest of the process.
“Which brings us back to why he’s come after you,” Guy said, once again interposing himself into the conversation.
I carefully didn’t look at Bryony. She was one of only two people who knew my secret. She’d sworn not to reveal it but Guy wasn’t stupid. “I already told you, I don’t know,” I said, knowing Bryony would stay silent. The Fae do not lie. Which is not to say they cannot tell less than the complete truth.
Guy rubbed the spot between his eyebrows, armor creaking. He looked suddenly tired. “Which means he may try again.”
“Without Lily, he’s going to have to be very creative to get to me.”
“You think he can’t be creative?”
“Do you really think he’d break the peace, so close to the treaty negotiations?” I shot back.
“I think that Lucius has been growing steadily more uncontrolled for several years. And now he has a reason to focus his wrath on us rather than the Night World.”
I paused. Guy was right, as I well knew. The number of patients passing through the doors of St. Giles and the other hospitals in the human boroughs had been steadily increasing over the last few years.