by Eileen Wilks
“In my brain?” Lily’s voice came out too high. “The mantle’s doing something to me? It shouldn’t be able to. My Gift wouldn’t let it.”
Rule clasped her hand tightly. “Even without your Gift, it shouldn’t be doing that. Mantles don’t root in their holder. They don’t work that way.” He looked sharply over his shoulder at Cullen. “You’ve never seen that with another mantle.”
Cullen shook his head. He looked from Lily to Rule and back. Not at their faces, but their middles, as if he were comparing Rule’s mantles to the one Lily harbored.
“I’m sorry,” the Rhej said. “I can’t say what’s going on, but the mantle seems to be . . . changin’ things in your body. Not in a way that makes sense to me. Not in a way that’s good for you.”
“Is it trying to make me lupi?” Lily’s voice was still too high. She couldn’t make it sound normal.
The Rhej shook her head slowly, her eyebrows drawn in a hard frown. “I don’t know what it’s doin’. Oh, it’s healing that arm of yours—that’s part of it—but the rest . . . maybe it is tryin’ to turn you lupi and can’t, but I’ve seen plenty of youngsters right close to First Change. There are neurological changes that occur then. But the changes I sense in you aren’t what I sensed then. Maybe it’s tryin’ to heal you in a way your system isn’t set up for. I don’t know.”
She met Lily’s eyes. Her gaze was steady, but Lily saw trouble in those dark eyes. “But whatever the mantle’s doin’, it’s not good for you. You’ve had two mini-strokes in the last few days. The mantle’s healing that damage, but what else it’s doin’ . . . I don’t have the medical words to describe that, but you need to get it out of you and where it belongs. You need to do that real soon.”
“It’s not all one way,” Cullen said.
“What?” Lily craned her head to look up at him. “What do you mean?”
He gestured at her stomach. “The Wythe mantle is still purple, but it’s the wrong shade of purple. It may be doing something to you, but you’re doing something to it, too.”
SIXTEEN
LILY reached the conference room she and Mullins were using a little after two thirty. Craig drove her, not Cullen. That pissed her off. She didn’t know Craig well and hated the idea of having one of her headache fits in front of him. But Cullen needed to keep his afternoon free to go take a look at the dagger, and that was exactly what she wanted him to do. She had no damn reason to be angry.
Maybe her anger wasn’t about Cullen.
She shoved the door open. Mullins looked up from a scatter of papers. “About time you got back.”
The air was redolent with hamburger and onions. Lily could see the remains of Mullins’s lunch pushed to one end of the table. She headed for the coffeepot. “You ever get in to see a doctor exactly on time?”
“Guess not. I want to take the secretary first.”
“Nanette Beresford? Sure.” Lily poured a cup of coffee.
The Rhej hadn’t told her to avoid caffeine. She’d said Lily should “avoid exertion.” No running. No late nights. Not that the healer knew for certain those things would hurt Lily. She was just guessing.
Mini-strokes. Dear God.
“The doctor gave you a green light?”
“I’m supposed to avoid strenuous exercise.”
“Guess you’d better not chase me round the table, then. You were going to talk to your expert. Find out anything useful?”
“Parrott must be having his charm renewed every four weeks at the very least. Whether or not it does what he says, it would need renewal at least that often.”
He grunted. “Doesn’t tell us much. You sure you’re okay? You look like crap.”
“Headache. It won’t interfere with the job.” Except that her head didn’t hurt right now, and it would interfere. She was lying and would keep on lying. She couldn’t tell anyone about mantles, and she didn’t see any way of explaining that a healer considered her life in danger without mentioning why. If she tried, she’d be pulled from the investigation and stuck in a hospital and they’d run tests, which wouldn’t help because the doctors couldn’t fix the mantle even if they knew about it.
She poured herself some coffee. Her arm shook ever so slightly. “We need to find out who made Parrott’s charm. Who’s renewing it. Maybe he’s doing it himself, maybe he knows a really good practitioner—because it would take a real expert to make a strong, sophisticated charm like that.” She sipped. It was this morning’s brew, old and bitter. “Someone who can make a charm like that might be able to make a cursed dagger, too.”
“Huh.” He made a note on the paper in front of him. “I’ll pass that on to Al. Worth looking into. Here’s who we still need to talk to.” He read a list of names.
Lily listened and sipped at the bitter sludge in her cup and tried so damn hard to think about the case, and not about ticking time bombs and Old Ones who used you for their own purposes and didn’t care if it killed you or not. Not about Rule and the wild fear in his eyes, or how many people her dying would hurt, or how in the hell she could keep that from happening.
She went to get their first witness for the afternoon. And managed to focus on the case, on what the senator’s secretary had to say, fairly well. But as soon as the interview was over, her attention splintered as needs nudged and shoved and yelled inside her. As she asked Nan to send in the next staffer—a young man with the interesting name of Kemo Maddon—one of those needs reared up and spoke clearly.
She wanted her mother.
How could she not smile at that thought? It was funny, it really was. Lily’s mother drove her crazy, but she wanted her, wanted to be home, back in San Diego, maybe back in her narrow childhood bed, with the covers drawn up and her mother fussing at her.
Sometimes being a grown-up sucked.
THE wolf skidded to a stop atop the rock and earth dam that arced around this side of Mika’s lair, his sides heaving. The air reeked of dragon. Beneath that smell were a thousand others—oak, rabbit, dirt, a hundred variations on green—the complex mix unique to this place at this time of the year. Added to that was a hint of approaching rain. And cat.
He hadn’t known he was coming here. He’d just run flat out and this is where he ended up. Good. Sometimes instinct worked better than all that thinking the man was so fond of.
He turned to face the gray and black wolf scrambling up the slope behind him, lifting his lip in a silent snarl. Deliberately he pawed the ground three times—back off and wait.
José took Rule’s signal literally. He stopped and began backing up.
Rule turned and picked his way down the rough slope more carefully than he’d shot up the other side. He didn’t see Mika, and the wind was blowing the wrong way for his nose to tell him if the dragon was here. If not, he would be soon. Rule had crossed the dragon’s wards. That was not allowed, not without an invitation. Mika would come, and quickly.
Good. Rule snarled at the empty, dragon-scented air. He would have answers.
He reached the level ground at the base of the slope. Stopped. Mika!
Rule put all the roil of intent and emotion he felt into that call. It wasn’t mindspeech, but the dragon would hear. Mika, I will speak with you!
From the sunken place beneath the dome that used to shelter symphonies, a head lifted over the earthen rampart. That head was about the size of Rule’s desk and resembled a seahorse’s as much as it did a lizard’s, with a narrow snout and domed skull and large eyes set on each side, eyes as brightly yellow as flame. Against the crimson scales an orange frill rippled along the dragon’s jaws like fire teased by wind.
You annoy me, little wolf. You trespass and you yell. You are not usually such a fool. I do not have to kill to punish.
Words came harder in this form—even harder when emotion had him in its jaws, shaking him like a terrier shakes a rat. Instead of words, Rule remembered as hard as he could—remembered Lily falling from her chair, then announcing that she hadn’t passed out; remembered Cullen
speaking of roots sent out by the mantle, the Rhej saying that the mantle was harming Lily.
Peculiar, Mika said then. I cannot see any reason your Lady would wish to damage Lily. Can you? Oh, do calm down. You can’t attack me, and why should you? I am not the cause. Why are you here?
Rule shook with the storm of rage-fear-attack surging through him. This was not good. He couldn’t allow himself to be mastered by the storm in his gut. He dropped his jaw and breathed slowly, reaching for the place of icy clarity where thought and action merged, untroubled by the roil of emotion.
Certa was a battle state. But there was more than one sort of battle, wasn’t there? I would speak with Sam.
I will pass your information to him when next I report.
I would speak to Sam directly. It was possible. Sam had told him so. Sam could mindspeak through Mika or any of the others if they gave permission to be used in this way.
That is absurd. Such sending takes far too much power. It is only for emergencies or—
I will speak with Sam through you, or I will withdraw Leidolf from the alliance.
You can’t . . . you would? Sheer astonishment tinged that thought as Mika absorbed the truth of Rule’s intentions. Slowly he oozed up out of the pit beneath the dome to end up standing on all four feet, his head raised high on that long, muscular neck. He looked down at Rule, yellow eyes glowing, orange frill spreading in agitation. I ought to eat one of your legs to discourage such stubborn stupidity.
Rule tipped his head back and bared his teeth. Even if I do withdraw Leidolf, Nokolai is still allied with you, and I am still Nokolai. You can’t attack me. You are bound by your word.
Silence, both mental and physical, followed. Slowly Mi-ka’s frill subsided. He knew as well as Rule that Sam would not be happy if he refused and Rule did withdraw Leidolf. He probably understood the consequences better than Rule did. I will see if Sam is willing to speak with you.
Good.
Humans are very foolish.
I am not human.
Mika snorted. You are certainly acting like one.
“ALL right, Ella,” Cullen said crisply, taking the Rhej’s arm and turning her to face him. Lily was gone. Rule was gone. Time for some answers. “Tell me whatever it is you didn’t want to tell them, and don’t bother with that ‘aw, shucks, I don’t know them big medical words’ shit. I know better.”
Her smile came easily, but it was belied by the strain in her eyes. “I guess you do.”
“TIAs can cause intense headaches, but they don’t go away in seconds. And there should be other symptoms—vision changes, weakness, slurred speech. Something.”
“That’s true. But she’s got damage in the cerebellum consistent with at least two transient ischemic attacks. Could’ve been a third that’s already healed. Those two I found are nearly healed, much better’n I could do. Seems like that has to be the mantle fixin’ what it’s breakin’. Her tiredness afterward, that’s likely the healing. It drains a person.”
Cullen frowned hard to keep from tightening his grip on her arm. Or screaming. “Dizziness. She was dizzy the third time, toppled out of her chair, Rule said. You say there’s damage in her cerebellum. Those damn roots come out through the cerebellum right next to the carotid artery.”
She nodded wearily. “I checked the carotid. Didn’t find a problem. I’m guessin’ it’s not occlusion TIAs she’s having, but low-flow. Somehow every now an’ then, those roots just shut down blood flow in the carotid artery.”
“You could have told Rule and Lily any of this. There’s something you aren’t saying.”
“Not a fact. Not somethin’ I found.”
“Something you believe or suspect.”
Ella tugged against his hold, reminding him he still gripped her arm. He let go. “I’m reluctant to talk guesses.”
“You’re talking to me now. Not Lily. Not Rule. You’ll feel better if you share it with someone.”
Her smile tilted wryly. “I see that some things don’t change. You are still one manipulative son of a bitch.”
“She matters to me. They both matter to me. I need to help, but I can’t if I don’t have all the facts, guesses, wild-ass crazy notions.”
“All right, then. What I suspect is happenin’ is that the mantle keeps healing her . . . only she isn’t lupus. Her body can’t handle the kind of magic it uses. It’s been healing her arm, but that’s slow. It took a while for that kind of healing to strain things so much she had the first TIA. But if the mantle works like regular lupi healing, it prioritizes—and the brain is its first priority. So that TIA created a rush job.”
“TIAs are by definition temporary. They don’t cause lasting damage.”
“The symptoms of a TIA are temporary. That don’t mean there’s no damage. Now, that damage is minor enough that the brain establishes a workaround pretty quick, but it’s there. But the kind of healing you lupi do wants to make everything perfect, and it’s her brain, so it heals her as fast as it can, only fast healin’ is harder on Lily than the slow kind. She has another TIA. More rushed healing. Another TIA.”
Fear tightened his throat. It made way too much sense. For four weeks after Lily accepted the job of host to Wythe’s mantle the only thing that happened was the gradual healing of her arm. Then one very brief but blinding headache. The next day, two headaches—and they lasted a bit longer, weakened her more. “It won’t stop. She’ll keep having TIAs until one of them causes too much damage for the mantle to heal. It will try. And it will kill her.”
SEVENTEEN
THE sky was dreary with pending rain when Lily slid her key into the lock, turned it, and shoved open the back door. She wanted Rule and he was not here. About ten miles to the northeast, she thought.
She could ask one of the guards where he’d gone. They’d probably know.
Hell with that. She shut the door, locked it, and dropped her purse. And stood there, clenching and unclenching her left hand, staring at a hole in the wall next to the pantry. A fist-sized hole.
Rule had needed to run, he’d said. When she left to go back to the job, he’d said he needed to run, and with the way his eyes had kept trying to bleed to black, she’d thought that was a good plan.
Apparently he’d also needed to put his fist through something. She could relate. Lily set her laptop on the table. “Cullen? You here?”
She heard footsteps on the stairs. “Quiet,” he said as he got closer. “The Rhej is asleep. I was about to order pizza.”
“No anchovies.” The tight band around her shoulders eased slightly. Maybe it was just as well Cullen was here and Rule wasn’t. Some things might be easier to talk about with him. “And let the guards know about the delivery. Order plenty. Rule’s headed this way.” She hadn’t noticed that at first, but now that she was paying attention she knew he was in motion, headed this way.
“Rule likes anchovies.”
“I don’t.” She took out the coffee grinder. She used her left hand. It gripped the grinder just fine. “Maybe the Rhej doesn’t. Did you ask?”
He snorted as he reached the kitchen. “Did you miss the part where I said she’s asleep?”
“You could have asked before she fell asleep.”
“I didn’t. Rule called the Szøs Rho. That candidate he found for the Wythe mantle will be here tomorrow morning.”
“He texted me about it.”
“Huh.” He tipped his head. “It isn’t five o’clock yet.”
“No. It isn’t.” She opened the canister where Rule kept his special-order, fresh-roasted coffee beans. “Did you get a look at the dagger?”
“I called Sherry and asked to put it off until tonight. We’ll meet up there about eight. You’re taking a coffee break?”
“I got sent home. One of those damn pain bolts hit me in front of Mullins, and he banished me.”
Cullen’s eyebrows climbed. “This Mullins guy told you to go home . . . and you did?”
“I didn’t pass out.” She brooded on that a
moment. “I must’ve looked bad, though. I, uh, told him it was a migraine. He gave me a choice. Either I go home or he tells Drummond about my little problem.” Unstated but clear was that Drummond would pull her if she couldn’t pass a medical. The surprising part was that Mullins would cover for her at all.
Maybe he’d lied. Maybe he’d told Drummond anyway. She’d find out, she supposed. “This one was different.”
“Different how?”
“I didn’t get nearly as dizzy, and while I’m tired now, I’m nowhere near passing out. Only . . .”
“Keep going.”
“It lasted longer, my vision went blurry, and my hand . . .” She held it out, studying it as if it didn’t belong to her. “It went numb. I dropped my notebook, dropped the damn thing right in front of Mullins, and”—her brows snapped down—“and you’re happy about that?”
“I am.” He patted her shoulder. “That’s excellent news. At least I think it is. Assuming your hand and vision are okay now—”
“They’re fine.” Automatically she squeezed her hand into a fist, proving once again that she could.
“Then it’s good news. Probably. Sit down and I’ll tell you what the Rhej told me. How long did the attack last?”
“Less than ten minutes. More than five. What did she tell you?”
“You aren’t sitting down.”
“Your keen powers of observation are a wonder to all of us.” She spooned beans into the grinder. “I’ll sit when I need to. Start talking.”
He leaned against the counter, arms crossed, and wisely decided to accept that. “Consider what I tell you hemmed in by all sorts of qualifications about it being speculation. That’s why the Rhej didn’t pass it on to you and Rule earlier. First the part we’re sure of. The mantle’s been healing your arm.”