Iron Kin: A Novel of the Half-Light City

by M. J. Scott

  The grip bit harder. “No, you wouldn’t. You’ve agreed to throw in your lot with us now, Fen. And in a pack, what the alpha says goes and we work to make it so.”

  I wanted to tell him what he might do with his pack and his goddamned alpha, but I might still need their help to get Reggie out of here. “We had an agreement,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “That we did. Just don’t make trouble as you go about it.” Willem let go of my arm and stepped back. My hands clenched as the weird certainty that I could do anything I wanted surged again. Bryony’s potion could yet be the death of me. I eyed Willem speculatively, wondering if I could get away with just one punch when he looked past my shoulder and jerked his chin.

  “Isn’t that your girl?”

  Reggie. It was hard to move slowly. Bolting across the room wouldn’t be helpful. I counted to five before I turned and looked.

  Sure enough, it was Reggie, standing a little apart from a group of Blood. Her expression was unfocused, eyes gazing off toward nothing in particular. An odd smile played around her lips. She wore a white shift like the Trusted wore and her hair hung in loose curls down her back. The hair hid her neck so that I couldn’t see if she’d been bitten. I hadn’t seen Reggie with her hair down in public since we’d been very young.

  That, more than anything, pushed my anger to the boiling point.

  “Don’t mess this up.”

  The voice was the faintest hint of a whisper in my ear. Lily’s voice. Good. At least she was here with me.

  The jolt of hearing her was enough to ease the fog of rage a little. I managed to walk casually across the room, stopping a few feet away from the group of vampires and Reggie. They were ignoring her so far. Good. Maybe they were done with her.

  Reggie was still just standing there, swaying slightly. Her gaze passed over my face without any sign of recognition.

  Not good.

  I took another step closer. The Blood didn’t react, still intent on whatever they were talking about. I was too focused on Reggie to listen in.

  Reggie’s eyes drifted back in my direction.

  “Hello,” I said softly. She didn’t respond. But her vacant smile faded.

  I took another careful step. “Why don’t you come over here with me?” I reached out a hand, laid it on Reggie’s arm. I felt the tiny flinch of her skin as I touched her, but she didn’t protest. I moved closer still, put an arm around her shoulders.

  One of the Blood turned to me. His eyes were an odd dark blue in his white face. “That one’s about done,” he said. “But she’s a pretty thing.” He paused, looked me up and down. “You Beasts like your women compliant, don’t you?”

  I forced the laugh. “Why do you think we come to the Assemblies?”

  The vampire shook his head, turned away.

  I tightened my arm around Reggie’s shoulder. “Come on, sweet,” I said, loud enough for the vampires to hear. “You and I are going to have some fun.”

  My stomach twisted, bile rising in my throat as I felt Reggie shiver against me. But still, she made no protest. Gods. What had they done to her?

  We made our way across the room and to the door. This was the difficult part. If what Lily had said was true, and none of the Blood here had claimed Reggie personally, then she was indeed free to leave. I just had to get her out the front door and make sure she said she wanted to go if we were questioned.

  Lily and I had gone over it earlier. Initially she’d wanted to come in here alone and try to sneak Reggie out with an invisibility charm, but I’d pointed out that if Reggie resisted or they ran into trouble, Lily couldn’t turn solid and physically take Reggie out. Every Blood in the City knew who Lily was. A great number of them would want to kill her on sight. She would never make it out of the warrens without shadowing and having to leave Reggie behind.

  Lily had given in, with some protest. I’d added the fact that Reggie knew me and there was some chance that she would remember and trust me, regardless of what state we found her in. She was, however, less likely to trust a disembodied voice. Or even believe it was real.

  Reggie’s skin felt too hot under my hand, as though she was running a fever. Gods. What had they done to her? I tried to remember what the Trusted had said about the rooms available for sex. Maybe I should take Reggie there and use the time to see if she was hurt. Or should I just try for the front door? I hesitated for a moment, hating the feel of Reggie leaning so unprotestingly against me.

  “Fen.” It was Lily’s voice again. “Martin and his boys are leaving. Use the charm. You can walk out with them.”

  Now or never. We were alone in the corridor. I could hear Martin’s deep rumble behind me from the room I’d just left. I clamped my arm tighter around Reggie, pulled her closer to my side.

  Willem came up on my other side, eyebrows arched. “Okay, puppy, you’ve got her. Now, walk with us.”

  My pulse was hammering hard enough that I was sure all the vampires in the building must be able to hear it. I could only hope they had enough playthings occupying their attention. The walk to the outer door seemed to take an eternity—my nerves braced for someone to challenge us, but nobody did, and we managed to walk out the front door in one piece. We all bundled into Martin’s carriage and the driver urged the horses forward at a pace that seemed far too slow.

  I kept one arm around Reggie and the other hand on the pistol I’d left in the carriage. There were no sounds of pursuit or outcry from the warrens as they receded from the narrow angle of view I had out the carriage window.

  As agreed, the carriage came to a halt once we were back in Beast territory and I lifted Reggie inside the ’cab I’d hired and gave directions to St. Giles.

  SASKIA

  * * *

  If the hands on the clock on Simon’s desk didn’t start moving faster soon, I was going to scream or fling the damn thing out the window. Each minute seemed to take an eternity, the hands moving slowly, so slowly, past midnight, then on to one in the morning with no sign of Fen or Lily.

  Both my brothers had tried to convince me to go home but I’d refused, insisting on waiting with the rest of them. Simon sat behind his desk, pretending to read one of his medical books, though the pages weren’t turning very often.

  Holly and Guy had taken chairs near the window, trying not to look too much like they were staring down at the streets below. Every so often Holly said something to Guy, but his answers were short and to the point. I’d tried to read as well, but made a worse job of pretending than Simon.

  After a while I gave up and alternated drinking tea with staring at the clock. The combination was fraying my nerves. Which was stupid. I barely knew Fen, after all. So why was I so worried?

  “How much longer can this possibly take?” I said to the room in general, after the hands had counted off another interminable ten minutes. “Something must have gone wrong.” I stood to return my empty cup to the tea trolley. My hands trembled and the china rattled as I placed it back on the brass tray.

  “Don’t jump to conclusions,” Simon said. “They would have triggered their alarms if they needed help.”

  “Or they both got into trouble too quickly to do so,” I countered.

  Simon closed his book with a thump that belied his pretense of calm. “Unless Ignatius has somehow employed a sunmage, that’s not very likely. Even if Fen was in trouble, Lily would let us know.”

  I glared at him. It was easier for him to be casual about this. As he said, Lily wasn’t the one at risk on tonight’s little adventure. Frustrated, I turned my attention to Holly. “What do you think?”

  She was pale but composed. “I think Simon’s right. There’s no point panicking before we need to.” Her hands tightened around the arms of her chair for a moment. She wasn’t quite as calm as she pretended to be either.

  “I think we should—”

  “What?” Guy said, in his don’t-be-an-idiot rumble. “Go in and rescue them? How exactly would that work, Sass? Simon’s right. We just hav
e to wait.”

  I stayed standing. “I don’t want to just sit here and do nothing.”

  “If you can’t keep better control of yourself than this,” Simon said, “then you’re never going to survive the negotiations.”

  “The negotiations are hardly the same as going to the Blood warrens!”

  Simon shook his head. “There’s less difference than you might think. Don’t fool yourself, Sass, the negotiations—these negotiations in particular—are life and death.”

  “All the more reason we need Fen’s help,” I pointed out. “And why we should be worried about him.”

  “We are worried,” Simon replied. “But that doesn’t mean we go charging off into the night. What exactly do you think we could do at the warrens, anyway?”

  “But—” I broke off, chewed my lip. He was right, of course, but I didn’t want to admit it. There was nothing we could do. That just made the waiting even harder somehow.

  I forced my hands into my lap, gripped them tightly together, and shut my eyes. I stretched out my senses, trying to identify all the different metals in the room—an old focus exercise that the Masters used to drive first-year students mad—to calm my mind.

  At first there was just a blur of sensation, overlaid by the peculiar pulses I recognized as Simon and Guy—pulses I could sense anywhere in the City—but gradually I started to focus in on the individual strands of metalsong that made up the whole. A pen nib on Simon’s desk, that was silver. As was the cross around Guy’s neck. Brass nails in the furnishings—the alloy given a little bit of help from a mage—more brass in the tea trolley and the tray and then the myriad tin lids on the jars of gods knew what lining some of Simon’s shelves. Plus the bones of the building itself. St. Giles was largely made of stone and wood and marble, as were most buildings in the city, but there was iron here too. The founders of the hospital hadn’t spared any expense when they’d built this place.

  I sent my senses deeper, following the iron, feeling it grow stronger as I went further into the depths of the hospital. The call of the iron started to drown out the other metals . . . which made no sense . . . Iron was rare and expensive; it couldn’t be the most used metal in this building. Unless—

  “There’s a ‘cab,” Holly said suddenly. She leaned closer to the window, staring down into the darkness.

  “Is it—” Simon started to ask.

  “It’s Lily. And Fen. And, oh gods. Reggie.” She whirled and headed for the door at a run. Simon almost beat her to it and Guy was hot on their heels. I hesitated, looked back to the window, wanting to know what Holly had seen. But then I realized I was being silly. The fastest way to find out what had happened would be to follow the others. So I picked up my skirts and ran.

  * * *

  My heart was pounding by the time we reached the main reception hall of the hospital, and not just from the exertion. No, with each step, worry about what might be waiting for us had grown in my stomach, until my pulse pounded with nerves and I wished I wasn’t wearing a corset. Then at least I might have been able to feel as though I could catch my breath.

  At some point during our mad dash through the halls of St. Giles, Simon and Guy had overtaken Holly. But even so, by the time we reached the main entrance of the hospital, Lady Bryony had appeared and was already ushering Fen and Lily toward one of the treatment rooms, her face grave as she looked down at the burden Fen clasped in his arms. His knuckles pressed whitely against the olive skin of his hand as though he was determined that nothing would make him let go of the woman he carried.

  Reggie. Her eyes were closed, and she was too still as she rested against Fen’s shoulders. Her long hair fell in a tangle of ratty curls covering half her face. She wore a nearly see-through white shift that bared her arms and her legs below the knees. She’d been gone for only a few days, but she looked thin. Smaller than I remembered.

  Had Edwina looked like that before the end? Too thin? Too small? I bit back the sharp tug of grief. I couldn’t afford to break down here. Reggie was the one who needed taking care of.

  Fen held her as though she was spun glass. Like he was both afraid she might break and determined that no one would take her again. It was only Holly’s coaxing that persuaded him to lay Reggie down on the bed and let Simon and Bryony examine her. He and Holly, their eyes fixed on Reggie, both hovered as close to the bed as they could be without getting in the way of the healers. Guy, Lily, and I hung back, me closest to the door. I was half tempted to slip out of the room—I felt helpless and useless—but I wanted to know what happened.

  Reggie moaned softly in response to something Bryony did and Fen jolted forward with a noise that was half growl.

  “Stay where you are.” Bryony fixed him with a glare. Then her gaze sharpened and she turned from Reggie and stepped closer to Fen, examining his face. “How much?” she asked, looking past Fen to Lily.

  “He took the whole thing,” Lily said.

  I had no idea what they were talking about.

  Bryony tilted her head, studied Fen. “How do you feel?”

  “I’m fine,” he snapped. “Reggie is the one who needs your help.” His tone was sharp, edged with something that made me want to step back a little.

  “We’re taking care of Reggie,” Bryony said carefully. She turned back to Lily. “And what of Viola?”

  Lily shook her head. “I couldn’t find her. I didn’t have a lot of time, but she’s either very well hidden or not in the warrens.”

  Or dead—that was the other alternative.

  Bryony’s lips compressed, a quick glint of red sliding across the rainbow-metaled chain she wore at her neck. Fae work, some exotic alloy I’d never been able to fully deconstruct, it shifted color with her moods, giving fair warning to those who crossed her. Just as well. Lady Bryony was the most powerful Fae healer at St. Giles. She might just be the most powerful of the Fae who chose to live outside Summerdale’s walls. No one with good sense crossed her. She could probably raze the building if she chose.

  But as much as her temper and low tolerance for fools was legendary, so was her skill. She held Lily’s gaze a little longer, an unspoken question in her indigo eyes. Then she took a quick breath and bent to Reggie, laying a hand on the blond curls, brushing them gently back from her face.

  “Is she going to be all right?” Holly asked.

  Simon looked up at that. I didn’t like the bleak expression in his eyes. “How was she when you found her?”

  Fen’s face twisted. “They were feeding on her. I don’t think she knew me, but she came with me willingly enough.”

  “Did you see her drink any blood?”

  A shake of his dark head. “No. But . . .”

  “But what?”

  “She was so . . . compliant . . . There’s no way Reggie wouldn’t have fought them if she’d been herself. So she must have drunk.”

  “There are other drugs,” Guy offered.

  “Not in the warrens,” Lily said softly. “She has the look about her.” She looked toward Simon. “There’s a way to find out.”

  Simon shook his head.

  “What’s she talking about?” Fen demanded. “If there’s a way to find out, then do it.”

  “If she’s blood-locked we’ll know soon enough,” Simon said. Beside Fen, I saw Holly bite her lip.

  “Isn’t there anything you can do? Or is it already too late?”

  “I—”

  “This is cruel, Simon,” Guy said suddenly. He’d stayed silent until now, a looming presence next to Lily, his eyes fixed on Holly as though he wanted to do something to help her but didn’t know what or how. But now he was looking at Simon with an undecipherable expression. “Tell them.”

  Simon straightened, eyebrows lifting with surprise. “Guy—”

  “I think he’s right,” Bryony said.

  “So do I,” Lily said firmly. She lifted her chin, one hand toying with the hilt of the dagger at her hip.

  She and Simon exchanged a long, level look. For
once, he looked unhappy with her. What in the name of earth’s fires was going on? The five of them—Bryony, my brothers, Holly, and Lily—knew something. That much was clear. But what?

  “It’s too risky,” Simon said.

  “If they’re on the delegation, it’s likely they’re going to find out sooner or later,” Guy said.

  “Find out what?” Fen and I said together.

  Simon glared at Guy. “Saskia should leave.”

  I folded my arms, prepared to do something drastic if they tried to make me go. “Not a chance. Tell us what, Simon?”

  “Bryony?” Simon said, with a note of last-ditch appeal in his voice.

  “It’s ultimately your decision,” Bryony said. “But I think you should tell. It might even help the process.”

  “What process?” Fen growled.

  “It’s not a process, exactly,” Simon said.

  If he prevaricated any longer I was going to scream. “Sainted earth, Simon. Just tell us what the hell is going on.”

  He looked down at Reggie, seemingly considering something. Then he straightened. “Fine. But if I tell you this, it’s dangerous. So one last chance to change your mind.”

  “I think we’re clear on the situation being dangerous,” Fen said. “Tell us.”

  Simon’s eyes suddenly looked very blue as he looked at me, and I wondered what he was thinking about. But I was more interested in what he was about to say.

  “I think it’s easiest if I just show you.”

  Chapter Ten

  SASKIA

  “Let me guess,” Fen said. “This has something to do with you and a vampire.”

  “What?” The exclamation left my mouth before I could stop it. “Simon?” I took a step toward him. Guy put a hand on my shoulder.

  “Well?” Fen asked.

  Behind him, Holly was watching carefully, as though she was not exactly sure what he might do. Bryony had an equally concerned expression, though one hand still rested gently on Reggie’s shoulder.

  “What’s going on?” I mouthed at Holly. She shook her head and pushed past Fen, coming to stand between him and my brother.