by Ramy Vance
Damn you, Aldie. One look at his face told me I’d said that out loud, too, but I didn’t care. He knew I hated it when he used dark magic on me, even if it was for my own good.
Aldie stepped quickly between me and the guards. “Enough. I will not have this.”
His tone was so pretentious and stern. This was a side of my fiancé I seldom saw, but if it kept me from being arrested I was more than happy to let him own it.
Lady Amaryl scowled as she stepped toward us. “Katrina, you’re already in enough trouble. You’d do well to at least attempt to control your baser instincts.”
Aldie started to speak again, but she cut him off. “Do you honestly seek to defend the murderer of your own parents, Aldermemnon?”
Aldie closed the distance between himself and Lady Amaryl. When he spoke, his tone was low and acerbic, but my enhanced hearing picked up every word. “I do not wish to have any quarrel with you, Lady Amaryl, but I will if you force me to. I am prince of this court, and as such, I am in control here. You have no proof that Kat had anything to do with this.”
Lady Amaryl never even blinked.
She was tough as granite and just as smooth.
She gave Aldie a little half-bow, then whispered, “Out of respect for your father, I shan’t make a scene … However, you are incorrect. The marriage ceremony was not complete. Therefore, you are not considered of age, which in turn means you are not eligible to assume your father’s position. Since your mother also met her death, that means their duties pass to the next highest-ranking noble of the court.”
“Spare me the history lesson, Amaryl,” Aldie growled. “I’m well aware that your father is next in line. That still doesn’t give you any direct power here.”
“Again, uninformed. You must get that from your mother. Your father was far more competent. Perhaps you are unaware, but my father recently ceded his position to me.”
Aldie gasped. “When? Were my parents aware of this?”
“I shared this information with your father yesterday. Such a pity that he passed before we were able to finally rule side by side, as it should have always been.”
Her last few words came out dripping in bile. Her intent had been to insult Aldie’s mother, and it had worked.
Mary glared at Lady Amaryl.
Apparently it was no secret among the court that Lady Amaryl was Gaelyn’s original intended, but once Lord Gaelyn laid eyes on the beautiful Kalysta, all that changed. Rumor had it that Lady Amaryl had held a grudge ever sense, but was too well bred to show her hand in public. Kind of explained the whole bitchy, pit-viper vibe I always got off her.
I’d walked this Earth for almost a century now, and if there was one thing I’d learned in all my years, it was that jealousy has a way of warping a person’s soul. And when it decides to latch hold of someone’s heart, it can turn even the most beautiful creature into something twisted and ugly.
The court had gone completely silent. I was holding my breath, and I think Mary was, too. Aldie took a step back, and his voice was no longer a whisper. “I may not be of age to assume power, but I assure you I still have rank in this court. I will do everything in my power to protect Katrina.”
Crap, Aldie never called me by my full name. The fact that he was using it now told me that he was scared … and if he was scared, I should be terrified. After all, he was the future king of these people, and as such had the ability to command their respect. Me, on the other hand? Not so much. Even if our marriage ceremony had been complete, these pointy-eared, pompous creatures would still have no respect for me.
Mary took a tentative step forward, placing herself between Lady Amaryl and Aldie. I could see her take a deep breath, her chest expanding almost to the point of popping out of the top of her gown. All eyes were now on Mary.
“If I may, the deaths of Lord Gaelyn and Lady Kalysta have certainly been a shock to us all. As court nobility, I’m sure the two of you can agree that what would be best for the court at this time is both mourning and a thorough investigation into what really happened. Therefore, I suggest a truce. Lady Amaryl, I give you my word and that of Prince Aldermemnon that we shall consider Katrina under house arrest.”
Aldie made a little noise of protest, but Mary held up a hand to stop him. If there was anyone in this court I trusted as much as Aldie, it was Mary. So for once I decided to keep my mouth shut and see where she was going with this.
“Continue,” Lady Amaryl said in a sharp tone that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. As much as I trusted Mary, I couldn’t help feeling that a deal was being made with the devil on my behalf. Fortunately for me, I don’t have a soul, so I didn’t have much to worry about.
“If you will do us this kindness, I am sure Prince Aldermemnon will have no objection to allowing you and your guards to conduct a thorough investigation, provided you share whatever information you uncover before passing judgment on the perpetrator.”
I don’t know if it was the corset compressing my lungs or the actual manifestation of doom settling in my chest, but either way, I could feel the weight of the inevitable grinding my bones to dust as a wicked smile spread across Lady Amaryl’s face.
There was no way her investigation was going to come to any other conclusion.
She was going to pin these murders on me.
Paint me surprised, but Lady Amaryl actually conceded. Unfortunately, I was now confined to my quarters and pacing like a caged animal.
Not that I don’t trust Mary or Aldie to handle this mess, but let’s face it: if you want something done right, you have a vampire do it. Wait, that’s not it …
“Yes, because your kind is ever so subtle.”
I spun around to see Mary standing in the doorway. Somehow she’d managed to sneak up on me too. I was beginning to wonder if my time here in the UnSeelie Court was somehow making me less vampy.
“In case you’ve forgotten, I’m accused of murder. I don’t have time for subtle, and you don’t have time to be standing around in doorways watching me. Thanks to you I’m stuck here, which means you should be out trying to figure out who really did this.”
“A wise man is superior to any insults which can be put upon him, and the best reply to unseemly behavior is patience and moderation.”
“Mary, this is serious. We don’t have time for you to be puking out your highbrow gibberish.”
Mary stepped inside the room and shook her head at me. “Good lord child, that’s not gibberish—it’s Moliere. Perhaps you should pass the time reading a book. You could do with a bit of education.”
“Mary, I swear to Odin …”
My tirade was cut short by the sound of wings near the window. The biggest bird I’d ever seen landed on the ledge and let out a shriek.
“Ah there you are,” Mary said. “I trust your mission was a success?”
“What the feck, Mary? One second you’re wasting time boring me with poetry, now you’re having a conversation with a bird. They eat garbage and crap on people—they don’t have missions.”
Mary scowled at me as she crossed to the window and held out an arm. The enormous bird leapt from the ledge and landed delicately on the offered limb. “I do apologize for her petulance. She lacks proper breeding.”
The bird responded with a noise that I swear sounded like laughter.
“Katrina, Moliere is philosophy, not poetry, and this is no common bird. May I present Commander Robert Ignatius MacLaren III. You may call him Bob.”
I started to say something snarky when I sensed Aldie behind me. At least someone around here wasn’t able to take me by surprise, or so I thought until he opened his mouth. “Hey Bob, please tell us you have some good news.”
“OK, seriously you two? This is absolutely ridiculous. It’s an overgrown pigeon. It can’t talk or understand you, so why are you wasting what little time we have screwing around?”
I stood there steaming while Aldie, Mary and Bob exchanged knowing looks.
I was mentally processi
ng all the ways I could kill the two of them when Mary asked Aldie, “Do you wish to explain, or shall I?”
Aldie laughed. “I’ll take a stab at it, but stick close. You know how she can get; I may need backup.”
The three of them seemed amused. Me, not so much.
“First of all, Kat,” Aldie began, “Bob is a seagull, not a pigeon.”
I raised one eyebrow and flared my nostrils.
Aldie got the hint. “OK, OK. Don’t get all puffy. What I meant to say is that Bob isn’t your average seagull. He’s a spy.”
Vampires are as tough as they come—hell, we eat people for fun—but even we have our limits, and I’d just reached mine.
I was not the crying type, but frustration got the upper hand and a few tears slipped out before I could stop them.
Aldie rushed toward me while Mary shook her head and muttered something about Bob not needing to take it personal, and that I had a tendency toward the dramatic.
“I am not dramatic. I’m frustrated with how not-seriously you two seem to be taking this situation—”
“Katrina,” Mary interrupted, “Gaelyn was not just my best friend. He was my brother. Not only am I taking this seriously, I’m taking it personally. You may not understand my methods, but you have my word that I will not rest until I bring the guilty party to justice.”
There was a heart-wrenching solemnity to her tone, and I shit you not, I saw a tear roll down Bob’s scared face.
“OK, fine. So what’s the deal with the damn pigeon?”
“Seagull,” Aldie and Mary corrected in unison.
“Whatever, just tell me how he fits into your plan. You do have a plan, right?”
Aldie sat on the floor next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. A sense of guilt washed over me as I realized the depths of my selfishness. I’d been so busy worrying about how this was affecting me that I’d completely glossed over the fact that he’d lost both his parents.
I reached for his free hand and pulled it close. I gave it a gentle kiss, nuzzled my head into his shoulder and whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“Me too,” he whispered as he pulled me closer.
Mary and Bob were locked in a staring contest, and I wasn’t sure who was winning. After a few minutes, Mary bobbed her head and Bob let out a small cry.
“It may take a few minutes at first—she can be closed-minded at times—but with a little help from Aldie, I’m sure we can make this work.”
I wasn’t completely sure what Mary was talking about, but the close-minded reference was definitely about me, and I had a sinking feeling that a little help from Aldie meant dark magic. I hated it when Aldie used that crap on me, but desperate times and all that.
I could feel all three of them watching me. “OK, fine. But no screwing around. I’m not a circus animal, and I don’t want any of you getting too much entertainment out of whatever it is you’re going to do to me.”
“You have my word,” Mary said, crossing her heart as if that would make her seem more trustworthy. I didn’t, but I let it slide. “Very well, then. Let’s get to it, shall we?”
As Mary spoke, Bob fluttered over and parked himself on my lap. He was heavier than he looked and he smelled like smoke and stale beer.
I felt Aldie’s hand on the top of my head and saw his lips moving. A second later, it felt like my skull was on fire and a deep voice said, “Sorry ‘bout the smell, love. Hope it ain’t too offensive. I get some of my best intel in pubs and brothels.”
“What the … “
Mary shushed me and told me to hold still and be quiet.
“What the hell did you two do to me? I can’t seriously be hearing this thing’s thoughts. He’s a bird, for fecks’ sake.”
“That’s precisely what you’re hearing, Katrina. Now stop interrupting and let him finish.”
I looked at Aldie, but his eyes were closed as he worked to keep his spell going.
“You OK now, sweet cheeks? Should I go on?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I wasn’t sure if it was part of the spell or genuine shock at the absurdity of this whole thing.
“OK then, where were we?”
I locked eyes with Bob, and suddenly sights and sound flashed across my mind. I was in a pub. I could hear the voices and laughter, smell the beer and whiskey, and …
“Um, wow. Obsessed with breasts much, Bob?”
“Hey, it’s not what you think. I pay those dames well. You’d be surprised what kind of info a guy will share once he’s had a few pints and sees a nice set of …”
“Yeah, yeah—I get the point. Doesn’t make it any less offensive, but I get the point.”
“Perhaps we should skip the small talk and get to your story, Robert.” Mary’s tone was a mixture of amusement and condescension.
I gasped as another set of images appeared inside my head. This place looked familiar. It was Edinburgh, but we were on a rooftop. As the images continued, the whole experience became increasingly surreal. I didn’t hear words so much as I felt the experience through Bob’s emotions. I saw Bob, only smaller. I saw his mother and his unhatched sister, Emma. I felt the love he had for them both and the rage inside him as a band of magpies slowly encroached on Bob’s home and his little family. I felt his fear and his desire to protect them. Then the overwhelming suffocation of tragedy as the magpies attacked.
Tears streamed down my face, and my body heaved as I sobbed.
“If it’s too much, we can stop.”
“No, don’t stop. I need to know what happens.”
When the images started again, it was still the smaller Bob. His face and breast were torn and covered with blood. He was in a garden just below the roof. His mother was taking her last breaths. I could feel Bob’s panic. It was so all-consuming that he didn’t feel the pain of his wounds. Her weak, ragged voice was trying to comfort him, but there were no words that could heal what was happening in his heart.
“I love you, my son. But my time has come to an end in this world. You must take Emma and leave this place. Promise me, my brave boy, that you will protect her until she hatches.”
He stayed with his mother until she was gone, then everything went dark for a few seconds. Next came a bright, orange-red explosion as the rage washed back over Bob. He fled from the garden and returned to the roof. He gently plucked a small egg from a nest and cradled it against his injured breast. He stole a final glance at his mother’s broken body in the garden below, then leapt into flight.
Through Bob’s tear-soaked eyes, I saw blurry images of the city fading quickly as he made his way toward the forest. With each flap of his wings I could feel the pain and exhaustion setting in, but the desire to get Emma to safety kept him pushing on.
Eventually he could go no farther, and I felt his fragile body giving out. He clutched Emma closer, wrapping his wings around her for protection, as he fell from the sky. I’m not sure how much time passed before I heard a familiar voice in the darkness and felt the warm sensation of hands scooping Bob off the ground.
“Magpies, no doubt. They’re vicious bastards.”
It was Lord Gaelyn’s voice. Then Mary’s. “Gaelyn, look—he’s clutching an unhatched egg.”
Bob’s eyelids fluttered and his breast heaved.
“Did you see that, Gaelyn? He’s alive.”
I felt the shifting sensation as Mary handed Bob to Lord Gaelyn. I heard muttering, then a warm, tingling sensation rushed through Bob’s body as a spell restored his life force and began to heal his wounds.
“Will he live?” Mary asked.
“I think so, but he’ll need more than just words to heal him.”
Finally, gratitude and relief flowed through Bob as Lord Gaelyn handed him back to Mary, and Mary cradled Bob and Emma against her chest.
It was soft and warm there.
It reminded Bob of snuggling with his mother.
Aldie lifted his hand from my head, and we all sat silently for a few minutes before Mary finish
ed the story.
“As you can see, Bob recovered from his injuries. The magic that Gaelyn used to heal him was very powerful and had a rather unexpected after-effect.”
“You mean the whole telepathy thing?”
“Yes, Katrina. It’s a skill that Bob has perfected and put to good use. He was instrumental in gathering information that helped Gaelyn and Kalysta broker a peace with the Seelie Court.”
“If Bob can only communicate with others through a spell, how do you expect him to be any use to us? It’s not like Aldie can run around behind Bob, hexing everyone he comes in contact with.”
Mary sighed, giving me that look that said she didn’t want to insult me, but that I’d left her no choice—again. “Correction: you need a spell to communicate with Bob because you’re human. Our kind is biologically wired for self-preservation, which unfortunately has mutated into a predisposition for complete and utter self-absorption that blocks our ability to experience magic in its raw form.”
“If that’s true, then how come you can hear him without a spell?”
“Because unlike you, Katrina, I have an open mind and the self-discipline required to be in tune with Robert’s gift.”
“Bite me, Mary.”
Bob made the laughing sound again. I was starting to like this bird. “So, not to interrupt whatever it is you two seem to have going here—because it’s riveting—but does anyone want to know what I found out?”
I whipped my head in Bob’s direction. This time I hadn’t needed a spell to hear him, and it caught me off guard.
“Don’t look so surprised, sweetheart. Mary isn’t as smart as she pretends to be. I got a bird brain, and even I can tell there’s something rattling around inside your meat cage that isn’t human. Whatever’s in there probably ain’t wound as tight as your average human.”
“I’m a vampire.”
I watched for the customary sign of revulsion that usually occurs when I tell someone what I am, but Bob never even blinked.
“Ain’t that a bitch. Me, I love the sun and prefer whisky over blood. Unless it’s magpie blood. I got a real taste for that.”