Shadow Kin (21 page)
Authors: M.J. Scott
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 to 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?”
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.”
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.
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?”
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
.”
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 kill 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.
As much as a third of our time was spent stitching up or setting bones of those who learned the hard way that the glittering attractions of the Night World hid a dangerous underbelly. Another sizable chunk of it was spent dealing with the grieving families of the blood-locked, either delivering bad news or treating the grief and depression that loss brought. Grief I knew all too well.
The Night World had much to answer for, and Lucius was most likely the driving force behind the increasing violence. Not that we could prove it. Yet. But knowing things were growing worse, didn’t mean I had to accept it. Not when I could still stand against it and try to pull some free of the quagmire.
Lily, for instance.
And then there were the—no, I wasn’t going to think about that here. Think about it and I might be careless enough to talk about it, tired as I was. Besides, whether or not Lily chose to be helped was a question yet to be answered.
“He’d be insane to try something here.” I sat down carefully. My ribs didn’t protest. Hopefully Bryony would follow my example and the discussion could proceed in a more civilized manner.
“Insane is exactly what he is,” Bryony said. She was packing away the jars and pots of salve with a little too much force. “Much as it was insane to bring
her
here.”
her
here.”
“This is the safest place for her,” I said. Apparently this argument had another round or two to go.
“And what about everyone else? She should be locked up. Let the human council deal with her.”
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