Winter (The Manhattan Exiles) (16 page)

Malachi pulled his sword over his shoulder, nodding at Barker.

“Wait!”

Malachi turned his head and looked down his nose at Gabby.

“You’ve grown hasty in my absence,” said Gabriel. “Or you’ve forgotten one day it will be you or I witless on the other end of that sword. You wrote the old law. Will you ignore it only because time is short and you fear human intervention?”

Malachi’s green eyes flashed.
“I fear nothing.”

Gabby didn’t flinch.
“Then allow the man his dignity.”

Malachi ground his teeth, then shrugged.
“Wake him.”

Barker grabbed a fistful of the
fay’s lank hair. Bending slightly, he puffed a breath across the man’s face, restoring awareness.

The
fay came to with a shriek. He struggled against Barker’s unyielding grip, twisting one way and then another.

“
Be still.” Malachi set the point of his sword against the man’s throat.

The
fay froze, groaning. His eyes shifted from the shackles around his wrists to Malachi’s face.

“
You’re hurting me,” the fay whispered. He lifted his hands. Gabby saw the ring of blisters forming around the cuffs had already begun to pop and ooze. “Devil take you, I’m poisoned.”

Malachi’s sword didn’t waver.

“Iron,” he explained, short. “Tell me your name.”

“
Henry.” Weeping, he lifted his hands to his face and bit at the shackles. He screamed again and spat. Blisters rose around his mouth.

Barker jerked the man’s head back.
“Your true name, exile. Speak the name you wore when you fled Gloriana’s court.”

The
fay spat again. His eyes rolled from Barker to Malachi.

“
Henry,” he cried between bloodied lips. “Henry McNab. May you burn in Hell.”

Malachi glanced at Gabby.

“Do you know him?”

Gabby closed her eyes and tried t
o separate mouse memories from fay. Faces shifted on the back of her lids and names on her tongue. So few, from so many. She had lost so much.

“
No,” she admitted at last. “I don’t.”

“
I do,” said Malachi. “I know them all. Release him, Barker. Gabriel, if you want the man to die with dignity, get out of the way.”

Gabby sprang from Malachi’s shoulder to the kitchen counter, claws skidding on the slick surface. Barker bent over
Henry. He muttered a word and the iron shackles fell to the floor.

The Prince of Fairies took his sword from Henry’s throat.

“Tell me your name,” he said gently, “and live.”

The
fay sat for a moment longer, bent over his bloodied wrists. Then he looked up. Fear made his expression ugly.

“
Henry McNab,” he whispered. “Born, baptized, and recorded. As God is my witness.”

“
God has nothing to do with the likes of us,” Barker said, sharp with disdain. “He cares only for Adam’s children. Stand up.”

The
fay hissed and rose to his knees, hands cradled against his chest.

“
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” He coughed and spat again. “I’ve been blessed. God has blessed me with his gift, and a soul. I’m not afraid of you.”

“
No,” said Malachi. “But once you were, when you recalled your name. Once, you knew wisdom and discretion and charity. Heremon, son of Hagen, I remember you. You were brave, once. Stand, and be brave again.”

Gabby saw Henry snarl. She twittered a warning. Barker jumped sideways just before a
sheet of fire cut the air he'd been breathing.

“
You won’t take me back!” Henry gained his feet, weeping, and drew more fire from the air, throwing it at Malachi. “I’m happy here! You won’t take me back!”

The Prince of Fairies sidestepped Henry’s attack. Heat crackled past Gabby, nearly singeing her whiskers. Barker spoke a word and extinguished the flames before they could catch the kitchen floor afire.

“I won’t go back!” Henry screamed. He edged sideways around the kitchen, tossing fire. Malachi dodged out of the way, while Barker practiced damage control, snuffing each volley into smoke.

A clot of ash landed on the counter next to Gabby. She stomped it hard with her front paws.

“Stand, Heremon,” ordered Malachi. “What magic you have left will not best me. Be still.”

“
I won’t go back.” Henry shook his head. “My name is Henry McNab, and I won’t go back. Please.” His hands fell to his side. “Please. Don’t send me back.”

Lithe and careful, Malachi set the point of his sword against Henry’s breast, backing the other man into kitchen cabinetry. Malachi’s face was set, his eyes hard as stone.

“I won’t send you back,” Malachi promised. Then, gently: “Do you know me, Heremon?”

Gabby held her breath, afraid.

Tears diluted the blood on Henry’s mouth. “Thank you. Thank you. I won’t do it again. I won’t do it again. I forgot. For a moment, I forgot.”

“
Speak my name,” Malachi ordered. “Do you know me?”

Henry’s jaw sagged. He looked at the bronze sword against his breast, and then into Malachi’s face. His expression lit with awe.

“Yes. I know you, Lord.”

Gabby’s heart beat faster. Barker straightened in obvious surprise.

But Malachi’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

“
Tell me,” he said, soft.

Henry quivered in adoration. Soft white sparks dripped from the tips of his fingers.

“You are the warrior. God’s avenging servant. I know you, Daniel, Archangel.”

Barker winced. Malachi’s sword flicked up and sideways. Gabriel turned her head away from spraying blood. Doing so, she caught a reflection of starlight off the table settings beyond the kitchen.

“My lord,” she cautioned.

“
I know,” replied Malachi. “Barker, clean it up. Gabriel, come with me.”

He crossed the kitchen, the bronze sword once again strapped safely on his back. Gabby hurried after, leaping from counter to pot to shelf to floor.

The children were standing against an alcove in the dining room, shoulder to shoulder, a small cloud of starlight shredding and reforming above their heads.

Neither one of them looked away from Malachi’s bleak expression. Summer tilted her head in defiance, but she was white and frightened. Lolo bounced a little on the toes of his boots while he eyed the sword across Malachi’s back.

“
Samhradh
. Does your mother know you’re running about the city, alone, in your night clothes?”

Summer’s flush was obvious even in the shifting starlight.
“They’re yoga pants, Papa, not pajamas. Everyone wears them. And Mama knows. I left her a note.”

“
You’re not everyone,” Malachi returned, flat. “Did Morris drive you out? I’ll have the man’s hide. In strips.”

Summer stared everywhere but at her father.

Gabriel looked up at Lolo, assessing, as the boy rocked heel to toe and back again.

“
Playing opossum,” she guessed out loud. “One of Winter’s favorite tricks. Although he never bothers to snore.”

Malachi’s glance shifted.

Lolo ran one hand through his beaded braids. He shrugged. “Richard says I never sleep quietly. We didn’t bother your driver, sir. We flagged a cab.”

Summer took a deep breath.
“We thought it had to do with the rubies. We didn’t want to be left out.”

“
Winter made them my responsibility,” said Lolo, quietly. “And with all due respect, sir, if you don’t want to be followed ditch the snappy red ride and get yourself a town car.”

Malachi’s mouth curled without amusement. He studied Lolo thoughtfully.

“You wear my father’s dirk under your coat, boy. What’s your name?”

“
Lolo. Sir.”

Malachi took two silent steps and loomed.
“You stole my daughter away from her home without my Lady’s blessing or permission. Tell me why I shouldn’t tear you limb from limb in my driver’s stead?”

Summer gasped.

“Papa!” She protested, “I told you, we left a note - “

“
Because
I have your father’s knife on my belt,” Lolo interrupted. “You won’t hurt me, because Winter trusted me with your magic jewels, and because he gave me his knife.”

Gabby
flicked her tail, worried. Summer wrapped her arms around her waist.

“
Please, Papa,” she said. “Lolo’s my friend. I’ve known him forever.”

“
The boy’s human,
Samhradh
,” the Prince of Fairies corrected. “No human sees forever.” He turned from the children, lifting his voice. “Barker!”

“
Yes, m’lord?” Barker ghosted out of the kitchen. He wore latex gloves on his hands. There was blood on his shirt.

“
This child is called Lolo. He belongs to Winter, and is my daughter’s playmate. Lolo interrupted my business. And now, as a favor to me, he’s going to help you finish it.”

Gabby couldn’t help herself, she squeaked a protest. Summer looked sick.

But Lolo didn’t flinch.

“
Not a problem,” he said. “I’m used to cleaning up other people’s messes.”

Barker only shrugged.
“Come with me. Let’s see what Winter’s taught you.”

Gabby waited until Lolo and Barker left the dining room. Then she ran up a table leg and crouched amongst the cutlery.

“
You knew,” she accused Malachi. “You knew all along that they were following us.”

“
Why do you think I picked the snappy red ride? Winter could never fool me, either.” He touched the hilt of his sword in an unconscious gesture. Then he nodded at Summer.

“
It was a test,” she said, dully.

“
It’s still a test. The boy hasn’t passed quite yet. Let’s see if he keeps his breakfast down when Barker makes him scrub blood off the floor with a tooth brush.”

Summer hunched her shoulders.
“Nothing scares Lolo.”

“
What about you?” asked her father. “Were you frightened,
Samhradh
? When I cut Heremon’s throat, did you turn away?”

“
No,” she whispered, bright pink spots high on her cheeks.

“
Good,” said Malachi. “You bore witness. What did you see?”

“
Mercy.” Summer swallowed. Then, more clearly: “He was dangerous, and suffering. You set him free.”

“
Exactly.” Malachi nodded. “An important lesson. Fix it in your heart. You need to remember mercy, daughter, because some day I will not.”

9
. The Trickster

Gabriel had never trusted Katherine Grey, not even when she and Katherine plotted side by side through many a long night, crafting Gloriana’s downfall.

Then Katherine had been Liadan, a delicate beauty most beloved of all the Queen’s courtiers. Gloriana had taken Liadan’s betrayal hard, had screamed and gnashed her teeth and torn out handfuls of her hair when the woman’s duplicity finally came to light.

But Liadan hadn’t shed even one tear before her exile, and as far as Gabby knew, she hadn’t shed one since.

Out of all of the Manhattan
Fay, Gabriel thought, Liadan managed to survive and then thrive in the mortal world. Out of all of her cursed brethren, delicate Katherine adapted to life in exile with the most success.

Of course, she had always been far hardier than her tiny frame suggested, and cunning.

“You’re telling me she lives in Central Park?” Lolo asked. He kicked his feet as he walked, scuffing up damp, fallen leaves.

Summer scoffed.
“Katherine keeps a
gorgeous
little loft in Soho. She has a butler and two chefs. And you should see her art collection, it’s to die for.”

“
Katherine may keep a loft in Soho,” said Gabby from Siobahn’s shoulder. “But the Grey Lady has always lived in Central Park.”

Siobahn nodded at Summer’s surprise.

“Katherine takes meetings in Soho,” she said. “But she’s never been one to sleep well under a roof. Once, most of us were the same. But as the decades and then centuries raced past it became more and more difficult to hide.”

Gabby flicked her tail.
“Katherine’s always been skilled at subterfuge.”

Shivering, Summer knotted her wrap more firmly about her shoulders.
“Surely she doesn’t tromp through the trees in high heels and Vera Wang.”

“
Why not?” asked Lolo with a pointed glance at Summer’s platform boots. “You are.”

Summer hissed. Siobahn sighed, and then smiled a little at Gabby.

“He pushes her buttons as easily as Winter.”

Gabby captured her tail between her paws to keep it from twitching. She eyed skeletal trees uneasily.
“He doesn’t have Winter’s tact.”

“
I can
hear
you,” said Lolo. “I’m walking two feet away. I’m not, like, deaf.”

“
I see he doesn’t,” said Siobahn, dry, as her daughter smacked Lolo on the arm. “Winter learned tact the hard way. Let’s hope, for his own sake, that the human child is a quicker study.”

“
Walking,” said Lolo. “Right here.” Then he turned in a circle on the path and looked Siobahn in the eye.

“
What’s your Grey Lady got against birds and squirrels, anyway? I haven’t seen a single one in the last three point two minutes. That ain’t natural.”

“
Bright boy.” This time Siobahn’s smile was genuine. “Perhaps I underestimated you. Birds and squirrels see too much, and are not always birds and squirrels.”

“
She’s only showing off,” Gabby grumbled. She didn’t like the silent woods or the empty path.

“
Or being helpful,” protested Summer. “Protecting Mama and the rubies.”

Gabby swallowed a reto
rt. The girl had been subdued since she’d witnessed Heremon’s execution. There would be no kindness in shattering another piece of Summer’s childhood.

“
This way.” Siobahn stepped off the manicured path, and climbed a small grass hummock. Her boots were silent on the carpet of yellow and orange leaves.

At the top of the hummock they paused and looked down into the clearing beyond.

“The Alice statue!” Summer exclaimed in delight. “I haven’t been here in ages. I’d almost forgotten all about her.”

Summer hurried down into the clearing, Lolo crunching leaves in her wake.

“Fitting,” Gabby grumbled. “Alice in Wonderland. Katherine always did know how to set a scene.”

“
Hush,” Siobahn cautioned without real heat. “It’s a lovely statue. Summer’s correct. The children and I used to spend afternoons climbing it when they were little more than babes.”

Gabby only grumbled again. She sprang from Siobahn’s shoulder to a low hanging birch branch as the
fay started down the hill.

“
Beware owls,” Siobahn cautioned without looking back.

“
Pish tosh. Owls.” Gabby complained, “She’s chased every living thing away.”

Siobahn didn’t reply.

Gabby smoothed her whiskers. Then she ran up the trunk of the birch, breathing deeply as she climbed. She
could
smell the lingering perfume of owl, and of robin and jay and pigeon. Squirrel nests waited on bare branches, empty.

A long brown feath
er fluttered above Gabby’s head; a hawk’s tail feather, caught in a bend of a branch. The mouse shivered a little, fighting a primitive urge to flee. She took another quivering breath, then moved on, trotting along a high branch and jumping across a gap of space to the birch’s neighbor.

Traveling from branch to branch and tree to tree Gabriel wove a circle down into the clearing until she found a high perch as close to the Alice in Wonderland statue as possible.

“Nothing?” Siobahn asked from her perch on a throne-sized bronze mushroom. She appeared relaxed and at ease, legs crossed like a child. Siobahn wore unrelieved black, and almost disappeared into the shadow cast by Alice.

“
Nothing,” Gabby chirped. “Are you sure this is wise?”

“
No.” Siobahn watched as her daughter crouched and ran her fingers over one of several plaques set in the statue’s marble base. Lolo laughed at something Summer whispered. Summer shoved at the younger boy’s ankle.

“
Have you a better idea?” Siobahn asked. “Katherine deals in information.”

“
No.” Gabby hated to admit it.

“
You trusted her once,
aes sí
. With your life.”

Gabriel sank her claws into the
bark of her branch. She stretched up to taste the breeze.

“
I still have my life,” agreed Gabby. “But little else of worth. She overthrew one queen, Lady. Perhaps she’s developed a taste for it.”

Siobahn laughed and set one hand on the Mad Hatter’s bronze head.

Summer danced over. She’d twisted her hair up into a loose knot and wore sunglasses in spite of the dreary clouds overhead.

“
Mama.” She simpered a little. “Lolo’s never seen a jabberwocky.”

Lolo, drifting in Summer’s wake, didn’t seem bothered.
“I don’t read poetry. And I try and stay away from ugly monsters.” He studied the Alice statue, head tilted. “What sort of person dreams these things up? A rabbit with a pocket watch? It’s stupid.”

“
Almost as unbelievable as a talking rat,” said Gabriel, tart. “Siobahn?”

“
I see her,” the Lady replied.

Katherine Grey approached the clearing from the west, strolling a path that previously obscured by yellow leaves.

The Grey Lady wore a simple wrap-dress covered in black and white zig zags
, and four inch heels to match. She’d cut her hair into a short, sleek cap, and she clutched a tiny leather purse in one hand. At her side, on an equally tiny lead, walked a small dog with a squat legs and a pointy nose.

Gabby thought
Katherine looked like a Manhattan socialite who had stepped out for air and gotten lost in the woods along the way.

“
Holy frijoles,” marveled Lolo. “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven. She’s a total babe.”

“
Appearances can be deceiving,” Gabby warned, but Summer had already rushed forward and was crouching over the dog, cooing.

Katherine Grey smiled. She gave Summer her dog and strode forward. She wore white gloves on her hands, and as she approached Siobahn she stripp
ed them off, one careful finger at a time.

She passed in front of Lolo as though he were invisible.

“Good morning.” Her voice was the same as it had always been, surprisingly deep and husky. “Lovely day for a meet in the park. I’ve always so adored this spot, haven’t you?”

“
It’s a bit lonely today.” Siobahn didn’t rise from her mushroom cap. “Not a bird in the sky or even a mortal out for a jog.”

“
Fay business should be private business, don’t you agree?” Katherine ran her bare fingers through her short hair, settling it. Then she chose a second bronze mushroom and seated herself, crossing one ankle over the other like a matron at a tea party.

“
Besides which,” she continued, “Longfellow doesn’t do well with birds and squirrels. They drive him to barking.”

Siobahn’s lips curled without mirth.
“Longfellow, is it? Your sense of humor hasn’t changed.”

“
The fay don’t change; they only fade.” Katherine lifted dark eyes and stared directly at Gabby’s branch. “I wondered, Gabriel, if my little wildlife Cantrip would drive you off, as well. I’m pleased to see you remain more
aes sí
than rat. I do worry so.”

“
Póg mo thóin
,” returned Gabby, using one of Winter’s favorite insults.

Lolo coughed. Katherine only shrugged. She looked at Siobahn.

“Longfellow doesn’t handle boredom well, either. You summoned me. Shall we begin?”

Siobahn continued to watch Summer play with the dog.

“When you finish with the playacting and recall your manners,” she said. “Your hound has a better sense of his place in this world.”

Katherine bared sharp teeth in a hard smile.

“Fay don’t change, but this world does.”

“
Not so much as that. Will you find your place or shall I make you?”

Gabby held her breath. Katherine sat very still beneath Siobahn’s stare.

Then she slid gracefully from the mushroom to the leaves, and sat on her knees at Siobahn’s feet. The sausage dog left Summer and ran to his mistress, barking.

“
My pardon, Lady.” Katherine gathered up the dog. She set him on her lap, quieting his protest.

“
Obeisance costs you nothing but your pride,” said Siobahn. “Malachi put Heremon to death last night.”

“
A waste.” Katherine stroked her little dog. “There are so few of us left. Still.
I
have not been running about this island barbecuing mortals.”

“
So far as we are aware,” said Gabby.

Katherine glanced up into the tree.
“Stop hiding and come down from there, Gabriel. I won’t let Longfellow eat you.”

“
I’d kill him first.” Lolo had Winter’s knife in his fist. “And that just wouldn’t be right, because I like dogs.”

Katherine arched one eyebrow at the bronze knife.
“A fairy weapon in a human child’s hand?”

“
It’s a loaner,” said Lolo. “But I’m not afraid to take it for a test drive.”

Summer put a hand on the Lolo’s elbow, restraining. Gabby didn’t miss the small smile Katherine sent the girl’s way. She also noticed when Summer’s cheeks pinked beneath the Grey Lady’s stare.

Siobahn rose from her seat. She held out her hand.

“
The rubies, please, Lolo.”

Without releasing his grip on Winter’s knife, Lolo reached into his coat. He pulled out Angus’ pouch.

Siobahn took the pouch between her own fingers. She dangled it in front of Katherine’s nose.

“
Yes. I recognize that, also,” Katherine answered Siobahn’s unspoken question.

“
And the stones?”

“
I heard their song the moment they passed inside the
geis
. May I see them?”

Siobahn dropped the pouch. Katherine snatched it from thin air before it could hit the ground. Then she set her dog gently off her lap, and rummaged in her purse.

“Be still,” she complained when Lolo twitched. “If you think that knife in
your
hand means anything at all to me, you’re far more naive than you look.”

She unfurled a thin fringed wrap from the depths of her purse, and spread it over leaves and marble.

“Is it Warded?” Summer asked, watching with interest.

Katherine laughed, deep and dry.

“No, love,” she said. “But it’s best to show these particular monsters the respect they deserve. They’ve traveled quite a distance, they have.”

“
You know them, then?”

Katherine unknotted the pouch, and let the jewels spill across her shawl. She sighed a little and ran one finger through their sparkle.