Dragon Noir (Pixie for Hire Book 3) Read online

  Dragon Noir

  Cedar Sanderson

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this work are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

  Copyright 2015 by Stonycroft Publishing

  http://stonycroftpublishing.com

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

  Cover Design by Cedar Sanderson

  Dedicated to:

  My children, the kintsukuroi of my life.

  The End in the Beginning

  I blew open the doors of the Great Hall with a resounding crash. The sound of splintering wood matched my mood. My hands were too full to gesture a more subtle spell of opening and my brain too full of anger to think through the lesson I was giving to the gathered High Court. This was one way to announce I’d regained my magic.

  At that moment, the audience didn’t exist for me. The rising babble faded into the background as I marched toward the two people I was there to see. My burden made my arms ache but the pain was good. The rage washed through me, purifying my resolve and anger.

  Physical pain kept me from dwelling on the mental pain, from thinking about what I was carrying. I kept walking, one foot in front of the other. This morning had been the bright start of a new life. Now I was about to make an ending.

  An ending had already been made for what I carried. My day had begun innocuously enough. Bella was going to be in Court, meeting with the Council in part to report what had happened when we visited Eastern Court, and in part to begin the preparations for her coronation. Corwin was anxious to get that over with and her officially working. I was left at home, anticipating a day in the Armory, but first I needed to see a few people. Being able to travel on my own magical power, without borrowed spells, was only one of many things I was enjoying for the first time, but damn, it felt good.

  Ever since I’d lost most of my magic to the elfshot, I’d operated carefully, never using much, or paying for it later. Underhill, this made me a cripple, an object of pity, and in the human world it made me slightly more than human. With the carelessness for my own life I’d operated under for most of two centuries, this had formed me into what I was when I went to collect Bella. She’d softened me, and ultimately, healed me.

  She’d also addled my brain. I was standing in my library, hands on hips, laughing a little to myself as I gathered a bubble to go see Devon in Elleria when there was a knock at the door, reverberating through the house. I didn’t even open my Sight to see who was there, I just went and opened it. Dangerous, stupid thing to do. Sure, I have wards around the place, and in theory ill-wishers would trip it, while those who have been given pass-keys can pass through. It’s still a good idea to look first before you swing open that last barrier of the door between you and your potential foe.

  There was no one there. I stood looking out over the tangled gardens of my lodge, the home I’d carved from a forgotten pocket of wilderness Underhill, and where for so many years I’d lived virtually alone. Absently, it crossed my mind that Bella might like to clean up the garden. This all happened in a second, looking out, a fleeting thought… and then I looked down.

  My sister lay at my feet. Pale, composed, and I knew even before I dropped to my knees that she was dead. No one could live with those wounds. I didn’t touch her, I closed my eyes and wrenched open my Sight as wide as it would go. Nothing. Other than the green glow of Ellie, somewhere over my left shoulder in the vicinity of the kitchen, there was no other living being anywhere around. I focused that internal blind sight on my sister’s body. Traces of magic still lingered, like the last sparks rising from a dying campfire. The aura she’d had in life was gone, extinguished as surely as a bucket of water hitting that campfire. What remained visible was not Margot, it was remnants of whatever had killed her. Inhuman, magical, and of this world, not the one above. Which meant nothing. I had no enemies in the human realm. All my enemies were here in the enchanted world of Faerie, which I had indulgently managed to forget how lethal it could be, in my distraction with my new bride and elevation in social status.

  I opened my eyes reluctantly. Using the Sight came with a price, and my renewed power was not enough to escape that. But if my head hurt, my heart hurt more. Margot and I had not been close as children. She was older than I, old enough to be considered an adult when I was old enough to be aware of her. And for years I had held a grudge against her, and my mother, because of how my apprenticeship had begun and ended.

  That didn’t matter, now. We’d made up as adults, discovering the shared likenesses that might have been blood relationship, or simply the ways we were molded by the world around us and our shared mother. My father had died while I was still a boy. Margot, I’d discovered, had hidden a keen mind under the airy ways of Court and hedonistic whirl that society kept.

  That mind had most likely led her to this. If she were to have been killed as a direct message to me that would have happened long ago. Her delivery to my doorstep, when all of Court still believed me a non-magical, pitiable cripple, meant something else entirely. I turned my head and pitched my voice low, with a ripple of magic to carry it beyond the limits of sound.

  “Ellie. I need you.”

  It did me no good to see the wood elf lose her composure as she neared the door and saw Margot at my feet. She pushed a fisted hand to her mouth, turning a little green in the complexion.

  “What happened?” She managed after a moment, keeping her gorge down with a visible effort.

  “I don’t know but I am going to find out. I need you to call Ash, and any others you think necessary, to protect the house. Alert my mother, and Devon, to come here, but don’t tell them…” I looked down at my sister’s body, at the gaping, bloodless wounds. Someone had cleaned her carefully.

  I went on talking, urgency kept me from dwelling on the details. “Tell them I will be back soon.”

  “Where are you going?” She was wide-eyed and as pale as I’d ever seen her.

  “To find out who did this.”

  I dropped into a squat, pushing my hands under Margot’s limp body. Then with an involuntary grunt, I stood, trying not to notice how her head fell to one side loosely. As soon as I was braced, I snapped a bubble around us and transported my macabre burden to Court.

  I had landed just outside the Great Hall and had gone through the massive wood doors as though they were paper without even a passing thought for the mess. The objects of my attention were in front of me, standing with their eyes on my sister’s pale corpse. Around me, I was dimly aware that there was shouting and a shrill scream. But I only had eyes for my wife.

  “Bella.”

  She was pale, but composed, her eyes locked onto mine as she started toward me. In my peripheral vision, I could see that I had picked up an honor guard, of sorts. Men in uniform were moving quickly into position around me, not looking at me, but the crowd which seemed to be having a collective breakdown. I could see King Trytion standing on the dais behind Bella, making hand motions, no doubt giving them silent guidance. I was no threat to him, not that he knew of.

  “Lom… what happened?” She held out her hands and I felt Margot’s weight lift. Bella was supporting her, magically, and I wondered why it hadn’t occurred to me to do that. Some errant sense of duty, I thought dully, looking at my sister’s cloudy eyes.

  “I don’t know. I came to you to see if you could tell me. Or,” I looked over her shoulder at the king, who was coming nearer. “If he could tell us, since this is likely related to the work she was doing for the Crown.”

  He flinched a little at my words, but his blue eyes were unwaveri
ng. “Yes, it is. Lom…”

  Bella closed her eyes, and drew herself very upright. I knew what she was doing. My wife was far stronger than I was, and I was probably the strongest man, magically, in this room. I couldn’t hold a candle to her, and she had a tool beyond her full understanding at her disposal, Alger’s Library. I stopped talking. Margot hovered between us, flickers of visible energy tracing over her, licking at the edges of her wounds. I could see details I hadn’t seen before, like how new her clothing was, and how unlike Margot that long archaic dress was. From the way the magical light was acting, there were unseen wounds under it, too.

  I could feel my rage building and I clenched my fists, not wanting to disturb Bella. If there were others in the room besides the king, Bella, and I, I was beyond being aware of them. I trusted Joe, the majordomo and my friend, to keep them away from us. I met Corwin’s eyes. As King Trytion, he had to remain objective, above the emotions that he could feel as the man named Corwin. But now, I could see the sorrow in his eyes, the tears that would not fall. He could no more cry for her than I could.

  I would avenge her. He would have to remain here, in safety. For that, I could almost pity him. Bella opened her eyes, and the fey light died away.

  “I don’t know where she died, Lom, but I would know her killer if I saw it.”

  “It?” I parroted, a little disappointed that I wouldn’t have a location to begin with. She nodded, and swayed a little, raising a hand… not to her forehead, but her belly.

  “I don’t feel well.” She gasped. Corwin caught her from behind as she sagged. “It’s ok… I’m not going to faint.”

  He must not have believed her, as he didn’t let go. He looked at me. “Lom.” His voice was gentle. “Will you allow Joe to take over with Margot? I think we need privacy, and a healer.”

  Which meant Melcar, and after checking on Bella he would want to examine Margot’s body, and there were some things even I could not stomach. I nodded, feeling everything drain out of me at once. Bella regained her footing and came around the floating body. I felt her arms around me, and held her close, burying my face in her hair. I’d like to think this was a bad dream and I’d open my eyes to our dark bedroom and warm sheets, but I knew better. Margot had been savagely murdered, and I still had to tell my mother.

  Bella was shaking. I opened my eyes, reluctantly, to see Joe draping a white silk shroud over my sister’s body. I was shocked when he looked up to see the tears streaming down his cheeks.

  “Joe?” I didn’t know what to say.

  He shook his head, unspeaking, and made a gesture. I looked toward the ruined doors – I had made a mess – and saw Melcar hurrying toward us, the leaves in his hair rustling audibly. Wood elves wear their tree’s leaves to remind them when they must return to the tree for renewal, and Melcar’s time was coming soon. He was, however, the most powerful healer in the kingdom, and the only one who had ever added human medical training to his repertoire. I trusted him with my life. Literally, and several times over. He looked from me, to Margot’s shrouded body, and then to Bella, who was leaning heavily on me.

  “Bella.” He’d made a decision that quickly, which one of us needed him most. “Can you walk, my dear?”

  She nodded, and tried to stand upright. I supported her, feeling a sudden pang of alarm. Bella was the independent type, and had seen death – had dealt death at my side, with a laugh – many times. What was wrong? Well, yes, her new sister-in-law was dead, but she had faced down an angry goddess and stolen away her pet dragon. Bella was no shrinking violet. Something else was going on.

  We followed Melcar toward the smaller room behind the Great Hall, where I had so often met the king for mission briefings in the century I’d been working for him. I didn’t look back at Margot’s body. Joe, who had never let on how he’d felt about her, was standing guard now. Melcar got Bella settled on the couch, and cupped his hands over her belly.

  “Nothing is badly wrong,” he told her. “It is simply your body reacting to the sudden stress.” Melcar twisted around and glared at me. “Would it be too much to ask you to control your temper? There was no need of this.”

  I looked down at him, tamping down my sudden wave of anger. I really hadn’t lost my temper. This had been very much in aid of something, whether he understood it yet, or not. The appearance of rage in their midst had been a message to the Court. I would find whoever had done this, and they would pay.

  “There was need.” I told him simply. “What is wrong with Bella?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with her. She’s pregnant.”

  I felt my mouth drop open as it hit me like a punch in the gut. “Bella?”

  She looked like I felt. “I’m what?”

  Melcar looked faintly smug. “I’d call it about two months gone, m’lady. Oh, and…”

  He took my hand and dragged me toward my wife, bringing my palm gently down over her belly. “Look. Look with an dan shealladh and see.”

  I dropped to my knees and closed my eyes. Below the shimmering veil of Bella’s magic, I could see two… two? Tiny pearls of light. I opened my eyes and looked into hers.

  “Dear one,” she said, her lower lip trembling a little. I folded her into my arms and held on tight. Death, into life, and the cycle unending was bittersweet today.

  Leavetaking

  I reluctantly left Bella with Melcar. But I needed to get home to Mother and Devon. It was my solemn duty to tell them the news, not to leave that to others. Melcar insisted that Bella was fine, just overstressed, and she should rest if she could, while Corwin cleaned up after me. I didn’t give a damn about the mess. I’d sent my message and the Court would remember it.

  There was also a sense of urgency, folded up around that paper Bella had given me as I kissed her before bubbling out of the receiving room. She’d magically created an image, a sense of the thing that had killed my sister, and imprinted it on the sheet like some kind of macabre magical police sketch. I now knew what she meant about it, not he nor she, this wasn’t a human or Fae. As the moment of time in transit passed, I looked at the picture, then folded it back into my pocket. Mother didn’t need to see this. I’d be happier if she didn’t see Margot’s body, in its current condition, but I knew she’d insist. She was a tough old broad.

  “Lom…” She came to greet me, her deep purple skirts rustling, her face pale. She knew it was bad.

  “Mother, I’m sorry.” I kissed her cheek, feeling the papery skin that reminded me how old she was. Even Fae grow old and die. It just takes us a hell of a lot longer than humans. Usually. Unless someone cuts us off short.

  I turned to my nephew and put a hand on his shoulder. “Devon.”

  He paled, looking in my eyes. “Is it Bella? Dorothy?”

  We had left his girlfriend Above, learning to fly tiny airplanes without the support of magic. She was fine, so far as I knew, enjoying the hell out of it, and it was a good thing for her. I shook my head.

  “I’m sorry, kid. Your mother…”

  I felt a lump in my throat. I’d never had any children of my own. Never even had the chance, before Bella, and Devon was the closest thing before those two pearls I had just seen. “Margot is gone.”

  It was a pale euphemism, but I wanted to shield them a little. I know I can be a rough man, and these two were products of a society I’d spurned long ago. Soft. Not that that’s all bad. I didn’t see the need to roughen their edges any more than I was forced to.

  Lucia sat down, hard, in the nearest chair. I felt Devon’s knees buckle through my grip on his shoulder, but he didn’t go down. Blindly, he groped for a chair.

  “Gone?” my mother’s voice was thready, almost inaudible. “What do you mean?”

  “She’s dead. Someone delivered her to my doorstep this morning, but I’d say it happened at least yesterday.” I didn’t add that I knew of preserving spells that could keep a corpse fresh as a lily for… a very long time. The human tale of Snow White had a sick basis in reality.

 
; Lucia leaned back, closing her eyes. She had no color at all in her face except the pale rose of blush powder on her cheekbones. I knelt at my mother’s feet and took her hands in mine.

  “I will find who did this, and why.”

  Devon gasped a little. “I want to come with you.” He was crying, silently, the tears rolling from beautiful eyes that were so much like his mother’s had been.

  I shook my head at him. “I need you here.” I wasn’t going to tell him that he’d be useless to me in this state. “I need you to look after your grandmother and Bella.”

  “Bella?” Lucia opened her eyes and looked at me, her worry plainly visible over the shock. She was not crying, and I didn’t expect to ever see her do so, not in public.

  “Bella is not coming with me. Bella is expecting our children and must be protected.”

  Lucia nodded. She was still in shock, but that wouldn’t stop her. I had vague memories of her after my father’s death, moving around the vast mansion like a martinet, making sure everything was as it should be. It had been left to the weird Banshee to comfort me, the wee child who climbed into that fearsome creature’s lap and begged her not to wail so. I’d tried with all my toddler might to make that sad creature smile, and mother had been like ice while the Banshee coddled me that strange night.

  Now, I needed that icy calm. I had to trust her with Bella, and our children, while I went out after those who would do my family harm. Margot’s death had been a warning, a message, and that was all I knew, so far. I didn’t know what the full text of that message was, and I had to find out, quickly, before the unseen enemy resorted to more such artistic media of passing a warning along.

  Lucia drew herself up. I watched as she shoved her pain into some little mental box, and pushed it onto a shelf alongside the one labeled with my father’s name in some cobwebby part of her mind. It was an almost visible process, one I had used myself to keep going under great duress.