Read Online Between Worlds: the Collected Ile-Rien and Cineth Stories by Martha Wells - Free Book Online

turning in on itself.
    Nicholas crouched over it. “We can kill you or free
you. Did Idilane send you to kill Belina Shankir-Clare?”
    It choked and managed, “Yes. Do not ask me why, I don’t
know. He kills human women who displease him.”
    “He has you under his control? With spells?”
    “I was given to him as a familiar, as payment by a
more powerful sorcerer.”
    Belina, who had edged forward to stand by Reynard’s
elbow, demanded, “As payment for what? More blackmail? Who was the sorcerer?”
    The fay said, “I only know it was payment.”
    “It was probably blackmail.” Nicholas nodded to
himself. “If we could find out who...”
    “How many women?” Reynard said. He had the terrible
feeling that Idilane was not new to this game, that the apparition above hadn’t
been the first, either.
    The fay said, “Seven.”
    Reynard swore. Belina made a noise of dismay.
    Ever practical, Nicholas asked, “What do you do with
the bodies?”
    It bared its teeth. “I eat them.”
    “Shit,” Belina muttered.
    “Always at the opera?” Nicholas asked.
    “No, other places as well as here.”
    “How does--”
    “Nicholas,” Reynard interrupted. For someone as
obsessed as he was, Nicholas could be easily sidetracked. “You’re not writing a
monograph on it, do we really need to know?”
    “Very well.” Nicholas asked the fay, “How do we free
you?”
    It said, “You cannot free me, his spells are woven
through the substance of my body. I beg you to kill me.”
    Nicholas frowned, then looked up at Reynard. Reynard
said, “I don’t have a problem with that,” and stabbed the creature in the
heart.
    Its body collapsed in on itself, and turned to dust,
leaving only the clothing and club behind. Nicholas whipped a small bag and a
brush out of his pocket, and began to sweep up the dust.
    Belina stared. “Does this happen a lot? To you, I
mean?”
    “Off and on,” Reynard admitted.
    Nicholas tucked the bag of dust away, stood, and took
Belina’s arm. “Let’s go to the restaurant and talk this over. I think after
that we deserve to miss the fifth and sixth acts of Life of the Good Duke .”
    “At the very least,” Reynard agreed, taking out his
handkerchief to wipe his sword.
    * * *
    The restaurant was in a pavilion built on the east
side of the opera, and was more than half empty. Reynard was a friend of the
host and so was able to secure a booth that was isolated enough for a private
conversation but still in full view of the few other diners and the waiters,
for propriety’s sake. There they ordered wine and a cream and berry tart for
Belina.
    Once they were served and the waiter withdrawn,
Reynard told Belina, “There’s a decision to be made.”
    Her brows drawn down in serious thought, she ate a
couple of forkfuls of the tart. “About the photographs. And whether to tell the
magistrates.”
    “Obviously--” Nicholas began.
    Reynard cleared his throat and gazed significantly at
him. He knew more than he cared to about being pilloried by the opinions of
both acquaintances and strangers. If Belina wanted to take that risk, it was a
choice she should make herself.
    Nicholas sighed and poured another glass of wine.
    Belina stirred the cream on her tart. “If he has the
photographs with him, we can take them.”
    “He may have other copies,” Reynard said. He wanted to
make certain she saw every aspect of the situation. “He won’t have the chance
to make more, if the magistrates take him, but we found nothing in his flat and
can make no guarantees.”
    “But if we don’t turn him in, no one will learn what
happened to those other girls. If the magistrates take him and the story is in
the penny sheets, the missing girls’ families will realize what happened and
come forward and perhaps there’s even more evidence against him.” She looked
up, worried. “But how will we prove that he was using a fay to...get rid of the
bodies?”
    Nicholas smiled. “That’s why I took the