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

into his jaw. Idilane’s
head snapped back and the sorcerer was unconscious. Reynard dropped him, and
started to search his pockets. He found a folder containing the photographs
almost immediately, and rapidly flipped through them to make sure they were
what he thought they were. Then he hesitated. “Some of these are not Belina.”
    Nicholas and Belina both leaned over his shoulder to
see. Belina gasped, “The other girls! The murdered girls!”
    Nicholas said in disgust, “He’s an idiot. Look again,
he may have included an image of himself actually committing the murders.”
    “Not everyone is up to your standards,” Reynard told
him. He handed the folder to Belina and she hastily looked through it, removing
all the images of herself, as Reynard finished searching Idilane’s clothes. Belina
handed the folder back and Reynard put it into Idilane’s coat. Reynard took the
bag of dead fay dust and shook it out over the body as Belina folded the
photographs of herself and retired to a corner to stuff them into some
undergarment under her skirt.
    Reynard stood. “Ready.”
    Nicholas was already at the door. He nodded to Belina.
    She let out an ear-piercing scream. Nicholas flung the
door open and shouted, “Who are you? Take your hands off that young lady!”
    Reynard turned back to the window, slung himself over
the balcony, and dropped down to the grassy verge at the edge of the walk. There
was no streetlight nearby and he was observed only by some street urchins and a
few peddlers waiting for the opera to let out. They were accustomed to seeing
people exit the restaurant’s private rooms precipitously and didn’t pay much
attention.
    The story would be that Miss Shankir-Clare’s escort
had left her in the restaurant while he went to find a porter to summon their
coach. Idilane had appeared and accosted her, and dragged her into a private
room. Reynard’s confederate, the restaurant’s host, had seen this and sent a
waiter to summon a magistrate from the street in case there was trouble. Belina
would claim Idilane had threatened her and bragged of past victims that his
captive fay had dispatched. Since all that was true, Reynard didn’t have any
doubt she would be able to carry it off.
    A couple of streets over, Reynard found a telegraph
office still open and sent a message to be delivered to the Shankir-Clare
house. Then he retreated to the vicinity of the coffee-seller across the street
from the opera’s main entrance. Over the course of the next hour, as the
audience left the opera, he saw more magistrates arrive, then a coach with more
high-ranking magistrates and one of their sorcerers, then finally the
Shankir-Clare coach with Lady Shankir-Clare, a maid, and Amadel. Amadel paused,
spotted Reynard across the street, and they exchanged a nod before he went
inside. Not long after that, Nicholas appeared.
    Reynard purchased another cup of coffee as Nicholas
sauntered casually across the street, and handed it to him as he joined him on
the promenade. They waited until the Shankir-Clares reappeared with Belina. As
Amadel handed Lady Shankir-Clare into their coach, Reynard saw Belina studying
the street. She spotted them, but was too canny to wave.
    The coach departed, and Reynard and Nicholas started
down the promenade.
    “So do we still believe Belina was targeted by
Idilane?” Reynard asked. “I doubt it myself.”
    “Yes, the queen might have to look away from a scandal
involving a Shankir-Clare daughter, but a Shankir-Clare daughter who is missing
would be cause for turning the city upside down.”
    “Idilane may not have realized that. The family is
discreet, not known in the lower circles he travels in.” Reynard lifted his
brows. “I think he was the target.”
    “It makes more sense. Perhaps the sorcerer who was
forced to give him the fay familiar nudged him toward Belina, knowing that if
she was a victim, Idilane would not escape.” Nicholas looked preoccupied. “The
other young women