Mikal? But then why did he not kill the man—
The world jolted underneath her, a stunning blow to her shoulder, a great spiked roil of pain through her chest. Mikal screamed, but she was breathless. Sorcerous force spilled free, uncontained, and other screams rose.
She could possibly injure someone.
Emma came back to herself, clutching at her shoulder. Hot blood welled between her fingers, and the green silk would be ruined. Not to mention her gloves.
At least they had shot her, and not the mentath.
Oh, damn. The pain crested again, became a giant animal with its teeth in her flesh.
Mikal caught her. His mouth moved soundlessly, and Emma sought with desperate fury to contain the force thundering through her. Backlash could cause yet more damage, to the street and to onlookers, if she let it loose.
A Prime’s uncontrolled force was nothing to be trifled with.
It was the traditional function of a Shield to handle such overflow, but if he had only wounded the fellow on the roof she could not trust that he was not part of—
“Let it GO!” Mikal roared, and the ætheric bonds between them flamed into painful life. She fought it, seeking to contain what she could, and her skull exploded with pain.
She knew no more.
BY LILITH SAINTCROW
GALLOW AND RAGGED
Trailer Park Fae
BANNON AND CLARE
The Iron Wyrm Affair
The Red Plague Affair
The Ripper Affair
DANTE VALENTINE NOVELS
Working for the Devil
Dead Man Rising
Devil’s Right Hand
Saint City Sinners
To Hell and Back
Dante Valentine (omnibus)
JILL KISMET NOVELS
Night Shift
Hunter’s Prayer
Redemption Alley
Flesh Circus
Heaven’s Spite
Angel Town
Jill Kismet (omnibus)
A ROMANCE OF ARQUITAINE NOVELS
The Hedgewitch Queen
The Bandit King
AS LILI ST. CROW
THE STRANGE ANGELS SERIES
Strange Angels
Betrayals
Jealousy
Defiance
Reckoning
PRAISE FOR THE WORKS OF LILITH SAINTCROW:
Dante Valentine
“She’s a brave, charismatic protagonist with a smart mouth and a suicidal streak. What’s not to love? Fans of Laurell K. Hamilton should warm to Saintcrow’s dark, evocative debut.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Saintcrow’s amazing protagonist is gutsy, stubborn to a fault and vaguely suicidal, meaning there’s never a dull moment…. This is the ultimate in urban fantasy!”
—RT Book Reviews (Top Pick!)
“Dark, gritty, urban fantasy at its best.”
—blogcritics.org
Jill Kismet
“Nonstop rough-and-tumble action combined with compelling characterization and a plot that twists and turns all over the place. Saintcrow… never fails to deliver excitement.”
—RT Book Reviews
“Loaded with action and starring a kick-butt heroine who from the opening scene until the final climax is donkey kicking seemingly every character in sight.”
—Harriet Klausner
“Lilith has again created a vibrant, strong female heroine who keeps you running behind her in a breathless charge against forces you just know you would never be able to walk away from completely unscathed.”
—myfavouritebooks.blogspot.com
“This mind-blowing series remains a must-read for all urban fantasy lovers.”
—bittenbybooks.com
Bannon & Clare
“Saintcrow scores a hit with this terrific steampunk series that rockets through a Britain-that-wasn’t with magic and industrial mayhem with a firm nod to Holmes. Genius and a rocking good time.”
—Patricia Briggs
“Saintcrow melds a complex magic system with a subtle but effective steampunk society, adds fully fleshed and complicated characters, and delivers a clever and highly engaging mystery that kept me turning pages, fascinated to the very end.”
—Laura Anne Gilman
“Innovative world building, powerful steampunk, master storyteller at her best. Don’t miss this one…. She’s fabulous.”
—Christine Feehan
“Lilith Saintcrow spins a world of deadly magic, grand adventure, and fast-paced intrigue through the clattering streets of a maze-like mechanized Londonium. The Iron Wyrm Affair is a fantastic mix of action, steam, and mystery dredged in dark magic with a hint of romance. Loved it! Do not miss this wonderful addition to the steampunk genre.”
—Devon Monk
“Lilith Saintcrow’s foray into steampunk plunges the reader into a Victorian England rife with magic and menace, where clockwork horses pace the cobbled streets, dragons rule the ironworks, and it will take a sorceress’s discipline and a logician’s powers of deduction to unravel a bloody conspiracy.”
—Jacqueline Carey
GLOSSARY
Barrow-wight: Fullblood Unseelie wights whose homes are long “barrows.” Gold loses its luster in their presence.
Brughnies: House-sidhe; they delight in cooking and cleaning. A well-ordered kitchen is their joy.
The Fatherless: Robin Goodfellow, also called Puck, the nominal leader of the free sidhe.
Folk: Sidhe, or clan within the sidhe, or generally a group, race, or species.
Ghilliedhu: “Birch-girl”; dryads of the birch clan, held to be great beauties.
Grentooth: A jack-wight, often amphibious, with mossy teeth and a septic bite.
Kelpie: A river sidhe, capable of appearing as a black horse and luring its victims to drowning.
Kobolding: A crafty race of sidhe, often amassing great wealth, living underground. Related to goblins, distantly related to the dwarven clans.
Quirpiece: A silver coin, used to hold a particular chantment.
Realmaker: A sidhe whose chantments do not fade at dawn. Very rare.
Seelie: Sidhe of Summer’s Court, or holding fealty to Summer.
Selkie: A sealskin sidhe.
Sidhe: The Fair Folk, the Little People, the Children of Danu.
Sluagh: The ravening horde of the unforgiven dead.
Tainted: Possessing mortal blood.
Twisted: A sidhe altered and mutated, often by proximity to cold iron, unable to use sidhe chantments or glamour.
Unseelie: Sidhe of Unwinter’s Court, or holding fealty to Unwinter.
Wight: “Being,” or “creature”; used to refer to certain classes of sidhe.
Woodwight: A wight whose home or form is a tree, whose blood is resinous.
Contents
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Epigraph
Chapter 1: A Different Beast
Chapter 2: Simulacrum
Chapter 3: A Mortal Failing
Chapter 4: An Arrival
Chapter 5: A Brueghel Painting
Chapter 6: To Sell Herself Dear
Chapter 7: Vengeance Enough
Chapter 8: A Mortal Quotient
Chapter 9: Lee to Give
Chapter 10: Territory to be Gained
Chapter 11: Shadowcoin
Chapter 12: For that which Matters
Chapter 13: A Reversal of Anger
Chapter 14: A Certain Satisfaction
Chapter 15: Mortal Worth
Chapter 16: Sense And Breath
Chapter 17: Wight, Knight, and Hound
Chapter 18: Small Cathy
Chapter 19: Locked and Silent
Chapter 20: Mercy in his End
Chapter 21: No Small Proposition
Chapter 22: Long and Long
Chapter 23: No Part of This
Chapter 24: The True Danger
Chapter 25: Gave you
an Answer, Do
Chapter 26: As Planned
Chapter 27: Heart of the Riddle
Chapter 28: Sidhe Enough
Chapter 29: For Joy Or Sorrow
Chapter 30: Guilt Must Wait
Chapter 31: What Price?
Chapter 32: What Would Please
Chapter 33: Of Unwinter Vintage
Chapter 34: Whistling at Death
Chapter 35: Cannot Carry Two
Chapter 36: The Horn
Chapter 37: Lips Instead of Throat
Chapter 38: Gleam in the Gloaming
Chapter 39: Simple Betrayal
Chapter 40: A Boon
Chapter 41: Most Marvelous Meat
Chapter 42: Primrose Darling
Chapter 43: No Liar in this Case
Chapter 44: Between Impossibles
Chapter 45: Poison, Bread, Salt
Chapter 46: Who Could Forget
Chapter 47: Full Night
Chapter 48: Soon Enough
Acknowledgments
Extras
Meet the Author
A Preview of Gallow and Ragged Book 2
A Preview of The Iron Wyrm Affair
Also by Lilith Saintcrow
Praise for the Works of Lilith Saintcrow
Glossary
Copyright
Copyright
Published by Orbit
ISBN: 978-0-356-50632-6
All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Lilith Saintcrow
Excerpt from Gallow and Ragged: Book 2 copyright © 2015 by Lilith Saintcrow
Excerpt from The Iron Wyrm Affair copyright © 2012 by Lilith Saintcrow
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Orbit
Little, Brown Book Group
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London, EC4Y 0DZ
www.littlebrown.co.uk
www.hachette.co.uk
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