Iron Kin: A Novel of the Half-Light City

by M. J. Scott

  I closed my hands over the bag and closed my eyes, concentrating on the last memory I had of Reggie. At the ball, looking quietly happy as she danced with some nameless man, blue dress swaying like a bell as she turned in time with the music.

  Reggie.

  Nothing.

  With a snarl I opened my eyes and yanked the chain free from my wrist with a few quick movements. Ignoring the sudden sharp throb of pain in my head, I closed my eyes again and dug my fingers hard into the worn fabric.

  At first there was still nothing, but then suddenly, like a mist burned away by a lightning strike, I got something. Not an image but a sensation. Fear. Terror, in fact. My lungs contracted with my stomach as though it was my own emotion, and I fought to gain some distance.

  Fear. Pounding through me. Hands gripping me. Then darkness.

  I pushed harder again, trying to see more, and the pain in my head redoubled with a vicious stab. I staggered, nearly dropping the bag.

  “Fen!” It was Holly’s voice, but the hands that reached for me weren’t hers. No. Instead Saskia’s fingers grabbed for mine. The sensations suddenly vanished. Along with any sense of Reggie.

  My eyes flew open. “What the fuck did you do that for?”

  Saskia flinched but she didn’t move her hand. “You’re no use to anyone if you collapse,” she said sharply.

  “What did you see?” Holly interrupted. “Where is she?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. Holly’s face turned gray-white. “I think she’s alive,” I added quickly. “But I couldn’t see her.”

  Holly’s eyes squeezed shut briefly and then she shook her head. “All right. We’re leaving. We need Guy and Simon.”

  Chapter Six

  SASKIA

  Fen sat silently beside me in the hackney as we drove across town. I knew Simon was home and that Guy was with him—I’ve always been able to tell where my family are since my powers first appeared—so we hadn’t had to waste any time deciding where to look for them.

  Across from us, Holly stared out the window, one hand toying with the chain of her pendant, her face pale and set. I’d never seen her look scared before. It made my own stomach twist queasily. I understood her fear, shared it, although I had only met Reggie a handful of times, through Holly, and then because my mother loved her dresses and bought me a whole new wardrobe. But the thought of anyone being taken . . . especially now . . . stirred up old memories I didn’t want to contemplate.

  I stole a glance at Fen. His right hand was braced against the carriage door, absorbing the jolts of the rough road. In the daylight, the livid bruising on his wrist beneath the tightly wrapped chain glowed a sullen purple, making me wish I had Simon’s powers and could erase the damage. I didn’t, of course. My brother was a sunmage, not a metalmage, and our magic took different paths. I didn’t like my chances of getting Fen to let Simon look at his wrist when we got to Simon’s house, but I would try.

  Fen’s eyes were half shut, his head turned toward the window, and I let myself watch him for another moment. Despite everything else going on, he still caught my attention. Damn the man.

  Women like me, he’d said with a smile that made it hard to refute his point.

  He’d been trying to scare me off with his flirting, I knew that. But if he thought I was going to be put off so easily, he needed to reconsider. Still, I couldn’t quite escape the images he’d put in my head. Of him and me.

  And a bed.

  Which was pathetic and wrongheaded. I’d only just met the man. And clearly he was not the type of man you should risk your heart with.

  But he’d be fun, a part of me insisted stubbornly.

  I pushed that part back into the deep dark recesses of my brain where it belonged. I didn’t have time for fun. Besides, what that silly part of my brain was failing to recognize was that Fen’s kind of charm was the sort it was hard to untangle yourself from. Too complicated. My mother would faint at the very idea of me spending time with somebody like Fen, but then, she probably still believed I was a virgin. Which I hadn’t been for several years.

  Mages thought differently about such things. In their view one should allow passion to burn and shine as the gods intended; otherwise it would interfere with the work and the power. I’d had a few partners during my time at the Guild and I’d enjoyed them, but I hadn’t been brokenhearted at any of them moving on. I was at the Academy to learn. To master my powers. Metal consumed enough of my attention and time without trying to juggle a lover as well.

  I wondered if Simon’s years with the sunmages had been the same and what he told himself about what I might be doing at the Academy. He’d never raised the subject with me. Nor had my mother. I didn’t know if that was due to rigid denial or rigid belief that I was her daughter and therefore would adhere to her standards regardless of circumstance.

  I was happy to let her maintain her illusions.

  I was trying desperately to maintain mine. I would not be distracted from my goals.

  The fact that I was aware of the precise distance between Fen and me, not just because I could feel the iron circling his wrist but because I could feel the man himself, could feel his warmth like a banked fire inviting me closer, was irrelevant.

  I knew better than to stick my hand into the fire.

  At least I hoped I did.

  The hackney turned onto the broad avenue that led past St. Giles, jolting and swaying. Like Fen, I braced myself with one hand, determined not to slide toward him on the smooth leather seat.

  Keep my distance as far as possible.

  If I got my way, if he joined the Templar delegation and if Simon and Guy let me join too, I was going to have to spend a portion of each day touching Fen skin to skin. I didn’t want to increase the temptation any more than I had to.

  I had to focus on the important things.

  Find Reggie.

  Help to secure peace in the City for the next five years. Stop whatever it was that was brewing in the Night World that might ruin everything.

  The thing that I feared my brothers were at the very heart of. I had lost one sibling when I was too young to do anything about it, but I wasn’t going to lose any more. Not if I could do something to prevent it. I knew that Simon and Guy felt the same way, but the difference was that I was still willing to let them take the risks they needed to take to bring about the goal we shared, whereas they thought that keeping me locked away would keep me safe.

  The truth was none of us was safe as long as the City was at risk.

  Reggie and Viola’s disappearance proved that all too well.

  FEN

  * * *

  “You didn’t see anything?” Simon asked, his voice tight. His eyes studied me as though he doubted the truth of my words.

  I tried to keep my own voice steady, tried not to let the remembered sensation of Reggie’s desperate fear wrap around me again. “I think she’s alive. I couldn’t see where she was.”

  “Which only leaves all of the City and the Veiled Court to search,” Guy said. The big Templar stood by the unlit fire, fists clenching every so often. He wore mail and the red cross on his tunic seemed very bright. The color of fresh blood. Images of him bloodstained and muddy, rage twisting his face, floated around him as though the anger riding him was making one of his futures more possible.

  I blinked and pressed the iron into my wrist, not wanting the distraction of visions right now.

  Beside Guy, Holly shook her head. “I don’t think it’s the Veiled Court.”

  She sounded certain. I wished I shared that certainty. Holly’s late unlamented father had been part of a plot against the Veiled Queen. His guilt had been revealed but he’d died without betraying his co-conspirators. There had to be Fae who had Holly high on their shit lists. The Fae, as a whole, didn’t take well to anyone getting in their way. It was conceivable that one of them would come after Holly via her friend.

  “It could be,” I said.

  “They’d go after me, not Reggie,” Ho
lly said.

  “You’re better protected,” Guy said.

  “Perhaps.” Holly frowned. “But what good does taking Reggie or Viola do? They know the Veiled Queen would take action if she thought Reggie was being held somewhere in Summerdale again.”

  “It might not even be Regina they were after.” It was Lily who spoke. She’d been silent thus far, staying perched on the edge of one of Simon’s sofas, dressed in dark trousers and a simple green shirt, watching us all argue. Her low, cool voice cut through the room like a sword strike.

  “Why take a Fae?” Holly countered. “If there was one thing guaranteed to stir up the queen against the Night World, that would be it.”

  “Truth is,” I said, “we can keep arguing about this for hours, trying to work out the whys, or we can work out what we’re going to do about it.”

  Across the room, Guy’s pale eyebrows lifted a little, but he nodded approval. “Fen’s right. The longer we wait—” He stopped himself before completing that sentence, with a sideways look at Holly.

  It was Lily who broke the silence that spilled across the room as we all tried not to think about what could be happening to Reggie and Viola while we wasted time talking. “So we need options,” she said. “And a plan.”

  I nodded. “I think we can safely assume that somebody from the Night World is behind this.”

  “Someone named Ignatius Grey,” Holly muttered.

  “Maybe. But there’s another candidate,” I said.

  “Who?” Guy asked.

  “Martin Krueger,” I said.

  “Martin? What the hell would he want with Reggie?” Guy demanded.

  “It wouldn’t be Reggie he wanted,” I said carefully. I wasn’t looking forward to this part of the conversation. “It would be me.”

  “What do you mean?” Saskia asked while her brothers both sputtered. She had stayed silent before this, sitting in a chair and following the threads of the conversation with stormy eyes.

  “I mean that your brothers aren’t the only ones who want to write their names on my dance card,” I said with a shrug that was far more casual than I felt.

  “Martin wants you for his delegation?” Guy demanded.

  “Martin wants a seer,” I said. “He thinks he can convince me I’m the one for the job.”

  “Why?” Guy asked.

  I didn’t know exactly how much Holly had told Guy of my history. It was easiest just to tell the whole story. “Because my grand-mère was a Krueger and he thinks, therefore, that he has a claim on me.”

  “And does he?”

  The Templar’s voice had turned cool. Too cool.

  “I’ve obliged him from time to time,” I said. “Before all”—I gestured around the room—“this began.”

  “And lately?”

  “He sent for me the night of the ball.”

  I saw Saskia’s and Holly’s eyes narrow in unison.

  “That’s why you left?” Saskia said.

  “You helped Martin Krueger?” Simon said. “For sun’s sake, why?”

  “He didn’t exactly give me a choice. He sent one of his guerriers to fetch me. They don’t take no for an answer.” I said. “I’m part Beast, but I can hardly take down one of them on my own. And I’m kind of attached to walking around breathing, thank you very much.”

  “You went there after we’d just asked you to be on our delegation?” Simon’s voice was as cold as Guy’s. Lily rose to her feet beside him. I wasn’t sure if she was on his side or ready to restrain him.

  “To be clear,” I said, “Martin issued his . . . request . . . for my attendance before I spoke to you.”

  “Did you give him a different answer from the one you gave us?” Simon asked.

  “I gave him the same answer that I gave you. That I was staying out of things.”

  “Why should we believe you?” Guy said.

  “Guy!” Holly protested.

  “It’s all right,” I said to her. “It’s a fair question.”

  Holly glared at me and then turned to Guy. “I believe him.”

  “I know you do, darlin’,” Guy said, his voice warming for a moment. “But it might not be that simple.” He turned his gaze on me. “Time’s up, Fen. Sliding around the edges of things might have worked for you before, but now you need to make a choice.”

  “Or?”

  “Or I’ll have to ask you to leave,” Guy said.

  “You need me to find Reggie.”

  “I think maybe you need us more than we need you,” Guy said, stony-faced. “We’ll find her without your help.”

  “Guy—,” Holly protested, her hand going to his arm.

  “Is right,” Lily said before Holly could say anything more. “We need to know if we can trust Fen.”

  “What’s it to be, pretty boy?” Guy said. Saskia had a hand over her mouth, eyes round as she stared at me.

  Guy looked casually confident, as though he knew which side I’d choose. Maybe he did. But he didn’t know all of it. A certain petty surge of satisfaction slid through me. Maybe they were right—maybe I did need to finally make a choice. I knew they would try to find Reggie without me, but it would be faster if we worked together. Reggie was worth the pain that throwing in my lot with the DuCaines might bring. But if Guy was going to force my hand, then I’d repay the favor. Or make him back down.

  “You want me to join your delegation?” I asked. “Very well. But there’s one other condition.”

  I turned to Saskia, who had gone very still. Truth was, if I was going to partake in this particular insanity and be their seer, then I was going to need her help. I couldn’t survive weeks of constant pain. Not and stay sane. I needed the relief she could bring. I told myself firmly that was all I needed from her. Besides, there was a chance that if I made this demand, Guy and Simon might change their minds about wanting me in the first place. “If you want me, you have to let Saskia be on the delegation too.”

  That caused another uproar.

  Saskia cut through the noise with a piercing whistle. “Stop yelling,” she said, directing her admonition to Guy and Simon with an exasperated look.

  “You put him up to this,” Guy said, returning her gaze with a look that was equally disgusted.

  I stepped forward. “No.” There was no reason for Saskia to be in as much disfavor as I was. Though given the anger on the faces of her brothers, maybe that was a mistake. “I’m the one who needs Saskia.”

  That didn’t do anything to ease their minds. Beside Guy, Holly looked at me with a pointed “What stupid thing have you done now, Fen?” look that I knew all too well. But luckily she kept a firm grip on Guy’s arm, having grabbed him as soon as I’d spoken.

  “Needs her how, exactly?” Simon said in a dangerous tone.

  “Not that way,” Saskia said with an eye roll. “Give me some credit, Simon.”

  “I give you credit,” Simon said, his tone not changing. “Him, I’m not so sure about.”

  “Well, he can’t exactly have done anything to me without me letting him, can he now? Besides, I’m not sure exactly when you think we’ve had the time. I’m sure Fen is very flattered by your assessment of his ability to seduce a woman in three seconds flat, but that isn’t what he meant.”

  “What. Did. He. Mean?” Guy asked through gritted teeth.

  “It’s his visions,” Saskia said. “They’re painful.”

  Simon’s eyes flicked down toward my wrist. “You said you had them under control.”

  “I did. But lately, things have become more . . . difficult.”

  “What’s that got to do with Saskia?”

  “Saskia can stop my visions.”

  “What!” Holly exclaimed.

  “How?” Lily said at the same time.

  “I don’t know how. But she touched me and the visions went away.”

  “What were you doing touching her?” Guy said. His voice was still ominous, but he had relaxed a little. Maybe. Or maybe that was wishful thinking on my part.


  “He was helping me into my ’cab,” Saskia said. “As either of you would have,” she added. “I’d taken my gloves off because my hand was hurting.” She broke off and held a hand up in Simon’s direction. “Don’t fuss, Simon. It was just a little burn. Anyway, Fen took my hand to help and apparently his visions went away.”

  “Coincidence,” Simon said.

  “No, it happens every time,” I said, judging it safe to talk again. “Well, every time we’ve tried it.”

  Guy’s pale blue eyes were the shade of frost on a window, the chill of his anger clear. “Oh really? How often is that, may I ask?”

  This time Holly elbowed Guy in the ribs. “Calm down,” she said. “Fen held her hand, not . . . anything improper.” She hit me with another one of those looks. This one meaning “You’d better not prove me wrong about that.” “If having Saskia around gives Fen some respite from his visions and the aftereffects, then surely that will make him more useful to the delegation?”

  I hid my smile of relief. Holly was making the point for me far more effectively than if I’d tried to do it.

  “We don’t know that will work,” Guy rumbled.

  Simon sighed. “Maybe not. But if Saskia does help him—”

  Guy looked outraged. “You’re not going along with this.”

  “I can’t in good conscience deny Fen this relief.”

  “So you just want to give him Saskia?”

  “I’m standing right here, you know,” Saskia said, exasperation equal to her brothers’ rising in her voice. “Nobody is giving me to anyone. I’ve agreed to help Fen. Which means I need to be close to him when he needs me.”

  “The negotiations aren’t safe, Sass,” Guy said, obviously trying a different tack.

  “Nowhere in the City is terribly safe right now,” Saskia said.

  “The Guild of Metalmages is protected,” Guy countered.

  “Hardly,” Saskia said. “One of my fellow apprentices could screw things up and blow us all to the depths of hell at any moment. Or worse. You have to let me pick what chances I want to take, Guy. I want to help. And Fen needs me.”