Between Worlds: the Collected Ile-Rien and Cineth Stories Read Online Free Page A

do,
Giles.” She drew the fallen, scattered glamour around her to cloak herself in
moonlight and shadow, and walked away.
    * * *
    Later in the night, when the moon was dimmed by
clouds, Kade walked up the cart track to the gates of the Warrender manor
house.  The walls were crumbling like those around the village, too low to
attract royal attention and be torn down. The house was small by city
standards, but it was better than anything anyone else in Riversee had. It was
two stories, with high, narrow windows shuttered against the darkness.
    It had never mattered before what anyone else thought
of her. The fay disliked each other as a matter of course, and Kade had never
regarded her relatives on either side of the family with anything but anger or
contempt. Having Giles’ idealistic vision of her shattered shouldn’t twist in
her heart. But she hadn’t chosen this game, Devereux had; she would find out
what he wanted and end it tonight, one way or another.
    Two servants were sleeping in a shabby outbuilding
that housed the dovecote; she heard one cough and stir sleepily as she passed
the door but neither wakened.
    As she had hoped, there was a doorway near the back of
the house, open and spilling lamplight. A postern door here would make a
convenient exit for someone who wanted to leave or enter late at night without
drawing attention.
    The dry grass caught at her skirt as she stepped up to
the open door. The room inside was low-ceilinged and cluttered with the debris
of sorcery. Two long tables held heavy books, clouded glass vessels, curiously
shaped and colored rocks or fragments of crystal. Wax had collected at the bases
of the candles, their wan light revealing bare stone walls and soot-stained
rafters. Fortune Devereux stood at the far end of the room, his back to her,
leaning over an open book.
    Kade held out a hand, took a slow breath, and tasted
the aether carefully. There was nothing, no wards that would set off nasty
spells if she touched the doorsill. She took the last step forward and leaned
in the doorway saying, “Now what do you need this mess for?”
    Devereux turned, his smile slow and triumphant. His
doublet and shirt were open across his chest and she saw again that he was a
very attractive man. “I didn’t think you’d come.”
    She added that smile to what she knew of sorcerers and
thought so this room is warded . She tested the aether again and felt the
tug of the spell this time. Damn . She hadn’t felt it outside because it
wasn’t set to stop her from entering the room; it was set to stop her from
leaving. Idiot. Overconfidence and impatience will kill you without any help
from Devereux . She didn’t like stepping into his trap, but she still
thought her power was more than equal to this mortal sorcerer’s. If he struck
at her directly, he would find that out. She smiled back, making it look easy. “I’ve
only just gotten here and you’re lying already.”
    His expression stiffened.
    “You bound a glaistig and killed an old potter in the
village you know by tradition I consider my property. Simply to get my
attention. But you expected me not to take the bait and appear? Really, that
makes you something of a fool, doesn’t it?”
    Devereux lifted a brow. “I misspoke. I didn’t think
you would come tonight, since you were occupied with your musician.”
    “I see.” She nodded mock-complacently. “Jealousy, and
we’ve only just met. Did it ever occur to you that all I had to do was point
you out to the villagers, explain how you used the glaistig to kill the old
potter, and this house would be burning down around your ears now?”
    He laughed. “And I thought your loyalty to these
people was as fickle as that of the rest of the fay. I didn’t realize you were
so virtuous.”
    Kade lifted a cool brow, though for some reason the
jibe about loyalty had hit home. “My loyalty is fickle, but at least they gave
me fruit and flowers. What did you ever do for me?”
    “I have an