Chains and Memory Read Online Free

isn’t my place, and if someone found out, it might do your cause more harm than good. I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait for the bureaucratic snarl to sort itself out.”
    There was an undercurrent to her words. Julian wondered what she wasn’t saying. “ Is it just a snarl? Or is there something else?”
    The stream lay just ahead; Grayson stopped before the grass became marshy. She locked her hands behind her back and gazed at the water, not answering him.
    Which was an answer in its own right. Julian couldn’t keep the bitterness from his voice as he said, “I suppose I haven’t really proved myself. I only have more first-hand experience of the sidhe than just about anyone on the planet.” Anyone except for Kim.
    â€œLook at it from the other direction,” Grayson said. Her breath huffed out quietly, almost a snort. “Think of history.”
    First Manifestation? No, something else; he caught a whiff of that from her, though no specifics. Julian’s knowledge of history was patchwork at best. It was a lesser priority at the Center than magical education. But with her comment about spy thrillers fresh in his mind, he saw where she aimed.
    He supposed it made sense. After all, the Unseelie had managed to suborn Kim for a time, turning her into their willing agent. What if they had done something subtler to Julian himself? The full extent of their abilities was still a dangerous unknown. With a jolt, he wondered if the telepathic interrogation had stopped at surveying his memories. He doubted it had.
    â€œI’m not working for the Unseelie,” he said. The words sounded flat and cold even to his own ears. “Not voluntarily. Not if my life depended on it. And if they planted any kind of trigger in my mind, someone would have found it.”
    Grayson nodded. “Indeed. And yet.”
    And yet, they didn’t trust him. Which was more valuable to them? One wilder, not yet fully qualified to work as a Guardian? Or the assurance that they could trust the Guardians they had?
    Julian clamped down on his anger by reflex, then almost laughed. He should be embracing the impulse. Weren’t his feelings a defense against the sidhe? If they’d left a trigger in his head, his sheer hatred of the Unseelie would have erased it by now.
    But the training was too ingrained, the years in which any open display of emotion would have met with disapproval, even punishment. He maintained control, even when he didn’t want to.
    Grayson said, “You have ways to keep busy, I’m sure. Assisting Kim, for example. And I happen to know that Guan recently came to the city. No doubt you have other friends here, too, who would be glad to see you.”
    Julian went still. Grayson’s expression was mild, looking out over the water, at the lights of the city. But that hadn’t been an idle comment. Grayson didn’t make idle comments.
    If Guan was in town, that might solve several problems at once.
    â€œThank you,” Julian said.
    â€œI’m sorry I couldn’t be of more use,” Grayson said. “Do stay in touch, though.” Without any further farewell, she turned and headed for the nearest path.
    Julian stayed by the pond, looking at the water. Then he took out his port and began to search for his old teacher.
    ~
    The rocking of the Metro train threatened to put me to sleep on the way home, but I tried to stay alert. The late meeting with Ramos meant the car was mostly empty, which was both good and bad. Good because nobody had to try to avoid bumping into me; bad because one of the few people there might decide to cause trouble. It had happened two weeks ago, when a group of guys started shouting at me—“Go home, changeling,” that sort of thing. Fortunately there had been enough other people in the car to keep them from really coming after me. But it meant I couldn’t relax.
    Not that I’d been relaxing much