Tangled Webs

"One more," she said, looking at the boy lingering on the other side of the fence. Not like the others. This one was an outsider who might be included when another body was needed for a game, but he wasn’t someone any of the others would include for any kind of treat.

“What about it, boy?” Rainier said, holding up a copper. “We could do a second coin toss for the last spot.”

A hesitation. Then the boy looked at the other children and backed away, shaking his head.

The crest side of the copper won the toss, and the fourth boy joined the others.

“This way now,” the caretaker said, opening the door but carefully staying outside.

An odd sensation as she passed through the doorway, as if the threshold required more than one step. Maybe it was all the illusion spells that had to be woven throughout this place. Would Blood who wore lighter Jewels be more or less affected? She’d have to ask Marian, since the hearth witch was the only one in the family who wore lighter Jewels.

“Sitting room is that doorway to the right,” the caretaker said.

Since the children were crowding in behind her, she moved farther into the hall—and caught a whiff of something unpleasant.

“Just wait in the sitting room,” the caretaker said, still standing outside.

The last one of their group to enter the house, Rainier was now the first to enter the sitting room.

As she waited for the children to follow Rainier, she caught another whiff of…something…and looked around. Seemed to be coming from the area around the stairs, but it was there and gone before she could pinpoint the source, and there was nothing else in that part of the hall except a mirror on the wall opposite the stairs. The only other thing in the hall was a coat-tree, and the smell wasn’t coming from that.

Sighing, she went into the sitting room. An hour from now she would have completed her duty to family, Rainier would have completed his duty to Queen, and they could go back to a clean dining house in Amdarh and have a late meal while they figured out how to avoid saying anything about this damn place.

They weren’t coming.The bastards weren’t coming! How could either of them have ignored that summons? He’d been so careful with the wording to make sure they couldn’t wiggle out of attending the evening’s activities.

There had been some risk in sending the invitations so late, but he’d had to balance the delay against the risk of them talking to each other or, worse, talking to theLadies. Still, he’d given them enough time—ifthey were as devoted to their wives as they professed.

Bastards. He recognized the male who had come withLady Surreal as the man who had been with her in the bookshop that day in Amdarh, but he didn’t know who he was. Probably no one important. Probably just the stud Surreal was currently riding. He’d been in the wrong position to see the Jewel in the male’s ring, so there was no way for him to tell what kind of power had just walked into the house.

No matter. He’d prepared this entertainment for the SaDiablo family. No other male could compare withthose two, so the bitch’s escort posed no threat to his plans.

At least the male had been obliging enough to invite some of the children. It was necessary for a few of them to be involved in this entertainment, and as the kindly caretaker, he would have let some of them go in with the Blood. But now the Blood would feel responsible for the children’s welfare, sincethey had extended the invitation.

Assuming, of course, that the Blood ever felt responsible for anything they did.

No matter. The children were in the house by the Blood’s invitation, and that should work out better than he’d anticipated.

He looked at the street, his eyes passing over the boy still standing on the other side of the gate, and hoped to see one ofthem appear. Once he closed the door, all the spells would be in motion—and would stay in motion while any of the guests lived.

Sadi and Yaslana weren’t coming. So be it.

Let the game begin.

The outside of the house had peeling paint and some shutters that looked like they were holding on by a single nail. The sitting room was a good match for the exterior—peeling wallpaper that was thankfully so faded it barely had color, lace curtains that looked like they would shred as soon as any attempt was made to clean them, and overstuffed furniture that, judging by the chew holes, housed several generations of mice.

“It’s awful,” the oldest boy said, sounding thrilled.

“The Blood don’t live in places like this,” Rainier said, sounding less than thrilled.

“I have,” Surreal said as she wandered around the room. A wave of annoyance coming from Rainier washed over her, but she continued to study the room. Wasn’t there supposed to be something spooky? Although she’d bet just looking at this place had given Marian shudders.

“Lady Surreal, neither of us live in a place like this.”

More than annoyance. Rainier was pissed that anyone, even landen children, would think the Blood would consider this place homey.

“Not now,” Surreal said, focusing on a portrait over the fireplace. Was there something queer about the man’s eyes? “But when I was preparing for a kill and didn’t want anyone to know I was in that part of a Territory, I would stay in an abandoned place like this for a few days.”

Sometimes she preferred secrecy to staying at a Red Moon house and providing services as a whore, which had been her other profession—until her recently acquired male relatives calmly told her that any male who got into her bed from now on had better be there for her pleasure or he would live just long enough to regret using his cock. So that endedthat career. All right, she’d already walked away from that part of her life even before she came to Kaeleer, but it was still annoying to betold she was retired.

Becoming aware of the silence, she turned away from the portrait and found seven children staring at her.

“You kill people?” the youngest girl asked.

“I was an assassin,” Surreal replied cheerfully. “And a damn good one. I know all kinds of death spells.”

"That might have been a little more than they needed to know," Rainier said.

Since they were looking at her the way a rabbit looks at a wolf, Rainier was probably right. On the other hand, they would probably want to stay away from her and would attach themselves to him during the tour, and that was all right too.

Then she looked at Rainier. His expression strongly suggested that she soften her statement.

“But I’m retired now,” Surreal said. “I don’t kill people anymore.”At least, not for money. “I’m Lady Surreal, and this is Prince Rainier.”