Invincible by Dawn Metcalf Read Free Book Online

the Council, the dragon, Bùxiŭ de
Zhēnzhū, she liked the idea of leaving the warded condo even less.
“Don’t you think I should have Ink come with me?”
    â€œNo,” Graus Claude said flatly. “As far as Master Ink is
concerned, you are to remain here, with me, under his own protections until we
can find a solution to your...predicament.” The Bailiwick fiddled with his
buttons as he considered the rest of the room. “You know that the primary role
of the Scribes is to be a buffer between the Folk and any undue risk, namely
humans, who—at the time of their making—represented the greatest threat to our
peoples’ safety. But it was understood that the Scribes were to safeguard us
against all enemies, including our first enemy,
those of the Wild. It was written into his being, his body, blood and blades.”
Graus Claude turned his great head to one side. “I imagine that Master Ink is
struggling with a conflagration of duty and emotion, of instinct and the heart.”
He caught her expression and dropped his voice. “Have pity, Miss Malone. Master
Ink had enough control to withhold his suspicions long enough to place you here,
in my keeping, but I fear he cannot disobey his basic function—to protect those
in the Twixt, which, in this case, might again include the likes of you.” Joy
hugged herself miserably. The great frog attempted to soothe her distress. “He
had the strength to resist blinding you at first Sight, did he not? By his own
assertion, he has chosen to interpret his wards as both protecting you from the
Twixt as well as protecting the Twixt from you until we can find an
interpretation that will suit the rules enough to forgo his having to kill
you.”
    â€œGreat! So I’m safe as long as I stay here, but now you want me
to go?” Joy said with an angry, hysterical tremble.
    â€œTo remain here is to remain caged,” Graus Claude said. Having
only recently escaped from his imprisonment, the Bailiwick was uniquely
qualified to speak with authority on the subject. Joy bit the inside of her
cheek, face flushed. “I sympathize with your distress, yet you fail to
appreciate what your paramour has done for you—no one else in the Twixt suspects
your true nature, and he has bound me by my oath. Otherwise, be assured, I would
feel obligated to kill you myself, which I shall
not ,” he hastened to add at Joy’s look of horror. “I understand all too
well that circumstances concerning your person are hardly ever what they seem
and that, as you have noted on previous occasions, you often embody a rather
exceptional exception to the rules.” He pressed sincerity into his words. “I
have set aside many luxuries and amenities in my time in order to retain my
personal integrity. To shelter you is to damn myself utterly, but look—” he
glanced around at the walls of Stef’s bedroom “—it is you who have given me
shelter, as well as my freedom, both from the spell of forgetting as well as the
Council’s justice Under the Hill.” He raised a single manicured claw.
“Therefore, no matter what else may be said, you have proven yourself a trusted
friend and that fact, more than anything, countermands any theoretical debate.”
He lowered his hands to rest in his lap, a Zen Buddha on a lotus of cotton
towels. “I have never met an Elemental, so I must admit that my knowledge is
based on hearsay and secondhand myth, but I know you , perhaps better than almost anyone else in my world. I ask that you
trust me, as you once asked me to trust you.” He paused, his speech closing with
finality. “I will help you, Joy Malone.”
    She ran up and hugged him, collapsing against his squashy body,
and his many arms wrapped around her like an afghan. “Thank you,” she whispered.
He sighed a bass rumble in his throat and gave an oof of effort as she let go.
    Joy winced.