Thief of Light by Denise Rossetti Read Free Book Online Page B

you keep him on.”
    “Blind loyalty is useful,” said the Necromancer absently, trailing a finger over the glass of the tank.
    The seelie within recoiled, its whiskers vibrating with terror, and bubbles clung to its long blue fur as it twisted away. You couldn’t say seelies were pretty, not by any stretch of the imagination, but they had their own bug-eyed, whiskery charm. With their long tubelike snouts and webbed fingers and toes, they were perfectly adapted for life underwater. The Necromancer had a seelie-fur rug next to his bed. He relished the luxury of it under his bare soles first thing in the morning. There was something . . . visceral . . . about his connection with the half a dozen creatures who’d died to make it.
    Gods, he really must take care to savor this one, not gulp it down like a raw apprentice with his first blood. He pulled his gaze away to study the diagram revolving slowly on the gray screen, and his brows rose. “Ingenious.”
    The Scientist’s breast expanded under her white coat. The garment was beginning to look more than a little gray and limp, but the numeral one embroidered on the collar was still crisp and dark. “Not difficult,” she said, “given your trap wasn’t a very sophisticated apparatus to begin with.”
    After a split second, she realized what had come out of her foolish mouth and froze, waiting for her punishment. Really, she was doing very well. Progress.
    “No offense taken,” said the Necromancer, waving a hand. “In fact, I think a reward is in order. You deserve a name.”
    Her lips thinned. “I already have one.”
    “A number is not a name.”
    “It’s all Science gives us. Perfectly sufficient.”
    “In a Technomage Tower perhaps, but not in the real world. Let me think . . .” Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the seelie cast back and forth, back and forth, while he pretended to consider. No escape, little one. You’re mine .
    “I knew a whore once,” he said at last. “She was called Dotty, and she was a good whore.” Actually, she had been. She’d been kind to a hungry little boy, long ago, in a different life.
    “Well, Dotty, what else have you been doing?”
    He thought he heard the Technomage’s teeth click together. Certainly, her jaw bunched.
    “I’ve done some calculations. I need to tell you . . .” The pause was so fractional, he barely caught it. His interest sharpened. “. . . something.”
    The Necromancer smiled. “You’re worried I won’t like it. Your concern does you credit.” Spreading his robes, he seated himself on the Technomage’s chair. “Go ahead, Dotty. Don’t keep me in suspense.”
    The low heels of her sensible shoes clattering on the flagged floor, she strode back to her console and tapped a key. Columns of figures scrolled across the screen. His eyes aching, the Necromancer averted his gaze. His vision wasn’t as sharp as it used to be.
    The Technomage opened and closed her mouth. Then she said, “You have to stop killing seelies.”

    “You,” said Erik, snagging Florien’s collar as the last of the dancers trotted toward the water stairs in a drift of perfume and tired chatter. “With me.”
    Florien looked from the fragile-seeming skiff rocking in the inky waters of the canal to Erik’s face and back again. He scowled. “Kin we walk?”
    “No. This is quicker.” Erik glanced up at the big red moon called the Brother, high in the night sky. “It’s late and I have things to do tomorrow.”
    A puzzle to solve and a woman to pursue. Were They toying with him, the gods? It wouldn’t surprise him, not after last night. He’d been so perilously close to the edge, he’d very nearly dared Them to get it fucking over with and kill him. A life for a life.
    The Sister, nearly full and silver blue, hung just above the rooftops, her pale glow softening the harsh martial light of the Brother. The Sibling Moons, Palimpsestians called them. The other main source of light was the single Technomage