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Carvic, Heron Miss Seeton 04 Miss Seeton und der Hexenzauber
[La Maison de la Nuit 04] Rebel P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast
Amanda Kay [The Search 04] The Freedom Search Kai
Charles Mathes [Girl 04] The Girl in the Face of the Clo
Cari Quinn [Love Required 04] No Promises Required [Entangled
Cross, Amanda Kate Fansler 04 Schule fuer hoehere Toechter id
Becca Van [Sugar Creek 04] Prim's Silver Wolves [Siren Men
Carla Neggers [US Marshals 04 Dark Sky (v5.0) (epub)
Carol Ericson [Brody Law 04] The Hill [HI 1523] (epub)
Camp Rock [Second Session 04] Helen Perelman (retail) (epub)

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."You're wrong," I said, and the denial in my voice sounded patently obvious, even to me."My godmother would never do that.For all I know, you're trying to trick me."She smiled, watching me, her eyes bright."Then by all means, let me reassure you of the truth."My left palm slammed down onto the table.I watched, startled, as I gripped the letter opener in my right hand, slasher-movie style.In a panic, I tried to hold back my hand, to drop the opener, but my arms were running on automatic, like they were someone else's."Wait!" I shouted.She regarded me, cold and distant and interested.I slammed the letter opener down onto the back of my own hand, hard.My desk is a cheap one.The steel bit cleanly through the meat between my thumb and forefinger and sank into the desk, pinning me there.Pain washed up my arm even as blood started oozing out of the wound.I tried to fight it down, but I was panicked, in no condition to exert a lot of control.A whimper slipped out of me.I tried to pull the steel away, to get it out of my hand, but my arm simply twisted, wrenching the letter opener counterclockwise.The pain flattened me.I wasn't even able to get enough breath to scream.The woman, the faerie, reached down and took my fingers away from the letter opener.She withdrew it with a sharp, decisive gesture and laid it flat on the desk, my blood gleaming all over it."Wizard, you know as well as I.Were you not bound to me, I would have no such power over you."At that moment, most of what I knew was that my hand hurt, but some dim part of me realized she was telling the truth.Faeries don't just get to ride in and play puppet master.You have to let them in.I'd let my godmother, Lea, in years before, when I was younger, dumber.I'd given her the slip last year, forced an abeyance of her claim that should have protected me for a year and a day.But now she'd passed the reins to someone else.Someone who hadn't been in on the second bargain.I looked up at her, pain and sudden anger making my voice into a low, harsh growl."Who are you?"The woman ran an opalescent fingernail through the blood on my desk.She lifted it to her lips and idly touched it to her tongue.She smiled, slower, more sensual, and every bit as alien."I have many names," she murmured."But you may call me Mab.Queen of Air and Darkness.Monarch of the Winter Court of the Sidhe."Chapter ThreeThe bottom fell out of my stomach.A Faerie Queen.A Faerie Queen was standing in my office.I was looking at a Faerie Queen.Talking to a Faerie Queen.And she had me by the short hairs.Boy, and I'd thought my life was on the critical list already.Fear can literally feel like ice water.It can be a cold feeling that you swallow, that rolls down your throat and spreads into your chest.It steals your breath and makes your heart labor when it shouldn't, before expanding into your belly and hips, leaving quivers behind.Then it heads for the thighs, the knees (occasionally with an embarrassing stop on the way), stealing the strength from the long muscles that think you should be using them to run the hell away.I swallowed a mouthful of fear, my eyes on the poisonously lovely faerie standing on the other side of my desk.It made Mab smile."Yes," she murmured."Wise enough to be afraid.To understand, at least in part.How does it feel, to know what you know, child?"My voice came out unsteady, and more quiet than I would have liked."Sort of like Tokyo when Godzilla comes up on the beach."Mab tilted her head, watching me with that same smile.Maybe she didn't get the reference.Or maybe she didn't like being compared to a thirty-story lizard.Or maybe she did like it.I mean, how should I know? I have enough trouble figuring out human women.I didn't meet Mab's eyes.I wasn't worried about a soulgaze any longer.Both parties had to have a soul for that to happen.But plenty of things can get to you if you make eye contact too long.It carries all sorts of emotions and metaphors.I stared at Mab's chin, my hand burning with pain, and said nothing because I was afraid.I hate being afraid.I hate it more than anything in the whole world.I hate being made to feel helpless.I hate being bullied, too, and Mab might as well have been ramming her fist down my throat and demanding my lunch money.The Faerie Queens were bad news.Big bad news.Short of calling up some hoary old god or squaring off against the White Council itself, I wasn't likely to run into anything else with as much raw power as Mab.I could have thrown a magical sucker punch at her, could have tried to take her out, but even if we'd been on even footing I doubt I would have ruffled her hair.And she had a bond on me, a magical conduit.She could send just about anything right past my defenses, and there wouldn't be anything I could do about it.Bullies make me mad—and I've been known to do some foolish things when I'm angry."Forget it," I said, my voice hot."No deal.Get it over with and blast me.Lock the door on your way out."My response didn't seem to ruffle her.She folded her arms and murmured, "Such anger.Such fire.Yes.I watched you stalemate your godmother the Leanansidhe autumn last.Few mortals ever have done as much.Bold.Impertinent.I admire that kind of strength, wizard.I need that kind of strength."I fumbled around on my desk until I found the tissue dispenser and started packing the wound with the flimsy fabric."I don't really care what you need," I told her."I'm not going to be your emissary or anything else unless you want to force me, and I doubt I'd be much good to you then.So do whatever you're going to do or get out of my office.""You should care, Mister Dresden," Mab told me."It concerns you explicitly.I purchased your debt in order to make you an offer.To give you the chance to win free of your obligations.""Yeah, right.Save it.I'm not interested.""You may serve, wizard, or you may be served.As a meal.Do you not wish to be free?"I looked up at her, warily, visions of barbecued me on a table with an apple in my mouth dancing in my head."What do you mean by 'free'?""Free," she said, wrapping those frozen-berry lips around the word so that I couldn't help but notice."Free of Sidhe influence, of the bonds of your obligation first to the Leanansidhe and now to me.""The whole thing a wash? We go our separate ways?""Precisely."I looked down at my hurting hand and scowled."I didn't think you were much into freedom as a concept, Mab.""You should not presume, wizard.I adore freedom.Anyone who doesn't have it wants it."I took a deep breath and tried to get my heart rate under control.I couldn't let either fear or anger do my thinking for me.My instincts screamed at me to go for the gun again and give it a shot, but I had to think.It was the only thing that could get you clear of the fae.Mab was on the level about her offer.I could feel that, sense it in a way so primal, so visceral, that there was no room left for doubt.She would cut me loose if I agreed to her bargain.Of course, her price might be too high.She hadn't gotten to that yet.And the fae have a way of making sure that further bargains only get you in deeper, instead of into the clear.Just like credit card companies, or those student loan people.Now there's evil for you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]