Semper Fidelis
Chapter 8
I made it back to Rave just in time for my appointment and half expected the receptionist to glare at me for nearly being late. They take hair really seriously at these places and charge about three hundred for a wash, color, cut, and style job like I was looking for. I know guys see that price and probably blink a dozen times or more before wondering why women cannot just go to The Haircut Factory like they do and get all this for less than twenty bucks but that is because you guys just do not understand what this experience is like. It's why you have two pairs of shoes and we have in excess of thirty. Presentation is everything.
Back to haircuts and another analogy for you cavemen. For men there are only two types of touching; sexual and everything else that you could quite happily live completely without. If we use that scale then for women a good day at a stylist certainly falls directly within that first category. Add to this the fact that it can last hours…well you figure out for yourself what that means to the average woman. And yes, you can all believe that you are the exception to the rule… but if you all consider yourself the exception, who exactly is the standard we are so disappointed in? You think it's your friend don't you? Yeah, here's a little secret. He is sure it's you. Okay boys you do the math on that one.
Granted while I myself am perhaps a bit limited on my experiences in this overall comparative area but it did not mean I did not really appreciate my time at the salon just as much as the average married woman did when I could get it. And it sort of makes you wonder just where the tradition of tipping your stylist or barber came from and what you were actually paying for. As I was saying as close to sex as you can get with no worries of STDs!
Knowing all this then and how Rave was an upscale version that catered to the most sensual aspects of this experience you should understand my shock when I got back to the salon and found there was only a single female stylist of my age sitting in her chair and paging through magazines. The others who had been there before to include the 'too busy to do my job' receptionist were nowhere to be seen which I found odd considering just how busy they had been thirty minutes ago. That energy I had felt earlier was gone but my own excited prickly feeling I had walking into this place was still there. I assumed it was part of the salon's general atmosphere I guess.
The article she was reading must have grabbed her attention for she did not look up when I made my way inside and hung up my coat. Granted there was not one of those annoying little bells hanging over the door, not in a top end salon, but I had figured maybe the cold blast of outside air might have grabbed her attention. I noted right away that inside, while warming that outside of course, was not overly so. I guess the manager could keep the temperature down and rely upon all the hair dryers and bodies walking around to keep the place at a comfortable temperature. One stylist without any of the equipment running was just not up to the task.
"Um I think I have an appointment?" I said drawing the remaining stylist's attention away from the latest cover story from this week's copy of The Arcane; a magazine that catered to the supernatural and occasionally reported a true story between ones of Elvis's demon-spawned baby or how the real Wonder Woman secretly works for TSA. This week's headline for example was something about how ancient Mayan priests were really vampires and their sacrifices had been to appease their own bloodlust if my eyes were not deceiving me. I knew Harry's ex-girlfriend Susan had occasionally wrote for the weekly supernatural gossip rag and was living in South America so I had a moment of curiosity to see if the byline had her name attached. Susan was one of those who only report true stories.
"You I take it are Molly Carpenter?" Her voice asked rhetorically rather briskly as she stood up from her chair so I could take a seat. "I love your obvious style girl but I think we need to update your image to be more in line with the real you." I nodded happily knowing she understood and then noted upon closer examination that she was not just a stylist, she was also a customer of the salon as well.
Her hair was dyed as well and she seemed more akin to the darker tones of greens and blues more like rich sea foam than forests. Even up close the work was stunningly perfect, the hair lines crisp yet they effortlessly faded from one tone and back again to give her a constant wavy appearance. And whatever her original color I could not tell for there was no sign of either darker or lighter patches at the base of her scalp. I guess working for a salon allowed you the opportunity to stay ahead of such things.
I was looking forward to my own style being equally as professional. "What happened to everyone?" I asked as I took my seat in the reclining chair with the sink behind it. "When I stopped by here before the place was packed and there were a slew of stylists." I said as she placed the really big bib around my neck.
"That was the lunch time rush." She replied with a sparkle of fun. "It happens almost every day at about that time." With the bib secured she leaned my chair back over the sink and I noted the cold, cool, and detached professionalism in her eyes of someone who had likely done this hundreds of times in her life, which I placed between twenty five and thirty five years old. I guess if you have cut a couple hundred heads of hair you sort of don't get all that excited by it anymore.
"So you bring in a few stylists for lunch hour and then they go home?" I asked.
"Usually." She replied. "Though today they all went off to eat lunch themselves and get back here before the after work crowd starts wandering through."
I was going to ask what about the stay at home types of customers or the college kids without classes who come by at odd times. Normally my own salon catered to these non-working types during these odd working hours. I guess being down in the business district probably changed that customer base compared to being in the suburbs where I lived or spent most of my time. There were not any apartments near here that I knew of and businesses owned or rented all the property for a few blocks in all directions to support the Chicago stock market.
"I'm surprised your owner picked this location to set up a salon." I said as she moved my long hair into the sink. "I would think that you would not attract much business in a location like this."
"Those meant to find us usually have no problem doing so." She said with a smile as she turned the water on and began to sluice it through my hair. My god the water was freezing! I yelped and tried to shift but her hand came down on my chest and held me still. "You for example seemed to have no problem finding us."
"Damn that is cold!" I said but her firm hand kept me in place and after the first shudder that ran through and chilled me I adapted to the cold and let her do her job without holding me down. The cold was an initial shock but I also felt my scalp come alive and tingle and her fingertips and even the hard edges of her white painted nails scratched away peeling off dead skin and hair so the rest could grow strong.
"Cold water is invigorating for the body." She said as her fingers dug into my scalp and pushed the water directly against the roots. "It will bring greater shine to your hair than warmer water and will awaken it to grow. The warm is for those who are too lazy or too weak of spirit."
I'd say that the feel of her fingers were right on that fine edge between pain and pleasure, deliciously decadent and desirable. This drew me into its emotional embrace and brought me to life. Hey what can I say, I'm sensitive like that. I could even feel the tingling of electricity running along my spine and that my body was drawing in magic from the world around me as if in response to this touch. Like I said, it was not sex but it is certainly in the same category of intimate contact.
"So let's figure out the appropriate hair color for you." She said to me as if in seeming indifference from the effect of her touch on me. I guess she was probably used to it and merely continued on as she added some brand of shampoo onto my hair and began to work it in deeply. To my tingling senses the clean, pine-like scent of its fragrance was further enticing. "What do you do for a living Molly?" She asked as she kept up with her task and I could feel the soapy suds building up.
Okay this is always an awkward question for a wizard. Like anyone else we don't like having people look at us like we are nuts. We also do not like having to prove we are what we say we are and cast spells to demonstrate that we are not lying. Of course that merely leaves the other alternative of actually lying which Father Forthill likes to say is wrong even in this case so I try to accommodate these beliefs.
I sighed and answered as I mentally prepared myself for the inevitable uncomfortable moment to come as I answered her question. "I'm a wizard." I said.
"That's cool." She replied without any emotion and her fingers never even skipped a beat. Being gifted with sensitive magic I can usually sense changes in people's emotions but my words had not had a single effect upon her that I could tell. She took the claim of my being a wizard as easily as if I said I was a college student. Now I'm not stupid so this finally set off in me a series of internal alarms that I noted had been screaming in my mind for a while but I knew now they had been stifled. But now that I was regaining my senses the lack of others present and the general atmosphere of the place along with the appearance of my stylist led me to believe I was dealing with…
The door to the salon slammed open and this troll sized guy dressed in coveralls and a hooded parka stomped in. He did not have the appearance of a regular customer and just as both of our sets of eyes were drawn to him he raised a rather disagreeable looking large handgun and pulled the trigger. I was thankful that the hair washing had pulled magic to me that was ready to be used but I had not even had the time to think of calling up a shield much less make it happen when the shot fired.
Thankfully the gun was not pointed toward either of us but rather at the single surveillance camera that hung over the receptionist's desk and pointed toward the door. It exploded in a cascade of sparks and rained down a trickle of small plastic, glass, and electronic parts as the gunman now swung the weapon in our direction for emphasis. I began to try to sit up in response, not something easy to do starting at a ten degree decline, but my stylist's hand on my forehead kept me in place with a firm but silent command to stay where I was while she watched the newcomer.
"I'm here for the money." He said with words that could have been written by a cheap Hollywood scriptwriter as he flipped his hood back and displayed a nose obviously broken numerous times and a face that it seemed to be perfectly suited to as well. I thought to myself that shooting up the close circuit television camera is not the normal action for someone looking for a hair appointment. Knowing he was limited in his creativity I cringed knowing what else was to come. "Give it to me and no one has to get hurt." Yep, looks like he had studied up on his robbery techniques from watching Law and Order reruns. With a lingering touch to remind me I was not to move my hair stylist turned to face the intruder fully on.
"You understand that you are interrupting a private appointment just for a few hundred dollars?" She asked in a tone that displayed her obvious annoyance. One might think this brave in a person armed only with a blow drier and curling iron, but I knew better by now. Unfortunately our visitor was not quite so savvy and felt neither the tension growing in the air nor the subtle drop in temperature in the room that served as a warning. There were two strikes against him and the batter had not even had the sense to see the count was against him.
She began to walk casually toward the intruder showing no outward signs of fear or any internal ones I could sense either. That alone should have registered on anyone who is holding a gun that the person being talked to is not easily intimidated and therefore likely more than they appear. Harry says most people are oblivious to such things though and from watching this play out I knew he was correct.
"I don't care what you two are doing just give me the money in the register and you can get back to it. That is unless of course you two would like me to join into the fun as well." He said with a lecherous leer and displayed none of the fear he should have.
Murphy had told me that it was not uncommon for many crooks to get so afraid when committing a crime that they actually shake more than those they are robbing. Sometimes a robber will run off if the person they are holding at gunpoint merely says no to their demands. In one case she said the Chicago police arrested another guy holding up a 7-11 because he literally peed on himself because he was so scared and got caught running down the street in wet underwear and waving a gun. She said the scared ones were pretty dangerous to those around them because the gun they were holding would often go off accidentally just from their shaking.
But our visitor here showed no sign of this kind of stress. Either he was very experienced in these types of events or he was hoped up on drugs or alcohol, another fairly common occurrence in robberies that often led to undesirable bullet wounds. I began to slowly move my left hand, the one with the shield bracelet Harry had made for me, off of the armrest and over my body so I could point it in the intruder's direction if such a thing became called for. Unfortunately he noticed my movements and swung the barrel of the gun in my direction to get me to stop without saying a word.
As she took each step toward him the stylist's basic manner seemed to change before my eyes. I knew Thomas was a White Court vampire and that his very being and movements exuded confidence and sensuality to those around him. It was an aphrodisiac built into his very DNA. It was impossible for him to walk down a crowded street and not have every woman's eyes, and a fair number of men's, turn to follow him. Now with each step my hair dresser seemed to grow away from the mere mortal shell she had disguised herself in and more and more like a creature of power and seduction though there was nothing physically that seemed to change about her. They say attitude is everything and I have to agree.
I could sense not only the increase in sexual tension in the room but also that the guy holding the gun sensed it as well and he was hopelessly intrigued by it. From this angle behind her I could not help by notice the subtle yet sexually pronounce sway of her hips and understood how such actions drew men's eyes. I reminded myself to work on my own walk in the future even though there was no way I could ever compete on this level.
"I see from your style that you are one of those charming and dashing bandits of the fairy tales." She said sweetly and from the various mirrors hung around the salon I could see her raise the white nail of her right hand pinky to her impossibly full lips and smile coyly at him while she bit on it slightly. "You are like that old English guy. What was his name? Oh yes Robin the Hood or something like that. Come to steal from the rich and sweep maidens off their feet." The only thing she was missing to play out the Evil Kinkstress act, as Harry had referred to this part of her persona, is a shirt that read Boy Toy but our visitor did not seem to notice its absence.
"Yeah that is me." He said gulping in response as his eyes never left looking upon what she was offering. For the first time the gunman's confidence seemed to be shaken or at least displaced by other thoughts and emotions. His gun stayed pointed in my general direction and I hoped she did not distract him too much that something went off accidentally. My left hand inched a little farther along my body and I prepared to call up a shield in for my defense case I needed it.
"Ah he is both handsome and eloquent." She lied blatantly before stopping right before him and letting the hand whose finger had just been in her own mouth reach out and touch the guy on his chest and slowly start sliding suggestively lower. "Surely you would allow me a chance to fully enjoy this storybook moment as is only befitting?" She asked with a husky feminine voice dripping with false innocence and a body and attitude that bespoke nothing but guilty pleasures.
"You sure speak funny." His brain made his mouth speak whatever thought had flickered across his mind instead of running like he should have. I was starting to understand why Harry had so many scars. Men are just plain stupid.
"Surely if you are going to take my money you could at least leave me with a kiss knowing it shall torture me with restless nights as I relive its feel over and over." She slid her body against his and even through the parka I could tell he felt the electricity she was sending him.
I suppose he would be less than human had he been able to deny her request. While the gun pointed in my direction like his mind now waivered off target, he swept his free arm around her waist and drew her body even closer to his own. She let out a perfectly appropriate coy giggle and turned her face up to meet his just as his slightly parted lips came down on hers and their tongues fenced in a passionate dance.
It took only an instant but I could see from where I lay that his suddenly eyes opened wide realizing the trap he had fallen into. He tried to suck a breath in through his nose but her hands locked on the back of his head and drew him closer still. While not bright, his survival instinct kicked in and even though he weighed three times what she appeared to his efforts to escape were all in vain. I have to this point unfortunately witnessed a few deaths in my time, all since my powers came into being in fact, and I can say that this one was the cleanest of any I had observed first hand.
From across the room I could feel the sudden burst of pure arctic cold emanate from her body and could also see and even hear the fluids in his body freeze instantly. Ice I realized at that moment crackles just as loudly when it is created rapidly as it does when it breaks.
But Winter was hardly satisfied at such a simple and efficient kill. She kept the kiss going even after the heart in the gunman's body had frozen solid in mid beat and then poured even more and more of the elementally frigidness at the mortal in her grasp pushing the flesh past merely frozen. While ice seemed solid to the touch I knew from school and my studies in magic that the atoms that made up the ice were still in motion only much slower than normal. To stop them completely required the temperature to reach what my chemistry teacher had called absolute zero. The robber's atoms reached this point in less than five seconds after the kiss began.
Had she allowed more time to reach this point his body might have burst apart like a frozen watermelon as each one of his cells expanded and exploded as its liquid turned to ice. But because she infused him with the magical essence of elemental cold instead the atoms that made up the molecules that made up his cells all stopped moving at once and simply fell apart. I can only describe the results as making the body that had been standing there collapse like a castle of dry sand and then having even those individual particles break apart further leaving not even a hint of residual dust to mark that a living mortal being had once been standing there. The only sound made in this process after the ice cracked was a muffled thud as the heavy gun landed on the floor thankfully without going off. It was an efficient way for Winter to kill, dare I say coldly efficient.
"Yes I will certainly relive this memory often." My stylist said with a sinister gloat and turned to look at me. She no longer hid behind the glamour of commonality she had placed upon the salon. She was a creature of power and subtle danger. She was…
"Maeve." I said acknowledging aloud to her that I knew who I was facing. I tried awkwardly again to sit up but that is not easy to do in a chair leaning so far backward and in truth while that was a panic response I knew if the Lady of Winter meant me harm there was little I'd be able to do to stop her. Figuring I'd rather die comfortable I leaned back once more into the chair and turned my head to watch her approach.
"Well it seems that Harry Dresden's lessons are not a complete waste of time." She said walking back toward me with that same sensuous gait that now seemed natural to her. "Care to tell, girl to girl, me what other 'lessons' he has taught you so far?"
There was a wicked and teasing look in her eye but I also sensed something else. She could not completely hide that she was actually interested in the answer. I had heard Harry say she had made advances on him in the past like she did to all men and that he had turned her down. I could see now that this rejection made him all the more interesting to her because so few had likely ever done so; or done so and lived to tell the tale. I suspect the Lady of Winter has a reputation of desirability to maintain where men are concerned.
"I can see this is worth much to you." I said with a hint of a knowing smile of my own. "How many wishes are you willing to offer for giving you this information?" I said which caused her to draw to a stop a few steps from me. She looked at me with a flicker of anger for daring this impertinence and then let her lips blossomed into a full smile.
"That is very good of you sister." She nodded in approval. "It appears that Wizard Dresden explained our kind to you quite well in fact. That speaks well for both of you and offers all kinds of enjoyment for me. I so prefer taking advantage of those knowledgeable of our tactics. There is something intensely satisfying of getting the better of someone who should know better than it is for those who are ignorant of us." She finished walking back over to me.
"I would think we would be past that and your mission here is to offer me an appropriate payment for this service I am rendering to you as Winter's agent in these events." I said. "I hope you don't think a makeover qualifies as such a payment?" I said and then exerting all my will to not panic I turned my head back in my chair, flipped my soapy hair back into the sink, and closed my eyes to signal I was allowing her to continue where she had left off.
The room got noticeable colder for a second. "It seems that Dresden taught you more than a little of his arrogance too." She said disapprovingly but not completely to my surprise went back to washing the soap out of my hair while she continued to talk.
"Obviously I am here because you took upon yourself the token we Queen Mab had meant for Harry." She said as her fingers combed through my hair and drew away the remaining soap stroke after stroke. "Normally such insolence is punished harshly for only we select any who is allowed the privilege to wear a title of Winter's champion. Your impertinence in this matter almost led to your destruction and if not for two things you would join that foolish mortal who decided his course with the wrong part of himself."
"It is only the Queen's current need and the regard she holds for you master that allowed me to convince Mab to hold this interview instead of killing you outright like the poor bandit." The picture of my body turning to frozen atomic dust like his made me shudder but I blamed it on the cold water. "Summer's champion remained and so to balance Wizard Dresden was once more called. But he was not available and as you rightly pointed out sister, you are currently an extension of his authority much as I serve Queen Mab." She said.
"Then why take over a hairstyle salon just to talk to me instead of appearing in my car or something more flashy? I thought the sudden appearance was more along Faerie style in order to intimidate those you seek to coerce." I said. "I take it by the way that the actual stylists and patrons are in no true danger?"
"The goal of this meeting was for me to learn more of your character since we have paid little attention to you." She said turning off the water now that all the soap had been washed clean from my hair. "We know some things about you from your time in Arctis Tor but the Fetches you had direct dealings with and know you best were unfortunately permanently removed from our service by you master and his friends." Which meant Harry, Murphy, Thomas, and my mom had killed them.
"Of course The Leanansidhe normally keeps track of Dresden's activities, and would have by extension your own as well, but she is rather indisposed and currently Queen Mab is reforming her." Harry said she too had be locked into a block of ice near where Lloyd Slate was being tortured.
"Therefore the Queen decided it feel to me to determine if we accept you as our agent in this matter and therefore that your actions shall reflect upon our court's standing. If my decision proves wrong the Queen's anger will be visited upon me as well." She paused to look at me as she pulled up a thick cotton bath towel. "I will freely admit my initial instincts went toward killing you for daring to assume the mantle of Winter's agent. However, your use of the Winter token to temporarily poison a part of Summer's demesnes I found wonderfully delightful. It was enough to in fact stay my hand. Therefore it is in both of our interests to see that your personal motivations make you appropriate to continue in this role or if another more suitable agent must be selected."
"I will try not to disappoint you." I said as she stepped on the pedal and chair raised back up from its reclining position back into a more traditional sitting one.
"Like Dresden I think you show too much compassion for those around you which we see as a weakness and a potential distraction." Maeve began to towel dry my hair but even under the thick cotton I had no trouble hearing each of her words clearly. "Your concern for the mortals from this shop is merely another example. So we stay focused and you avoid unnecessary distraction the employees and customers of this shop are merely in the back room deeply asleep, or as they commonly say they are in hibernation since that is the term you use for winter slumber. They will awaken without harm or even memory of these events." She answered.
"That is good for you because then I will not feel forced to raise my price for this service I do for you." I said.
The towel stopped moving. "I see Dresden has unfortunately infected you with his wit and arrogance as well."
"See I'm a perfect replacement for Harry then. We both know at this point you are stuck with me and we both have no interest in prolonging our association any longer than necessary." I said as I pulled the towel down off of my head to turn toward her. "Now let's settle on a price so I can get about my business." I said levelly and looked at the Lady of Winter.
"Indeed." She agreed.
"As I see it this situation appears on the surface fairly straightforward." I said. "Both Winter and Summer Courts require a free willed emissary to look over the facts of this incident and determine the cause. Court prestige among the other powers hangs in the balance. Last time since both the Winter Knight and Summer Lady were to blame for events neither side felt a shift in balance or the support they garner from outside. But this time the scales are completely unstable and so other powers may decide to become part of the ongoing game between you. This randomness suits neither of your courts for it upsets the eternal balance."
"You are quite perceptive for one so young." She nodded with a look of approval.
"On the face of things it truly looks like Winter is guilty." I said continuing on so as to not get distracted. "Striking down two of the Summer Court though is almost too direct and it hardly plays out in Winter's favor at this time." I said. "You are still absent your Winter Knight if you still have him encased in ice like I saw back at Arctis Tor. Were such a plan truly to be hatched by Queen Mab she would likely want her knight and all of her court available for the battle to come so she might defeat Summer once and for all. Therefore unless you have recently named a new Winter Knight it seems unlikely this plan was yours."
"As you say the traitor Lloyd Slate remains in his tortured state until the Queen releases him." Maeve agreed with obvious annoyance of this particular subject. "She remains steadfast in her wants for your master to assume this mantle and will not finish off this betrayer until Harry agrees to do so." I knew that Faeries could not lie but sometimes such things are even worse to deal with when you know there is no chance of them being less than true.
"So your court remains denied of his power." I said. "But Summer's Lady and Knight are currently weakened which on the face of things improves Winter's strategic situation, but only for a few more weeks until the winter solstice when your power will begin to wane and Summer's begin to grow once more. The strike that took down these two from Summer's court did not kill them yet. Their bodies still live on at the moment and therefore still hold Summer's power trapped within them. They have been effectively neutralized and unless Queen Tatania sees fit to let them die to transfer their power Winter holds an advantage. If you were to strike such a blow now, the Queen would have no choice but to let the pair die and transfer their power to others in order to oppose you. Your war would hardly be guaranteed. In fact it serves to better that Lily and Fix remain in a coma but you have no control over that." I reasoned. "What purpose does it serve Winter then to strike such a blow if they are unable to capitalized upon once served?"
"Are you asking me to provide you with this information?" She asked me in response to my rhetorical question. Since information was the normal currency used between mortals and the Sidhe she would likely be happy to provide this as my price of service.
"No I am merely reasoning this out for myself now that I have a moment to think about everything I have learned." I replied as she waited patiently. "I may decide I have questions I want you to answer but there seems no reason to have you provide me information I already posses if I just reason it through." She looked at me with another little hint that bespoke respect and that had not been there a moment before. I did not let that distract me from putting the pieces together.
"The fact remains that one of Winter's tokens was found on the cook." I said. "I must assume with the power they hold and as you stated earlier the actions of those who carry them reflect upon your court that you do not give those out to just anyone?" I reasoned aloud.
"That is a fair assumption." Maeve agreed. "They are given only to those we consider one of Winter's Champions or as a token of our favor for a mortal's actions on our behalf."
What favor a cook might have provided to Mab I could not fathom but I certainly did not want my 'payment' to include information that was not directly important to solving the mystery I was working on. His reward came from some past action and therefore may be completely unrelated. So what else did I know about what all was going on?
Instead of approaching this head on I needed to look at it from another angle. "Let's assume for the moment that Queen Mab is not out to destroy Summer but instead that one of your champions decided to go rogue on you." I said. Maeve looked at me with annoyance but said nothing of this slander of her mortal servants. Since this type of action was not unknown even among the highest levels of Winter such as Lloyd Slate how could one doubt a lower-level associate might not do the same? When your forces are driven by self-promotion and gratification like the Unseelie tended to favor and held in check only by fear of Queen Mab and those who held more power it is not surprising that some might seek to take unsanctioned actions of their own if they thought they could get away with it.
"Still if that were true then what was the cook's motivation?" I asked myself. "What does an agent gain by sacrificing themselves to cause harm to a few nobles of Summer's Court? He must understand that even if he is successful all his actions accomplished is a transfer of power to two new members of the court? Personal revenge of course fits this bill and I have no doubt the powers of Summer have made enemies but Fix and lily are new in their power. It seems unlikely they could have inspired such hate so fast." I thought aloud and ignored Maeve's eyes on me.
"We all have enemies sister." She said with a cool smile. "It is a burden we of power must endure. I am sure my dear that as a wielder of magical power you will learn this for yourself all too soon. But still I must agree with your assessment that neither Lily nor Fix struck me as the kind to inspire such rash and final action in others either."
In my few years of magical power I had already acquired a few powerful enemies, many of which were the leaders of the White Council of Wizards of which I was a member. Then there were Harry's enemies who might have looked upon me as a foe due to being his apprentice; Harry tended to make lots of enemies. Thankfully my only solo adventure since gaining my powers left few people with a personal grudge against yours truly.
The Lady of Winter had however just offered me confirmation of my assumptions without actually holding this provided information over my head as a potential payment. I had to assume she wanted me to solve this every bit as much as I did but was bound by laws to act as she did. I put that thought to the side and concentrated on what she had said.
I turned away from these thoughts for they were only distractions from my current situation. Harry had stressed in such situations that I needed to stay focused or I end up trapping myself. While a personal suicidal vengeance fit the facts it still did not make sense when all the other outside factors were considered. How could such a sacrifice serve a greater purpose? I wondered internally until the answer came to me. "Such an attack might make sense of course if the agent who poisoned the Lily and Fix was himself a stooge of someone else with their own agenda." I reasoned aloud.
"That seems an apt deduction." Maeve stood watching me as if she could read my thoughts.
"Summer also reported that some of their most loyal and effective forces have been defecting to Winter." I said and noticed Maeve's eye rose in apparent interest at this news. "Assuming this activity is associated with the poisoning attempt, and it is too convenient and timely not to be, then the overall purpose seems to be to weaken Summer first and then to attack by using forces not aligned to Winter, and therefore not subject to Mab's monitoring. That means either the action is not sanctioned by Mab, she wants plausible deniability of these events, or most likely whoever is behind this wants Summer and Winter's eyes on each other while they carve out power for themselves while your focus is somewhere else. I have to think with the way all eyes immediately turned to accuse Winter the last is the most promising."
"That certainly seems a reasonable assumption of an underlying motivation for these events." Maeve said in a way that seemed to me like she herself was just coming to this same conclusion. Her tone though offered no agreement that I was on the correct course but I suspected that while Summer had been accusing Winter for these events, Winter had in turn naturally assumed this was a grand play of Summer in order to draw forth an attack by a weaker opponent. With the Winter Knight out of play why wouldn't Queen Tatania make it look like Summer had been weakened to draw them into battle? And the two nobles conveniently downed could make impressive and timely recoveries in order to restore Summer's advantage. So of course Winter would want someone to prove that this was actually Summer's plan.
Harry had also told me that dealing with those of Faerie was never a straightforward endeavor. Instead they wove intrigues within plots within schemes. With millennia at their disposal they were master manipulators and even though they could not state a falsehood they had no problem leading mortals, especially perky teenage wizards, into disillusioning themselves by making assumptions that were not true. Unfortunately in order for me to be certain of their motives required one of them to provide information which they never willingly did for free, unless that too served their greater purpose. Maeve was forcing my hand.
"Alright let's get back to talking about payment." I said with a new sense of determination.
Maeve held out her hand palm up and whispered a word I did not recognize. "We in Winter have heard of the injuries your father sustained in battle against our mutual foes. He is protected by powers other than our own so we may not heal his body. We can however provide you the resources to see to this through mortal mean." In her hand gleamed a dozen or more gold coins that looked not unlike the ones that Daniel had acquired. A cold shudder ran through my body at this.
The rage built up so fast in me that I slapped her hand away and the coins went flying across the room. I cannot tell you which of the two of us was more surprised by this action and had I paused to think I might have been smarted in the words that I chose.
"First, you will start by answering any and all questions I have on this matter truthfully and honesty." I said staring at the Lady of Winter who was still coming to grips with my actions. "Second, you will swear that Winter shall leave my family, all of my family…" I stressed these words slowly and distinctly. "…alone for ever more and any contracts or debts you have with them will be considered paid in full."
I took a breath before continuing and the realization of what I had done suddenly hit me and stopped the next words in my throat. Maeve recovered from her own shock at this point as well too and the room suddenly became much, much colder.
"Is that all?" She asked as her eyes narrowed on me daring me to ask for anything further. Harry always said it was important to show the Sidhe that they could not intimidate you. Unfortunately at this moment I was feeling really intimidated. I whispered my spell of courage on myself and waited for it to take effect before answering.
"No…there is one more thing." I said with my own smile back at Maeve. "You will finish my hair styling and make me look beautiful." I closed my eyes and waited for my world to end. Instead, after the longest ten seconds I think I have ever experienced I felt her tug my hair and the comforting sounds of scissors clipping away.
"You have our agreement sister." Maeve said the last word like she wanted to spit it at my feet. "I will make sure your beauty rivals that of Unseelie Court so all know you are our champion."
I have to say when I opened my eyes and saw not only the results of my new color and style but of the makeup and clothing she had magically provided I was not disappointed.