Jim Butcher - Summer Knight

I had loved her. I wanted very badly to believe her.

"I … I looked for you," I said quietly. "In fire and water. I had spirits combing the Earth for any trace of you. Hoping that you'd survived."

She pushed away from the wall and walked to the fireplace. I heard her putting in wood, and then she murmured something soft and low. Flame licked up over the logs easily, smoothly, low and blue, then settled into a dark golden light. I watched her profile as she stared down at the fire. "I got out of the house before you and Justin were finished," she said finally. "His spells had begun to unravel, and I was struggling against them. Confused, terrified. I must have run. I don't even remember doing it."

"But where have you been?" I asked. "Elaine, I looked for you for years. Years."

"Where you couldn't have found me, Harry. You or anyone else. I found sanctuary. A place to hide. But there was a price, and that's why I'm here." She looked up at me, and though her features were calm and smooth, I could see the fear in her eyes, hear it coloring her voice. "I'm in trouble."

My answer came out at once. For me, chivalry isn't dead; it's an involuntary reflex. It could have been any woman asking for help, and I'd have said the same thing. It might have taken me a second or two longer, but I would have. For Elaine, there was no need to think about it for even that long. "I'll help."

Her shoulders sagged and she nodded, pressing her lips together and bowing her head. "Thank you. Thank you, Harry. I hate doing this, I hate bringing this to you after all this time. But I don't know where else to turn."

"No," I said, "it's all right. Really. What's going on? Why do you think you're in trouble? What do you mean, you're paying a price?"

"It's complicated," she said. "But the short version is that I was granted asylum by the Summer Court of the Sidhe."

My stomach dropped about twenty feet.

"I built up a debt to Titania, the Summer Queen, in exchange for her protection. And now it's time to pay it off." She took a deep breath. "There's been a murder within the realms of the Sidhe."

I rubbed at my eyes. "And Titania wants you to be her Emissary. She wants you to find the killer and prove that the Winter Court is to blame. She told you that you would be contacted tonight by Mab's Emissary, but she didn't tell you who it was going to be."

Elaine's eyes widened in shock, and she fell silent. We stared at one another for a long moment before she whispered, "Stars and stones." She pushed her hair back from her face with one hand, in what I knew to be a nervous gesture, even if it didn't look it. "Harry, if I don't succeed, if I don't fulfill my debt to her, I'm … it's going to be very bad for me."

"Hooboy," I muttered, "tell me about it. Mab's more or less got me over the same barrel."

Elaine swore quietly. "What are we going to do?"

"Uh," I said.

She looked at me expectantly.

I scowled. "I'm thinking, I'm thinking. Uh."

She rose and took a few long-legged strides across the living room and back, agitated. "There must be something … some way out of this. God, sometimes their sense of humor makes me sick. Mab and Titania are laughing right now."

If I'd had the energy, I'd have been pacing, too. I closed my eyes and tried to think. If I didn't succeed on Mab's behalf, she wouldn't grant rights of passage to the Council. The Council would judge that I had failed my trial, and they'd wrap me up and deliver me to the vampires. I didn't know the specifics of Elaine's situation, but I doubted she had a deal that was any less fatal. My head hurt.

Elaine continued pacing, exasperated. "Come on, Harry. What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that if this dilemma grows any more horns I'm going to shoot it and put it up on the wall."

"I know this will never sink into your head, but this isn't a time for jokes. We need to come up with something."

"Okay. I've got it," I said. "Get your stuff and come with me."

Elaine reached back to the shadows beside the fireplace and withdrew a slender staff of pale wood, carved with swirling, abstract shapes. "Where are we going?"

I pushed myself up. "To talk to the Council and get their help."

Elaine lifted her eyebrows. "Don't take this the wrong way, Harry, but are you crazy?"

"Hear me out."

She pressed her lips together, but gave me a quick nod.

"It's simple. We're in way over our heads. We need help. You've got to come out to the Council in any case."

"Says who?"

"Oh, come on. You're human, Elaine, and a wizard. That's what is really important to them. They'll side with us against the faeries, help us figure a way out of this mess."

Elaine twitched at my use of the word, flicking a look around her as if by reflex. "That doesn't sound like the Council I've heard of."

"Could be that you've heard a skewed point of view," I said.

Elaine nodded. "Could be. The Council I've heard of nearly executed you for defending yourself against Justin."

"Well, yeah, but—"

"They put you on probation under threat of summary execution, and you all but had to kill yourself to get cleared."

"Well, I was all but killing myself anyway. I mean, I didn't do it so that the Council would—"

She shook her head. "God, Harry. You just can't see it, can you? The Council doesn't care about you. They don't want to protect you. They will only put up with you as long as you toe the line and don't become an inconvenience."

"I'm already inconvenient."

"A liability, then," Elaine said.

"Look, some of the Council have their heads up their rear ends, sure. But there are good people there, too."

Elaine folded her arms and shook her head. "And how many of those good people don't want a thing to do with the Council?"

"Elaine—"

"No, Harry. I mean it. I don't want anything to do with them. I've lived this long without the Council's so-called protection. I think I can muddle through a little longer."

"Elaine, when they find out about you, it needs to be from you. If you come forward, it's going to cut down on any uneasiness or suspicion they might feel."

"Suspicion?" Elaine exclaimed. "Harry, I am not a criminal."

"You're just asking for trouble, Elaine."

"And how are they going to find out about me? Hmmm? Were you planning on running off to tattle?"

"Of course not," I said. But I was thinking how much trouble I was going to be in if one of the Wardens heard I was associating with someone who might be a violator of the First Law, and one of Justin DuMorne's apprentices at that. With the cloud of disfavor I was already under, adding that kind of suspicion to it might be enough to sink me, regardless of how the investigation turned out. Do I have a great life or what?

"I won't say anything," I said finally. "It has to be your choice, Elaine. But please believe me. Trust me. I have friends in the Council, too. They'll help."

Elaine's expression softened and became less certain. "You're sure?"

"Yeah," I said. "Cross my heart."

She leaned on her oddly carved staff and frowned. She was opening her mouth to speak when my reinforced door rattled under the rapping of a heavy fist.

"Dresden," Morgan growled from the other side of the door. "Open up, traitor. There are questions I need you to answer."

Elaine shot me a wide-eyed look and mouthed the word "Council?"

I nodded and pointed to my staff, in the corner along with my sword cane. Elaine picked it up without a word and tossed it to me. Then she moved silently through the door of my darkened bedroom and vanished inside.

The door rattled again. "Dresden," Morgan growled, "I know you're in there. Open the door."

I swung it open before he could go on. "Or you'll huff and you'll puff and so on?"