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Post by Arwen17 on Nov 6, 2015 12:34:56 GMT
Book report!
Book 1 is an intro to Harry and how wizards operate. He solves a case against another wizard. Book 2 is about werewolves. Book 3 is about ghosts, the Red Court vampires, and Harry's faery godmother trying to trap him at every turn. Lea is Harry's psycho faery godmother. He has to trick her several times to escape her. Book 4: Queen Mab first shows up in Summer Knight and offers Harry a job. He is forced to accept thru wily faery bargaining tactics. I'm starting Book 5 now and it looks like its heading back into vampire territory for awhile, until it goes back into faery territory in later books. There's like 3 vampire courts (Red, Black, White) and a Wizard council and the faery courts (Winter, Summer). So it's a fantastic world of many different creatures.
Now I will pull out some of my favorite quotes from Summer Knight. All of the books are great, but I'm much more interested in the faeries than the vampires so far. Their stories are more fun. This is just bits and pieces I'm picking out. It's verbatim, but sometimes I left off a really long sentence that wasn't important to keep things shorter. Just a teaser. hehehe page numbers: 145, 153, 167-168, 178-180, 190-195, 221, 237-240, 242, 300, 301-302, 320, 397, 404-406, 414, 437-438
My pen scratched on the paper until Bob blurted, “Mab? The Mab, Harry?” “Yeah.” “Queen of Air and Darkness? That Mab?” “And she's your client?” “Yes, Bob.” “Here's where I ask why don't you spend your time doing something safer and more boring.”
I'd have to say Bob the Skull was almost shaking. “You're an idiot about women. And you have no idea what Mab is capable of.”
Of course, I suppose it would be possible for faeries to throw a veil or a glamour over themselves before they came in, but even experienced faeries have trouble passing for mortal. Mab had looked good, sure, but hadn't really looked normal. Faeries can do a lot of things really well, but blending in with a crowd generally isn't one of them.
Did you ever think they just don't care about fitting in, Harry Dresden? Especially in Mab's case.
“The wizard is here.” “Here?” the second male echoed in a panicky tone. “Now? Why didn't you tell us?” “Shut up,” snapped the female voice. “He's in Mab's pocket,” said Ace. “You know he is. She crossed over from Faerie today.” “No way,” said the second voice, “He's supposed to be the decent sort, right?” “Depends on who you hear it from,” said Ace. “People who get in his way have had a habit of getting real dead.”
I expected a torrent of outraged but empty threats. That was Toot's usual procedure. Instead, he let out a hiss and crouched down in the circle. “You can't make us. We haven't been Called and until we are, we belong to ourselves.” I blinked down at them. “Called? What are you talking about?” “We're not stupid, Emissary,” Toot said. “I know what you are. I can smell the Cold Queen all over you.” I wondered if they made a deodorant for that. I lifted my hand in a placating gesture. “I'm working for Mab right now, but it's just another client, okay? I'm not here to take you anywhere or make you do anything.”
“I hear the Courts are upset.” “More than just upset, Harry Dresden. The drawing of the wyldfae is beginning.” “Drawing of the wyldfae. Like you guys?” Toot nodded. “Not everyone plays with the Courts. We mostly just do our jobs and don't pay much attention. But when there's a war on, the wyldfae get Called to one side or another.” “Who picks which way you go?” Toot shrugged. “Mostly the nice wyldfae go to the Warm Queen and the mean ones go to Cold. “Uh-huh. So have you been doing Warm or Cold things?” Toot let out a sparkling laugh. “How should I remember all those things?” He rose to his feet, eyes calculating. “Is that a pizza box you have there, Harry?”
Harry regularly bribes this faery with pizza. It's hilarious. At one point, he calls Harry the “Pizza Lord”, as if Harry were a Sidhe lord lol.
“Hang on. There are some things you need to know.” Billy frowned, but stopped to listen. “These are faeries. We'll probably run into a lot of the Sidhe, their nobles, hanging out with the Winter Lady. That means that they're going to be dangerous and will probably try to entrap you.” “What do you mean, entrap me?” Billy said. “Bargains,” I said. “Deals. They'll try to offer you things, get you to trade one thing for another.” “Why?” I shook my head. “I don't know. It's in their nature. The concept of debt and obligation is a huge factor in how they behave.” Billy lifted his eyebrows. “That's why that little guy worked for you, right? Because he owed you for the pizza and had a debt to you.” “Right,” I said. “But it can work both ways. If you owe them something, they have a conduit to you and can use magic against you. The basic rule is not to accept any gifts from them—and for God's sake, don't offer them any gifts. They find anything other than an equal exchange to be either enticing or insulting. It isn't a big deal with the little guys like Toot, but if you get into it with a Sidhe Lord you might not live through it.”
I lifted my voice and said clearly, “I am the Wizard Dresden, Emissary of the Winter Court, bound to pay a call upon the Winter Lady. I've no time or desire for a fight. Stand clear and let me pass.” “We know who you are, wizard.” the voice said. It's inflections were all wrong. “Who are you?” “A servant of the Winter Lady.” the voice replied from directly behind me. “Sent here to guide you safely through this realm and to her court.” “I ask again. Who are you?” The voice came out harsh and sullen. “Grimalkin am I called by the Cold Lady, who bids guide her Emissary with safe conduct to her court and her throne.”
“Uh-huh. You know what bothers me, Harry?” “What?” “Grimalkin never said he'd guide us out again.” I glanced back at Billy. Quiet, hissing laughter came out of the darkness, directionless.
I nodded, getting it. “Changeling,” I said to Billy. “She's half mortal and half fae.” “Which means what?” I shrugged. “It means that she has to choose whether to remain mortal or become wholly fae.” “Yes,” she said. “And until then I'm under the rule of the Court of my fae father. Winter. The others too. That's why the four of us stuck together. It was safer.”
“I'm a tad busy this week, but I'll do what I can.” The girl's brow furrowed. “You're not like anyone else I've ever met who was working for Winter. Mab usually likes her agents...colder, I think. Hungrier. More cruel.” I shrugged. “She wanted someone to find a killer. I've had some experience.” She nodded. “Still, you seem like a decent enough person. It makes me sad to think that you've gotten entangled in Winter's snares.” I stopped chewing and looked up at her, hard. “Oh, Hell's bells.” She looked at me and lifted an eyebrow. “Hmm?” I put the sandwich down and said, “You're her. You're the Summer Lady.” The shadow of a smile touched the girl's lips, and she bowed her head toward me. Her blond hair cleared out to Sidhe white, eyes vertically slitted and almost violently green.
“So are you going to stop playing games with me and help Elaine?” “That depends.” My teeth clenched and I said in a falsely pleasant voice, “On what?” She turned her calm, inhuman eyes to me. “On you.” “Don't go getting specific on me, now,” I said. “I wouldn't know how to handle it.” “Do you think this is a joke, Mr. Dresden? A game?” “I know damn well it isn't a game.” She shook her head. “And that is where you are wrong. It is a game, but you aren't allowed to know the rules to this game, and it was never intended to be fair. Do you know why Mab chose you, wizard?” I glared at her. “No.” “Neither do I,” she said. “And that is my part of the game. Why choose you? It must be because she expects something of you that she would get from no one else. Perhaps bringing Elaine here is what she expected.” “What's the difference?” I demanded. “But if that is what Winter expects, it could be used against me. I am the Queen of Summer, but even so I must be cautious in the use of my power.” I snorted. “Maeve sure as hell doesn't think that way.” “Of course not,” she said. “She's Winter. She's violent, vicious, merciless.” “And your centaur is just the soul of gentleness and understanding.”
“I just want you to help Elaine.” “I know,” she said. “I believe you. But I don't trust you.” “What reason do you have not to trust me?” “I've watched you.” she responded. “You're a mercenary. You work for hire.” “Yeah. To pay the bills and--” She raised a hand. “You've made bargains with demons.” “Nickel-and-dime stuff, nothing huge or--” “You traded yourself to the Leanansidhe for power.” “When I was younger, and a hell of a lot stupider, and in trouble--” Her inhuman eyes met mine, penetrating. “You've killed.” I looked away from her. There wasn't much to say to that. She nodded, slowly. “From the beginning, you have been meant to be a destroyer. A killer. Do you know the original purpose of a godparent, Mr. Dresden?” “Yeah,” I said. I felt tired. “A godparent was chosen to ensure that a child had religious and moral guidance and teaching.” “Indeed,” she said. “And your godmother, your teacher and guide, is the most vicious creature of Mab's Court, second in strength only to Mab herself.” I let out a harsh laugh. “Teacher? Guide? Is that what you think Lea is to me?” “Isn't she?” “Lea barely noticed me except when she thought she could get something from me,” I spat. “The rest of the time she couldn't care less. The only thing she taught me was if I didn't want to get walked on I had to be smarter than her, stronger than her, and willing to do something about it.” Aurora turned her lovely face fully toward me regarded me with deep, quiet eyes. “Yes.” Unease gnawed at my belly as she continued. “The strong conquer and the weak are conquered. That is Winter. That is what you have learned. That is what makes you dangerous. Do you see?”
“I'll live.” “True,” she said. “But this is where it always begins. Monsters are born of pain and grief and loss and anger. Your heart is full of them.” I shrugged. “And?” “And it makes you vulnerable. Vulnerable to Mab's influence, to temptations that would normally be unthinkable.” “I'm handling temptation pretty damned well, thank you.” “But for how long? Let me help you.” Sunlight like a lazy afternoon spread over my skin. “Please, let me help you. We'll make it a bargain, Mr. Dresden. Desist. Relax your efforts to help Winter. Stay here for a time and let me grant you a measure of peace.” I struggled to think clearly. If I took the deal, it would probably mean my ass. “Forget it,” I said, my voice weak. “I've got a job to do.”
“You're different than I thought you'd be.” I squinted over my shoulder at her. “They tell stories about you, Mr. Dresden.” “It's all a lie.” Her teeth gleamed. “Not all of them are bad.” “Mostly good or mostly bad?” “Depends on who's talking. The Sidhe crowd thinks you're an interesting mortal pet of Mab's. The vampire wannabe crowd thinks you're some kind of psychotic vigilante with a penchant for vengeance and mayhem. Most of the magical crowd thinks you're distant, dangerous, but smart and honorable. Crooks think you're a hit man for the outfit, or maybe one of the families back East. Straights think you're a fraud trying to bilk people out of their hard-won cash.” I regarded her, frowning. “And what do you think?” “I think you need a haircut.” She lifted a can to her mouth and I caught a whiff of beer.
“What about you? What's it like being a changeling?” Meryl rolled the beer can between her hands. “About like anyone, until you hit puberty. Then you start feeling things.” “What kinds of things?” “Different, depending on your Sidhe half. For me it was anger, hunger. I kept losing my temper over the most idiotic things. And every time I let those feelings get loose, the more I lost my temper and used my strength, the bigger and stronger I got. And the worse I felt about what I did.” She shook her head. “Sometimes I think it would be easier to just choose the Sidhe half. To stop being human, stop hurting. If it wasn't for the others needing me...” “It would turn you into a monster.” “But a happy monster.” She finished her beer.
In this scene, Harry is using his Sight to see the situation as it really is. Wizards only open their Sight on special occasions because it can drive them insane if they leave it open all the time.
More of a chessboard. Only at the center, at the Table, was the pattern broken, a solid area of Summer's power in green and gold around the Stone Table, while Winter's dark, crystalline ice slowly pressed closer. So I saw it. I got a look at what I was up against, at the naked strength of the two Queens of Faerie. Every ounce of strength I could have summoned would have been no more than a flickering spark beside either of those blazing fountains of light and magic. It was power that had existed since the dawn of time, and would until its end. It was power that had cowed mortals into abject worship and terror before. I wasn't a pawn of that kind of strength. I was an insect beside giants, a blade of grass before towering trees. And there was a dreadful attraction in seeing that power, something in it called to the magic in me, like to like, made me want to hurl myself into those flames, into that endless, icy cold. Moths look at bug zappers like I looked at the Queens of Faerie. I tore my eyes away by hiding my face in my arms. I fell to my side on the ground and curled up, trying to shut the Sight, to force those images to stop flooding over me. I shook and tried to say something. I'm not sure what.
“I don't know what you're talking about,” Meryl said. “You do,” Ace said, leaning up toward Meryl, his eyes intent. “You feel it. You hear her Calling us. You feel it just like I do. The Queen Calls us. All of Winter's blood.” “She Calls,” Meryl said. “But I'm not answering.”
We followed the knight up the slope of the hill to its top, where the air grew cold enough to sting. Mab sat upon a white horse at the top of the hill, her hair down, rolling in silken waves. Her lips and eyelashes were blue, her eyes as white as moonlit clouds. The sheer, cold, cruel beauty of her made my heart falter and my stomach flutter nervously. The air around her vibrated with power and shone with cold white and blue light. “Oh, my God.” Fix whispered. I glanced back. The werewolves were simply staring at Mab, much as Fix was. Meryl regarded her from behind a forced mask of neutrality, but her eyes were alight with something wild and eager. “Steady, folks,” I said, and stepped forward. The Faerie Queen turned her regard to me and murmured, “My Emissary. You have found the thief?” I inclined my head to her. “Yes, Queen Mab.” (name removed so I don't spoil the plot lol) Mab's eyes widened, enough that I got the impression that she understood the whole of the matter from that one fact. “You must go another way.” “I'm listening.” She looked up and said, “Queen of the Air I may be, but these skies are still contested. Titania is at the height of her powers and I at the ebb of mine. Not that way.” She pointed to the field, all weirdly lighted mist in gold and blue. “We yet hold the river.” “Get to the river,” I said. “Right. I can do that.” “Those who are mine know of thee, wizard,” Mab said. “Give them no cause and they will not hamper you.” She turned away, her attention back upon the battle. I turned from her and went back to the werewolves and the changelings. “Try to stay in the blue mist and don't start a fight with anything.”
The noise was deafening and no one could have heard me anyway as I let out my own battle cry, which I figured was worth a shot. What the hell. “I don't believe in faeries!”
yeah, nice try, Dresden. lol love his dry sense of humor and utterly useless tactics at times.
I'd done it. I'd saved the girl, stopped the thief, proved Mab's innocence, and won her support for the White Council, thereby saving my own ass. Huzzah. I lay there with the empty body, too tired to move. The Queens found me maybe a quarter of an hour later. I was only dimly aware of them, of radiant light of gold and blue meeting over me. Gold light gather over the body for a moment and then flowed away, taking the dead flesh with it. I was left cold and tired on the ground. The gold light's departure left only cold blue. A moment later, I felt Mab's fingers touch my head, and she spoke, “Wizard. I am well pleased with thee.” “Go away, Mab.” I said, my voice tired. She laughed and said, “Nay, mortal. It is you who must now depart. You and your companions.” I looked up at her and said, “You're going to live up to your side of the bargain?” “Of course. The wizards will have safe passport.” “Not that bargain. Ours.” Mab's lovely, dangerous mouth curled up in a smile. “First, let me make you an offer.” “We have a traitor among us,” Mab purred. “And he will be dealt with accordingly. After which there will be an opening for a new Knight.” She watched me and said, “I would have someone worthy of more trust as his successor. Accept that power and all debts between us are canceled.” “Not just no,” I muttered. “Hell, no.” Mab's smiled widened. “Very well, then. I'm sure we can find some way to amuse ourselves with this one until time enough has passed to offer again.”
Mab is all “oh I just love when he tells me “no” because eventually I will make him say “yes”. The chase is on! And I'm not sure the words “Mab” and “innocent” have ever been used in the same sentence until now. haha
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Post by Arwen17 on Nov 8, 2015 8:50:09 GMT
Cold Days book Pg4-5, 60-61, 68, 71-74, 77-79, 84-85, 94, 111-112, 115-118, 155-157, 159-163, 226-230, 253, 257-258, 283, 287-290, 295-300, 310, 318-319, 326-327, 346-348, 356-362, 363-365, 367, 375-376, 383, 386-387, 389-393, 398-399, 413-414, 462, 537, 541-543, 545,547-548, 560, 565,566-567, 579-588, 590, 599, 602-603, 609,
Most of these scenes are really, really long. So I'm only pulling out random pieces and jumbling them together, even tho it might seem like they flow together at times. You'll really need to read the book to see everything as it actually is.
“Well?” said a woman's voice. My whole body shuddered in response to that voice, like a guitar's string, quivering when the proper note is played near it. “He's lucid, Your Majesty, and remembered my name and his.” “Excellent.”
Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, was too terrifying to be beautiful. Though every cell in my body suddenly surged with mindless desire and my eyes blurred with tears to see her beauty, I did not want to come an inch closer. Pale skin, soft lips the color of frozen raspberries, silk gown of deep frozen green that left her strong white shoulders bare. And she was about six inches away from being in bed with me. “You look great,” I croaked. Something smoldered in those almond-shaped eyes. “I am great, my Knight,” she murmured. She reached out a hand, and her nails were all dark blues and greens, the colors shimmering and changing like deep opals. She touched my naked shoulder with those nails. And I suddenly felt like a fifteen-year-old about to kiss a girl for the first time—excitement and wild expectation and fluttering anxiety. Her nails, even just the very tips, were icy cold. She trailed them down over one side of my chest. “Um,” I said into what was, for me, an incredibly awkward silence. “How are you?” She titled her head and stared at me. I licked my lips. “Um. Where are we?” “Arctis Tor,” she said. “My stronghold. In the Knight's suite. You will find ever mortal amenity here.” “That's nice,” I said. “What with my apartment burned to the ground and all. Is there a security deposit?” A slow smile oozed over Mab's mouth and she leaned even closer to me. “It is well that you healed. Your spirit wandered far from your body while you slept.” “Free spirit,” I said. “That's me.” “Not anymore,” Mab whispered, and leaned down toward me. “You are shaking.” “Do you think I'm going to hurt you?” she breathed, her lips a fraction of an inch from mine. My heart beat so hard that it actually hurt. “I think...you are who you are.” “Sure you have no reason to fear,” she whispered. “You are mine. If you are not well, I cannot use you to work my will.” I was totally unprepared when she struck, as fast as any snake, and slammed a pillow down over my face. I tried to push Mab away, but her hands and forearms were frozen steel, slender and immovable. My vision went from red to black and sensation began to recede. Mab was cool. Unrelenting. Merciless.
I could feel her eyes on me, feel the empty intensity of her gaze as I panted, my head swimming with the sudden rush of blessed oxygen. Mab lay with her upper body across mine, and made no effort at all to move. She was a cold, ephemeral weight, an incredibly feminine softness and her silken hair glided over my neck. Mab made a low, hungry sound in her throat. “I have no use for weakness, wizard.” She shivered in a kind of slow, alien ecstasy. “Rest. Heal. Sleep. I shall most likely kill you on the morrow.” “You? A Princess Bride quote?” I croaked. “What is that?” she asked. Then she was gone. Just gone. And that was day one of my physical therapy.
But there's something else about faeries that runs absolutely bone deep: They love to play games. “Why don't we make this interesting?” I said out loud. “I trust you wouldn't object to making a bit of a game of our dispute?” Oh, the room got intense then, as maybe a thousand throats all inhaled at the same time. I could practically feel the air grow closer as all of those beings leaned very slightly toward me, their suddenly sharpened interest filling the cavern. I felt a surge of emotion run through me, one that I knew was not my own—it was too pure, too primal, and it made my body do that thrumming thing again: Mab's approval was fierce. But, wizard,” said the Redcap. “We're already playing a game. One cannot change the rules simply because one is losing.” “But one can change the stakes,” I replied. “You're absolutely right, Maeve,” I said. “But what fun is a game you've already won? Why settle for so ephemeral a prize, when you could take Mab's Knight from her in front of all of Winter?” That one sank home. I could feel the sudden surge of ambitious lust that went racing through the Winter Lady, and the seething hatred that went along with a swift glance toward distant Mab on her throne. “I'll give you this much, Mother,” she said. “You do pick the most interesting mortals to serve you.” Mab's smirk said more than any words could have. Otherwise, she neither moved nor spoke.
Again there was a chorus of marrow-curdling laughter from the Sidhe. It wasn't any more pleasant to have them laughing with me than it had been to have them laughing at me. The Redcap's face flushed a furious red.
The furious, burned ogre wasn't bright enough to realize what was happening. Still smoldering, still enraged, it came stomping toward Sarissa. “Knight,” Mab said, the word like a whip crack. I focused my will upon the advancing ogre and funneled my anger and my pain into the spell, along with the frozen core of power within me. The ogre was only a couple yards from Sarissa when the gale of arctic wind I'd called up slammed into the thing and lifted its massive bulk completely off the ground. It tossed the ogre a good ten feet away. I rose from the ground, acutely conscious of Mab's black presence just over my left shoulder, of the watching eyes of the Winter Court. The yard was full of things that could and would kill me if they got the chance. It was time for an object lesson. I reached down into the cold inside of me. The Winter inside me was torment and agony—but at least when I was immersed in it, I couldn't feel. There was a flash of light, an arctic howl, a scream of air suddenly condensed into liquid, and an explosion of frost and fog centered upon the ogre. For several seconds there was silence and I waited for the mist to disperse. When it cleared, the entire Winter Court could see the ogre. I waited for a moment more, letting everyone see the ogre standing absolutely still in defiance of Mab's law. Then I drew forth my will again and snarled. A lance of invisible power lashed out at the ogre—and when it struck, the frozen monster shattered into thousands of icy chunks. The grisly frozen shrapnel pelted the watching Sidhe and sent them reeling back with shouts of alarm. The Sidhe gathered themselves again, and every one of those bright eyes locked onto me, their expressions alien, unreadable. Turning slowing as I spoke, to be sure I included everyone, my voice echoed throughout the whole chamber. “All right, you primitive screwheads. Listen up. I'm Harry Dresden. I'm the new Winter Knight. I'm instituting a rule: When you're within sight of me, mortals are off-limits.” I paused for a moment to let that sink in. Then I continued. “I can't control what you do in your own domains. I'm not even going to try. But if I see you abusing a mortal, you'll join Chunky here. Zero warnings. Zero excuses. Subzero tolerance.” I paused again and then asked, “Any questions?” One of the Sidhe smirked and stepped forward. He opened his mouth, his expression condescending, “Mortal, do you actually think you can--” I snarled, unleashing Winter again, and without waiting for the cloud to clear, hurled the second strike. This time I aimed much of the force up. Grisly bits of frozen Sidhe noble came pattering and clattering down to the ice of the dance floor. When the mist cleared, the Sidhe looked...stunned. Even Maeve. “I'm glad you asked me that,” I said to the space where the Sidhe lord had been standing. “I hope my answer clarified any misunderstandings.” I looked left and right, seeking out eyes, but didn't find any willing to meet mine. “Are there any other questions?” There was a vast and empty silence, broken only by Kringle's continued rumbles of amusement.
“See that you do,” Mab said. “Now. I would have a dance. Sir Knight?” I blinked, but didn't hesitate for more than an instant or three. “Um. My arm seems to be an obstacle.” Mab smiled and laid a hand upon my shoulder. My arm popped back into its socket and the pain dwindled to almost nothing. I rolled my shoulder, testing it. The music rose, it was a waltz. While the stunned Sidhe looked on, I waltzed with Mab to a full orchestra and the smaller bits of our enemies crunched beneath our feet. Oddly enough, no one joined us. “That was well-done, wizard,” Mab murmured. “No one has lifted a hand to them that way since the days of Tam Lin.” “I wanted them to understand the nature of our relationship.” “I would seem you succeeded,” she said. “The next time they come at you, they will not do it so openly.” “I'll handle it.” “I expect nothing less.”
After our dance, Mab returned to her high seat and surveyed the chamber, a distant figure, now garbed in pure white and untouchable again. As my head came out of the cold, numb clarity of wielding Winter, the aches and pains the Redcap had given me began to resurface in a big way. “I've had enough party,” I said. “Would it inconvenience the Queen for me to depart?” “If she wished you to stay, you would be at her side,” Cat Sith replied. “And it would seem that you have introduced yourself adequately.”
“You want to get out of her?” I asked her. “It's a good idea,” she said. “Most of the VIPs left after your dance. Things will...devolve from here.” “Devolve?” I asked. “I don't care to stay,” she said, her tone careful. “I would prefer to leave.” I frowned, and then realized that she was trying to get a read on me. I simultaneously became acutely aware of a number of Sidhe ladies who were----I would say “lurking” except you don't generally use that word with someone so beautiful. There were half a dozen of them though, who were staying nearby, and whose eyes were tracking me. I felt disconcertingly reminded of a documentary I'd once seen about lionesses involved in a cooperative hunt. One, a ravishing dark-haired beauty, stared hard at me and, when she saw me looking, licked her lips very, very slowly. “Oh,” I said, understanding. A Sidhe lady with deep indigo blue hair had sidled up to the first lady and the two slid their arms around each other, both staring at me. Something inside of me let out a primal snarl and advised me to drag both of them back to my cave by the hair and do whatever I damned well pleased with them. It was an enormously powerful impulse, something that made me begin to shift my balance, to take a step toward them. I arrested the motion and closed my eyes. I shook my head before I opened my eyes again. “We'll both go.” I said to Sarissa. “It'd be a bad idea to stay.” I offered her my arm. She frowned thoughtfully at me for a moment before she put her hand on my arm. “Why leave?” “You wanted to stay. And...let's just say that the, ah, appetite of the Sidhe ladies has never been overstated. And nothing excites them more than violence and power.” We walked for awhile before I answered. “I don't know how much longer I'll be around, but I'm going to live as much of it as I can as my own man. Not the flavor of the day.” “Ah,” she said, and frowned faintly. I blinked several times and suddenly realized what she'd been trying to figure out. “Oh. You're wondering if I turned them down because I was planning to have you instead.” “I wouldn't have phrased it that way.”
“Mab seems to trust you. What is it that you do for her, exactly?” Sarissa smiled faintly. “I'm sort of her humanity Sherpa,” she said. “For all of her power and knowledge, Mab doesn't always understand people very well. She asks me questions. Sometimes we watch television or go to movies or listen to music. I've taken her to rock concerts. We've gone ice skating. Shopping. Clubbing. Once we went to Disneyland.” I blinked. “Wait. Your job is...You're BFF's with Mab?” Sarissa let out a sudden torrent of giggles. “Oh,” she said, still giggling. “Oh, I've never thought of it like that, but...God, it applies, doesn't it? We do something every weekend.”
“Right,” Toot said firmly. “We trust you, Harry. You're barely like a human at all!” I knew he meant it as a compliment, but something chilly slithered down my back at the statement.
“Mab,” I said, in the same tone I reserved for curse words. “What?” “That's why the lockdown,” I said. Then clarified. “Mab closed the border with Faerie until dawn.” Molly was no dummy. I could see the wheels turning as she figured it out. “She's giving you time to deal with it unmolested.” “Relatively unmolested,” I corrected her. “I'm starting to think that Mab mainly helps those who help themselves.”
Fix pursed his lips. Then he said, “Here's the problem with that. You belong to Mab. I like Harry. Maybe I could even trust him. But I know what Mab is like—and Harry belongs to Mab now.” “The hell I do,” I said. “Just because I took this job doesn't mean I'm all cozy with her.” “You, uh, looked kinda cozy, man. With Mab. On the stone table.” Sealing the contract like the one with Mab isn't something you do with an impersonal handshake. I felt my cheeks heat up. “Oh. You saw that.” “All of Faerie did,” Fix said. “That's humiliating,” I muttered. “I know what you mean,” he said. “At least it wasn't on pay-per-view.” I snorted.
“Molly is my responsibility,” I said. I hadn't meant for the words to come out that cold, that hard. The anger surprised me, but it bubbled and seethed still. Some part of me was furious at Thomas for questioning my decision regarding my apprentice. Molly was mine, and I would be damned if some chisel-jawed White Court pretty boy was going to-- I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw. Pride. Possession. Territoriality. That wasn't me. That was the mantle of Winter talking through me. “Sorry,” I said a moment later, and opened my eyes.
“I'm a predator, Harry,” he said. “We both know that.” “Yeah. So?” “So I recognize it in others when I see it. And you're looking at Molly like food.” I frowned at him. “I am not.” He shrugged. “It isn't all the time. It's just little moments. You look at her, and I can see the calculations running. You notice every time she yawns.” “So what?” “When she yawns, she's showing us that she's tired. It makes us take notice because tired prey is easy prey.” “What? You think I'm going to attack her when she goes to sleep?” “Yeah, if you don't recognize what's motivating you and control it, you will. You can't just ignore those instincts. If you do, they'll catch you off guard some night.”
I had an instinct that the more I leaned on Mab's power, the more of an effect it would have on me. No sense flaunting it.
“Neither of us can stop her.” Lily said into the silence. “And she would never lower her guard for either of us.” “But for you,” Maeve said. “Her knight,” Lily said, “her champion.” “She might not be quite so guarded,” Maeve said, her eyes shining fever-bright. “You have enough power to smite her, if you strike when she is unprepared.” “What?” I blurted. “What about Titania? The Queen of Summer is an equal opposite, isn't she? Mab's mirror?” Lily nodded. “She...refuses to act. I do not know why.” “Guys,” I said. “I have seen what Mab is. Even if I catch her off guard, I don’t have the kind of clout it takes to drop someone in her league.” “But you have Winter.” Lily blinked several times. “Which is meaningful because...?” “Because she is Winter,” Maeve said. “The Winter within is Mab and she is it. The one thing you can never protect yourself against is yourself.” “The Winter Knight is a useful weapon, but it has ever been one with two edges. Mab stands no mightier than any of the Sidhe against your hand, Sir Knight.” I narrowed my eyes at Maeve. “Wait a minute,” I said. “Why in the hell should I think you're trying to help me?” Her smile widened. “Since I realized that should my mother fall, I will have a very large and very exclusive chair to sit upon back at Arctis Tor, wizard. Do not think for a moment that I do it from the kindness of my heart. I want the throne.” Now, that was a scary thought. Mab was a force of nature, sure, but she also acted a lot like one. She rarely took things personally, she didn't play favorites, and she was generally speaking equally dangerous to everyone. Maeve, though, that bitch was just not right. The thought of her with Mab's mantle of power was something terrifying. “I don't dig the idea of serving you, Maeve,” I said. At that, the lazy sex-kitten look came back into her eyes. “I haven't yet begun to persuade you, wizard.”
I grunted. My collapse in the car made more sense now. “Yeah,” I said. “Any kind of iron gets under my skin, it seems to disagree with the Winter Knight's bundle of awesome. Takes the gumption right out of me.”
“I try to keep track of the bad guys,” she said. “And on an entirely unrelated note...I hear you belong to Mab now.” The words hit me like a slap in the face. Karrin had been a detective for a long time. She knew how to manipulate a suspect. “I'm not a cocker spaniel,” I said quietly. “I'm not saying you are,” she said. “But there are creatures out there that can do things to your head, and we both know it.” “You think that's what happened?” I asked. “That Mab's bent my brain into new shapes?” Her expression softened. “I think she'll do it slower.” “I'm willing to believe that you found some kind of way to prevent her from just...I don't know. Rewriting you.” “I told her if she tried it, I'd start being obstreperous.” She half smiled. But then her face darkened again. “I think she'll do it slower. An inch at a time, when are you aren't looking.” “I'm not angry at you, Harry,” she said. “I don't hate you. I don't think you've gone bad. A lot of people have fallen into the trap you did. Better people than either of us.” “Uh,” I said. “The evil-Queen-of-Faerie trap?” “No one just starts giggling and wearing black and signs up to become a monster.” She shook her head, her eyes pained. “They make questionable choices, for what might be very good reasons. They make choice after choice. But it adds up. And then one day they look around and realize that they're so far over the line that they can't remember where it was.”
“Uh, Toot? What just happened?” “You opened your big fat mouth!” he screamed. After a moment, he added, sullenly, “My lord.” I frowned at Toot and then at Hook. The enemy just sat there on the floor, making no further effort to escape. “Okay,” I said. “Explain that.” “You offered to take him prisoner,” Toot said. “By Winter Law, if he accepts your offer he may not attempt to escape or offer any further resistance to you. Now you can't kill him or beat him up or anything! And I was winning!” I frowned. “Wait. He's a guest?” “Yes!” “By Winter Law?” I asked. “Yes! Sort of.” “Well,” I said, starting toward Hook. “I never signed on to that treaty. So screw Winter Law--” And abruptly, as if someone had just slammed a row of staples into my skin, the mantle of the Winter Knight vanished completely. Pain soared back into my body, inflamed tissue crying out, my bruises throbbing. Fatigue hit me like a truck. The sensations were so intense, the only way I could tell that I had fallen to the floor was by looking. And my body abruptly went numb and useless. That scared the hell out of me. I was on the ground like that for a subjective week, but it could have been only a few seconds before Thomas reached my side. The abruptly the pain was gone. The mantle had been restored. “Okay,” I said in a ragged voice. “Uh. Maybe we won't screw Winter Law.” “Harry,” Thomas said, as if he'd said my name several times already. “What happened?” “Uh, I think it's...a side effect. Fallout from defying the order of things.” “What?” “Faeries. They're kind of insane, and mischievous, and dangerous as hell, but they all share one single trait—they're good to their word. They obey what they recognize as law. Especially Mab.” “You aren't making much sense right now.” Thomas said. “The mantle of power comes from Mab. And now it's in me. But it's still a piece of her. If I go violating her own realm's laws, it looks like the mantle isn't going to have my back.” “Meaning what?” “Meaning I'd better figure out what the laws are pretty damned quick,” I replied. “Help me up.” Thomas hauled me to my feet and I looked at Toot. “You know the Winter Law?” “Well,” Toot said as if I were an idiot, “of course.” “Where can I learn it?” Toot tilted his head. “What?” “Winter Law,” I said. “Where can I learn it?” “I don't understand,” Toot said, tilting his head the other way. “Oh, for the love of.... where did you learn Winter Law?” Toot shook his head as if mystified. “You don't have to learn it, Harry. You just...know it. Everyone knows it.” “I don't.” “Maybe you're too big,” Toot said. “Or too loud. Or, you know—too human.” I grunted. Then I eyed Hook, who had continued to sit in the same spot during the entire conversation. “So I've gone and made him my guest, eh?”
“Lady of Light and Life, hear me. Thou who art Queen of the Ever-Green, Lady of Flowers, hear me. Hear my need. I am Harry Dresden, Winter Knight and I needs must speak with thee.” I lifted my joined voice and will and thundered, “Titania, Titania, Titania! I summon thee!”
“Come on,” I breathed to myself. “Come on already.” I stood in silence for a long, long minute, and I was starting to think that nothing was going to happen.
Lightning with no thunder flickered weirdly through the clouds. Then I felt it—a warmth like that I'd felt with Lily, only a hundred times hotter and brighter and more intense. Then there was a flash of light, a toll of thunder that sounded weirdly musical, and a shower of earth and glowing bits of charred autumn grass flew into the air. When the dirt and dust settled, the Monarch of the Summer Court stood about fifteen feet away from me. She was breathtaking. Upon her head was a crown of what looked like twisted vine with still-living leaves. She carried neither weapon nor shield, but her wide Sidhe eyes stared at me with the absolute certainty of one who knows she is armed well beyond the ability of her enemy to withstand. Oh, and if I hadn't known better, I would have sworn to you that it was Mab standing there. Seriously. They don't look like sisters. They looked like clones. I started off by bowing to her, deeply. She was a statue for a few seconds, but some microchange in her body language indicated acknowledgment. “You who slew my daughter,” Titania said quietly. “You dare summon me?” The last word slashed through the air, its fury palpable. It struck the circle surrounding me and broke into a shower of gold and green sparks. I've had some experience with the Queens of Faerie. When they get angry and start talking to you, you freaking hear them. And then if you survive it, you hope you can make it to the emergency room in time. So I'd drawn the circle as a precaution.
“I understand that you're Mab's enemy. I understand that if she says black, you say white, and that's the way it is. But we're all in a southbound handbasket together here. And I need your help.” Titania tilted her head and took a step toward me. I almost flinched out of the circle. “Uh, will you please help me?” She turned away, and seemed to consider her surroundings for the first time. “We shall see.” “Why did you come here for the summoning?” “It's a bird sanctuary,” I said. “A natural place, intended to preserve life and beauty. And birds seem kind of Summery to me.” “She turned her head slowly, as if listening. “But this place is more than that. It is a location for...unapproved liaisons.” I shrugged. “It's just you and me. I figured if you wanted to kill me, you could do it here without hurting anybody else.” Titania nodded, her expression turning thoughtful. “What do you think of my sister?” I debated for a second: polite answer or honest one? Honest. It's almost always best to go with honest. “I thought Mab's wrath was pretty bad until I found out what her affection was like.” At that, I think Titania almost smiled. “Oh?” “She nursed me out of bed by trying to kill me every day.” “And why do you serve her?” “Needed her help.” I said. “Sure as hell wasn't because I like the decor in Arctis Tor.”
“In many ways, she and I are alike. In many more ways, we are entirely different. Do you know what my sister believes in?” “Flashy entrances,” I said. Titania's lips actually twitched. “In reason.” “Reason?” “Reason. Logic. Calculation. The cold numbers. The supremacy of the mind.” Titania's eyes became distant. “It is another place where we differ. I prefer to follow the wisdom of the heart.” “Meaning what?” “Meaning,” she said, her voice hot and furious, “that you murdered my daughter.” Birds flew shrieking in every direction as if released from a centrifuge. A bolt of lightning fell from the tornadic sky and blew a smoking crater in the ground a yard away. “You dare come here! To ask for me to interfere in my sister's business! You who gave my daughter an iron death!” “The wisdom of my heart tells me to hate you, mortal. Whatever my reason might say, I will not help you.”
Meanwhile in the Harry-Dresden-ur-an-idiot-saga, Mother Winter was even more enraged at being summoned than Titania was. Lol Scary old lady with a meat-cleaver is the best.
“I need to know who I should turn my hand against to prevent a great tragedy.” “Tragedy,” said Mother Winter in a purr that made me think of rasping scorpions. “Pain? Terror? Sorrow? Why should I wish to prevent such a thing? It is sweeter than an infant's marrow.” The cleaver's rasp abruptly stopped. My imagination treated me to an image of Mother Winter creeping silently toward me in the blackness, cleaver lifted, and I stifled an urge to burst into panicked screams. There was a low, quiet snort. “you are no true Knight of Winter, manling. Once I have devoured your flesh, and your mantle with it, I will bestow it upon someone worthier of the name. I should have never given it to Mab.” “Uh, no?” I heard myself ask in a panicked, cracking voice. “And why is that, exactly?” “Mab,” said Mother Winter in a tone of pure disgust, “is too much the romantic.” Which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about Mother Winter, right there. “She has spent too much time with mortals,” Mother Winter continued, withered lips peeled back from iron teeth as the sparks from her cleaver's edge leapt higher. “Mab's weakness is evident. Look at her Knight.” Her Knight was currently trying to sit up, but his wrists and ankles were fastened to the floor by something cold, hard, and unseen. I tested them, but couldn't feel any edges. The bonds weren't metal or ice. I didn't know how I knew that, but I was completely certain. Ice would have been no obstacle. Will. Mother Winter was holding me down by pure, stark will. My wrists and ankles wouldn't move because Mother Winter's will said that was how reality worked. What held me down now was pure will—the same kind of will that I suspected had backed up events presaged by phrases like “Let there be light.” “Ahhh,” said Mother Winter, during one last stroke of the cleaver. “I like nice clean edges to my meat, manling. Time for dinner.”
“You can be so overly dramatic, betimes,” complained an old woman's voice, as gentle and sweet as Mother Winter's was unpleasant. “We'll need a new cleaver now.” Mother Winter bared her iron teeth. “I do what must be done.” “With our cleaver.” Mother Summer made a disapproving clucking sound. “Oh, uh, Mother Summer,” I said, after a moment of silence. “I apologize for intruding into your home.” “Oh, dear. That's very sweet of you. But you owe me no apology. You were brought here entirely against your will, after all.” She paused for a beat and added, “Rudely.” Mother Winter made another displeased sound. I looked back and forth between them. “I, uh. I think I'd prefer to think of it as a very firm invitation.” “Ha,” said Mother Winter, from her hood. Her teeth gleamed. “The Knight knows his loyalties, at least.” “I'm sure he's overjoyed to owe loyalty to you. Why did you bring him here?” More teeth showed. “He summoned me, precious thing.” Mother Summer dropped her herbs. She turned her head toward me, her eyes wide. “Oh, oh dear.”
“I think she likes you, young man.” “Yes, ma'am,” I said. “I could tell, because of the cleaver.” “It is her way,” Mother Summer said, smiling. “She rarely leaves our cottage anymore. While your summons was impertinent, it was necessary. You, a mortal, hurt her.” Mother Summer's words made the whole chopped-up-for-stew situation more understandable. Beings like Mother Winter tormented mortals—not the other way around. I'd injured her pride along with the rest of her, and in the supernatural world such insults were rarely forgiven and never forgotten. “She was balancing the scales,” I said quietly. “is that what you mean?”
“Indeed,” said Mother Summer. “We are all vulnerable to those who are close to us.” “I never figured Granny Cleaver was close to anyone, ma'am.” “Oh, she...What is the phrase? She talks a good game. But in her own way, she cares.” I may have arched a skeptical eyebrow. “Kind of like how, in her own way, she likes me?” I asked. “Winter is cold, Sir Knight, but never so cold that it freezes the heart altogether.” I walked for a little while considering that. “You're saying I have a chance to stay me.” “I'm saying many things. Do you have a chance to remain yourself despite the tendency of the mantle to mold your thoughts and desires? All Knights, Winter and Summer, have that chance. Most fail.” “But it's possible.” I said.
I've played Ken doll to a faerie fashion adviser before, so I wasn't entirely shocked when my clothing began to writhe and simply change. When the Leanansidhe had done it, I'd sat in the car for half an hour suffering through one fanciful and undignified outfit after another.
“Did you think Mab spent all her days sitting in her chair and dealing with her backstabbing courtiers? No, Sir Knight. Power has purpose” “Holy crap,” I muttered. “Does Summer have a place like this too, then?” Mother Summer shook her head. “That was never its task. Your Council's estimate was fairly close, counting only those troops protecting the hearts of Winter and Summer. Mab has more than that. She needs them—for this.” “So...Mab's troops outnumber yours by a jillion.” “Indeed.” “So she could run you over at any time.” “She could if she were willing to forfeit reality.” I scanned the length of the wall nervously. It looked like it went on forever—and there was fighting all along its length. “You're telling me that this is why Mab has her power? To...to protect the borders?” “To protect all of you from the Outsiders, mortal.” “Then why does Titantia have hers?” I asked. “To protect all of you from Mab.” I swallowed. “Titania cannot match Mab's forces, but she can drag Mab personally into oblivion with her—and Mab knows it. Titania is the check to her power, the balance.” “If Mab dies...” I began. She swept a hand along the length of the wall. “A spoiled, sadistic, murderous, and inexperienced child will have control of all of that.”
“That's why Mab sent me to kill Maeve. She's no different from Titania. She knew it needed to be done but...” “But what?” Karrin asked. “Maeve is still her little girl,” I said quietly. “Mab isn't human, but there are still...remnants in all the Sidhe. Mother Winter called Mab a romantic.” “I don't understand,” Karrin said. “Mab loves her daughter,” I said simply. “She won't kill Maeve because she loves her.”
On the other hand, every single time Mab had come at me during my recovery, every time, I'd been just like this, without resources of any kind except what I carried within me. I wasn't a big believer in coincidence. Had she been trying only to strengthen me generally? Or had she been preparing me for this exact situation? Could Mab see that far ahead? Or was this simply a case of superior preparedness proving itself in action?
Part of me, the part of me that I was sure was me, viewed these tactics with alarm. Fix had the mantle of the Summer Knight, and it made him just as strong and fast and tough as I was. But the Winter mantle didn't care about that. It simply saw its enemy and wanted to destroy it. The best way to do that was to get in close and rip out Fix's throat. Except that wasn't how the last Winter Knight had killed the last Summer Knight. So I thought it would be smart to assume that the instinctual knowledge of the Winter mantle, while it could be handy, was basically that of a starving predator, it wanted blood, lots of it, now. And if I played it like that, Fix was going to leave my guts on the ground. Fix would have a wealth of instinctive knowledge to draw on if I went after him Winter's way. Fix had frozen in place too. Bah. His mantle was probably advising him to be patient, just as mine was screaming at me to stop waiting, stalk him, and pounce. I retreated a few more steps into the mist. Fix let out a scream of shock and pain and swung his sword at me. But he hadn't learned in the brutal school of hard knocks that Mab had put me through. The sword's slash was slowed and clumsy. “Knight takes Knight,” I called into the cloudy night air. “Check.” I don't know what she'd said, but she'd picked something exactly right to drive her Summer counterpart mad with rage. With a sinking feeling I realized that the passionate young Lady of Summer was no Titania. She had all the heat, but none of the restraint, the balance, and there was no way in hell she was going to be able to think, to reason, to hold back her fury. “Destroy him!” she screamed. “Destroy Harry Dresden!” She threw forth her hands and a wall of fire twenty feet high and as wide as a football field roared toward me.
“When we got inside, the Leanansidhe was popsicled in Mab's garden,” I said. “Because something had invaded her and influenced her actions. Mab was in the middle of some kind of exorcism based on the model of an ice age.” “And?” “And what if this invader got into the water before Mab caught it?” I asked.
“No,” I said. “I can't.” But maybe the Winter Knight could. Ever since I'd gotten out of my bed in my quarters in Arctis Tor, I'd felt the power of the Winter mantle inside me, and held it back. I'd felt the primal drives that were its power, the need to hunt, to fight, to protect territory, to kill. Winter's nature was beautiful violence, stark clarity, the most feral needs and animal desires and killer instinct pitted against the season of cold and death—the will and desire to fight, to live, even when there was no shelter, no warmth, no respite, no hope, and no help. I'd fought against that drive, repressed it, held it at bay. So I let Winter in, and everything changed. My weariness vanished. My fear vanished too. Fear was for prey. Fear was for things I was about to hunt. My doubts vanished as well. Doubt was for things that did not know their purpose, and I knew mine. This was a Winter matter, a Faerie matter, a family matter, and it was precisely correct that only beings of Faerie resolve it. I knew exactly what I had to do. There was a throat that needed ripping. It was glorious, the freedom, the certainty, and I could not imagine what had made me so squeamish about embracing Winter in the first place.
One of the best scenes ever right here.
Maeve's eyes stopped on the last person with me. “Well, well, well. Sweet little Sarissa. Isn't this luscious? There's nothing I have that you don't want to ruin, is there?” “Maeve, how many times have we had this conversation?” “And yet you keep spoiling things for me!” Sarissa rolled her eyes. “Maeve, what could I possibly have ruined for you? Did getting my nursing degree somehow diminish your power? Did I steal some boyfriend of yours that you accidentally left breathing after the first night?” “It always goes back to that, doesn't it?” Maeve said, her tone waspish. “How important you think men are. And here you are trying to impress Mother by bedding this one.” “It was work, Maeve. Therapy.” “I could see how therapeutic that dress was at his party.” “My dress? You were wearing rhinestones and nothing else!” Maeve's face contorted in rage. “They. Were. Diamonds.” Karrin looked back and forth between them in startled recognition. “Harry...” I turned to Sarissa. “Mab's BFF, eh?” “You said that, not me,” she said quickly. “Right.,” I said. “You're just a young, single rehabilitative health professional.” “This decade,” sneered Maeve. “What was it last time? Mathematics? And before that, what was it? Environmental science? Did you save the Earth, Sarissa? And before that, an actress? You thought you could create art.” I blinked. “What?” She looked embarrassed. “I told you I was older than I looked.” “Hell's bells, you're identical twins.” “Not identical twins,” they both said at exactly the same time, in the exact same tone of outrage. They broke off to glare at each other. “How does that work exactly?” I asked. I was curious, but it was also an effort to buy time. “You two..were born changelings, weren't you? What happened?” “I Chose to be Sidhe,” Maeve spat. “And you Chose humanity?” I asked Sarissa. Sarissa shrugged a shoulder and looked away. “Hah,” Maeve spat. “No. She never Chose at all. Just remained between worlds. Never making anything of herself, never committing to anything.” “Maeve,” Sarissa said quietly. “Don't.” “Just floating along, pretty and empty and bored,” Maeve went on in a sweet, poisonous tone. “Unnoticed. Unremarkable.” “Always so charming,” Sarissa noted. “Oh, keep it up, darling. See what happens.” “You aren't going to let me live anyway, Maeve, I'm not stupid.” “And I am not blind,” Maeve spat back. “Do you think I did not know about all the time she has been spending with you? All the intimate talk, the activity together. Do you think I don't know what it means? She's doing with you what she always meant to do with you—using you as a spare.” Maeve stopped, tilting her head, and her hair covered most of her face. “Somewhere, you have to realize it. She wants to help you. She cares in her way, Maeve.” Maeve pointed a finger straight at me. “Yes. I can see how much she cared.” “It isn't too late.” Sarissa said. “you know how she lays her plans. She prepares for everything. But it doesn't have to happen that way.” Maeve quivered where she stood for a moment, like a slender tree placed under increasing strain. “We need the Winter Lady now,” Sarissa said. “We need you, Maeve. You're a vicious lunatic and we need you back.” Maeve asked in a very small voice, “Does she talk about me?” Sarissa was silent. She swallowed. “She...won't say your name. But I know she fears for you. You know she never lets things show. It's how she's always been.”
“I am about to unmake every precious thing she ever valued more than her own blood, her own children. And where is she?” Maeve stuck her arms out and spun around in a pirouette. “Where? Of course, these stupid primates sussed out a way through it, but she, the Queen of Air and Darkness, could not possibly stoop to such a thing. Not even if it costs her the lives of her daughters.” “Where is she, Sarissa?” Maeve demanded. “Where is her love? Where is her fury? Where is her anything?”
I shouted as swiftly as I could, putting whatever will I had left into the shortest and most elemental summons there is: “Mab! Mab! Mab! I summon thee!”
t's impossible to know how something is going to arrive when you summon it. Sometimes it's huge and dramatic, like it was with Titania. Mab came in a bell tone of sudden, awful, absolute silence. There was a flash—not of light, but of sudden snow, of frost that blanketed everything on the hilltop. Mab was there, again in her crow black dress, with her midnight eyes and ebony hair. The frost was spreading from her, covering the hilltop, and the temperature dropped by twenty degrees. In the same instant, everything on the hilltop ceased moving. There was no wind. Just pure, crystalline silence and a sudden bleak black presence that made me feel like hiding behind something, very quietly.
“You do not understand what you have done,” Mab said quietly. “I know exactly what I have done,” Maeve snarled. “I have beaten you.” Sarissa lay on the ground, moaning. “And it was about taking her away from you,” Maeve gloated. “How many mortal caterwauls or sporting events will the Winter Queen attend without her? And every time you think of her, you remember her, you will know that I took her from you.”
“I,” Mab said coolly, “am not your servant, Dresden. You are mine.” “Servant,” I said. “I don't like that word. I suggest that you consider where you stand and choose a different term. My Queen. And you will be gentle with that girl, or so help me I will make you regret it.” Mab's mouth quirked very slightly—her eyes more so. She looked up at me fondly, exhaled, and said, “Finally, a Knight worth the trouble.”
“Dresden...this is the business of the Queens. I advise you not to attempt to interfere with it.” “I already interfered,” I said. Kringle straightened, and his fierce smile became somehow satisfied. “Aye? Like to live dangerously, do you? Never let her make you cringe—but never challenge her pride, wizard. I don't know exactly what passed between you, but I suspect that if it had been witnessed by another, she would break you into pieces. I've seen it before. Terrible pride in that creature. She'll never bend it.” “She'll never bend,” I said. “That's okay. I can respect that.”
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Post by Arwen17 on Nov 8, 2015 9:22:40 GMT
Skin Game book pg10-14, 18-19, 29-33, 119-120, 127-128, 131-132, 237, 259, 265, 283-284,463-464, 491-492, 494, 570
I just adore how they banter with each other all the time. It's so cute.
Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, was wearing a tailored business suit somewhere between the color of smeared charcoal on newspaper and frozen periwinkles. “Get on the boat.” “Why?” I asked. Her mouth turned down into a slight frown, but it was belied by the sudden pleased light in her eyes. “I'm predictable, aren't I?” I asked her. “In many ways,” she replied. “Shall I answer you literally?” “I'd like that.” Mab nodded. Then she leaned forward, very slightly, her eyes growing deep, and said in a voice colder and harder than frozen stone, “Because I told you to do so.” “Have you ever considered just asking me for my help? Maybe even saying 'please'?” She arched a pale eyebrow at me. “I am not your client.” “So you just go straight to extortion?” Given what she had to manage, it was entirely possible that manipulating me and threatening me with death this way was asking politely—by the standards of Mab, anyway. “What do you want?” I sounded almost polite. The question brought a pleased smile to her lips. “I wish for you to perform a task for me.”
Mab arched an eyebrow. “Are you the Winter Knight or some sort of puling child?” I scowled at her. “Come over here and say that.” At that, Mab calmly stepped onto the shore of Demonreach. “Wait,” I said. “Wait.” She paused. “The left one.” Mab tilted her head. “Why?” “It's....Look, it's a mortal thing. Just do the left one, okay?” She exhaled briefly through her nose. Then she shook her head and changed ears. There was a pinpoint of red-hot pain, then a slow pulse of lazy, almost seductive cold, like the air on an autumn night when you open the bedroom windows and sleep like a rock.
I didn't put much power into the spell, but it was enough to make the point. Mab eyed me and said in an intimate whisper, “What was that?” I answered in kind. “I'm not killing a mortal just to make a point.” “You were willing to kill one of my Sidhe for that reason” “I play on your team.” I told her. “I'm not from your town.” “Squeamishness does not become the Winter Knight.” “It's not about squeam, Mab.” “No, it's about weakness.” “Yeah, well,” I said, facing front again. “I'm only human.” Mab's gaze remained on me, cold and heavy as a blanket of snow. “For now.” I didn't shiver. I get muscle twitches sometimes. That's all.
I waited until the elevator doors closed behind them. “Are you out of your mind?” I demanded of Mab. “I am not going to help that jerk.” I snarled. “You will perform precisely as instructed.” “I will not. I know how he works. Whatever he's doing, it's nothing but bad news. I'm not going to help him.” “it is obvious that you did not listen to me very carefully.” “Do you really want to push this? Do you really want to lose your shiny new Knight already?” “Hardly a loss if he will not fulfill a simple command.” “I'll fulfill commands. I've done it before.” “In your own inept way, yes.” “Just not this one.” “You will do precisely as instructed.” Mab took a very small step closer to me. “Or there will be consequences.” “I'll go back to the island. I'll instruct Alfred to imprison it the moment it breaks free.” Mab's smile turned genuine. It was considerably scarier than her glare. “Oh, sweet child.” She shook her head. “What makes you think I shall allow you to return?” I clenched my fists along with my teeth. “You...you bitch.” Mab slapped me. Okay, that doesn't convey what happened very well. Her arm moved. Her palm hit my left cheekbone, and an instant later the right side of my skull smashed into the elevator door. The metal rang like a gong, and was still reverberating a couple minutes later, when I slowly sat up. “I welcome your suggestions, questions, thoughts, and arguments, my Knight,” Mab said in a calm voice. She moved one foot, gracefully, and rested the tip of her high heel against my throat. She put a very little bit of her weight behind it, and it hurt like hell. “But I am Mab, mortal. Do you understand?” I jerked my head in a short nod. “This is not a smart way to maintain a good professional relationship with me.” I croaked. “Do I seem stupid to you, my Knight?” she asked. “Think.” “Your precise instructions,” I said slowly. “were to go with Nicodemus and help him until he completed his objective.” “Indeed,” She leaned down and hauled me back to my feet as easily as she might heft a Chihuahua. “I never said what you would do after.” “After that...” Her smile returned, smug in the shadows. “I expect you to be yourself.” “He's going to betray me.” “Of course,” she said. “I expect superior, more creative treachery on your part.” “While still keeping your word and helping him?” I demanded. Her smile sharpened. “Is it not quite the game? In my younger days, I would have relished such a novel challenge.” “Yeah,” I said. “Gee. Thanks.” “Petulance does not become the Winter Knight.”
Butter's jawline hardened. “Try to see this from my perspective, Harry.” “What do you mean?” I asked. “You made a deal. With Mab. Then you show up alive again, only you've got freaky Winter faerie powers. You were here for a day before Molly was gone, with freaky Winter faerie powers of her own.” He spun back to me, his dark eyes hard and pained. “And when you finally show up again, what's the first thing you do? Hey, Butters? How are you doing, Butters? Didn't mean to wreck your computer room, man? No. The first thing you start talking about is paying off a debt. Just like one of the Fae.” Which made a cold chill go through my stomach.
“Attacked? By who?” I asked. “Oh,” she said in an offhand tone, “the Sidhe, mainly.” “Wait, aren't you supposed to be their princess?” “In the flesh, sure,” Molly said, her eyes sparkling. “in dreams, though, they can come at me anonymously, so every punk thinks he's tough. It's like the internet for faeries.” “The Sidhe just want to be sure I'm up for it. So they test me.” “By coming at you?” “Quietly, where Mab can't see. It actually kind of reminds me of when Mom used to leave me in charge of all my little brothers and sisters at home. Only more felonious.”
Desire flooded through me in a sudden surge of hot, hungry need, and the Winter in me rose up with a howl, demanding that I sate it. Every instinct in my body told me that Karrin was there, and warm, and real, and pressing more of her body against mine through one fragile layer of cloth—that she was mine for the taking.
“No. Mab's been throwing girls at you. You could literally make one phone call and have half a dozen supernaturally hot Sidhe girls playing rodeo with you anytime you wanted, and instead you're playing hopscotch over the cages of has-been demons.”
But they were necessary. I couldn't hunt Butters down by mys--- I faltered for a few steps, and forced multiplication tables to start running through my head. I wasn't hunting down Butters. I was keeping them from hunting him down. That particular line of reason seemed to interfere mightily with the flow of energy from the Winter mantle, as if it simply didn't understand why it was going to all this trouble for so incomprehensible a goal. Butters is one of mine, I snarled at it, and we're not letting these chumps kill him unless that's what I decide should happen. Territory and power—those were things that Winter could sink its teeth into.
But it meant more than that. It meant winning the game Mab had set up for me. Or, now that I thought about it, the game Mab had rigged for me. Mab had arranged to give me a target I couldn't miss if I tried. I knew how to win the game to Mab's satisfaction. The trick was going to be both winning the game and surviving it.
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