Best Left in the Shadows Read online

  Table of Contents

  Act 1

  Act 2

  Act 3

  Act 4

  Act 5

  Act 6

  Acknowledgments

  Author’s Note

  Previews

  Act 1

  A Messy Little Murder

  The slow lapping of the Prion River mingled with the creaking wood symphony of the water wheel beside the dock. Moonlight tinted the heavy fog as the last hours of night became the first hours of morning. The heavy mist lay upon the woman’s corpse, fat drops of dew sitting on the blood and making it shine.

  Alys bent over the body, her hands on her hips as she studied the dead woman’s face. Young. Roughed up. She may have been pretty once, but it was impossible to tell now. Old bruises and new mixed with dried blood to create a mask over the girl’s features.

  Alys turned to the man standing against the wooden wall of the pier and shrugged. “What do you want me to say?”

  The man finished speaking to a pair of city guards and waited until the two men clanked away in their armored breastplates and shiny helms. His light hair, always cropped close and crisply perfect, shone briefly in the glow from the torches the guards carried. Alys caught just a glimpse of those familiar blue eyes before the light from the torches faded away.

  He pulled his long coat closer about him against the chill of the morning. The black fabric and gray striping of a royal magistrate made him stand out.

  She corrected her thoughts. Stand out even more.

  “I want you to tell me what happened,” he said.

  She laughed, adjusting the large-bladed scythe that she carried across her back. “What happened? Someone killed her, Magistrate Inspector Daxton Ellis,” Alys said, punctuating every syllable of the man’s title with a clipped enunciation.

  He gave her a long, hard stare. “Nothing is ever easy with you, is it, Alys?”

  “It’s part of my charm,” she said, moving over to the wall beside him. As she drew closer, she studied his face – the subtle play of muscles around his eyes, the set of his mouth. He was always easy to read. “You know who she is.” It was not a question.

  He hesitated at first, then said, “She’s Lydia Ashdown.”

  “Old name,” she said.

  “Old everything.”

  Alys shrugged. “Doesn’t mean much down here in Lowside. You’re sure it’s her?”

  The inspector gave her a slow nod. “She’s been missing for three months now. The parents held out hope that she had just had a rebellious jaunt out to the marches to visit friends or relatives.” He shook his head. “Still, the magistrates were given her description. We knew there was a chance we’d find her like this, but there was always hope. At least until tonight.”

  Alys flicked her tongue against her teeth in silent annoyance. “That doesn’t answer my question, Dax. How do you know this is her?”

  “When she was younger, she was playing and fell into the hearth,” he said. “It left her with a burn scar between her…” He cleared his throat. “Over her heart area.”

  Alys laughed. “So you tore open this poor girl’s bodice for your salacious gaze? Why Dax, you cad!”

  “The mark is distinctive. It looks like a sparrow.”

  “A sparrow?” Alys said in disbelief, kneeling down and opening up the corpse’s shirt. Underneath the clothing, on the stiff, waxy flesh was a brownish red mark. It sat between her breasts, just over her heart. To Alys’s surprise, it actually did look quite a bit like a sparrow in flight. “Amazing. Highside even has prettier scars than we do.”

  “This is hardly a laughing matter, Alys. The Ashdowns are true blooded. They have a direct line to the First Ascended. And their daughter is dead. In Lowside.”

  “Ah,” Alys said. “And there it is. I was wondering what had prompted the chief magistrate to assign you here, dear Dax. Now, I know. You true bloods stick together, right? They brought you in to tidy things up and make sure the Ashdown family is confident that a person of the correct breeding and background is investigating the death of their poor child.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I thought we weren’t making this personal?” he remarked, an edge in his voice. “Wasn’t that one of the rules?” He paused and shook his head. “I’m not here to tidy anything up. I am here for justice. To find who is responsible. It does not matter to me in the slightest how true hers or anyone’s blood may be. You should know that most of all.” He looked at her and in his eyes was that familiar look of resolution, but also a bit of challenge as well.

  That was new.

  Silently, she cursed him. As ever, he knew all the right buttons to push. And he was right. Those were the rules. Keep it business. Alys presented a charming smile to him. “A noble endeavor, Dax. And one I would be glad to assist you with, but you know that nothing is free, Magistrate Inspector. Especially down here in Lowside.”

  “The city will pay for your assistance. Discretely, of course.”

  “I don’t need coin. I can steal whatever coin I want.” He remained quiet at that, and she chuckled. “Oh come now, Daxton. Surely it hasn’t been so long you can’t remember what a girl really wants?”

  “I can’t do it. You know I can’t.” But even as he spoke, Alys saw his eyes move back to the body before them.

  The way his attention kept returning to the corpse, the way his breath came a little faster as she was about to move away. This was a serious case. A Highside victim, old family nobility, found in Prionside. Dax was out of his element here and he knew it.

  “What do you want to know?” he said at last.

  Alys moved in closer and whispered in his ear. “The appointment for Justicar of the Second District is coming. I want to know who’s going to get the nod for that post and what leverage the appointers have on them.”

  Dax spun away. “You’re out of your damned mind.”

  “Oh, unclench. You know I will be discreet, Dax. I always am.”

  “It hasn’t been fully decided yet,” Dax said through tight lips.

  Alys waggled a finger in front of him. “Stop trying to avoid it. This is no small endeavor you are asking me to join you on. And knowing who’s getting tapped should just about cover it. The Second District Justicar is the law in Lowside.” She paused and smiled at him. “Well, the king’s law, anyway.”

  He did not smile back. If anything, his frown seemed to intensify. “It’s not you that I don’t trust, Alys. It’s who you’ll sell the information to.”

  “Believe me, Dax. They know the rules too,” she said. “This is their world. One that they carved out for themselves and built with sweat and blood. They’re not going to shit on all that.”

  Alys met his gaze with her own dark eyes. She saw him break first, unable to keep from looking at the corpse. Inside, she smiled.

  “Fine. I will find out what you want, but I will want results first.”

  “Of course,” she said.

  She pressed her hand against her heart and then held it out to him. He did the same and they clasped forearms, sealing the deal.

  “The Ashdowns will want someone to answer for this,” Dax said. “They will look to the top and think that Blacktide Harry himself is involved,” he said.

  “No chance it’s Harry,” she said.

  “He’s still boss in Prionside District, right? The Stevedore Rats still answer to him?”

  “Why Magistrate Inspector! It seems you have been keeping an ear to the ground in regards to the goings on of the shade folk.”

  “It’s his domain,” he said. “And he’s got the reputation for violence.”

  “Oh Harry’s as black-hearted a bastard as you’ll ever meet, but he has no temper. E
verything he does is cold. But even more, this,” she said, pointing to the body of the young woman, “is bad for business. It’s public. It shines a light on Prionside. The Blacktide would never do anything to disrupt business on the docks. Never.”

  “Well, then if he is so innocent, he shouldn’t mind the inconvenience of a few questions, should he?” He fixed her with a look that slowly evolved into a smile. “You can arrange a meeting, can’t you?”

  “You’re wasting time,” Alys said, reaching back and adjusting the large scythe in its harness, and checking the daggers at her belt. “But I suppose, if you are set on it, it wouldn’t hurt to pay him a visit anyway. If you really want to follow this, we’ll need the Blacktide’s blessing if we’re going to be poking around Prionside.”

  With that, she offered him her arm. “Come along, Magistrate Inspector. It’s late at night, and the streets can be so very dangerous,” she said, batting her eyes at him. “An escort is ever so important.”

  Dax frowned again, but behind his eyes, Alys caught just the barest hint of amusement. “Then I suppose it is good that I have one,” he said.

  Act 2

  In the Court of the Blacktide

  “Watch your head,” Alys warned.

  Dax was so focused on poling the small, flat-bottomed skiff along the canal that he had not noticed the low arch at the tunnel entrance. He muttered a curse as he ducked down, avoiding smacking his head on the mold-covered brick. The top of the pole scraped along the ceiling as they entered the dark tunnel.

  “You’re enjoying this aren’t you, Alys?”

  Alys smiled, reclining on the floor of the skiff, and shrugged. “What more could a girl ask for than a lovely moonlight canal ride?” she asked. “Of course, now that we’ve entered the Sumpworks, we can’t see the moon. And the water smells like rotting fish and a week’s worth of shit. But still…” She closed her eyes and waved a hand lazily in the air. “Lovely.”

  “You’re the one who took us this route, remember?”

  “That’s because I remember your fondness for slumming it,” Alys replied. There was a slight edge to her voice, and Dax recognized the shot for what it was.

  There was a time he would have snapped back, railing against her insinuation. But not tonight. He was here to do a job, and he needed Alys for it, and the memories of the past, sweet and suffering alike, would only complicate things. And Lydia Ashdown deserved more than that. The girl was dead and he would be damned sure to find out who had done it and why.

  And yet, he could not stop looking at Alys. She seemed more beautiful, more alive than he could ever remember. She had changed her hair. It was longer now, beads and ribbons woven into braids that writhed like serpents when she moved. But those eyes, dark and full of secrets, were still the same as they had always been, and they pulled him to her, just as they always had. Since the moment she had walked onto the docks, he wanted to reach out and hold her the way he once had.

  But he didn’t.

  He couldn’t.

  Instead, he held his tongue and pushed them through the shit and water and focused on the present.

  She seemed to pick up on his quiet. “You sure you want to do this?”

  “I’ve met the Blacktide before.”

  She craned her neck back to look at him. “That was a long time ago. Harry isn’t small time anymore. He’s the boss of all of Prionside now. One of Pious Black’s Thirteen.”

  At the name, Dax felt the blood drain from his face. “You still answer to Pious Black?” he asked, his voice tight.

  “You still answer to your father?” she shot back immediately.

  And just like that, he felt sixteen again. Young, naive, unbearably in love, and twice as ashamed. Dax tried to will himself to keep staring at her, but ultimately, he turned his head away.

  For a moment, there was only the sound of lapping water. Then, he heard Alys sigh deeply. “Shit, Dax. Let’s not do this again.”

  He gripped the pole tighter. “Believe me. I wouldn’t be here if I had any other choice,” he said.

  She gave a small laugh. “Nice,” she replied.

  “Do you want the truth, Alys? Or would you prefer we keep it all delicate and civil?” He could not keep the bitter edge from his voice.

  She gave him a look, one eyebrow raised. “You’ve changed. I like it, but if you are insisting on honesty, then yes, let’s be honest.” She gestured with a finger, pointing back and forth between the two of them. “This isn’t going to end well.”

  Dax frowned. “Why not? We’ve been able to put aside the past before. You helped me catch that piece of filth that was burning those merchant ships.”

  “That wasn’t what I meant. And anyway, that was a damn sight different than this. That was a small-time gutter runner who liked to watch the flames dance. This,” she said, gesturing ahead of them down the darkened tunnel, “this is a Lowside boss, and you’re talking about stomping around in his domain.”

  “All the more reason he should cooperate then. If the ports get shut down and Prionside closed off, it will look bad for him.”

  “Those are big, bold words, Magistrate Inspector. And an awfully serious road to walk for a random Highside girl. I don’t care how old or true her name might be.” She scrutinized him for a long moment, her eyes shining in the low light from the flickering torches lining the walls. “You knew her,” she said.

  He kept his eyes on the water and the dark shadows of the tunnel. “I met her a few times when she was very little. I know her sister, Kara. She was at the collegium the same time you and I were. A year below us. I don’t think you would remember her, though.”

  Alys settled back down into the bottom of the skiff. “I try my very hardest to not remember those times,” she said with a smile.

  “Me too,” he said honestly, “but Kara reached out to me three months ago, when Lydia first disappeared. She said her sister had been seeing someone the family did not approve of. Lower status.”

  From her reclined position, Alys raised a hand twirled it around. “Sounds like the intricacies of Highside romance.”

  “That’s what I thought. I looked everywhere Highside. Talked to everyone.” As he spoke, Dax felt his grip tighten on the wooden pole until his fingers ached. “I was certain she’d turn up somewhere in Highside.” The image of the body on the docks flashed through his mind. “I was wrong.”

  He was glad she was facing away from him. She could read him too well, and he did not want her to see that those last words were a lie.

  Thoughts of Lydia in Lowside had not started this morning with the body. He had felt it early on. Had known deep down that whoever Lydia had fallen for wasn’t from Highside, but there had been no one he could contact in Lowside. No one he could turn to.

  No one except Alys.

  And he hadn’t been able to do it. Hadn’t been able to open that door again and face that kind of pain once more. Not on a hunch.

  And because of his cowardice, Lydia Ashdown was dead. Murdered on a Lowside dock.

  “Well,” Alys replied, her voice cutting through his thoughts. “That’s why we’re going to the Blacktide. If you want me to start digging into every dark and seedy little corner of the district, I need his permission to do it.” There was a brief pause before she spoke, and then a slight edge of warning to her words. “Just try to keep that righteous passion for justice on a leash. Your pretty gray stripes mean nothing down here. The king’s protection means nothing. Down here, Blacktide Harry is king.”

  “I’m not here to play games, Alys. I’m here to get this done. Right and quickly.” He had to duck his tall head to avoid striking it on yet another low hanging archway and the skiff rocked. “This is the only way in?” he said, blowing out a frustrated breath.

  “There are other ways in to the Sumpworks, but this way is the front door,” she said. “Where guests come knocking. And if you haven’t been summoned, you come announced as a guest. That’s a rule.”

  Dax kept moving the skiff
forward with the pole. “Announced?”

  “Yes, announced. We were marked back on the docks, and as soon as we started down the canal, they’ve been watching us.” Ahead of them, the darkness of the tunnel ended in greasy yellow light. “Alright, Dax, besides the sword at your side, the short blade at your belt, and that dagger in your boot you think no one notices, what other weapons do you have on you?”

  Dax glanced down toward his right boot with a grimace. “That’s all I’m carrying.”

  Alys clucked her tongue. “Much too light a load for night work down Lowside, but maybe that’s for the best right now,” she said. “Keep your hands on the pole and keep the pole in the water. Make no moves toward any of your weapons. No matter what.”

  Gesturing with his chin toward the large scythe strapped to her back, he smirked. “Do you think that they will even be looking at me with that horror you got back there?”

  “Me and Aunty,” she said, reaching back to pat the scythe, “are known quantities here. You, on the other hand, are a Royal Magistrate coming armed to a boss’s den. Do not forget that.”

  As they drew toward the light, Dax tried to keep his eyes opened wide to force them to adjust more quickly. They drifted past the final arch and into a huge space featuring wooden scaffolds in varying stages of rot, laid over the brickwork of the walls.

  The canal continued straight through the large room, but small walkways spanned the canal. On each, rough-looking men and women watched them. All had a crossbow close at hand.

  “The fact that they aren’t leveled at us already is a very auspicious sign for this meeting,” Alys whispered from the corner of her mouth, her lips not fully moving.

  At the far end of the space, the brick foundations jutted out over the canal, and the water passed through a colossal grate. Upon that brick platform, seated upon a towering throne constructed from wooden crates and netting, was the Blacktide himself.

  His dark hair was slicked back and looked wet, like living amid the water of the Prion had changed him. Gotten into his blood. It gleamed an oily black, as did the thick mustache he affected. His eyes were cold blue amidst the weathered and wrinkled face, and they watched the skiff approach without blinking.