The Iron Assassin by Ed Greenwood

Author:Ed Greenwood
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781466838895
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

OCTEMBER 13

The masked, top-hatted figure on the far side of the beaded curtain was waiting for her answer. His patience would not be infinite. As if to remind her of that, he shifted slightly, and the row of diamonds that ran down the front of his top hat caught the light, winking and sparkling for an instant. Then he was a dark, motionless greatcoated bulk once more. Waiting.

“It’s not yet the right time to strike against the Prince Royal,” Lady Constance Roodcannon told him smoothly, watching his eyes follow her movements. The elegant gown she wore left her smooth, ivory-hued shoulders and arms bare and flirted with showing the world a little more. He was trying to enjoy her display.

Lady Roodcannon reminded herself that her visitor’s vertical column of large diamonds set in diamond-shaped silver settings weren’t mere adornment, they were trophies. Each one marked a rich and important lord slain.

“Right now,” she added lightly, “the others who lead the Ancient Order are deciding they’ve had enough of me, and having my child without me will suit them just fine, so it’s time to move against me.”

“Your child is elsewhere and safe, of course.”

“Of course. The children they’ll find—the first, and several more beyond that first one—are there for anyone too inquisitive to find. They look like my son, and each of them has been reared to believe they are my son, but…”

She shrugged and smiled.

“Life is so regrettably full of deceit,” the figure beyond the curtain murmured, sounding amused.

“Indeed. So for the time being, if you see to the safety of Marlshrike, I’ll take care of those who believe they command the Tentacles.”

“And Lord Tempest? What of him?”

“We need just one of the two tinkerers to survive, and none of us can keep him safe. Not the way he behaves.”

“I am inclined to agree with you,” the masked man said dryly. “I shall endeavor to safeguard Marlshrike.”

“Let him gain the resources he needs to field his army of assassins but think he’s done it himself, and he’ll keep to his den cackling gleefully and working himself to exhaustion—as safe as anyone can make him.”

“And what of our safety—and that of everyone else in London—with his assassins on the prowl?”

“As to that, we at least should be able to guard ourselves adequately, if we intercept his assassins just long enough to introduce these into their footwear. Grimstone, the box.”

Grimstone stepped forward from behind her, holding forth a box. He swung its lid up to display its contents: a dozen small metal gewgaws. They looked like jewelry that’s been trodden on and made dirty by the streets.

“And these are?”

“You might call them ‘echo reflectors.’ The same etheric telegraphy by which Marlshrike controls the Iron Assassin from afar can be used to send out signals—like the tolling of a church bell—that can bounce back from these.”

“So we can track the movements of anyone who has one of these in his boots.”

“We can.” Lady Roodcannon gave the man beyond the curtain a wide

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