The Dragon's Choice by Wesley Allison

Author:Wesley Allison [Allison, Wesley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Magic, steampunk, dragon, sorceress, senta
Publisher: Wesley Allison
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * * * *

Prince Clitus paced back and forth across the crimson carpet. He’d been in the police inspector’s office for almost five hours, and during that time he had not been allowed to speak to Terra even once. He’d sent Stigby in to find out anything he could. Bob sat patiently. He was always patient. And calm.

“Stop being so damn calm,” growled the Prince.

Bob just shrugged.

Stigby stepped in through the door. Unlike Bob, he looked grim.

“She’s accused of murdering this fellow named Sebastian. I gather he’s some lowlife panderer. I can’t imagine how she would ever have come into contact with him. They’ll let you talk to her, but only with the investigator present. Try not to ask her anything about the case. You don’t want her to accidentally incriminate herself.”

“Fine, fine,” said Clitus.

Stigby led him back through a monochromatic hallway, to a small dull room. The only furnishings were three chairs, one in which Terra was seated, and another in which a police investigator sat. Clitus took the remaining chair.

“How are you?”

“I’m annoyed,” she replied. “They keep trying to get me to confess to killing a man.”

“Perhaps we shouldn’t discuss your case.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, exasperated. “I’m not guilty.”

“Well that’s… that’s good to know.”

“But his blood was on your knife,” pointed out the police inspector. “How can you explain that, miss?”

“Well, obviously I stabbed him,” said Terra. “Only a few times though and all in non-vital areas—at least areas that are not vital in order to live.”

“Why… why did you stab him?” asked Citus.

“I came across him in Blackbottom. He was beating this poor young girl. I insisted that he stop.”

“You insisted that he stop by stabbing him?” asked the inspector.

“Precisely.”

“What were you doing in Blackbottom?” asked the Prince. “That’s not a safe place for a young lady.”

“And yet there are many young women living there,” said Terra, “many of them being preyed upon by curs such as the one I stabbed, but I reiterate, did not kill.”

“You didn’t answer His Highness’s question,” observed the inspector.

“No, I didn’t,” she said, looking him in the eye.

A police constable opened the door to the small room and poked his head in.

“Inspector? Could you come out for a minute? There’s something you need to hear.”

The inspector got up and exited the tiny room. A nod of the Prince’s head sent Stigby following after him.

“Lady Terra,” said Clitus. “I don’t think you comprehend the difficulty in which you find yourself. This isn’t Birmisia. You can’t just do whatever you want.”

“Of course I can,” she said, smiling. “Everyone can. One must simply be willing to accept the consequences.”

“The consequences may be prison.”

“Perhaps, but I doubt it.”

“Why were you in Blackbottom?”

“I prefer not to say,” she said.

The inspector stepped back into the room.

“You should thank your stars, miss. You’re free to go.”

“Seems one of Sebastian’s gay girls found him after Lady Terra had diced him up a bit,” said Stigby, entering after the inspector. “He wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t dying. Later, somebody else sliced his throat while he was in his bed recovering.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.