Free Blood Politics (Blood Destiny 4) by Helen Harper

business otherwise.  And yet, what he was asking really didn’t sound that hard at all.  A little bit of digging and a little bit of watching, and I was pretty confident I could get an answer for him.  Having Balud as a sort of friend might, in retrospect, be a better idea for my future prospects than anything else I could currently think of.  
    I nodded to him decisively.  “Okay then.  Is there a time frame?”
    He shrugged.  “A week sounds reasonable.”
    That indeed sounded very reasonable.  I wondered if there was something about the Batibat species that I clearly didn’t know about and that was going to make this a more complicated task than it appeared on the surface.   I guessed I’d find out sooner or later.
    “It’s a deal.”  I spat on my hand and held it out to the troll.  He did the same, grasping mine in his.
    “I will see you back here in seven days time then, Miss Smith.”
    I stared at him, suddenly startled.
    He gave a short chuckle.  “I deal with dangerous customers.  Do you really think I wouldn’t take the time to find out who they are first?”
    That made sense.  This was one canny troll though.  I’d have to watch my step around him.  I picked up the daggers and then realised stupidly that I had nowhere to put them other than inside my backpack where they’d be difficult to reach in a hurry.
    Balud snorted, and threw me some kind of leather strapped device.  “Here.  On the house.  I wouldn’t want you to lose these weapons as quickly as you lost the previous ones.  It attaches round your back so that a short sleeved t-shirt can still conceal them.  It’s much more effective than arm braces.”  He arched an eyebrow at me.
    Arm braces being what I would normally use.  There was definitely more to this troll that met the eye.  Before I could make any more comments on his astuteness, however, Balud bowed to me.
    “I will give you some privacy to put it on and then you can show yourself out.  It’s been a pleasure doing business.”
    “Likewise,” I murmured, watching as he turned and plodded heavily away, then closed the door and quickly stripped off my t-shirt on order to get myself properly kitted up.

 
    Chapter Six
     
         A few hours later, I stepped off the train at Hampstead Heath station.  The weight of the daggers against my back felt comforting.  I had practised pulling them out several times, and now had it down to one sharp swift movement that would serve me well if this dryad, unlikely as it was, decided to turn on me.  My head was a bit foggy and, as I walked through the darkened park, I felt somewhat sluggish.  I’d been trying hard not to think about Corrigan and his latest date but annoying recurring images of the pair of them kept flashing through my mind.  I was a fucking idiot.  
    The night air was cool and I could only hope that it would sharpen my senses up somewhat.  I mulled over the possible reasons as to why a dryad would be interested in having a chat with me.  Years ago, when I’d lived in Cornwall with the Pack, I’d patiently tracked one down in a bid to find out more about their species.  It had taken a very long time to build up enough trust between myself and that dryad for her to even talk to me, and she’d never have become confident enough to seek me out.  Not that finding me would have been that easy for her, of course.  Dryads were somewhat tied to their tree habitats, finding it painful to be any distance away from them.  The mages had seemed somewhat oblivious to this fact, using them to practise Kinesthetic spells on with their students.  I had tried to encourage them to stop it, knowing how traumatic it was for the dryads, but had ended up leaving the academy before I’d had much success.  It was theoretically possible that was reason why Atlanteia was trying to talk to me.  Maybe she thought I had enough clout with the mages to make them cease such practices altogether.  It wasn’t clear