Lady of Misrule (Marla Mason Book 8) Read Online Free

inimical physics, stuff like that, not... fighting ice witches. I sympathize, but I’ve got an exiled outsider from an especially nasty bubble in the quantum foam increasing his ontological mass on your Earth at an exponential rate, and I’m a lot more concerned about him than I am about Viscarro’s mom going around killing people.” He paused. “Can you believe Viscarro has a mom ? Who’s still alive? I figured the dude was hatched from a spider egg or something.”
    “If you can see worlds where we don’t fuck this up,” Rondeau said, “maybe a little guidance – “
    “Rondeau, if you need guidance, you can summon oracles. I know – you use the brain that used to belong to me to do it. Take care of my body, would you? It wouldn’t hurt you to get on a treadmill every once in a while, lay off the all-you-can-eat buffets a little. As for this Regina thing, keep doing what you’re doing. There’s a good sixty percent chance you won’t even die.”
    The television turned itself off.
    “Hmm,” Rondeau said. “Keep doing what we’re doing. So. Next witch on the list?”
    •
    “You’re sure this will work?” Rondeau said.
    “Mrs. Mason told me it would attract Genevieve’s attention.” Pelham was methodically slicing his way through a bag of lemons from Rondeau’s bar.
    “But you make lemonade all the time. And lemon chicken. And lemon drops. Lemon meringue pie. You slice lemons a lot, is what I’m saying, and it’s never tempted a reweaver capable of altering the nature of reality to come out of the pocket dimension where she lives.”
    “The element of intentionality is necessary.” Pelham picked up a lemon and sniffed it, eyes closed. “I have to call her, with my mind.”
    “Not fair. Why did you learn this summoning trick? Did you ever even meet Gen? I was actually there, when she was turning Felport into a hallucination amusement park. I even helped stop the nightmare king who tormented her. At least, I mean, I was around at the time...”
    “Hello, Rondeau,” Genevieve said. One end of the kitchen had turned into a pavilion of white silk, and a woman with violet eyes and caramel-colored hair stood shyly, half-hidden by a curtain. “Did you need something? Is Marla all right? It’s only, I shouldn’t stay too long. Just being in the world like this, it makes thing start to go... soft... around me...”
    Rondeau suddenly regretted suggesting they call Genevieve. She’d developed some control over her powers, so her worst nightmares didn’t just pop into being anymore, but she was still dangerous, and she knew it – that’s why she chose to inhabit a little pinched-off bit of reality, where she could reshape the landscape to suit her whim without damaging a place where regular people actually lived . “Uh,” he said. “The thing is....”
    Then he blinked, or didn’t even blink, but it was like reality blinked, and he was on his back underneath the glass-topped coffee table in the living room, wearing only one shoe, with a terrible headache, and Pelham was sitting up groaning beside the frosty balcony door. “Wha?” Rondeau said. “Did Gen... do something?”
    “I think she left,” Pelham said. “I think... she might have been annoyed? That we called her for this?”
    Rondeau squinted. Had there been yelling? His memories were like those of a dream, fading from his short-term memory as he came awake. Something about how if Genevieve meddled, she might cause a drought that would consume the world, or bring on a new Little Ice Age? About how you didn’t bring a thermonuclear bomb to a knife fight? “Oh. Right.”
    He turned his head. His beautiful big-screen TV was gone. In its place rested a single yellow lemon.
    “Damn,” he said. “I liked that TV.”
    •
    “What?” Rondeau held the conch shell to his ear. “You – okay, I get that, I know, Marla owes you a favor, you don’t owe anyone any favors, I’m saying, maybe I’ll owe you a favor if you come help. I