Memories of Lilac by Vyktoria Howard

Heat Rating: Warm

Content Warnings: GLBT-implied f/f relationship, m/f scene

A murder investigation has unexpected results for everyone involved.

Vay'Verryet is the largest of the Imperial seaports and the greatest number of foreign ships make it a port-of-call on their trade routes. Over two hundred ships, merchant and Imperial Navy call the port home, and no wonder as it has the deepest harbor on the Imperial mainland.

Unfortunately, with these distinctions also comes the highest rate of criminal activity anywhere in the Empire. Mostly petty theft though a bit of smuggling goes on. Strictly of the outgoing variety. Nothing is illegal in the Empire. If you want to spend your days and nights in a drug induced haze, that is entirely up to you, Imperial Law could not care less if you are intent on suicide so long as you pay your taxes while you are alive. There is an occasional murder, usually involving the death of an outlander run afoul of a hot-tempered noble. Also not against Imperial Law, though woe befall the outlander guilty of killing a noble in our Empire.

No one ever claimed our laws are fair. But they are ours and we have lived by them for centuries, so....

Add to this a thriving slave trade, a garrison of Imperial soldiers, thousands of citizens--those born in the Empire and an ever growing population of freed slaves--and the problems faced by the inadequate numbers of sholair, our police, create a critical problem.

Under orders from our ruling shodai Prince, Taishehn, we took up the slack left by the lightly manned sholair stations and began patrolling the streets, primarily at night when, for some unknown reason, the foreigners seemed to think they would be more able to carry on their nefarious business.

Humans. Just because they can't see well at night they make assumptions that no one else can either.

Our uniforms, an inky black in color, did something for us that the more pastel lavender of the junior sholair or brightly hued purple uniforms of their officers did not do: concealed us in the shadows. Not that there were many shadows deep enough to conceal much of anything. Especially not in the areas frequented by the foreigners and the sailors of our own ships. The streets were lit at every corner by gently glowing lights, and the businesses that remained open all nightómostly taverns, inns and the rose gardens (brothels to those of you from foreign ports)óand a few shops specializing in pretty baubles or fabrics also provided illumination.

My partner, Mayrehn and me were walking down one of the less well lit streets. Lined with homes, the only business was a tailor's shop at the front of a house. And at this hour it was closed. The night was rather old, about three hours until dawn, when I noticed the unmistakable smell of blood.

I stopped, sniffing the air, trying to locate where the blood scent was coming from.

"What is it?" Mayrehn asked, his expression gone all serious, a mirror to my own.

The unmistakable sweet-musk stink of death tinged the air beneath the blood.

I looked up at him, "There's a dead body near here."

His handsome face twisted into a scowl, "Where?"

I lifted my head, testing the light breeze, seeking the direction. In the corner of my eye the moonlight shining through my hair turned the silvery light red. I shuddered, a frission going through me as if I'd just viewed an ill-omened sight. But it was just my hair, and the light. Nothing strange. Like my father my hair is a startling shade of ruby, while my eyes are vivid blue, as were my mother's.

I took a few steps forward. Seeking the source of the death smell we started walking slowly up the deserted street, Mayrehn following a few paces behind me so his scent would not interfere.