For Love of Magic

Table of Contents CHAPTER ONECHAPTER TWOCHAPTER THREECHAPTER FOURCHAPTER FIVECHAPTER SIXCHAPTER SEVENCHAPTER EIGHTCHAPTER NINECHAPTER TEN FOR LOVE OFMAGICSIMON R. GREEN For Love of MagicSimon R. Green History isn’t what you think it is. It’s been rewritten to remove all the magic. Together, two people decide to put things right. A new novel of magic, history and true love from Simon R. Green.When they fall in love, it’s magic!History can change and has changed. Magic was and is real.Once upon a time, there was a forgotten era of magic and monster. But the remnants—and all memory—of the old world have been replaced by the sane, the scientific, and the rational. But sometimes the magical past isn’t content to stay past. That’s where Jack Daimon comes in. It’s his job to protect our present from the supernatural remnants of an earlier time, a different history. It’s his job to make the past safe.Jack is called to the Tate Museum, where dozens of people have disappeared beneath the surface of a painting. While investigating, he finds himself smitten with a mysterious art expert, Amanda Fielding. But Amanda has plans of her own, and soon the two are traveling through time—back to the Roman Empire and then forward through history, from King Arthur’s court to Sherwood Forest. As they explore histories past as written and overwritten, the balance of magic and science shifts, and the choices the two make could change the world forever. BAEN BOOKSby SIMON R. GREEN ISHMAEL JONES MYSTERIESThe Dark Side of the RoadDead Man WalkingVery Important Corpses (forthcoming)Haunted by the Past Jekyll & Hyde Inc. For Love of Magic FOR LOVE OF MAGIC This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. Copyright © 2023 by Simon R. Green All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form. A Baen Books Original Baen Publishing EnterprisesP.O. Box 1403Riverdale, NY 10471www.baen.com ISBN: 978-1-9821-9261-7eISBN: 978-1-62579-913-5 Cover art by Tom Kidd First printing, May 2023 Distributed by Simon & Schuster1230 Avenue of the AmericasNew York, NY 10020 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Green, Simon R., 1955- author. Title: For love of magic / Simon R. Green. Description: Riverdale, NY : Baen Publishing Enterprises, [2023]Identifiers: LCCN 2022059945 (print) | LCCN 2022059946 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982192617 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781625799135 (ebook) Subjects: LCGFT: Fantasy fiction. | Romance fiction. | Novels. Classification: LCC PR6107.R44 F675 2023 (print) | LCC PR6107.R44 (ebook) | DDC 823/.92—dc23/eng/20221213 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022059945LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022059946 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Electronic version by Baen Bookswww.baen.com History isn’t what it used to be. Once upon a time, the world was a better place. Horses had wings and rings granted wishes, animals could talk, there were castles in the clouds, and everyone knew who the real monsters were. True love was everywhere, and happily ever after came as standard. And good things happened every day.That world is gone, but we all dream of it. Palimpsest: a manuscript that has been written over, so that sometimes the original writing can be seen peeping through. Also: a useful metaphor when it comes to understanding the past. History has been rewritten, to take all the magic out of the world. But not all of it has been erased. CHAPTER ONETHERE’S SOMETHING IN THE PAINTING London is a city haunted by its past, by the cold facts of history and the hot fever dreams of legend. A city built on bones and ghosts, dreams and myths, and all the other things that refuse to be forgotten.I’m Jack Daimon, and it’s my job to make the past behave. I walked through a door that appeared out of nowhere, and just like that I was strolling through Westminster late at night, with a map in my head telling me where I needed to be. The pavements seemed more than usually crowded as I headed for the Tate Gallery at Millbrook, and whatever Bad Thing was waiting for me there. It’s my job to defuse the supernatural equivalent of unexploded bombs: all the weird artefacts and infernal devices left behind by forgotten civilisations and peoples we’re better off without. I protect the present, from the sins of times past.I was wearing my usual black goat’s-skin leather jacket over a black T-shirt, workman’s jeans, and stout walking boots. For me, fashion and style have always been things other people do. I was in my late twenties, in good enough shape, and with the kind of face that doesn’t get noticed. A backpack over my shoulder held the tools of my trade: cold iron and cursed silver, fresh garlic and bottled wolfsbane. A mandrake root with a screaming face, a Hand of Glory made from the severed hand of the last politician to be secretly hanged in England . . . and an athame, a witch knife that can cut through all the things other blades can’t touch.When I finally got to the Tate, it was closed. All the windows were dark, like so many empty eyes, and two uniformed policemen stood guard at the front door. Even at this late hour a major tourist attraction like the Tate should still have been open for business, but the few hopeful souls who did approach the police were politely but firmly turned away. No visitors, no exceptions, try again tomorrow.Since I was here, that had to mean whatever had gone wrong was way out of the ordinary and more than usually dangerous. I wasn’t surprised. All art galleries are packed full of things that have been allowed to hang around for far too long. Menaces from the past, preserved in canvas and paint, stone and marble. Just waiting to wake up angry and bite someone’s head off.I headed straight for the two policemen, and they stood a little straighter despite themselves. Walk