Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

items. By applying my talents to debt collecting, I got to
engage in a favorite past time. Punching the deserving in the face.
Being paid for it was a bonus.
    Finding people was another issue. Missing someone you cared for was
heartbreaking. It scarred a soul down deep. I knew that pain. My own
parents had left me, abandoned me. Their faces lost to time. There
was nothing within my entire collection to track my own family with.
    Daniel guided me and my vanishing breakfast to his car. From the back
came a stack of files and items in evidence bags. “You know the
rules, I can’t actually let you touch any of it.” He
said.
    “I know, makes it harder, but I’ll do what I can.”
I shrugged. That was fine, I didn’t want fingerprints on
government tagged and bagged items.
    An hour passed while cruising through the five cases he presented.
Two children, one alive and north somewhere. The other provided no
response. The answer, once found, would likely be depressing. One
missing person looked familiar. I wound back to the file Daniel had
and tapped on the picture.
    “Who’s this?” I flipped the file around for him to
look at.
    “Arnold Regious, son of one massively rich family, missing,
believed kidnapping.” Daniel grabbed the case file then flipped
through the thin stapled pages. “Human, no signs of the other
races being involved so I’m not sure how they routed it to
Sector.” Sector only got involved if it was interracial.
    “And?” I bounced the photo up and down.
    He was looking at a few different pages across the file and sighed.
“And this dude vanished on the road during the day heading
between family estates. Driver and a guardian both missing too.”
The man said.
    “Let me check something,” I said.
    “You’re kidding, on this case?” He looked excited.
“Man, that’s perfect.”
    “Hold on.” I went back into my apartment, carefully
making sure to close the door behind me. When I returned to Daniel it
was with the picture of two blond boys. “This him?”
    “Let’s see.” Daniel took the picture and compared
it to some of the other photos in the file. “Hard to say, but
it looks solid, one’s human, other’s elven. Where’d
you get this?”
    “An elf I certainly didn’t accost, sir.” I tried to
put on my best innocent girl act. Too bad my voice wasn’t built
for valley girl tones. At least the poor impression got a snicker.
    “Alright, is he still alive?” He smiled.
    “Couldn’t tell. Elf is, don’t know about the
human.” I said. Couldn’t tell was code for likely dead.
Daniel had been through this dance more than a few times with me.
    “Mind if I steal your meal ticket?”
    “Please do, if it’s more than a gambling debt, I want no
part of it. Nothing personal.” Working with Daniel was fine but
the thought of being in his way wasn’t comforting.
    “I hear you. Alright, I’ll take this and go. This will
mean a lot if it pans out, thanks.”
    “Anytime,” I said. Daniel probably couldn’t hear
me, since he was already settling himself into his car and slamming
the door shut. The Sector agent quickly drove off. Next he would be
bothering Julianne for information and then back to whatever nest the
suits were stationed out of. She didn’t exactly like him nosing
in on her clients, but like most bookies, when it was a bad debt
there was no harm throwing them under the bus. Especially if it kept
someone out of the rest of their business.
    I slowly wandered back to the bar. Julianne’s employees ran
about clearing leftovers from the lunch group and prepped for dinner.
Friday nights were crowded. Which meant lots of bets being placed,
hopefully someone big and dumb looking would be able to score a job
as a bouncer tonight.
    “Jannneeee.” I hollered down the hallways behind the
counter that lead to a medium sized kitchen and the bookkeeper’s
office.
    Wheels ground against the thinly carpeted floor. A man’s head
peeked out of the back office. I nearly forgot he