by Lucy Saxon
‘Sure you’ll be able to restrain yourself wandering around Greystone?’ she teased. ‘We won’t go unnoticed if you’re punching government workers in the face.’
Fox snorted, giving her an amused look.
‘I’m sure I’ll manage.’ The plan was to eavesdrop on as many people as possible, in the hope of learning more about the guard shifts around the entrances. As Nathaniel Hunter’s daughter, Cat had always entered and exited through North Gate, but it was far too well guarded for street rats to sneak through.
‘We’ll be docking for a while, so I need to file for a long-term permit with the warden,’ Harry added.
‘We’d better get going, Mattie,’ Ben urged quietly, nudging his friend’s shoulder. Matt nodded, standing, and after a short whispered conversation with Harry, the two left. Cat wasn’t sure what they were up to; they hadn’t seen fit to tell anyone but Harry. Presumably, Alice wouldn’t approve.
‘Come on, Alice, let’s get going,’ Fox said. ‘Coming, Cat?’
Waving goodbye to Harry, the three of them headed up on deck. Cat stood for a long moment, just peering out over the railing into the city. It was bizarre to think that she’d left – had gone all the way to Siberene – and it was only having seen the prosperity of the foreign country that she was able to see how truly desolate Anglya was. The crumbling brick and lopsided stone of the housing districts was more obvious to her, and the broken streetlights hard to ignore. Even the richest of common men wore threadbare clothes that had seen many better days. Everyone looked thin and haggard, and the city itself was dilapidated and filthy.
‘Shocking, isn’t it? You don’t realise until you’ve seen what everywhere else is like. What we could be like, if your lot weren’t ruining it,’ Fox muttered, nudging her in the back to get her moving. Cat elbowed him in the stomach.
‘They’re not my lot! I hate them just as much as you do.’
He scowled darkly.
‘Whatever you say, girlie. Now, hurry up.’
Cat hurried down the gangplank. As she reached the bottom, she narrowly avoided being run over by two men carrying a large crate. They cursed at her as she darted out of the way and went after Alice.
‘Which end of Greystone are we looking at?’ Cat asked, keeping her voice low.
Fox shot her a funny look.
‘What on Tellus are you talking about, ends of Greystone? Either end is full of pretentious middle-class bastards.’
Cat rolled her eyes. Now was not the time for prejudice, even if it was well founded.
‘Well, if you go up the Highdene end, it’s right by the South entrance of the compound, which is where people like the Cantfields and the Mayfairs live. That end, you’ll probably only get petty gossip about who’s been seen stepping out with who, which families are currently in good standing and which have members who’ve done something rather naughty. Useless, boring drivel that delights the ladies and makes them think they’ve got access to some secret scandal. We might get something useful about the compound, but I doubt it. The Kentridge end is near … near where people like my father and the Gales live, and is also close to the gentlemen’s club. That’s where we’ll get the more solid information – what’s going on in the compound, who has business meetings they’re being terribly tight-lipped about. But it’s very difficult to get close enough to hear anything.’
‘We’ll go there, then,’ Fox snapped irritably and scowled.
Cat looked sideways at him.
‘Or …’ she continued, elongating the word, ‘we could head to Kentridge through Appleby, which is furthest from the compound walls. We’re less likely to get business information, but more likely to eavesdrop on workmen – guards, government mechanics, the ones who actually do what people like my father order them to. And trust me, the workmen like to complain. If we’re going to learn anything, it’ll probably be there.’
‘How in blazes do you know all this?’ Alice asked, impressed.
Cat shrugged.
‘I went to a lot of meetings with my father. As his heir I was allowed to meet his associates, but as a girl I had to sit and wait outside while they discussed their business.’ Her voice showed exactly how she felt about that. ‘A lot of the time, there was no one checking I was actually sitting outside, and those meetings would go on for hours. So I’d slip off into Greystone and no one would touch me, knowing who I was. No one dared bring the wrath of Nathaniel Hunter down on their heads,’ she explained matter-of-factly.
Alice tutted, disapproving of a young girl wandering the streets alone. Fox just looked grim – at the inattention paid to a small girl, or the reminder of just how important she was, she didn’t know.
‘So you recommend we go through Appleby, then?’ he asked her, and she nodded.
‘It’s been a little while since I’ve been there, but Mr Perkins should still live at number seven, and he’s the commander in charge of coordinating the guards’ shifts,’ she replied, turning down a corner towards the familiar dark grey paved streets. ‘We’re bound to learn a thing or two. He tells his wife everything, and she’s an awful gossip.’
For once, she was leading the way, Fox and Alice trailing behind her. She could tell it was infuriating Fox that she was more knowledgeable than him in this area, and that made her smile. He deserved a taste of his own medicine.
‘You can’t just walk into Greystone,’ Fox hissed, grabbing her by the shoulder as she made to cross the street. ‘Not as a commoner, anyway.’
Impatiently she eyed her two companions.
‘Your clothes are fairly decent. Fox, stuff your goggles in your pocket and just walk in like you own the place. You manage to do that everywhere else, so it shouldn’t be too hard for you.’
He blinked, taking a few moments to register that she’d insulted him. Far from being offended, he grinned.
‘Little girl has some fire in her belly.’
Cat stomped on his foot.
‘Don’t call me little girl,’ she warned.
‘If you had pigtails, lass, I’m sure he’d be pulling them,’ Alice murmured wryly, and Cat saw the faintest hint of red colour in Fox’s freckled cheeks.
Greystone was in markedly better condition than the inner-city areas, but most of the buildings still looked shabby and in need of repair, and she could count more broken windows than she had fingers. Glancing over her shoulder, she waved a hand impatiently, and Fox sighed before starting forward, confident swagger out in full. Alice kept her usual warm smile on her face, hiding her nervousness well.
‘Just keep an eye out and walk slowly,’ Cat muttered under her breath, peering around the streets. It was relatively quiet, as most people were currently at work. However, that meant the wives were left to their own devices, and if she remembered correctly …
‘There.’ Sure enough, they turned a corner and reached the small park in the centre of Appleby, where a group of women were sitting on benches chatting quietly, a few of them with babies on their laps. There were four young children, three boys and a girl, playing with a ball on the grass. The trio stayed back, wary of getting too close.
‘Perfect,’ announced Cat.
‘Why perfect?’ Alice queried.
‘See that blonde woman in the dark blue skirt with the grey corset and shawl? That’s Mr Perkins’ wife. I thought she’d be here at this time. The baby the woman next to her is holding is hers, and she’d never resist an opportunity to show him off. She practically threw a party when he was born.’
‘You know a worrying amount about the social habits of government scum,’ Fox murmured, ignoring the sharp look Alice shot him.
Cat just shrugged.
‘One thing my father taught me that I actually bothered to listen to – always know what those who work for you do with their free time, just in case they’re using it to betray you.’
Fox’s eyebrows rose slowly.
‘That’s … really quite paranoid,’ he told her, and she nodded.
‘Completely, but
it works. Now, how are we going to get close enough to listen in without being noticed?’ She eyed the surrounding area, looking for somewhere that would shield them from curious eyes.
‘And just what do you think you’re doing, you little brat?’ Cat froze at the familiar voice, turning on her heel. Standing in front of them, proudly wearing his guard’s uniform with a shiny new stud at his collar signifying a recent promotion, was Finnegan Rowley, son of Jeremy Rowley, head of ration allocation. Finnegan was a pompous idiot with delusions of grandeur – he had once told an eleven-year-old Cat that he was going to marry her and become the head of the Hunter family. Fortunately, her father had overheard and laughed himself breathless, taking great pleasure in telling the boy that he would never give his daughter away to someone with so little standing.
‘Walking, what does it look like?’ she retorted coolly, crossing her fingers behind her back, hoping desperately he wouldn’t recognise her.
‘I don’t know you,’ he declared.
Cat rolled her eyes, staring up at the boy – man now, she supposed – through her ragged fringe.
‘Well, that tiny brain of yours can’t be expected to remember every name you try and shove in it, Finnegan. I live down in Lethbridge at Miss Kasey’s. This is my friend from school, Will, and his mother Alice.’ She hoped Miss Kasey was continuing to take in higher-class orphans, or her plan was down the drain. Luckily, Finnegan nodded slowly, still eyeing her with distrust.
‘Tell Miss Kasey that if she doesn’t stop letting in strays my father will have to cut her rations. I don’t care for little orphan brats like you, and neither does the rest of the country. We’ll start shipping you off if you keep asking for food.’ Cat felt Fox stiffen behind her, a low growl escaping his throat. She reached back discreetly, placing a hand on his arm.
‘We’re of the same blood, Rowley, so don’t act like you’re better than me,’ she said curtly.
‘Yes, but I actually have parents who care about me,’ he replied nastily. Cat wished she could tell him who she really was, just to see the look on his face, but giving the game away wasn’t worth a petty grudge match. Fox’s growl grew louder, and he started forward, but Cat held him back. Finnegan’s eyes darted between the two of them, completely ignoring Alice and lingering on Fox for a long moment, before he evidently decided that Fox looked too big a threat to try brawling with. Finnegan may have been solidly built, but it was obvious that most of it was not muscle. His double-breasted uniform jacket strained around the middle, and one row of buttons was uneven, betraying the need to adjust them in order to fit his girth.
‘Hurry along to Miss Kasey’s, then, brat, and watch your attitude around your betters,’ he spat.
Cat gave him a look of wide-eyed innocence.
‘Oh, I will, when I see them,’ she replied, nimbly stepping aside when he aimed a punch at her face. ‘Oh, was I meant to stay still for that? Terribly sorry. Maybe next time I’ll let you hit me, and then you can explain to your commander how you punched an orphan boy. I’m sure he’ll agree it was a valid use of the power you’ve gained with that pretty new scrap of silver. Commander Grange, right?’
He winced almost violently, face going pale, and Cat knew she’d guessed correctly. Only Grange could inspire that reaction in his men.
‘You’ll get yours one day, boy,’ Finnegan muttered, turning on his heel and stomping off down the street, away from the park.
When he was gone, Cat let out a chuckle at the looks on her companions’ faces.
‘That was fun,’ she remarked.
‘You, young lady, are far too devious for your own good. That poor boy looked about ready to mess his trousers after your last comment,’ Alice muttered with a shake of her head, making Cat snigger. ‘Though with his attitude, I don’t blame you!’
‘That poor boy is a brute and a bully, and deserves everything I gave him and more. That was merely a bit of retribution. I couldn’t resist, not when he doesn’t recognise me.’
Alice sighed.
‘I suppose it did the trick. We’re just lucky it was a guard you knew, rather than one you didn’t.’
Cat grinned at her, then looked at Fox, who was still staring at her.
‘Anything to say?’ she queried neutrally.
Fox shook his head, a bemused grin stretching across his lips.
‘That was impressive. And it makes me wonder what he did to you before you were Cat to get you to react that way,’ he admitted.
Cat wasn’t sure how she felt about Fox making that distinction – Catherine and Cat, two separate people. It was like Fox was splitting her personality, and only wanting to know half of it. She may have given up her Hunter heritage, but she wasn’t completely disregarding the person she’d been.
‘He bullied a lot of younger sprogs when we were in school, thought he was sent from the storms himself because his father’s head of rationing, and tried to betroth himself to me when I was eleven. That was when my father drew the line – he’s had plans for my marriage since I was born,’ she replied.
‘You government types and your arranged marriages,’ Fox muttered. ‘Do any of them actually work?’
Cat thought about that for a long moment. She knew some people who were content with their spouse, and lived perfectly happily. But she couldn’t state with any certainty that any of them would have picked that person.
‘I don’t think so. But marriage to us – them,’ she corrected hastily, seeing the look on Fox’s face, ‘isn’t so much about love, it’s political strategy. Joining two families of status together to increase the status of both. No one cares if the people involved love each other. We’re usually betrothed before we’re old enough to know what love really is.’
‘Everywhere else in the world did away with them decades ago,’ Alice mused. ‘One day Anglya will catch up.’
‘I don’t know how you can think they’re normal,’ Fox remarked to Cat, wrinkling his nose.
‘I never said it was normal. It’s just what happens,’ she told him with a shrug. ‘Now, back on topic, how are we going to get close enough to listen in on Mrs Perkins and her friends? Even if I keep my cover as one of Miss Kasey’s lodgers, they won’t want a little orphan brat playing with their precious children.’
‘We could just sit on the grass nearby and talk. It’s not like they own the place,’ Fox pointed out, one eyebrow raised. ‘Unless they do.’
‘No, no, it’s free land,’ Cat replied. ‘And I suppose we could. We’ll have to look busy, though, or they’ll tell us to go to work.’
‘Well, we look more suspicious just standing here, so we’d better get a move on,’ Alice urged, glancing at the group of women in the park.
Cat led the way over, sitting on the closest piece of grass; far enough away from the gathering of women that they wouldn’t be caught eavesdropping, but close enough to hear most of what was being said. Urging Alice and Fox to start a light, superficial conversation, she leaned back on her hands, straining to hear what the ladies were saying. Most of it was frivolous chit-chat, but she perked up at a mention of guard duty.
‘Oh, my John has been working ever so hard these past months. But if he carries on the way he’s going, he says, his commander will grant him another stud. And, of course, you know what that means,’ one of the women told the group, and all of them burst into girlish giggles. Cat was given two near identical perplexed looks.
‘If John Catton gets a fourth stud his commander will give him leave to have a second child. Also, a pay rise,’ she explained quickly.
‘Was John involved in that dreadful scuffle I heard about from Mr Graham the other day? I know it was in his area,’ asked a woman with a squealing baby in her arms.
‘You have to get permission to have children in government?’ Fox asked in an incredulous whisper.
Cat shushed him, but she’d missed Mrs Catton’s response.
‘Only the second one onwards. Now, shut up and keep talking, they said something about a scuffle in
John’s area. That’s South district.’
‘Shut up and keep talking?’ Fox muttered with raised eyebrows, but resumed his fake conversation with Alice.
‘They’re tightening security in the area, Harvey told me. Pulling in ninth and tenth for extra shifts.’
Cat winced; there went the easiest prospect of entering. South Gate was known to be the least guarded, being the one closest to Greystone.
‘How long for, do you know? Daniel is in tenth, and he’s barely home as it is,’ a woman with pale blonde hair asked, frowning, and Cat hid a smirk. The reason Mrs Ashdowne’s husband was barely home was because he was having an affair with Mrs Bates’s sixteen-year-old daughter. Something the older woman was obviously aware of, if the shifty look she had on her face was anything to go by.
‘It’s all worth it, though, if it brings in the money,’ Mrs Bates said kindly.
‘Are you getting anything from all this drivel, or can we carry on to Kentridge?’ Fox asked impatiently, his foot bouncing. For a moment he reminded Cat of one of the young boys tugging on his mother’s skirts a few feet away.
‘I’ve already ruled out South Gate entrance, so unless you count that important progress as drivel, cease your whining and let me listen,’ she scolded sharply.
He looked both surprised at her tone and abashed at his childishness, and went quiet once more, turning as if he were listening to Alice talk.
‘Did you hear about Linda Bowen? She’s been seen meeting Nathaniel Hunter for lunch.’
Cat froze.
‘Oh yes, apparently they’re looking rather cosy. The man isn’t even waiting until his wife passes, and he’s making no secret of his dalliance. How very shameful! Especially after what happened with his daughter.’
‘Does anyone know what happened to her? There was an article in the newspaper, but I’ll admit, I was much more interested in the news that Marcus Gale has been betrothed to the Carter girl.’
Cat snorted quietly – Amelia Carter could have him.
‘According to the news, Lord Hunter says she ran away. It seems awfully suspicious, though. Harriet Cantfield says Lord Hunter sent her away with the Collection because she was being so dreadfully disobedient. She’s his only heir, so maybe that’s why he’s stepping out with Linda. Elizabeth Hunter isn’t likely to give him another from what I’ve heard. They say she’s barely hanging on as it is.’