The Burning Chaos (Smoke and Mirrors Book 2)

by Melissa Giorgio

  “So if it wasn’t them, then who did it?” Something occurred to me. “Someone that was poisoned? Could this whole thing be a possible murder-suicide?”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Leonid said with a sigh as he sat back in his chair. “Which would be good because it would mean we wouldn’t have to worry about a repeat incident. Except…”

  “Except that you don’t believe that,” I finished for him.

  “No, I don’t.” Leonid turned a troubled gaze toward me. “We need to be careful, Lark. If they know I’m investigating, they might target one of us next. The next time you visit the slums, I want you to bring more soldiers than just Vernen. Just in case.”

  I nodded. That was reasonable. Besides, more soldiers meant more hands to carry supplies to the slums. “Speaking of that,” I said, “I forgot to tell you—we saw Raynard as we were leaving the slums yesterday.”

  “Raynard?” Leonid’s brows rose. “In the slums? Why? Did he see you?”

  “No, he didn’t.” I knew I should have told Leonid about how Raynard looked straight at us but didn’t see us, but I didn’t. “I wanted to see what he was up to, but Vernen said it wasn’t safe.”

  “He’s right. Raynard is a powerful, dangerous man. If he’s up to something, we need to be careful.” Leonid rose, collecting our plates and carrying them to the sink. “I’ll bring it up to Parnaby, casually, and see if he’ll let me send some men to tail Raynard.” He came back to the table, leaning down to kiss me on the top of my head. “Were you planning on traveling to the slums again?”

  I nodded.

  “I’ll send some men here, so wait for them to arrive before you go.”

  “Be careful, Leonid,” I said. On a whim, I grabbed his hand with my left one and gave it a squeeze.

  “Don’t worry. I’m too strong for Parnaby’s magic,” he said with a cocky smile. “I’ll be fine. I’ll see you tonight. My room tonight, Lark.”

  “We’ll see,” I answered mildly, laughing when that made him scowl.

  LEONID AND I SETTLED INTO a routine. Breakfast in the morning, where we’d spend an hour recapping the previous day. Then we’d part, with him heading to Rise while I went to the slums, escorted by Vernen and four other soldiers. I always returned home first, and it was hours later before Leonid finally showed up in my doorway, too exhausted to do much more than plant a sleepy kiss on my lips before collapsing onto the bed next to me. I still hadn’t worked up the nerve to enter his bedroom. I had wanted to, the other day, but now I could only think about all the lies I’d told him, and how furious he’d be if he knew what I was hiding from him. When he’d said we should separate, it had frightened me to my core, and it hadn’t even been him talking. What would happen when he learned the truth? I couldn’t lose him. I knew I was being foolish, and that the more time I allowed to pass without telling him the truth, the worse I was making things, but whenever I opened my mouth, I couldn’t do it.

  Each day I wondered if this would be the day Aeonia contacted me, but surprisingly she left me alone. I was thankful for that, but I knew I was living on borrowed time. Eventually she would seek me out, and when she discovered I’d done nothing to locate Parnaby’s amplifier, her threats would become reality.

  Four days after the incident with Leonid, instead of a group of soldiers at my door, ready to escort me to the slums, Aden stood there, telling me Parnaby wished to speak with me. Since the day Parnaby ordered me to work in the slums, I’d been sending him detailed reports of my progress via Aden rather than seeing him in person. I’d hoped this would continue indefinitely, but now I swallowed nervously, wondering if Parnaby had somehow discovered my deceit. After reassuring both Aden and Vernen that I was quite capable of making my way to the mansion on my own, I set out north. A thousand different scenarios played through my mind, and even though I desperately tried to come up with an excuse to explain my intended betrayal, nothing came to me. Each and every conversation ended with me yelling at Parnaby for trying to manipulate Leonid. The fury over that still hadn’t faded, and I didn’t think it ever would.

  I entered the secret underground passageway, grabbing a torch off the wall as I made my way through the freezing tunnels. At the entrance I was let in by one of the soldiers, who informed me Parnaby was in his office.

  Knocking, I waited until he called for me to enter before pushing open the door. Elyse was perched on the corner of Parnaby’s desk, and she smiled when she saw me. “Irina! It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve seen you!”

  I unbuttoned my coat, draping it over the back of one of the chairs before answering. “I’ve been busy.” And you never stay at the house, despite moving in three months ago!

  Parnaby paused from writing to look up at me. “Which is why I’ve asked you here. Your written reports have been fine, but they’ve been lacking in your own personal thoughts and feelings. Tell me what you’ve seen and done so far.”

  Relief made me weak in the knees. I guess he hadn’t figured what I was up to yet. Settling down in the chair, I told him all about my trips to the slums. The only part I left out was seeing Raynard; if Leonid deemed that important, he would have already reported it to Parnaby.

  Elyse clapped her hands when I mentioned bringing the children to Way, to see if we could get any of them adopted. “That’s a wonderful idea! Oh, Parn, we need to do that!”

  He grunted. Elyse smiled, so I supposed that meant he approved. “Have you seen Leonid?” Parnaby asked, watching me closely.

  Fear squeezed my throat. Why was he asking me that? To see if his magic had worked and we’d separated? Shaking my head, I made sure to meet his gaze as I answered, “No, we’ve both been so busy that we haven’t had time to speak.”

  He nodded, seemingly satisfied by that, and I stifled the urge to sigh in relief. Elyse, meanwhile, frowned. “That’s not good. You need to make time for each other! Parn, you’re working them too hard. Give them a day off!”

  “They can have time off after Leonid’s figured out who murdered fourteen people,” he said, picking up his quill and dipping it into the ink. “In the meantime, continue visiting the slums, Irina. And make me a list of the buildings that need repairs. Put the ones that need major repairs at the top, and we’ll prioritize those. I’ll allocate some of the money we’ve raised from taxes and send some workers down there within the week so they can get started. They can recruit residents from the slums looking for jobs, as well.”

  “Thank you.” I was still angry with him, but at least he wasn’t rotten to the core. At least he cared about the slums and its people.

  He waved my gratitude away. “Isn’t this better, Irina? Helping people, instead of preventing Leonid from doing his job?”

  I take that back. He was rotten to his core. “Yes, of course Parnaby. Since I’m such a horrible distraction, it’s better this way. Keep me in the slums where I belong, right?” The words spilled out of me before I could stop them, and I stared at Parnaby in horror, waiting for him to look up and realize his magic wasn’t working on me like he believed it was.

  “That’s not what he’s saying,” Elyse protested.

  Parnaby shrugged. “No, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” His words cut, and I struggled not to show how much they hurt. But at least me speaking out of turn hadn’t raised his suspicions. Maybe he knew even his magic couldn’t control my tongue.

  “Parn!”

  “Don’t waste your breath, Elyse.” I stood, picking up my coat and putting it on. “If you don’t have anything else to say, Parnaby, I’ll be leaving. I don’t want to waste any more of your precious time.”

  He didn’t even bother responding to that. Elyse followed me out of the room, shutting the door harder than was necessary and pulling me away from the soldiers who stood outside the office. “Irina, he didn’t mean that.”

  “Of course he did.” I wished Elyse had stayed in the room. I knew she cared for Parnaby—although I didn’t understand why—and arguing about him was not high on my
list of things to do today. But if she expected me to sit there and take his abuse without defending myself, then she was a fool.

  She paused, biting her lip. “All right, maybe he did. But you can’t take it to heart—”

  “Elyse, he tried to have Leonid leave me!” Too late, I realized my mistake. Why did I say that? Stupid!

  Her eyes widened at that. “He did? Oooh, I’m going to yell at him!”

  I grabbed her arm before she could march back into the office. “No, don’t. Please, Elyse. We’re fine, but if Parnaby finds out it didn’t work, I’m afraid of what he’ll do.” I dropped my gaze to the floor. “Besides, he was right, in a way. I was distracting Leonid.”

  “You don’t believe that, and I don’t believe that,” Elyse said, seeing through my lies. “You two are good together. You figured out the Bantheir stuff together, and I’m sure you’d be an asset in this case as well. Parnaby is wrong, Irina, and if you’d just let me speak with him—”

  “No. Please, Elyse, I’m begging you, just let this go.”

  She sighed, clearly unhappy. “I don’t like this. He’s overworking Leonid and he’s hurting you. No wonder you’re angry with him. He’s a good man, Irina, but it’s hard to convince you of that when he’s acting this way!”

  “I’ll just take your word for it.” I smiled weakly. “And as much as I hate this tiptoeing around with Leonid, I am happy that I’ve been given the chance to visit the slums. I want to be there, helping the people.”

  Elyse’s face relaxed slightly. “At least there’s some good coming from this. I’ll stay quiet for now, but if you need me to speak with him, come find me. I’ll change his mind, I promise.” She surprised me by pulling me into a quick hug. “The two of you deserve happiness, and I won’t let anyone, not even Parn, get in the way of that.”

  After I thanked her, she slipped back into the office. I stood in the hallway, my mind spinning furiously. Although I’d have liked to believe Elyse, I couldn’t. She wasn’t there when Parnaby had carelessly talked about killing Vernen. She hadn’t seen the wretched look on Leonid’s face when he realized what Parnaby had almost done to us. Love was clouding her vision, and she’d never see Parnaby for who he truly was. That’s when I realized I could never ask her to help me find the amplifier. She would never betray Parnaby.

  Power had corrupted him, and I had the opportunity to take at least some of that away from him. Maybe without the amplifier, he would back down. At that thought, I turned on my heel and padded down the hallway away from the entrance to the tunnels.

  WHERE WOULD A MAGICIAN KEEP an all-powerful amplifier? As I explored the mansion, I glanced in every room I passed, but since I didn’t know what I was looking for, I was at a loss as to where to start. Aeonia had said the amplifier could look like anything, which wasn’t much to go by. No wonder she hadn’t yet contacted me about finding it. It could take me years to locate it!

  Jae, do you sense anything?

  The dragon didn’t answer, and I heaved a sigh. Fine, let’s do this the hard way. I stepped into a library, with floor-to-ceiling shelves covering three of the four walls. The fourth wall, directly across from me, contained windows, but like the rest of the mansion, they were covered in thick drapes to prevent anyone from looking in. I paused to retrieve a candle and matches from a table by the doorway before making a slow circuit of the room. Maybe the amplifier was hidden in one of the books. Or maybe it was a book. I craned my neck back, looking at the hundreds of books that surrounded me and groaned. Searching this one room would take me a month! And what if I did pick up a book that actually was the amplifier? How was I supposed to know its true identity? It’s not like I’d be able to sense the magic.

  I sat down, leaning my back against a bookshelf as I placed the candle on the floor next to me. This was impossible. Surely Aeonia knew that? If she wanted the amplifier so badly, she should sneak in here and find it herself! The flame on the candle danced wildly, and I watched it for a moment, the orange and red flame’s movement almost hypnotic. Then I sighed and reached for the nearest book, laying it open in my lap as I thumbed through the thin pages.

  Nearly an hour later, I was still reading. I’d grabbed a book about the old wars, and, much to my excitement, there had been mention of an amplifier. I had no idea if it was the one Parnaby used, but the author stressed again and again how powerful it was. Since it required such a huge sacrifice, only a few had been made, and the owners guarded them with wards upon wards to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.

  Parnaby or Aeonia. In this case, whose hands would be considered wrong?

  The book talked about one amplifier that had been a necklace, but according to the text it had been destroyed after a score of magicians had leveled a city in their quest to obtain it for themselves. I shuddered, snapping the book shut. I shouldn’t give the amplifier to Aeonia. Nor should I let Parnaby continue to possess it.

  I should destroy it, so no one could use it.

  But what would happen to Dusk?

  From outside the door I heard a commotion, the noise echoing down the hallway. Rising, I went to the doorway, the book tucked under one arm as I followed the sound of voices. Aden was standing in the middle of the main room, looking panicked as he addressed the pair of soldiers who stood in front of Parnaby’s office door. “Is West still in the lab?” he asked when he saw me.

  Lab? There was a lab here, too? “I have no idea,” I said. “What’s wrong, Aden?”

  Before he could answer, Parnaby and Elyse emerged from his office. Parnaby frowned when he saw me. “What are you still doing here?”

  “I was, uh, reading,” I said, pointing to the book.

  His brows furrowed, and I knew he didn’t believe me, even though I was telling the truth. Turning his attention to Aden, he said, “Why are you looking for Weston? He’s working in the basement.”

  I cast an eye toward the floor. In addition to the secret tunnels, there was a basement that housed a lab? This mansion had so many secrets, and I barely knew any of them. If someone wanted to hide an incredibly powerful object, this would be the perfect place to store it.

  “It’s Leonid’s sister, sir,” Aden said. Everyone in the room froze, sensing he was about to deliver some terrible news. “The captain’s sister has been poisoned.”

  All thoughts of the amplifier flew from my mind as the book slipped between my fingers, crashing to the floor with a loud thump. Leonid’s sister, Harlin, had been poisoned? Why?

  Elyse was the first one to act, racing out of the room to, I assumed, fetch West.

  “When did this happen?” Parnaby demanded. He went back into his office, and Aden and I followed, watching as Parnaby grabbed two coats that were slung over one of the chairs and put one on.

  “I’d say about an hour ago. He sent a soldier to Irina’s house, thinking maybe West was there, but it was only me and Vernen. West was with us earlier, but he said he wanted to check something in the lab, so I came straight here.”

  “Where’s Vernen?” I asked. Parnaby’s eyes flicked to me, but I ignored him.

  “He went to the Ashton manor. He was worried about Leonid.” We walked back into the foyer, waiting for West and Elyse. “I don’t know how his sister is doing, but if this is like the other case…”

  “If this is like that case, then she would already be dead and he wouldn’t be sending for West,” Parnaby said bluntly. “She’s still alive, which means we have a chance of saving her.”

  West burst into the room, Elyse on his heels. He was carrying his satchel over his shoulders, and Elyse held another bag in her arms. Aden took it from her and we made our way to the tunnels, Aden repeating everything he’d just told us for West’s sake.

  “Will you be able to help her?” I asked West in a low whisper as we followed Parnaby and Elyse, their heads bent together in a frantic conversation.

  West’s brows furrowed. “I won’t know until I see her. With poison, it’s always a race against time. If you take too
long…” He didn’t have to finish that sentence. Fear sped us along, and we emerged from the tunnels and raced across Rise to the manor.

  As we waited for someone to answer our knocks, I noticed Parnaby had vanished. “Where—”

  “He’s checking the perimeter,” Elyse said, cutting me off. “He can take care of himself, Irina.”

  That, I had no trouble believing.

  A servant let us in, hurrying us down the corridors until we reached what I assumed was Harlin’s room. Leonid looked up, relief on his face when he spotted West. “Hurry, please…” Leaning against the wall, Vernen stood behind Leonid, his face pinched with worry.

  West wasted no time in making his way to the bed where Harlin rested. Her face was gray, her closed eyes fluttering as a thick sheen of sweat coated her skin. Her sandy-brown hair was fanned out on her pillow, and despite being ill, I could tell she was going to grow up to be a beautiful woman. I curled my hands into fists, silently pleading with West to make sure she had the chance to become an adult.

  “Tell me what happened,” West ordered, opening up his satchel and pulling out supplies. Aden came over with the other pack and Elyse began unpacking it, looking to West for instruction.

  “Edward, tell him what you told me,” Leonid instructed the young teenage boy who stood next to him, his face miserable. Like his sister, he had light brown hair, pale skin, and soft features that made him look delicate. Neither sibling looked much like Leonid, but I could see traces of him in their chins and noses.

  On the other side of the bed two people I could only assume were Leonid’s father and stepmother sat, staring at us with open curiosity. The man, a tall, imposing sort that looked a little like Leonid, opened his mouth to interrupt, but Leonid shot him a look.

  “We were playing in the garden,” Edward said. He was tall for only thirteen, coming up to Leonid’s shoulder and looking like he wasn’t very comfortable in his own skin yet. His voice squeaked and he cleared his throat before continuing. “It’s not too cold today, so we went out into the gardens because we were tired of being cooped up inside. We played hide-and-seek, and then Harlin went to feed her rabbits while I visited my horse in the barn. I’d snuck a carrot from the kitchen and fed him that. After I brushed him, I went looking for Harlin, and that’s when I found her on the floor in the rabbit hutch. Her eyes were closed, like she was sleeping, but no matter how much I shook her and asked her what was wrong, she wouldn’t open them or answer me. So I picked her up and raced inside, calling for my parents, because I didn’t know what else to do.” He fell silent, his chin wobbling as he fought to control his tears.