Disenchanted & Co.

by Lynn Viehl

  Dredmore tipped up my chin with his hand so I had to look into his eyes. “Why did you save my life, Charmian?”

  “You’re not dead,” I countered. “Do you want me to promise not to do it again?”

  “I want to know”—he bent his head and touched his lips to mine—“why you’re not slapping me, or threatening to push me off a cliff, stab me in the heart, or lock me in my carriage and set it alight. Why you looked so terrified when I came out of Morehaven this morning, and then in the next moment, so relieved. I want to know what changed things between us, Charmian, and how.”

  I had to tell him something, but the future that we’d shared no longer existed. It didn’t matter what we’d done; all that mattered was what we would do now . . . and then I knew exactly what to say.

  “I had a dream, a few days from now,” I lied. “I was buying peaches at the market, and I stumbled over a curb and twisted my ankle. You helped me up and offered to take me home. After that we became great friends.” I felt him go very still. “That never happened, of course, but when I woke from the dream, all I could think was how much I wished it had. That you and I had become friends instead of enemies.” I smiled. “It was all downhill from there.”

  He didn’t say anything for a long time, and then he nodded slowly. “We could try to be friends.”

  “We could.”

  “Then as a friend I should tell you, that was a terrible lie,” he added. “Someday I will make you tell me the truth.”

  I lifted my brows. “Is that what friends do?” I saw how he was staring at the spot in the water where I’d thrown the stone. “He’s gone, Lucien. Forget about him.”

  “I wish I could, but Zarath was not the only warlord among the Aramanthan.” Dredmore’s voice grew as icy as the breeze. “There are many more out there. They are waiting, and watching, and plotting their return to power.”

  Something rose up in me, something that almost felt like icy burning of the spirit stone Zarath had forced me to swallow. “Do you expect me to burst into tears and clutch at you and wail about how powerless we are against them? Because we’re not. I’ve seen how we are, and we are . . . formidable.”

  “We are mortal,” he corrected.

  “Oh, very well.” I tossed up my hands. “I don’t think I can cry, but if you like I could swoon. I’m actually getting rather good at faking that.”

  “You’re not afraid of what’s coming.”

  “Among other things, milord, I am a spell-breaker, and a time traveler.” I turned my gaze to the sea. “Let them come.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  “Disenchanted & Co.,” the sign painter read out loud from my office window. “That’s a right strange name for this sort of business.”

  His young apprentice began mixing up some paint in a small can. “Sort of a pun, isn’t it, miss?”

  “Sort of.” I handed the painter the shilling we’d agreed on for the job along with a slip of paper. “There’s the name of my new partner. Make sure you mind the spelling.”

  “Whatever you say, miss.” He read the note. “Now this one’s mum must have known he’d go into the magic trade.”

  As he and his apprentice went to work, I retreated into my office to sort out the mail. On top of the pile I’d taken from the tube lay a thin gray envelope sealed with silver wax that bore the impression of a spike-wielding fist.

  I sat down behind my desk and used my letter dagger to slice off the seal and remove a single sheet of thin silver vellum folded in thirds.

  The paper exuded a faint scent of ripe peaches, which made me smile a little. Who would have guessed the most powerful deathmage in all of Toriana had such an infatuation with fruit?

  Charmian,

  Come to dinner tonight and you may have some.

  Dredmore

  P.S. Please.

  Two of my former clients had sent referrals, one for a haunted carri, and the other to remove some wardlings that had become wedged in a door frame. Rumsen Main must have missed those; upon learning from an anonymous source that nearly all of the talismans in the city were counterfeits containing a very dangerous raw stone, the cops had been very busy confiscating and smashing them.

  I penned a message to the desk sergeant at Rumsen Main, attached the referral to it, and got up to send it by tube, only to stop as the sign painter’s apprentice opened the door.

  “Gent to see you, miss.” He stepped aside as the gent strode in.

  Fair-haired and average-sized, Thomas Doyle wore his plainclothesman’s long trench and low-brim. Past his shoulder I saw a beater in dark blue hovering in the hallway.

  The inspector doffed his hat, revealing the tough, wind-weathered features and sun-faded blue eyes of a former navyman. “Forgive the intrusion, madam—”

  “It’s miss, To—ah, sir.” Barely remembering that to him this would be our first meeting, I sat down behind my desk. “And you are?”

  “Inspector Thomas Doyle, Rumsen Station. I’m here to speak to Mr. Kittredge,” he told me. “If he’s stepped out, I can wait.”

  “You’ll wait for a very long time, then, as there is no Mr. Kittredge. I am the proprietor.” I held out my hand. “Miss Kittredge.”

  He gave me a firm but gentle handshake as he inspected my features. “Surely not Charmian Kittredge of Middleway?”

  “Guilty as charged.” I pretended to study him back. “Would you be related to the Middleway Doyles?”

  “I am. I believe we played together as children, at my grandfather Arthur’s home.”

  I smiled. “I believe we did.”

  He paid closer attention to my face. “I haven’t seen you in years, not since you were a gel, but still you look . . . familiar.”

  “I haven’t changed all that much. Mostly taller.” I folded my hands in front of me. “Now how can I help the Yard, Inspector?”

  “We received a report of some fake wardlings needing collection, but my men are having some trouble removing them. Our staff warder, Mary Harris, recommended Kittredge of Disenchanted & Co.” He glanced over at the door. “But I see you’ve a partner now as well.”

  I smiled a little. “Yes, he’s just joined the firm. Unfortunately he works nights, so you’ll have to settle for me, if that’s acceptable.”

  “Of course.” He seemed a little embarrassed. “We’d appreciate any help you can give.”

  “Let me get my cloak and keys.” I stood up and went to the rack.

  On our way out, I inspected the sign painter’s progress:

  HARRY MERLI

  “Very nice lettering.”

  “We’ll have it done before you get back, miss.” He nodded toward the glass. “Then you and Mr. Merlin will be in business.”

  Acknowledgments

  The only name on the cover of a book is the author’s, and sometimes I wish I could change that. It took nearly four years to make this novel happen, and while I’ve rarely worked as long or as hard to get something into print, with this one I never fought alone. Since I can’t give everyone who had my back a byline, I’ll offer them instead my gratitude:

  Tim Kim and all the wonderful folks at National Novel Writing Month and the Office of Letters and Light, who provided me with motivation for writing this story, and followed up that with unstinting support and enthusiasm. What you do for writers and kids all over the globe is nothing short of miraculous.

  The readers of Paperback Writer, who cheered me on while I was working on the first draft, and all of my readers out there who have followed this journey with enthusiasm and encouragement. You are a constant joy and true blessing in my writing life.

  New York Times bestselling authors Gail Carriger and Larissa Ione, whose generosity and kind words kept me going even when things fell apart completely. Ladies, I will never forget that.

  New York Times bestselling author Darlene Ryan, who has been there for me in so many ways that it would take another three pages to list them all. Dust bunnies will never be safe again, and Bubba, you rock.
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  I wouldn’t be able to write anything without the support of my guy or our kids, but for this book they went above and beyond, and for four long years never once complained. I love you, and you are my heart.

  The art department, copyediting, and production teams at Pocket Books, who collectively have done magical things for this novel. I know how lucky I am to have you, and I hope you all know how grateful I am, too.

  There’s one more person whose name should be on the cover of this book, and I saved him for last because if I could I’d put it there in fifty-point font right now. For believing in me and this story, for fighting for it (twice), for restoring my faith in the creative partnership between publishers and authors, for being so damn good at what he does, and for giving me this marvelous opportunity to bring Disenchanted & Co. into our world, I’d like to thank my editor, Adam Wilson.

  Torian Glossary

  abstainers: religious agnostics

  across the pond: When in Toriana, a reference to Great Britain or Europe; when in Great Britain or Europe a reference to Toriana (“pond” being the Atlantic Ocean)

  aid-solicitor: legal representative provided by the Crown to defendants who can’t afford to hire a barrister

  ambrotype: photography that uses chemicals (silverblack) to etch images on glass plate negatives

  annum: year

  apothecary: pharmacy

  Aramantha: the island homeland of the Aramanthan, destroyed by mysterious forces that caused it to break up and sink beneath the sea

  Aramanthans: a race of superhuman magic practitioners who ruled the world before the rise of mankind

  bacco: tobacco

  barrister: attorney

  bathboy: a male attendant/masseur who works at public baths for women

  beater: a uniformed police officer who patrols the streets, usually on foot

  believer: someone who believes in magic

  belowground: beneath street level

  binding: a stone or other object that can contain psychic energy until its release is triggered by touch or proximity

  black: very strong, thrice-brewed tea

  blackpot: a coal-fueled boiler

  blacks: formal suit worn by high-class male servants

  bloodbane: one of the highly toxic magic poisons used in snuffballs

  blower: a chamber that uses air leached from the city’s tubes to dry wet items

  blue ruin: gin

  blues: people of aristocratic birth

  bookmaker: printer

  braves: warrior class of native Torian people

  BrewsMaid: an automatic tea maker

  bronze, bronzen: a theatrical cosmetic that temporarily darkens the skin

  brown: Talian currency

  bruiser: a large or physically intimidating man; thug

  bucks: clothing made of buckskin

  bum: ass

  calendula: an herbal tincture used as a topical disinfectant

  care kit: first-aid kit

  carri: steam-driven carriage

  carriwright: maker of steam-driven carriages

  cartlass: a girl or woman who sells food and/or beverages from a portable cart on the street

  cashsafe: a hidden, locking recess in a private home where money and other valuables are kept

  catchall: an extending/grasping device with a pinchers at one end

  Church: the Torianglican Church, the only religion recognized and approved by the Crown; the Church of England

  clearstone: quartz

  clopboard: building siding made of planks recovered from abandoned horse barns

  coal burner: engine that runs on coal

  coddles: cod cut into chunks

  coin: money

  collar: vicar

  commoner: an ordinary, untitled individual; someone of low birth

  conciliator: mediator

  cosh: bludgeon

  crispie: potato chip

  croke: croquet

  Crown, the: the English monarchy as well as its authority over Toriana

  crowswalk: a viewing deck that encircles the upper portion of a building

  dear: costly

  deathmage: magical practitioner licensed to kill

  deb: debutante

  detector: a magic practitioner (generally employed by the court) who uses touch to discern truthfulness

  digger: miner

  dink: a small or short man

  dipper: strip of treated paper that changes color when exposed to poison or drugs

  drawers: underwear

  drips: syphilis

  Druuds: mortal magic practitioners who captured and imprisoned the Aramanthans to end the mage wars

  ducklings: children

  echo: device used to detect hidden objects

  elshy: hellchild

  entitlement: inheritance of title and property

  exormage: exorcist who nullifies curses and rids people and places of demon infestation

  faeriestale: fantasy story told to children

  fete teller: the humblest of fortune-tellers who set up tents at village fetes to do many readings for very little money

  fichu: a shoulder wrap, usually made of lace

  firebrigader: firefighter

  fishncrisp: a shop that sells fish fillets fried together with potatoes cut in various shapes

  flat: apartment

  flathouse: a building that has been divided up into flats

  Fleers: remnant members of the American rebel forces who fled west after losing the war to England

  flystick: a clear glass rod containing live lightning bugs, used like a flashlight or lantern

  foundling: abandoned orphan

  freeclaiming: a social practice caused by the shortage of women among the original colonies, which allowed men to kidnap and hold captive unprotected or abandoned women

  freedman: ex-convict

  fry bread: bread fried in bacon drippings

  furrin, furriners: slang for foreign, foreigners

  garms: garments

  gaslamp: exterior lighting powered by natural gas

  gel: girl (common, casual, generally used to refer to females of the merchant class)

  get the sack: be fired

  gildstone: marble

  ginger: woman with red hair

  glass: common term for ambrotype glass plate negative

  glassed: photographed

  glasshield: windshield

  glassies, glassines: protective, preservative glass coatings applied to documents

  glasslung: terminal respiratory disease caused by inhaling sparkglass; suffered by painters and construction workers

  gogs: protective eyewear

  goldstone: building made of blocks of pyrite-flecked granite

  gone off: suffered a mental breakdown

  gowners: dressmakers who specialize in creating gowns for wealthy society women

  gravecart: hearse

  Great Uprising, the: Toriana’s name for the failed revolutionary war against England

  Great War, the: Toriana’s version of WWI

  hatch drop: manhole access to underground tunnels

  hellchild: a child believed to be demon-possessed and therefore impervious to magic

  Herself: slang term for the queen of England

  hidey-holes: small, concealed places in houses for people to hide in or use to spy on someone

  Hill, the: an area of Rumsen where most of the wealthy and titled reside

  H.M.: abbreviation for Her Majesty

  hothead: woman with red hair

  illuminator: a device that works like a primitive film projector

  Independence: freedom from English rule

  johnnies: men who hire prostitutes

  keroseel: a combination of seal, whale, or fish oil and kerosene

  keyfob: a chain-and-loop key ring, carried by men

  keylace: a ribbon key ring, worn around a woman’s wrist

  kipbag: mesh tote

  kneecappers: criminal enfor
cers who use clubs to shatter the knees of their victims

  knickers: underwear

  lampflies: fireflies

  lass: girl (affectionate, proper)

  lav: lavatory

  loo: toilet

  loomgel: a girl or woman who works in a menial position at a textile factory

  loomworks: textile factory

  loon: a mentally disturbed person

  loon herder: an orderly at an asylum

  loonhouse: asylum for the mentally disturbed

  Lost Timers: brigades of English and Italian soldiers who became lost in the Bréchéliant forest and were there possessed by Aramanthan spirits

  lungfever: slang for influenza

  mage: magic practitioner

  magis, magistrate: judge

  maiden night: the first time a virginal woman has sex with her husband; term often used for betting purposes by men who want to break an engagement

  mariners: sailors

  matchit: a disposable, one-use lighter

  mate: friend

  mech: a mechanic; anything mechanical

  mechworks: mechanical rooms

  mercantile: a shop selling some variety of merchandise

  Middleway: industrial Torian city located on the Great Lakes; also called Middy

  mixpot: mixing bowl

  mole: city underground worker

  nappy: diaper, women’s panties

  navyman: a current or former member of H.M.’s naval forces

  necktwister: assassin

  negli: negligee

  netherside: the spirit world, invisible to ordinary mortals; the source of magic power

  new industry: the beginning of the industrial age in Toriana

  New Parliament: governing body of Torian officials who petition the Crown and enforce the Queen’s legislation; the Torian version of Congress

  nightstone: a semiprecious mineral used to contain the spirits of long-dead mages and Aramanthan wizards

  Nihon: Japan, Japanese

  nits: head lice

  nobber: private security guard hired by Hill residents to patrol their streets and keep out any undesirables

  Norders: people from the North of England

  nozzer: nose; a face mask used with a portable oxygen tank

  nudie: a flesh-colored garment worn to give the illusion of nudity under a semitransparent gown or overgarment

  Occupancy, the: a period of thirty years after the Rebellion failed during which Toriana was occupied by English troops and governed by martial law