“I thought we were headin’ back?” Bell was halfway out the door.
Duane shook his head. “I’ll catch up.”
I stared at Conrad; it was hard not to. “What are you doing here?”
“I need to speak to Mister Ulric Thorne and your sister. Just being thorough.” He raised a questioning eyebrow at Duane.
“He can find his own way around the house.” I took the Conrad’s arm and dragged him inside. “I’ll show you to the sitting room.”
Duane’s disapproval was palpable as I brushed by. It wasn’t my fault he was a criminal and uncomfortable around good people.
When Conrad was ensconced in the satin loveseat with a glass of weak mead in his hand, I said, “I didn’t expect to see you working so hard. I mean…the Guard isn’t well known for expending resources in the Outskirts.”
“Your story affected me. I spoke to my sergeant, and he’s allowed me to investigate whenever I’m not on duty. I got a few details from Karolyne, spoke to the witnesses who found your brother on Cliff Street...”
“Whoa. Since yesterday?”
“Since this morning. I don’t have to be at my post until this afternoon.”
“Thank you. I didn’t believe anyone would help. No one seems to care about Viktor or the reputation of a Thorne like me.”
“I do.”
Was I blushing again? Come on.
Uncle’s clock ticked. The plague of inefficient human inventiveness had spread even here. It was some mechanical thing from the South and horribly inaccurate. But it distracted me long enough for my cheeks to cool.
“You should know the detective I hired was killed over this. Whatever my brother was into, the people behind it are willing to stop anyone who comes looking for them. Be careful.”
“Of course. What makes you say ‘people’ instead of ‘person’?”
“As soon as I heard he was freeing slaves, my first thought was all the unhappy slave owners and slavers who would want Viktor punished.”
“They have a right to be upset when their property is taken.”
I stiffened. I shouldn’t have let that slip. Best not to forget Conrad was a representative of the law, and I had been party to the illegal removal of a slave mark only last night. “Is theft justification for murder?”
“No, of course not. I’ll question the merchants in the Slave Quarter next. What do you know about your brother’s activities? How did you find out about them?”
“A rumor on the street.” I didn’t think Erick would want me to mention his name. I would be questioning that source myself soon enough, anyway. Speaking of which.... I hoped Uncle’s clock was wrong. It couldn’t be that close to noon?
Conrad sipped his mead once, for my benefit, before I offered to take it. My fingers met his as the glass changed hands.
“Eva.”
“Yes?”
“I hoped to run into you today. I wanted to see you again.”
“Oh?” I meant to say, ‘thank you’ one more time to the household shrine, but it was important a girl not look too interested, or desperate. Besides, I told myself yet again, I was not looking for a man...or two.
“Eva!” A high-pitched child’s voice pierced my eardrums as footfalls hammered on the hardwood. I jumped and sent mead spilling over Conrad and the silk cushions beside him. He stood, swinging his sword back into place on his side. I looked for something to wipe off his formerly gleaming armor.
“Help, Eva!” Little Viktor cried again as he made another circuit of the couch.
Duane pounded into the room. “I’m going to get you!”
Giggling uncontrollably, Viktor ran around and around with Duane at his heels. I felt trapped inside a whirlwind. He lifted the five-year-old into the air, the boy’s legs kicking uselessly.
“Sorry.” Duane was breathless. He pulled a grimy handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Conrad.
“Thanks. Is he your son?” Conrad mopped up the spill.
“No,” I said, decisively.
Duane frowned. “I apologize for the interruption. Let’s go Vikky.”
What was his problem? We exchanged dark looks. “I have to go too,” I said.
“Can I escort you somewhere?” Conrad smiled. I hesitated, thinking about my date—I meant appointment—with Erick.
“Sure.” Was it wrong to be interested in two men? Or wise to shop around? You didn’t buy a new pair of boots without trying on a few pairs.
I grabbed my mother’s old walking stick from beside the door. My feet were aching, and I would need it if I trekked through the Slave Quarter again. Wait. I wasn’t planning on it, was I? I had Conrad looking into things. I could go on with my life and leave the detective work to the experts.
Still, Duane had been right when he said I couldn’t leave anything alone. It wasn’t nosiness so much as a fear no one else cared as much as I did. Conrad looked impressive in his armor, competent. But the law could get it wrong.
I wasn’t going to turn in Viktor’s emancipationist friends. And I wasn’t going to let any slaver off the hook, no matter how ‘justified’ they might be in looking out for their ‘property’. Two irons in the fire never hurt a thing.
Morgan opened the door for Conrad and I. Duane followed, carrying Viktor. I leaned over and gave my nephew a farewell kiss on the cheek. I felt the heat that emanated from Duane, like he carried the ironworks with him, and his breath disturbed my hair, so I pulled away.
Little Viktor cried when Duane set him down.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he told my nephew. Was Duane going to come by Uncle’s every day now? It wasn’t my problem, I told myself. I didn’t live there anymore.
Conrad bowed. “A pleasure meeting you all.”
Morgan returned the bow. Little Viktor was still crying, while we—the criminal, the guard, and the Solhan devil—smiled uncomfortably at one another for a few moments.
I took Conrad’s arm and said, “Let’s go.”
When I glanced back, the door to my old home was shut and Duane was walking in the opposite direction. I forced myself to look ahead. Even my favorite boots could trip on the irregular cobbles.
“When I’ve found your brother’s murderer...” Conrad began.
“You’re confident.”
“I am. When I’ve done this for you, proven myself, I hope we can be friends.”
“Friends?”
“I mean, I hope you will be interested in getting to know the man inside this uniform.”
Worse than blushing, I giggled. “You want me to see what’s inside your uniform?”
“By the gods, that was awful!” He laughed too. “I didn’t intend...I....”
“I know what you meant, and, yeah, I’d like that.” I slid my hand from where it rested on his armored elbow, found his fingers, and squeezed.
When we reached my new home, I noticed one of the window panes was missing. The lower story was Viktor’s bookshop. One door led in there, the other door led to a staircase and the main house, which took up the second and third floors of the building. I tried the door to the shop; it was unlocked and the doorjamb splintered.
“It’s been broken into,” I said.
Conrad gently pushed me aside and went in first. Over protectiveness made me want to strangle someone, so I darted around him. I wanted to see whatever there was to see before he did.
The place was a mess, books torn off shelves and loose papers scattered everywhere. Did Viktor leave an inventory? I had no way of telling if anything was missing.
“Vandals?” he theorized.
I sniffed. No nasty smells and no paint on the walls. “I don’t think so.”
I clambered past overturned chairs and drawers pulled from Viktor’s desk. “They were obviously looking for something. Damn it!”
“What is it?”
“I’m going to have to search every wall and floorboard, hoping to find whatever they missed, not knowing what I’m looking for. Then, when I don’t find anything, I’ll w
onder if it was a waste of time. At which point, I’ll assume they already got whatever it was.” I took a deep breath.
Conrad shook his head. “If you know how it’s going to turn out, why do it?”
“I like pain. It’s a Solhan thing.”
I lifted a board angled across my path—it had a map of the world engraved on it in colorful inks—when something hairy brushed against my shins.
“Eek!” I dropped the map board.
A black cat streaked out of the shadows and fled through the empty window pane to the street. My heart was racing. Why did it have to be black? Just when the day had been going so well.
A bogle suddenly dropped from the chandelier and landed on top of a precariously positioned stack of books. They toppled over, and the furless creature gave a cackle.
“Eek!” I squealed again. “Shoo!” I threw a pamphlet at it, and it scampered off after the cat. The place would be infested soon if I didn’t board up the window.
Had I really said eek? The guardsman brought out my most insipid, girlie behaviors. I didn’t like it.
I poked the piles of paper around me with the walking stick, hoping to scare off any more nesting creatures before I stepped on them. I’m not superstitious. Oh, who am I kidding. If one more black cat crossed my path.... Let’s just say, I would be taking a pilgrimage to the temple of the Luck God before things got worse.
“Can you help me push one of these shelves in front of the window?” I didn’t have any tools or wood with which to board it up, so I hoped the bookcase would do for now.
Conrad did most of the moving, but I shifted books around and told him when it was placed properly.
I had inherited the shop along with the house. Maybe I should quit working at the tavern and take up bookselling? Of course, I knew nothing about the business, or any business for that matter.
I’d never been able to get excited about money, unlike Karolyne, whose eyes shone whenever a silver was dropped into her palm.
Whether I wanted to run the place or not, it had been Viktor’s, and it was my job to clean up the mess and set things right. But I would do it later. I heard the distant noon call of the city clock and knew I had to get rid of Conrad. Now.
“I need to...” I didn’t want to say ‘talk to a source’ or ‘lunch with another man’, so I said, “...get ready for work.”
“You want me to go?”
“No, but yes. For now. Can I see you tomorrow?”
“Any time you want to see me is fine.” He smiled rakishly, gave me one of those chivalrous bows that look terrific in polished armor, and set off up the street.
Moments like this made me believe he was utterly perfect and I should throw myself after him. Instead, I sighed, which was almost as bad.
I locked up with my spare key and turned to the busy street. The shop was fine when I left in the morning, so in the last few hours someone had managed to break in without alerting the neighborhood. How?
“Watch out below!”
I froze, which worked out for the best. If I had moved a few inches to the right, I would have been drenched in liquid from the chamber pot Nanny tossed out the window. I could have sworn she was grinning.
Stinking water drizzled into the gutter, and I stepped out of its way. Conrad was fortunate to live in the city. They had real sewers there, and plumbing. I shrugged. At least Nanny had given warning and it missed me—no permanent damage from the cat then.
My gaze searched the avenue. Erick was late. I went inside and climbed the creaky stairs to the sitting room. I intended to find Old Nanny and tell her what I thought of her cleaning techniques, but it sounded like someone else was already doing the shouting for me.
“You are slow and archaic! Melli flowers in the water makes it putrid! If I could go outside, I would go to the well and show you how easy it is to have fresh water!” Kali? I’d never heard her speak above a whisper, other than when she woke screaming, so it was hard to tell who it was.
“I won’t listen to a child in swaddling! This is my home, and I do things my way!” That was Nanny for sure.
Maybe it wasn’t too late to head back to Uncle’s. Ilsa might kill me, but at least I would die surrounded by quiet.
“You!” Uh oh, Nanny had spotted me. “I know what you’re trying to do. First, you move in a new servant, next you’ll take Viktor’s room and give her mine. I won’t be pushed out!”
“I’m only trying to help!” Kali shouted over her.
I put hands to my ears. “I’m not doing anything, Nanny.”
“You and your machinations, Ilsa.”
“It’s Eva!” Great, now I was doing it. “Shhh. Everyone, act civilized.” I’d flunked Lady Halcyon’s class, and even I knew this wasn’t close.
In a quiet, reasonable, tone, I added, “Erick is supposed to be here any minute.”
“Why didn’t you say? Help me with the biscuits, now girl!” Nanny dragged Kali to the kitchen. She needed some reminding the girl was no longer a slave.
A knock on the heavy front door made me jump. He was here. I ran to the mirror and straightened my hair. My fur jacket made me look too big, so I threw it on one of the armchairs. I hurried down the steps, but stopped to catch my breath before opening the door wide.
The smile on my face vanished as soon as I saw the frown on its mirror image. Ilsa. The beast was awake, and she’d hunted me down.
7│ MEET MY EVIL TWIN
~
I RECOGNIZED THE SHOES SHE held up. I’d been wearing them just that morning. They were smeared with dye from the Red Precinct and encrusted with blood. I’d forgotten to clean them when I’d washed the clothes.
“Ilsa...” I began.
She walked past me as though I didn’t exist and tossed the shoes into the embers of the fireplace. The flames came to life.
“That blood wasn’t yours or Viktor’s. Murdered someone else recently, have you, Sugar?”
Ilsa had to know I was innocent, but it didn’t stop her from trying hard to cause me pain in whatever small way she could. She took such enjoyment from it. Of course, ruining my life and having me hanged for murder would be the icing on the cake for her. Which is why I couldn’t understand her burning the shoes. They were evidence of something, so why not keep them?
“Why are you here?”
Once again, she ignored me as she casually reached for a picture on the mantel. She stroked the elegant frame of a vignette featuring Viktor and Emily, Emily’s hands resting on her stomach, with Little Viktor yet to be born. Without warning she tossed it into the fire along with her shoes.
I gasped. “What are you doing? It was Viktor’s.”
“No, Sugar. It was something you cared about, like I cared about my inheritance. Now it is about to go up in flames too.” Her usual relaxed and sultry demeanor vanished for a moment as she looked at the charred image of the once happy family. Her expression feral, pitiless and inhuman. “Why did Viktor have to have a son?”
“Stay away from him. He’s only a child.”
The sweet expression she cultivated like a mask fell over her features again.
She tossed back her hair in the fluid, languid way she always did, as though she was Queen and had not a care in the world. “I’m only saying. Some poor children are not strong enough for this world and should never have been brought into it. Just like Mama knew you were never meant to be a Thorne. Why else would she choose to save me from the cradle and leave you behind? If Morgan hadn’t gone back for you.... You were meant to die in Solheim.”
I slapped her so hard half her face turned red, but she didn’t flinch or try to touch the spot that must be throbbing with pain. She made me feel inferior for resorting to blows.
It’s not like I hadn’t heard all her theories before, or Morgan’s version of the events that day which, sadly, didn’t contradict hers. It was the rawness I felt at Viktor’s death and the burned photo that had me so exposed. I crossed my arms and resumed the particular glare I reserved for my twin.<
br />
Nanny hurried in from the kitchen, a ladle held menacingly in one hand, a confused Kali at her heels. “Be gone you!”
I didn’t think Ilsa was a bogle to be scared off with kitchen implements.
Ilsa curled her lip. “Nanny. Still not dead? Or are you only shambling around because people forgot to cremate you?”
I smiled. Not that I thought Ilsa was funny, but I did enjoy the way Nanny stripped her civilized veneer faster than anyone.
“I’d like to do more than cremate you.” The old woman gave her the Evil Eye.
Ilsa held up a wrist, the bracelet around it dangling with charms and bits of charred bone. “Don’t, Dearie. Else you’ll get a taste of whatever you send my way.” Her sharp gaze cut across to Kali. “Who’s this?”
“Get out,” I said. Ilsa was only here to play with her prey, but I knew she was capable of real harm if she learned about Erick’s activities in the Slave Quarter.
Ilsa ignored me. “I recognize this one from when Julietta was browsing for a new maid, but it was in a cage then. Why is it here? You’ve turned perverse, sister. Then again, you always did like playing in kek.”
“You’re the piece of kek!” Kali threw in a few incomprehensible foreign curses as well.
Ilsa’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “A lot of nerve for a slave.”
“Leave before I do something that will make me an only child.” Once more, I was attracted to the simplicity of violence.
“Tsk, tsk. No need to strike me again. I’m going. I made my point.”
Nanny spotted the charred photograph. “Viktor.” She flung the ladle at Ilsa, who dodged without stirring a hair on her carefully groomed head.
My evil twin straightened her immaculate silk dress and long fur coat, not that they needed straightening, and flashed diamond earrings as her nose went up in the air. “See you around, Sugar.”
Ilsa strode out the front door with an air of accomplishment.
“What an awful person,” Kali said. This coming from a girl raised by slavers to be a concubine.
I stared at the spot where Ilsa had been. “She’s up to something. She was too nice.”
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