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“Hello to you too, little Eve.” Mary meanders over, pulling her robe closed so that she’s not starkers when her arm threads through mine, and she tugs me along with her into the bar room.
I’ve never been in here. The walls are half panelled in deep mahogany and half pasted with a deep midnight blue and gold embroidered silk. The man that was playing with me at the dinner is sat behind a grand piano, playing away even though no one is really listening.
“What’s your poison, then, my lovely?” Mary asks when we sit at a couple of stools at the dark marble counter.
“I-I don’t have a poison,” I tell her, looking over my shoulder.
A tall man walks in with a girl crawling behind him. Her red robe trails on the wooden floor. When he sits in one of the large long-back chairs by the fire, she kneels in front of him with her hands on her knees and her face lowered. She sits at his feet while he leisurely lights his cigar and then sits back with a tug of the girl’s body chain so that her face meets his crotch.
“I don’t drink.” My remark is an abashed bluster.
“That’s where you’re going wrong. How do you think any of us get through this?” Mary gestures around us. “Go on, pick something. Anything. If you’re going to start, it might as well be with the best.”
The bartender comes to a stop in front of us when Mary waves her down. “What do you want?” she asks her with a haughty quirk of her brow. They’re friends.
“What do you have for a novice?”
“Amaretto is good. A bit sweet with a lovely cherry-and-almond kick. A bit like this place.” Leaning over the bar, she whispers, “Fruity and heavy on the nuts.”
Mary laughs at her friend’s dirty joke. “What’s the popular one you make?”
“Ah, the leaky snatch.”
“Stop it, Hannah.” Mary pushes her friend away. “Just make the bloody drink.”
“Okay, amaretto sour coming up.”
While Hannah makes the drink, Mary settles in beside me. “Do you want to know a secret?”
“What is it?”
“Every time he comes to you, wet your lips and pretend you’re somewhere else. If you think too hard about where you are and what you are, eventually you’ll become whatever they make of you.” Mary takes a sip of the drink Hannah sets in front of us. “Bottoms up, chick.”
The warm scent of nutty almonds makes my mouth water, but I can’t bring myself to drink any of it. Instead, I hold the glass to my lips and dip my lip along the rim with an exaggerated swallow so that it looks like I’ve taken a sip too.
“You should come out for drinks with us,” Hannah suggests. “It’s good to have friends in here.”
“The majority of us look out for each other,” Mary adds, watching me carefully when I put the drink in my hand down. “And you’re one of us, even if the Duke keeps you locked up.”
“He doesn’t.” The words snap right out of me before I can stop them.
“Little whispers go around, Eve.” Mary side-glances at Hannah before she continues. “Whispers are that they called a doctor for you.” With a curious cock of her brow, she studies me carefully. “What did he do to you? Where did he hurt you?”
The twist of my stomach sends a sudden frisson of panic through me. If Henry doesn’t want anyone looking in his room, I’m certain he doesn’t want anyone knowing what goes on in it. Neither do I.
“Hen—” I pause, correcting myself. “The Duke didn’t do anything to me. He didn’t hurt me.”
Disbelieving eyes narrow on the necklace around my throat. “Of course he didn’t.”
An awkward silence instils itself before she finally smiles again, and Hannah goes back to manning the bar when a group of men walk in. I know I should leave now, but Mary’s still finishing her drink. Then there’s the uncomfortable scene playing out behind me that’s like a car crash. I can’t seem to keep myself from peering at it over my shoulder.
Forcing myself not to look back, I glance at the group further down the bar. One of the men has his eyes firmly set on Mary. The ferocious glint in his stare causes me to shudder. There’s something devious about him. Like they share a secret.
“Who’s that?” I ask Mary.
“Sir Richard Warren, the police commissioner and my cue to get off my arse and get on my back or on my knees. We keep him extra sweet, and he buries their evils.” Her gaze falls to my neck again. “They give with one hand and take with the other. Using pretty things to disguise ugly deeds.” Sad eyes flit back to mine, reminding me of the reason I ended up here in the first place. Grief and anger, and it’s reflected in her eyes. “Don’t fall for it. He doesn’t love you. They don’t know how to love anything other than power and wealth…and the Crown.”
A small smile ghosts over her bright, painted lips as she unties her robe again and flounces it open to show her body.
