“Lourdes is my adopted mother,” Enne explained. “But I can tell you’re stalling. Why were the whiteboots so interested in her?”
Levi sighed. She might not know much about New Reynes, but she wasn’t thick. “She’s a Mizer sympathizer. A famous one, at that.”
“What?”Her voice came out in a screech. Maybe she wasn’t as controlled as Levi had first thought.
He supposed he couldn’t blame her slip. Even if the way Chancellor Malcolm Semper governed the Republic was wildly unpopular, the Mizers had been tyrants. In New Reynes, where the Revolution began, men, women and children had cheered in Liberty Square as the royal family was beheaded. Most viewed the monarchists as radicals.
“Ever since the Revolution—especially during the Great Street War, which occurred seven or so years after—there’s been a group of journalists writing for monarchist newspapers. They use code names to expose stories the wigheads try to keep quiet, and they work in secret. They call themselves the Pseudonyms. Lourdes is one of them.”The most famous of them all, even. “The whiteboots have been searching for her for a long time.”And, sometime in the past four months, they’d probably found her.
Levi paused, gauging Enne’s reaction. “Did you really have no idea?”
She bit her lip. “I knew Lourdes had her secrets, but no, I never would’ve guessed this.”
Levi held his breath as he watched the gravity of her mother’s situation dawn on her. He didn’t need to tell her that Alfero was dead. She could probably guess it herself now.
“Do you know where Lourdes might be?” Enne asked, still using present tense. Levi sighed inwardly.
“I haven’t spoken to her in years,” he told her.
“What?” She frowned. “Then why would she recommend you?”
“I’ve got no idea. About four years ago, I got myself into a lot of trouble with a con gone wrong.”And apparently, he thought,I haven’t learned my lesson. “Lourdes paid my way out of it and got me a steady job at St. Morse.”
“St. Morse?”
“The casino. You must’ve heard of it. It’s one of the two largest in the city.”
She pulled a book out of her pocket, and Levi snorted. A tourist guide. “I think I’ve heard of it,” she said, skimming through the pages until she found the passage she was looking for. “Oh. It says not to go there.”
He glanced at the title.The City of Sin, a Guidebook: Where To Go and Where Not To. If she’d paid more attention to her guidebook, then she’d never have followed Chez into Olde Town, the heart of Iron territory. She would’ve left the harbor and gone straight to the South Side, where she clearly belonged.
Levi stood up and reached for his hat on the table.
“Where are you going?” Enne asked.
“Out. There are volts to make and people to cheat.” He flashed her a smile. She was lucky he hadn’t cheatedher. He was feeling sentimental today.
“But you didn’t finish your story,” she blurted.
“Thatisthe story. Lourdes helped me out, she got me a job and then she disappeared. I haven’t spoken to her since.”
Enne stood up, her shoulders square and her expression a challenge. He wondered if she really felt that brave, or if she was a breath away from tears again. “But youmusthelp me. I have to find her.”
“Imusthelp you?” he said, taking a step closer. She wasn’t very intimidating, small as she was. Not many spoke to him the way she did. “Why should I? I don’t know you. I barely know your mother.”
“Because...” Her voice wavered. “Because I’ll pay you.”
“You lost your luggage. How many volts could you possibly have on you right now?” His eyes traveled from her purse to her pockets. He doubted she had more than a few hundred.
But...that was a few hundred closer to his ten thousand. Maybe he was feeling a bit altruistic after all.
“Lourdes has a bank account,” Enne said, with the kind of seriousness that made Levi think she wasn’t lying. He searched her face for a tell—everyone always had a tell, a break in their poker face. But he found none.
“It has more volts than you could want,” she continued. “If you help me find her, I’ll pay you.”
“How much?” he asked.
“Five thousand volts,” she said unflinchingly.
