“Well, we will become inventive then.” His dark gaze left hers for the man beside her. “Captain. I thought you had to beelsewhere?”
“I do not, actually. But here you are. All the silver I possess.”
Alora watched him shrug the patterned vest from his broad shoulders much the same way Marshall Merridon had watched her on the front steps. With unabashedwant.She couldn’t even pull her gaze away to see what look might have been exchanged between father and son.
Instead, Bash’s gaze landed on her, cool with warning.
Right. We are in the thick of it, you loon.
She made to grant her attention back to Merridon, only to have it stolen from her.
“You there! What need do you have of me?”
Alora saw the man jump at Merridon’s voice, his fist prepared to gift another knock upon Door Zero. He hurried over toward them, his skin gold and shining beneath the abundant candlelight, and slid to a halt.
“My apologies, Master. I didn’t see you.”
The silence stretched. “And—?”
The employee had taken to examining Merridon’s head wound with obvious distaste and equal confusion. At his master’s sharp word, however, he glanced over Alora, his painted face creased with worry. Whatever information he had, he clearly didn’t want to part with it in front of her. “May I speak with you in private?”
Merridon’s mask began to crack. He bared his teeth, his fist clenching around Bash’s discarded vest. “If you must.”
The man backed away, and Merridon, incensed though he was, immediately followed.
“What do you think you’re about?” whispered Madam Feebledire in a harsh voice. “Fine if you want to rid him of the summer’s decisions. What is done is done, and heaven knows what he did to Miss Pennigrim was wrong on several levels of morality, but atour?For what reason?”
“Apologies,again,” said Marshall Merridon, shocking his sister into leaping away from Alora and Bash. “My employee was under the impression we’ve a Door Twenty-five opening tonight.Not tonight, I told him, but hopefully soon.” He looked at Alora with meaning. “Shall we begin there in our grand tour?”
“In an unfinished room?” said Alora, her voice wavering. True, Lennox had the skull hidden away, and Alora’s contract was burned, but knowing that didn’t halt the bout of nerves come upon her at remembering that long corridor and windowless room.
“Unfinished though it may be, it is soon to be the greatest offering of Opulence: the Room of Desire.” Merridon’s features turned wolf-like. “You remind me of someone. Someone I noticed some time ago in Enver. You have the same—”
Scent?thought Alora.
But Master Merridon struggled. His eyebrows dipped, and he rubbed at his bearded chin. “Hmm. Anyway, what do you do for work, Miss Jones?”
Alora cleared her throat, fighting a glance at Bash. “A decorator…of cakes.”
“How nice,” said Master Merridon. “Have you tried your mind at anything else?” With two fingers he motioned Bash to him. When the Urchin captain neared, he said, “Fetch that latest crystal artifact. I’d like to show our guest.”
“No, I haven’t,” said Alora, her blood boiling away.
Not even a false contract and a month of work this time!
Marshall Merridon could remember his plan for Door Twenty-five and he remembered Alora, or at least the feel of her enchantment. She’d apparently been the one to trigger the room’s planning and purpose, however long ago. And here she was, about to replace herself with Germania Jones.
“Would you like to?” said Merridon to her. To Bash, he hissed a whispered, “And cover your face!”
Bash obeyed, his eyes so flat Alora thought it must be purposeful, hiding away his rage. From the pocket of histrousers, he removed his mask. He pressed it over the lower half of his face, clasping it at the back.
“Better?” he rasped.
The owner of Opulence was less careful at concealing his anger. His eyes sparked, his lip curling. He glanced between Bash and Alora, at how she watched his masking, heard his voice change with its enchantment. “For now,” he ground out.
For now. Until he was left alone with him.
“Master,” said Madam Feebledire. “I really must insist on—”
