She squinted into the shadows and caught her breath when a hand beckoned her in. She hesitated for several heartbeats before making for it. Surely, someone wouldn’t launch an attack in a bookstore?
At the first set of shelves, she lifted the lantern free of its hook and peered within.
A man stood there. He was fairly tall, with deep brown skin and patches of gray at his temples. She held the lantern betweenthem like a shield, though he was the one backed into a corner and not her. Shadows danced away from the shifting light, the scent of paper all around.
“There you are,” he said, his voice no longer a hissed whisper. “I’d hoped to find you safe.”
At once, Alora recognized his voice and raised the lantern higher. Yes, copper eyes. Just as she thought.
“Reginald?” Before he could answer, she’d thrown her arms around him.
Warm hands came around her back slowly, almost disbelieving. She felt several brief pats between her shoulder blades. “Mortimer now. I answer to my middle name.”
Alora pulled back at last, setting the lantern at their feet. She noted his sensible brown shoes. No longer did he wear the curled, golden boots belonging to a guard. “I looked for you today! What happened? I hoped maybe a vacation, but after speaking with Master Merridon, I thought something worse.”
“Don’t speak of him,” said Reginald.No—Mortimer.His eyes darted beyond her head. “It isn’t safe to do so, for you most of all.”
“For me?”
But Mortimer chose to answer her earlier questions instead. “I’m not on holiday. Wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I were. No, I’ve been fired from my post.”
Alora gasped, even though she wondered as much. “Why? Because of me?”
Mortimer winced. Alora couldn’t get over how different he looked without all his gold paint and armor. And she dreaded his answer.
“Our interactions were reported. They were deemed inappropriate by management.”
Madam Feebledire.Alora yearned to wrap her hands around the woman’s skinny neck and throttle her. “I’m endlessly sorry,Reg—ah, Mortimer. I shouldn’t have pushed when you declined those times.”
“It isn’t your fault.”
“But it is! If only I had some weight, that I could beg for your job back.”
Mortimer shook his head. “Oh no, I wouldn’t want it back. You’ve helped me, Alora.”
She blinked up at him, unsure she’d heard correctly. “Helped you?”
“I was just another contract without end. I had a few more privileges than some, considering my role, but not many. I was just as chained to the grounds.”
Alora didn’t know how to ask without sounding indelicate. Maybe there wasn’t a way. She worried her lip a moment before giving in and saying, “I’m thrilled you’ve kept your memories. I would be horrified if they’d stolen them from you. If you didn’t remember me.”
At that, Mortimer gripped her elbow, and Alora followed him deeper, until they were all in shadow. He whispered, “They meant to take them from me.”
“They did?” Alora lowered her voice to match, her voice breathless with horror. “How did you escape?”
“When they made me turn, to dart me in the back, I knew my time was at an end. No more Reginald Mortimer Nortsen. I knew too many of their secrets to lose just a little. But at the last moment, when I’d closed my eyes and dreamt of wintry days, I was pulled free.”
Alora stared up at him transfixed. “By whom?”
“The young captain. He told them some story of his own personal vendetta against me and his desire to exact revenge, but I knew it was all a hoax because I’ve never gotten into a scuffle with any of them save one, and that boy deserved it backthen. Then he hauled me off by the collar into the woods, and the next thing I knew I was in Enver, sense of self intact.”
Alora’s mouth fell wide. “Why would he do that?”
Mortimer stared at her. “I asked him the same. He said I was important to someone important to him, and to not make him regret his decision. And if I did, then losing my memory should become the least of my fears. Quite dramatic, if you ask me, but I promised him all the same; I was so full of gratitude. And now I’m here to warn you.”
Alora could hardly keep up. “Warn me of what?”
“There’s never been a contract like yours. Not in all the years I’ve been employed, and I’ve been employed a long time. He doesn’t just allow people to come and go as they please. Not outside of members during operating hours. I’m worried over what he has planned. I’m worried for you. Don’t go back.”
