He hadn’t thought that Ix had been paying attention when he’d said might get rid of the house, not really. When had Ix come up with this? It was a terrible idea. All of the neighbors would be aghast, of course. That alone made Eric want to do it.
“I didn’t think you could be this naughty. And you want to do this under Father’s nose?” Ceronzar seemed more amused by this than anything else. “All right, tell me more.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ERIC HAD NEVERhad to call on his sister before; it made him feel like a stranger to not live in the same house as her anymore.
“Aunt Gerry said you’d forgot your gloves,” said Eric when he found Petra sitting on the park bench nearby Aunt Geraldine’s house. Even though the depths of winter were behind them, it was still too brisk for him to consider sitting outside for any length of time but judging by her drawing she must have been here a while.
Petra startled, took the offered gloves and promptly used them to smack him. “Eric! Don’t frighten me!”
“Sorry.” Eric tucked his coattails as he sat down next to her and peered over at her drawing. It was pretty good. He had as much artistic ability as a squirrel wielding a paintbrush, so he could scarcely judge. “How can you even move your fingers anymore, they’re almost blue.”
“I can’t feel the pencil well inside the gloves,” said Petra primly, which didn’t answer his question. She tossed something at him. “Don’t worry, I shan’t freeze.”
Eric caught it and looked at it curiously. A fabric bag the size of his palm, filled with some kind of floral herb, piping hot. Oneof those magical hand warmers that were all the rage in markets then.
“So, what’s the news?” asked Petra, erasing the wobbly line from when he’d startled her.
“What?”
“You’re being antsy, I can feel you’re about to infect me with your jitters,” said Petra. “Whatever it is, just tell me.”
“Mayhaps I have good news,” said Eric, offended. Petra aimed a pointed look at his leg, which was indeed bouncing. Just a little. “All right, fine. I think I might have a solution to the money problem. The debt, that is. But I don’t know if you’ll like it.”
Petra put down her pencil and gave him her full attention with a curious look.
“Ix gave me an offer. Of sorts, for the house. He’ll give us the money up front to pay off all the debt but in return he wants to turn the house into an… ah, an institute of ill repute, let’s say. And then I can repay him for the debt out of the profits of this endeavor.” Eric would have liked to have said that more eloquently, more persuasively, but he did need Petra to know the truth of it. They’d grown up in that house and knew all the neighbors; no doubt they would find out what Ix was doing with the place soon and it would come back onto them. Eric no longer cared about the hit to his reputation, what little there was left of it, but Petra might.
Petra stared at him, and Eric had the sinking feeling he’d gone too far this time. He’d never treated her with kid gloves like he would the other court ladies. Not only because she was his twin but because she was also friends with Ix, so she wasn’t ignorant to the snide remarks society had about people who kept company with the demon princes. She was still a lady though, perhaps he should have been more tactful.
“Gosh,” said Petra eventually. She rubbed at a charcoal smudge on the side of her hand, where she’d rested it on her drawing. “I truly thought you’d come to tell me that you’d already made arrangements for me to be married off to some horrific man in exchange for settling the debts.”
“What!” It was Eric’s turn to stare. That had been so far from any of the solutions in his mind that it hadn’t even occurred to him. He’d rather sell himself than trade her off like that. “Who did you think I was going to marry you off to!”
“Lord Purdy, maybe. Or Baron Killick.”
“They’re both odious,” Eric protested. And in Killick’s case, most literally; the man always smelled as though he’d bathed in his own sweat.
“I know!” Petra cried, slapping him on the knee with her gloves again. “But they’redreadfully rich!”
“Not richer than the king’s own son, thank the hells!” Eric reached for the gloves. He managed to snatch one and smacked her back. A pair of nannies shepherding a small troupe of children down the path past them gave them both an appalled look, and shuffled the children on more quickly. He debated calling out to let them know she was his sister, but that probably wouldn’t help at all.
“And you want to turn the family manor into a whorehouse?” Petra clarified, when she finally managed to straighten her face. She pitched her voice low; it was an overcast day, but still dry enough that there were plenty of people out of a walk.
Eric winced. He looked down at his lap as he tried to explain the full of it, how Ix had needed Ceronzar’s help and the offer made there, which relied on Eric giving up the house to accommodate that both of them. The only bit he didn’t mention was the deal made earlier between him and Ix. That part felt private.
“Good,” said Petra, fiercely. Eric looked at her in surprise. She had taken up her pencil again, vigorously filling in the shadows under the trees. “If it brings down the tone of the area, then good. They were all friends with father and then quick to pretend they weren’t when he was accused, and then dared to turn on us in the same way, as if they hadn’t watched us grow up from childhood.”
Her hand faltered. Eric thought she might be crying for a moment, but then a most unladylike snort escaped her. Shewascrying, but from laughter. “A brothel! For Ceronzar’s tastes! I’d like take a walk around the neighborhood when it’s ready just to see everyone’s faces.”
It was such a relief to see her laugh. Eric let out a breath he felt like he’d been holding for a full month now. He laughed too, half infected by her and half in disbelief. “You don’t think it’s a bad idea?”
“Eric.” Petra gave him a pitying look. “Of course it’s a mostawfulidea. I don’t envy you for whatever blowback you will have to deal with once people find out you’re involved. Everyone will feelsosorry for me knowing I simply have an eccentric brother with a mountain of debt and desperation,noneof which has anything to do with poor little me.”
“You’re so conniving,” grumbled Eric begrudgingly. Things were better this way though.
“I’m getting cold, let’s head back.”
