“How did you know…?”
“Rush told me where to find you if…Ari, he left to look for you as soon as he heard you were out, and he hasn’t returned. I think he was…”
Shadows filled my mind. Men with broken pipes and dukes with secrets to keep haunted me. I pressed a hand to my mouth and fought back the worst of fears.
“My brother spoke with him just two days ago. He might know where to find him.” I stormed from the room, hunger forgotten for now. “Time for you to meet my brother.”
He’s dead.
The fear crept in, unwarranted, and latched onto my throat like a wolf to its prey.
Vanya insisted on buying train tickets, claiming her feet were too cold to bother walking all the way to my neighborhood. As we rode across town, we spoke of Myth. Though I kept my voice low and my words vague enough that a stranger wouldn’t question them, it was freeing to speak of Myth, finally. To tell Vanya everything.
“But now that you know, you’re in danger too,” I told her, though my words didn’t shake off her bewildered expression.
She swatted my words away. “Rebel princess, remember? I’m not afraid of the duke or his minions.”
My brows rose. “Even after what they did to me and Myth?”
“I’ll punch him square in the jaw the next time I see him.” She lifted her chin and gave a very ladylike grunt.
It felt good to smile, and we rode the rest of the way in silence.
When the train stopped at our destination, Vanya squeezed my hand. I gave her a thankful smile, glad she was with me,despite the fact that she should have stayed behind. My brother, I trusted, but no one else we might meet tonight.
We were crawling into the den of serpents.
I didn’t know exactly where Bennett would be at this hour, but we started with the last place I’d known him to be living. A posh flat a few blocks over from my mother’s, where the neighborhood shifted from slum to sleek. At least, it was sleek to me, before I’d ever entered the gilded halls of Cardan Lott. Now, as we entered the stone edifice, it looked rather plain, with its moldering wallpaper and unadorned plaster ceiling.
I approached the bellman. “Is Bennett Mireaux in?”
The bellman eyed me narrowly. “Who’s asking?”
Vanya scoffed a little but let me answer. “His sister.”
“That’s what they all say, missy.”
My jaw dropped, and I tried not to dwell on his words. “I need to see him. I am Arivelle Mireaux, and Iamhis sister.”
Before the man could roll his eyes at me, Vanya stepped forward and slid a gold coin across the grease-slicked wooden counter. The man’s eyes lit up, and he cracked a smile that showed off his crooked brown teeth.
“Mr. Mireaux is at the gambling hall, The Phoenix, one block that way.” He lifted a hand and nodded at us.
I grumbled a thank-you and hustled out the door. Vanya clung to my arm as we made our way down the street toward a brightly lit facade spilling plucky folk music into the streets. A pair of women dressed in little more than girdles hurried through the doors ahead of a man in a crisp black suit. I shot Vanya a look.
“We can come back another time,” I said, assuming Vanya wouldn’t want to set foot in a place like The Phoenix. “When he’s at home.”
“Rush is missing,” she reminded me. “We’re going to find him.”
I nodded firmly and stepped through the doors.
Loud shouts and many hands clapping to the rhythm of the music filled my ears. There were people everywhere: huddled against the bar, stuffed into booths, crowded around tables. Servers in short dresses weaved between tables, and men pinched at them as they passed. I frowned, scanning the smoky room for my brother.
“Can I get you two anything?” asked one of the women circling the tables.
“Is Bennett Mireaux here?”
The woman smiled and blushed. “Word travels fast, don’t it?”
