I paused, hands shoved deep in the pockets of one of Rush’s jackets. Today, I was dressed as a newsboy, hoping to throw off anyone watching this neighborhood for my inevitable return.
I gave her a solemn nod as I slid into the creaky wooden chair opposite her.
To my delight, Bev agreed to help us without much persuasion. The silver gil on the table did the trick. I hated that I was using Rush’s money, but I’d promised to pay him back when I started winning races.
The entire meeting only took fifteen minutes.
“Thank you, Bev.” I stood up and extended my hand.
She ignored my hand and shuffled through her cards. “I was right, you know.” She slid out the card with a dragon on it. “I’m always right.”
I snorted. “When we get the information we need, I’ll pay you the rest.”
She pressed her palms together and nodded. “As you wish.”
The rest of the week dragged. Vanya was likely buried under schoolwork, and Rush was spending all his spare time searching for clues about Myth’s whereabouts. The empty house felt like a prison of its own, plush though it was, so I went to see if Fairfax was still in town.
“I will also do some digging,” he told me over tea in his hotel suite. He’d stayed after hearing I had left jail after my bond had been posted, only to vanish. “Legally, the duke can’t take your dragon if there is evidence of a bond. However, as he covered up the results of your test, conveniently, there is no public record of what happened there that day.” He pursed his lips and sipped his tea.
“Is this not evidence enough?” I lifted the hem of my skirt and showed him the scab on my knee, visible beneath my stockings.
“You could have fallen,” he said with a dismissive sniff. “That is not evidence of torture, Miss Mireaux.”
“I have a bruise where the syringe jammed into my skin,” I said, pointing at my shoulder.
But he only clicked his tongue. “Not enough evidence,” he affirmed. “All we can do now is find your dragon, perform a public bond test—oh, yes.” He tilted his head down in a reproving way. “If you really want this, the bond must be proven. Then we can get you back in school and ensure that you have every chance at winning the race.”
“Don’t make me go through that test again,” I said flatly.
His brows rose. “Do you know how the duke wins yet?”
My skin heated. I hadn’t yet told Rush the real reason Fairfax had paid for my tuition at Cardan Lott, and I wasn’t sure what would change when I did. I should have told him. But for some reason, I hadn’t, thinking I could keep the truth from Fairfax. Now that Myth was gone, however, I was aching to see him again, and I actuallywantedto return to school, finish my classes. Without Fairfax, that wouldn’t be possible.
Slowly, I nodded. I didn’t care as much about winning now as about buying myself enough status to maybe keep the duke off trying to murder me. But even if I won, he might never stop hunting for a chance to kill me and steal my dragon. “When we find Myth,” I said quietly.
Fairfax pursed his lips. “You are forgetting that I can help you or not.”
I shook my head, a sad laugh falling from my lips. “It was never about changing the world, was it?”
“Pah! If you ruffle the feathers of the upper class, I’ll have a laugh and enjoy myself, but no, it was never about that. Not for me. When we find your dragon, you will tell me the truth, Miss Mireaux.”
Fairfax seemed to read the resignation on my face and stood, lifting a hand toward the door. “Wewillfind him; don’t you worry.” His tone had grown lighthearted once more as he followed me to the suite’s double doors, where a man in livery waited to show me out. “And, Arivelle, in the likely event that you are not allowed to participate in the end-of-year race at Cardan Lott, the next best thing would be a night race. If it comes to that, I will ensure the race is well attended. It will be as grand an event as the end-of-year race, you’ll see. You will have your chance to prove your place.”
I left the hotel in a bit of a daze. All I could do now was wait until my friends or Merlon Fairfax found out when Myth would be moved.
Downstairs,a door slammed. I lay on the settee, papers strewn all over the floor, hair a mess. I’d fallen asleep on the pages ofCaring for Timperemon, a book Vanya had brought me that Professor Siva had assigned in literature. Over the past three weeks, she had done her best to keep me up to date on my assignments, assuming the only way I’d be allowed back in school was to show up with a stack of papers as if I hadn’t missed a beat.
Lithe footsteps clipped across the foyer. “Ari?” came Rush’s deep voice.
My cheek made an unladylike sticking sound as I sat up. I looked around at the mess, tried to smooth my hair.
“Oh,” he said, staring at me from the entryway. Books lay scattered around the floor and on the couch, and I’d crumpled my essay drafts and left them in a heap. “My father is moving Myth. Tonight. I only just found out.”
I leaped up and stepped over the papers and books toward Rush. “Let’s go. What are we waiting for?”
The side of his mouth tipped up. “Easy there. We should clean up here first. Just in case.”
I bent to scoop up papers and collect books. “I didn’t want to fall behind,” I explained, a little ashamed of the disarray.
