“In two days,” Valerie whispered. “She will be gone almost a week.”
Khiva asked, “Will you contact Evelyn for me? I want to see her, away from here. In the Lake District. Will you set up a meeting?”
“Khiva…” Valerie murmured, trailing off. “I would have to cancel your client for that night. She would find out. You will be punished again.”
“I do not care. I need to see her.”
The Krave very rarely ventured outside of the brothel and when they did, it was only at night, when there was less of a chance they would be seen. Khiva had gone to the Lake District at night on these such occasions and knew that it would be empty, a perfect, private place.
“Please,” he murmured, looking up at her.
Valerie inhaled a deep breath.
Then she nodded.
“Alright. I’ll set up a meeting.”
Khiva closed his eyes in relief and anticipation. “Thank you, Valerie.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The next day Eve was in the study, going through every file and transaction and correspondence in her father’s outdated Nu device, searching for a name or any connection to the United Worlds, when her own Nu device alerted her that someone was at the front door. The mechanical chime of the doorbell followed.
Thinking it was Genni and bracing herself for another uncomfortable conversation, she went out of the study and opened the door.
Only it wasn’t Genni. It was perhaps the last person, next to Madame Allegria, that she’d expect at her front door.
“Valerie?” Eve asked, dumbfounded.
“Good afternoon, Miss Tesler,” Valerie said, inclining her head in a brief nod. She didn’t smile, however, and the blonde looked over her shoulder before asking, “Do you mind if I come in for a moment?”
“Of course, come in,” Eve said, the words snapping her out of her shock and she stepped aside to let the woman pass. When Eve closed the door, she realized with some embarrassment that she was in nothing more than her dressing gown, despite it being late Saturday afternoon. “Can I get you tea? Or water?”
“No, I will make this quick, Miss Tesler,” Valerie said, stopping in the middle of the foyer and turning to Eve.
“Eve, please,” she replied slowly, confusion replacing her shock, thinking about why Valerie would be there unless… “Is…is Khiva alright?”
Valerie looked around the foyer, at the Old Earth standing clock next to the stairs before her gaze returned to Eve. “He’s the reason why I’m here.”
Unease and concern made Eve step forward. “What is it? Is something wrong?”
Valerie shook her head, but it was the hesitation that made Eve’s heart lurch. “No, he is well.”
“Then what is it?” Eve asked, a little impatiently.
Valerie’s gaze strayed past her to the door and even though they were alone, she said quietly, “He…requested that I ask you to meet him. Tomorrow night at 10, in the Lake District.”
“The Lake District,” Eve said softly, surprise coloring her tone. Dumbly, she repeated, “He wants me to meet him?”
Valerie nodded, but it was obvious that she was uncomfortable with relaying the information.
“But I thought…he never said that he could…”
Eve trailed off, looking down at the foyer floor. What she really meant to say was that he’d never told her hecouldleave Madame Allegria’s.
Valerie seemed to understand her question. It struck Eve that she was carefully wording her sentence when she said, “On occasion, they leave, but they must be discreet for obvious reasons.”
Eve’s chest constricted and a sudden flame of anger made her ask, “Does Madame Allegria know that they do?”
