“Good, then shall I order dinner?”
“Yes.” I nodded emphatically. “Then, we need to talk.”
She eyed me at that, but nodded. “Perry!”
The washroom door opened and a young man appeared. His mop of black hair was damp and the towel about his hips cursory, flashing a good deal of thigh. His eyes were long, pointing to partial Ondi heritage, and his pale skin was smooth, unmarked and unbearded. He was tall, too, with an athletic physique. He was, in short, precisely Pretoria’s type, as far as men went.
But, in the predictability of his appearance, he was also not what I anticipated. Pretoria had lovers. Pretoria had intimate friends. But Pretoria had never expressed an interest in marriage, let alone to a presumably Entwined man. Thatunion was precisely what the Guild would have wanted, and for that reason, it was suspicious to the highest degree.
“Oh,” Perry said in mild startlement. “Who are you?”
“Ottilie,” I replied. “Your sister-in-law.”
He looked suddenly self-conscious and glanced down, ensuring his towel was closed. It was not. “I see. A moment?”
He vanished back into the bathroom and Pretoria pointed me towards a seating area near the tall windows. “Make yourself comfortable. I will order us some dinner, then we shall conspire.”
I settled myself in a comfortable chair and stared out at the sleeping city. Meanwhile, Pretoria summoned a maid to order dinner, then vanished into the bathroom to converse quietly with Perry.
I watched a paperboy on a street corner, hawking the last of his newsheets.
“Grand General Baffin summons Cabinet to emergency meeting!Harrow Heraldspeculates!” The voice was muffled through the glass. “Baffin calls emergency meeting in wake of Separatist bombing! Sorcerers return to Unified Council!”
“Quite the state this city is falling into,” Pretoria said, sitting down across from me. Perry came too, his hair neatly parted and combed and his tall frame clad in trousers, shirt, and suspenders. “Are you ready to let me sweep you away now?”
“Not quite,” I replied, sitting back and looking between the two of them. “First, I need your help.”
I outlined the situation for my sister in broad strokes. Mr. Stoke had been killed, presumably by a very powerful Silver mage. Mr. Moran, I suspected, knew something of it. Madge was even more soulless than we anticipated. I was still hunted, presumably, by Lord Stillwell’s thug, Wake, and of course the Guild. I could well imagine a bedraggled Howell stalking the streets as we spoke.
“It sounds as though we ought to leave immediately,” Perry surmised.
We were eating now, feasting off an excessive array of hors d’oeuvres which Pretoria considered a meal. The foodwas a temporary distraction from my increasing fatigue, and I poured myself a coffee to stave off unconsciousness.
“No,” I said. “I intend to find the artifact first. Stillwell offered a great deal of money for its return, and I need those funds to replace my savings, which the police confiscated. I also would very much like to know who killed Mr. Stoke. But I understand that may be impossible.”
“It may. But, Tillie, I have funds,” Pretoria said. “Let me take care of you. I can break into the station, too.”
That was an idea for a later time, but I still needed Stillwell’s money to buy my future.
“He offered five thousand Harren marks,” I stated, flint-eyed.
Pretoria and Perry both went still. After a heartbeat of processing this information, they glanced from one another, and back to me.
“Where should we begin our search?” Pretoria asked.
And just like that, I had two accomplices. Accomplices I intended to leave behind, but accomplices, nonetheless.
I did not let myself think of Pretoria’s embrace, and how warm, how likehomeit had felt.
“Our first line of inquiry is thus,” I summarized. “We must interview Lord Stillwell, who contracted Mr. Stoke to find the artifact to begin with. He may have more information, particularly on other parties who might be after the artifact. He also has the power and finances to, perhaps, hire a Rogue mage like the one who attacked… killed Mr. Stoke. Perry, what class are you?”
“Copper Affinate,” Perry replied without inflection.
I could not suppress a startled glance between the two of them. “You… are not an Adept?”
“Try not to look so astonished.” Perry conjured a winsome smile. “I won your sister despite my inadequacies.”
“I am sure you are more than capable,” I reassured, though in truth, I was unsettled. Here, I suspected I had found Pretoria’s motivation, the blush of rebellion that had taken this man from lover to spouse.
