I incline my head with a sly flick of my brow, alerting her I’m about to share something shocking. “Don’t tell anyone, but I overheard my employer saying he was surprised Honorate Vale doesn’t havemorebastard children.”
Frida laughs. “That’s hardly a secret, dear. Honorate Vale has had many . . . indulgences.”
An understatement. Arliss Vale is one of the few Honorate over the age of forty to never marry. Before he fell ill, he was known for taking many, many women to bed.
I pretend I don’t already know this, pressing my hands to my face as though I’ve been scandalized. “I didn’t realize.” I hush my voice. “Doeshe have other children?”
“I doubt he would know, even if he did.”
I scrunch my brows together and purse my lips, as if I’m trying to solve a particularly challenging arithmetic problem. “But if his son’s mother is Opheran, how did they meet? I didn’t think the Honorate spent much time with Opherans.”
“She used to work here. She . . . left her employment shortly after Honorate Vale learned he had a son.”
The pause before “left” doesn’t escape my notice. Fridahasn’t said as much, but I’m willing to bet Arliss fired Kaidren’s mother once he learned she had his child.
Just as Mathson fired my mother when he learned about me.
I suppress a scowl and focus instead on the opening Frida has inadvertently given me. “I didn’t realize she worked here so recently.”
Frida looks confused. “What?”
I warm my hands around the teapot. “You mentioned earlier that Mr. Vale only learned he had a son a few weeks ago. I assume that means his mother left employment here only recently as well?”
Frida’s brows draw in as she realizes her mistake.
If my eyes were any wider, they’d roll right out of my head.Innocence.Hopefully, if I chant it in my mind enough times, I’ll make myself look it.
“I misspoke,” Frida says after a long pause. “Honorate Vale first learned he had a son years ago, when the boy was still a child. But Honorate Vale didn’t claim him until last year. After he fell ill.”
“Poor boy,” I say with as much false sympathy as I can manage. “Do you know why?” Kaidren came to Virdei earlier than I thought. I assumed he’d arrived shortly before I first saw him in Widow’s Hall, but apparently, he’s been living with his father in Virdei since last year.
“Honorate Vale is an honorable man,” says Frida. “I have no doubt he was merely doing what he thought best.”
The fever of her lie is so sudden, so unexpected, I accidentally heat the teacup in my hands. Clearly, Frida disapproves of her employer’s actions but doesn’t want to admit it, not even as gossip.
“If she used to work here, you must know her?” I say.
Frida smiles sadly. “Iknewher. Zara was a seamstress. Shepassed away almost eleven years ago. The boy was raised by her sister, Julissa.”
Just a few years before I lost my own mother. Unbidden, I feel my expression soften. “Mr. Vale didn’t send for his son after his mother passed?”
Frida sucks her teeth. When she replies, her words are measured. “As I said, I’m sure Honorate Vale did what he thought best.”
Another lie. She doesn’t like the way her employer handled this but doesn’t want to speak ill of him. I need to tread carefully if I don’t want her to shut down completely. “Honorate Vale seems like such a gracious, benevolent employer.”
Frida’s brow clears with relief. “Yes. He’s a kind—”
Her words are slashed by a piercing shriek down the hall, followed by a crash.
My heart stutters as I leap to my feet. I hardly notice that the sudden motion knocks over the tea tray, spilling it onto the carpet. “What was that?”
Frida is frozen. Her head is swiveled toward the doorway, but she doesn’t reply. I’m not even sure she heard me.
Another shriek—same voice, but louder, more anguished.
Fear clogs my throat and chases my heart into a sprint. My feet carry me racing from the room, around the corner, searching for the source of the crash. I slow when an open door catches my eye in the hall ahead of me.
I pause, just outside, listening. All I hear are harsh, shallow breaths.
