She sighed softly.
Beyond the chamber, rain ran in slender streams down the window glass, and she couldn’t help but muse how the world had decided to match her mood. Across from her, Mr. Peregrine lounged as though they were old acquaintances sharing a cup of tea. So this was what he considered stealing her life? He really ought to be admitted to Bedlam. This must have been the least polished she’d seen him in their encounters. His mask had finally slipped.
And it had slipped far.
The smile that had once appeared amiable now bore a cruel cast.That, perhaps, was the greatest alteration in him. She hadn’t quite noticed at first it in the place she was kept with Mr. Rollings, but now she couldn’t miss it.
“Where is Mr. Rollings?” she asked. She hated that she could not quite stop her hands from twisting in her lap.
Peregrine waved a hand as if brushing aside an unimportant matter. “Oh, don’t worry about him. Worry for yourself.”
Her stomach clenched. “You didn’t kill me.”
“No.” He smiled faintly, though it didn’t reach his eyes. Not even close. “I didn’t. Nasty business, killing.”
“You have poked the wrong beast, Mr. Peregrine.” She made her voice stronger this time, even if her pulse thundered against her throat. “Maxen is not an enemy you want.”
The man chuckled. “What a straightforward, yet innocent thing to declare. Yes, Miss Turner, I am aware. But our confrontation has been inevitable for years.”
“Why? What did he do to you?”
“Let’s just say it’s not what he did, but what he didn’t do.”
Calliope arched a brow. Not do? “He didn’t cut you into a business deal? Profit margins? Some form of haul?”
The man laughed at that. “Ah, no. It’s something much more precious than that.”
“And what is that?”
“His empire.”
The man was mad. “Well, if that is what you want, then you should just give up now.”
“Perhaps.”
His answers were even more infuriating than Maxen’s brooding. “Why did you approach me anyway?”
Mr. Peregrine shrugged. “Ah, that. Well, what I wanted was beneath your shop. You were just an added reward.”
Beneath her shop? Why was she not surprised there wassomething beneath her shop? However, “I’mnota reward.”
“I beg to differ.”
“Just what do you think is going to happen, Mr. Peregrine? Are you going to use me to negotiate a piece of the empire? I’m not worth even a sliver.”
“Well, we shall see just how much you are worth soon, won’t we?”
Her whole body stiffened at that. She’d like to believe she was worth more than six months’ rent, but an empire? No. All this for power? It couldn’t be that simple, could it?
“Tell me, Miss Turner, how much faith do you really put into your gutter-borns? Fury runs in their blood, sure, but blood alone doesn’t make a man loyal. Just look at me.”
“What are you saying?” Calliope asked. He wasn’t loyal to his family? “By the by, those gutter-borns, as you call them, would never betray each other.”
“It’s a figure of speech, Miss Turner.”
“Nevertheless, you don’t know Maxen very well.”
He cocked his head with a smile. “Neither do you, I imagine.”
