The others chatted, raising their voices. A sofa and a few armchairs were scattered around, and a warm log fire burned in the hearth. The butler placed a stack of papers on a polished table. The lights from the gas lamps glinted off its shiny surface, bothering her eyes after the darkness. Light after darkness always hurt.
“Ladies and gentlemen, before you proceed into the Scarlet Room, you need to sign this contract and pay the sum of seven pounds each. If you find yourself unable to sign the contract or to pay the fee for any reason, I must ask you to leave.”
“You have the money, don’t you?” Daphne asked.
“Of course. Marianne gave it to me.”
Because Edith couldn’t ask her parents for money, and because she’d exhausted the money she’d set aside. And her parents… they didn’t know how she spent her nights.
She read her copy of the contract, forcing herself to focus.
The customers had to pledge not to reveal anything that happened in the Scarlet Room, not to use what they saw or heard as leverage against other customers, not to gossip about other customers’ choices of entertainment… and many other things Edith wasn’t supposed to do under the pain of receiving a ridiculously high fine or even imprisonment.
There were other rules, terms, and conditions written in fine print; something about verbal contracts stipulated between two customers. When a customer proposed a deal or a dare to another customer, and both parties agreed to the deal, then both parties were considered?—
“Just sign,” Daphne said, flipping through the pages to the last one. “It’s all legal jargon we wouldn’t understand anyway.”
That was true, and Edith’s head hurt. She didn’t plan to talk to any stranger anyway, so she wrote her name and address and signed the contract.
Daphne didn’t even read it. She quickly wrote her name and handed the contract back to the butler with her money. After everyone had signed, the butler led them to a cloakroom.
Edith reluctantly removed her capelet. It provided a sort of comfort.
“You won’t regret this.” Daphne shrugged off her cloak and handed it to another dark-suited man.
A little frisson of excitement went through Edith when finally the butler opened a second heavy-looking set of double doors. Loud music, laughter, and happy voices ricocheted off the walls. Dark-red was the predominant colour, from the curtains to the carpet and wainscoting. Even the candles were red. It was like entering the gaping maw of a monster.
Daphne grabbed Edith’s hand and dragged her inside. “Let the fun begin.”
The smell of opium mingled with that of different perfumes, flowers—all red, of course—and something else spicy. Scantily dressed people played at a pool table. There were ladies sitting on gentlemen’s laps, kissing couples, and in general, people with not many clothes on.
Others drank, danced, or sang seemingly without rhyme or reason. In the dark corners, she caught glimpses of couples doing more than kissing. In another corner, other couples did… something she couldn’t fully understand with ropes and scarves; if it was a style of tumble, she wouldn’t know which one.
The whole atmosphere was exciting, and above all, it obliterated any other thought in her mind. Exactly what she wanted.
Her smile faltered as she swept her gaze through the room. The sight of a swimming pool filled with water dampened her enthusiasm. Just looking at the quivering surface made her want to throw up. Her breathing sped up as the phantom chill of the Thames’s water froze her.
Confused visions of herself swimming in the river flashed through her mind. Most of the time, the desperation and fear of that moment threatened to overwhelm her. She’d calculated that she’d stayed in the water for no more than fifteen minutes among flaming pieces of wood and shards of metal. A rather short time. Her daily lunch took twice that time. Yet those fifteen minutes had seemed a year and tortured her to this day. How odd.
She’d do her level best to avoid and ignore that pool.
“Come. What happened to you?” Daphne tugged at her hand. “Valentine is over there at the card table. I’m in a mood for a card game.” She led Edith to a side room that looked like a whist club.
Edith averted her gaze from the pool, but she came to a grinding halt when she spotted Neville sitting next to Valentine. “That’s Neville.”
Daphne exhaled noisily. “Well spotted.”
“I’m not sure I want to spend the evening in his company.”
“Ignore Neville if you want. Tell him to leave you alone again. But don’t let him ruin your evening and don’t ruin mine.”
Ignoring Neville wasn’t easy, especially since he looked like Perry. Same midnight hair and blue eyes. Even their straight noses and strong jaws were the same. But since she could do whatever she wanted in the Scarlet Room without any consequences, she would deal with him however she pleased.
Whatever card game some people were playing, it didn’t involve money since no gaming token lay on the table.
“How does that game work?” she asked, pointing to a table.
“You lose, you remove a garment.” Daphne wiggled her eyebrows. “Isn’t that thrilling? And remember, anything that happens here stays here. No consequences.”
