Page 27 of Black Ledger

“Yes, you can,” I whined. Then I stepped up to him and threw a punch like I’d seen the guards do a thousand times.

Then I made Severin bleed.

And it hurt.

“Ouch!” He screamed, clutching his nose as blood gushed down his face.

“Oh dang it…” I wasn’t allowed to curse. Dang, it was the most I’d ever been able to say. But dang it, I broke him, and maybe myself.

I shook my hand out, my knuckles turning red and my thumb throbbing with pain. Punching wasn’t supposed to hurt the puncher.

Right?

“I’m sorry, Sev, punch me back.”

“No, you’re a girl.” His voice was muffled by his hand as he tried desperately to stop the bleeding.

I glanced down at my dress, grabbed the bottom of my skirt, and ripped off a strip before handing it to Severin. “Here.”

He put it up to his nose and glared at me. “That wasn’t nice.”

“No…” But it was fun. I sighed. “We should probably get help. Your Olga can help, right?”

His housekeeper was also named Olga.

He nodded.

Ten minutes later, we were with his Olga, an extremely severe woman who always glared at me. I was fairly certain she hated me. But I had never done anything except befriend Severin. I sighed. Maybe that was the problem.

Everyone here acted like Severin wasn’t allowed to have friends.

I sat on a counter in the massive staff kitchen of the main manor house, my feet dangling as I watched Severin’s Olga patch him up. The room was cold and commanding, covered in silver, as if it had been dipped in mercury.

I’d just learned about the element of mercury. It was fascinating stuff. Also, apparently, it was deadly to touch with your bare hands, which was so cool. I wanted to break a thermometer and play with it. But not with my bare hands.

Of course, I didn’t have a death wish.

“Well, it doesn’t look broken, but you’ll definitely have a black eye. Maybe two,” Severin’s Olga said.

“Oh, cool.” The words slipped out before I could stop them. His Olga glared at me as my hand flew up to cover my mouth. I wished I could stay quiet… for once.

Olga opened her mouth to respond, then stopped, frozen, her eyes wide with worry.

Everything went quiet. The heavy boots came first, thudding from the hallway. I would never forget the weight of his footfalls. They would be scarred into my mind forever. The reverberating force of them. Fast, dark, and furious.

The saloon-style door swung open with a boom, and before I knew it, all the liquid silver in the room shook. But no. It wasn’t the room. It wasn’t an earthquake. It was me.

Aleksandr Volkov twisted his fingers into the front of my dress and hauled me into the air until his face was in mine.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you, girl.”

I swallowed and glanced at Severin for help.

The world narrowed on Severin as I searched his face for help. “It was an accident.”

“Quiet, boy. If I wanted to hear from you, I would have asked.” He shook me harder. “Tell me, why do you deserve to live?”

I blinked too fast, unable to think of anything to say.