FOUR

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Keeping the ring safe was all very easy to promise, but how was I to go about it?

I wasn’t the sort of person whom anyone would expect to be wearing a signet ring. If she’d given me another ear stud, marked me as mostly hers, then it would have been easy; I could have plainly worn it as a thing she’d given me. Nobody would have thought twice over such a man bearing some additional decorations from his main client.

As it stood, though, I was expected not to show any such favours, at least not while I was waiting for or with other women. For the time any one of my clients was with me, I was to be hers and only hers. It simply would not do to be wearing jewellery that someone else had given me – not if it were my own grandmother, and certainly not another client.

Even taking it off when I was shedding my clothes would draw too much of a point to it. But I couldn’t simply leave such a thing lying in my quarters, where anyone who entered the building might be able to find it. I needed to keep it on my person, or within reach. Yet I needed it to be inconspicuous, also.

On another day, I might have asked my fellows for some advice. As it stood… I didn’t expect any of them, not even the three who’d been downstairs when Rebecca had arrived, to truly hold my good fortune against me, but it would seem somewhat indelicate to ask them, all the same.

The solution I opted for wasn’t entirely novel. Some people had little pouches that they kept their dearest trinkets in, hung around their necks; much like the purses used for money, but smaller, a little more decorative. That wouldn’t arouse much suspicion, so long as the one I got was sufficiently plain. I didn’t yet have anything else that might go in with it, but I could find a few such things that would at least look reasonable there, and such a pouch with several things in it would be less conspicuous than with just one.

So after I’d had some time to settle my thoughts, it really wasn’t so difficult as I’d feared.

After that, things seemed to settle back toward normalcy. I did receive a good deal of friendly teasing over the whole business, but I could see that it was covering some measure of… perhaps not envy, but at least wistfulness. Some wish on each one’s part that he had been the one to attract the princess’s attention, to spend a busy day with her, to have the rest of the evening to himself.

Well, they certainly didn’t lack for company and work overall. As the next several weeks passed, the event largely passed from everyone’s minds save mine, and that because I kept a constant reminder of it around my neck.

Even I had largely learned to ignore it by the time the day came around when I next expected a visit from Angelique. Nor was I disappointed – not by any failure to visit, for, indeed, she arrived in the middle afternoon, nor by her enthusiasm in my bed. She wasn’t quite so rough as on some occasions; we took our time building to a mutually pleasing intensity, and if the force of my pleasure wasn’t quite so great as on some of our previous encounters, it lingered with me for quite a time longer.

I’d just pulled myself away from her to light some incense when I heard her murmur, “I’ll miss these quiet days. They’ll be fewer by far when the troops land.”

Troops? I hadn’t the faintest idea what that meant. Of course there were troops in the city; Nordport was the capital of Vard, home to the highest of its nobility. This would hardly be the first time a woman had said something after the moment that I’d had trouble comprehending, though it was certainly the most puzzling. “Your pardon, did you say something?”

“Mmm?” She pressed herself up on one arm, looking at me quizzically. “No, nothing.”

That was what her mouth said. But even as she was saying “nothing,” I also heard her say, “Oh, don’t wise up now, pretty one. I’d much rather still enjoy your company once the Asterian flag flies over the castle.”

The… Asterian flag? Asterian troops? I tried to conceal my confusion, giving my head a shake. “I’m very sorry, m’lady. I must have been imagining things.” I leaned over to fan some life into the brazier, then turned to reach for a brush. “Can I do anything else for you, while you’re here?”

“No… no.” She smiled, reaching up to touch my cheek. “Your company is as pleasant as always, but truly I should be about the rest of my day. I’ve many projects, don’t you know; many repairs to make as winter moves in, many draughts to seal.” Again, though, there was a strange sense of duality, and I thought I also heard her say, “Captain Trellig will have my hide if I’m not at the port on time. A shame. I don’t think any man has ever felt so good as this one, and I so wish I had time for another round.”

“Oh. Well, then, I suppose I will see you next month?”

“Count on it, beautiful,” she said, patting my cheek. As she turned to dress, she again spoke-without-speaking, saying, “Maybe then, I’ll finally be able to keep you for my own.”

Still puzzled, I saw her out to the lobby, and then I returned to my room to tidy it. My thoughts were buzzing. It was strange that she hadn’t known herself to be speaking, stranger still that she’d been saying two things at once, but I’d never known anything said in the moments after such shared pleasure to be false outright. If what she had said was true…

If what I had heard was true, then she was planning dire things. Soon, if she dared not linger today.

What could I do, though? What could I say? Who would believe me?

Captain Trellig… that was a Vardish name. If I took what I’d heard as true, were Vardish soldiers a willing part of the mischief she had in mind?

I found paper, pen, and ink, scribing a quick note. I didn’t know what title to address Rebecca by – I could only guess that she was of the Weston family, but even there I couldn’t be entirely certain. I couldn’t be clear on what danger there might be, when I didn’t know it myself, and I couldn’t even be sure how it was that it had come to my attention in the first place. I only knew, with a sinking feeling in my stomach, that danger was about. I’d acquired a stick of good blue wax for just such an event; with the hawk signet ready, I dribbled some of the wax over the folded paper, pressing the design firmly into it. The result was… somewhat off-centre, far from elegant, but hopefully it would do.

It was late enough in the day that my departure from Blue Ribbon House, wearing my finest clothing, drew no particular attention. I was a good worker; I had earned some time to myself of evenings, especially when I’d just recently serviced a regular caller. Weston House was not particularly far, and the streets in this part of Nordport were broad, clean, and well-lit by gas lamps against the encroaching twilight; rather than spend time hunting for a carriage and my precious little allowance to pay its fare, I walked.

It was as well that I’d done so. Weston House was very busy when I came close enough to make out its details, all manner of carriages parked out front, guarded by bored footmen. Some lords and ladies had just arrived, and were ambling up the front path holding elaborate masques over their faces. Going up that way would attract far too much attention. I knew little of such things, but I did know that any fine palace such as this would have another entrance, a servant’s entrance… yes, there it was, around the side; easy to miss if one didn’t wish to look for it, easy enough to find if one did.

I was distinctly aware of my lack of education in etiquette and fine manners as I came up to the entrance. What should I do? How should I introduce myself? The woman who answered the door was very serious-looking and dressed quite severely – and well; if she was a servant, she was one of some prominence. Despite her being small even for a woman, she had a presence to her that made me feel like the smaller one. I touched my brow, swallowed, thought a quick prayer, and drew breath. “Begging your pardon, ma’am. I have an important message for Lady Rebecca.”

“For Rebecca?” She frowned. “On the night of a masquerade? She’ll be quite busy, I’m sure. If it’s so important, perhaps Captain Trellig could help you? She’s in charge of the night watch, certainly she could be of some help.”

Captain Trellig – My heart skipped a beat. Captain Trellig was on duty here? “No, no,” I stammered. “It’s… a personal matter, nothing to trouble the worthy captain with, I’m sure. But I was… directed to wait for a reply.”

The woman looked me over for some moments, and I wondered if she would summon the captain after all – to throw me in the dungeon. But in the end, she nodded, reaching forward. “I will find her, then, and deliver it unopened to her own hand. You may sit there,” and she nodded to a seat at one side of the room.

Relieved, I relinquished my note and went to sit. The ticking of the clock seemed to stretch into forever as I waited, minutes slipping by… I thought I had been waiting for half an hour, but when I looked at the clock, only a few minutes had passed. But still I waited.

Finally – a quarter-hour after my arrival, perhaps – I heard approaching feet, and women’s voices, one of them the woman who’d taken my message, the other faintly familiar. The other was, in fact, Rebecca, dressed now in a silver-trimmed blue gown and wearing a feathered masque to match; this latter she drew away as she saw me, coming toward where I sat and dismissing the other woman. I rose before she reached me, and she took one of my hands.

“Edmond,” she said simply, her voice low. “There’s much I don’t know about you or about your message, so I will ask plainly: Are you certain of this?”

“As certain as I can be, milady,” I said, keeping my voice down in kind. “What I heard today… I’m afraid that you and many others are in horrible danger.”

She frowned, shaking her head. “Danger? Whatever from? We aren’t at war, Edmond, that we should fear for enemies to knock down our gates. And there are certainly no ships from any other nation’s navy in port, Asterian or otherwise. What – ?”

“Milady,” I pressed, “whatever is going on here, it’s not something that’s meant to see the light of day. I don’t know much of such things, but I can’t imagine that these troops that I heard mentioned would be in an obvious navy ship. Please…”

“Shush,” she instructed, and perforce, I shushed. She spent a few moments thinking, then sighed. “I can’t entirely dismiss what you say, for you seem an honest sort to me. But I just can’t imagine… well. Would it soothe your mind if I left Weston House for the night? With the masquerade in full swing, I doubt I’ll be missed.”

I let out a breath. “That would ease my mind greatly, yes.”

“Then perhaps I could go with you?” A smile touched her lips. “It’s nearing that time, and it would give me a perfectly good reason to be out of the palace. Why, it might even be true, yes?”

In spite of my worries, I chuckled. “I would be most glad to be your host, milady.”

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