Her Ladyship's Curse

Her Ladyship's Curse Page 21

“I love you like my own sister, you know.” Rina took hold of my hair and used it to wriggle my head. “I’d march down to the garden gates of hell for you, if that’s what it takes. But, Kit, it’s Dredmore after you now. Even the devil himself would have enough sense to step out of the way.”

“He won’t have me,” I insisted. “Nothing bad is going to happen. I promise.”

“I’ll know for certain.” Rina climbed out of the pool and went to ring the bell. When one of the bathhouse maids appeared, she said, “Send for my man.”

“Why are we leaving?” I asked when she returned. “We just got here.”

“Out with you.” She tossed a towel at me. “We’re going to see the Eye.”

I slogged up the steps. “Whose eye?”

“Besides yours, the only honest one in the city,” she said, her expression grim. “We’re going to see my teller.”

Chapter Ten

I argued with Rina from the bathhouse to the front steps of a quiet, sober-looking redstone in the heart of the bookmakers’ district.

“How long have you been letting this charlatan take your coin?” I said as she rang the bell. “And why didn’t you ever tell me you were buying portents?”

“I don’t pay the Eye in coin. We have an evening together now and then to settle our accounts.” She turned as a houseman answered the bell. “Madam Eagle and a friend to see the master.”

We were shown into a dark hall lit only by candles and made to wait there as the houseman went to the back of the house. I noted the marks marching along the wainscot railing. They weren’t runes, but something like them. “For pity’s sake, Rina. I thought you were smarter than this.”

“The Eye is very dear to me,” she said, wagging a finger under my nose. “If you care to remain in my good graces, then you’ll hold your tongue and let him do his work.”

“Work.” I felt like spitting. “Swindling you out of sex for nothing.”

“Do shut up, love.” Rina smiled as a small man in an oddly cut white robe emerged. The lack of light made it impossible to make out his features. “Master Harvison.”

“Madam Eagle.” He bowed low before turning to me. “Madam’s friend.” He did not bow to me but glanced at Rina. “She is not a believer.”

“Neither was I when I first came to you, Harvi.” Rina put a hand on my shoulder. “But my dear friend is in desperate need of your wisdom.” When I opened my mouth to disagree, she stomped on my foot. “I would consider it a personal favor if you would see for her.”

“Please,” Harvison said, gesturing down the hall. “Join me for tea.”

We followed him into a shabby but comfortable little den. I’d never seen such furnishings, all made of gleaming lacquered woods and delicate little cushions. A table that sat too low to the ground had a brazier set in its center and a tray with tiny cups. A bowl of dark herbs and some twisted brown roots waited to be used, probably to poison someone.

He lived among the best bookmakers in the city, but I didn’t see one book. There were plenty of scrolls, however, each tied with twines of various colors and stacked on end in big porcelain pots. Magic spells were usually written on much smaller rolls, but perhaps his handwriting required more paper for his nonsense.

“Please, be seated.” Harvison went around the room lighting oil lamps, until they shed enough light for me to clearly see his face. One dark eye gleamed, sharp and bright, but where the other should have been was only a smooth stretch of skin.

I leaned toward Rina. “He’s only got one eye,” I whispered.

“No, young miss. I have two,” Harvison answered for her. “The other lies beneath the flesh you see. So it has been since I first drew breath.”

I watched him fill two cups with his brew, but when he reached for a third I spoke up. “None for me, thank you. I’m a little off tea right now.”

“You’re insulting my friend,” Rina hissed.

“She is being only cautious,” Harvison said. “Something experience teaches us, but fear strips away.” He gave me his full attention. “You have been crossed by magic many times.”

“Not so I’ve noticed,” I told him. I made out the peculiar shape of his eye, but it wasn’t the droop I was accustomed to seeing. “Where are you from, teller?”

He bowed again. “Here. My father bought my mother from Hokkaidō before the Imperial Family instituted the blockade.”

Now the odd-looking runes in his hall made sense. “You’re half Nihon.”

“And half Torian,” Rina put in.

I’d deal with her later. “Every Nihon, pureblood or not, was deported after the blockade. The Crown has denied them residency ever since. So how did you manage to stay in Rumsen, Mr. Harvison?”

“My mother was property, not wife,” he said simply. “My father claimed me as the same, until he discovered he could sire no children with his wife.”

Keeping slaves had been banned before my birth. “Did he have you declared his heir?” When he nodded, I relaxed a little. “So you’re a freedman.”

“I have never been anything else.” He gestured to the cushion on the floor opposite his own. “Now I will see for you, madam’s friend.”

I thought of the teller who had tried to chase me out of her shop, and climbed down awkwardly to sit on the cushion. “What do you want? Hair? Fingernails? Spit? Blood?”

“Your hands, please.” He stretched out his own, palms up.

I’d never touched a slave, declared or not, and Nihon universally despised Torians. I might not get my hands back.

I will free you, my gel, very soon, Dredmore said behind my eyes, and then you will be mine.

I clapped my hands over Harvison’s. The moment I touched him, he went stiff and still. I watched his face, but I didn’t see him twitch or take a breath.

Slowly he withdrew his hands. “I am blinded.”

“I didn’t touch his good eye,” I assured Rina. “I swear.”

“What I mean to say is that I cannot see for you, young miss,” Harvison said faintly. “You are like the ward, and the warded.” He stared at my neck. “You wear a talisman.”

“A necklace, with a pendant,” I corrected. “Most women wear them.”

“May I see it?”

My first impulse was to say no, but then I thought of what Harry had said about my pendant. “All right.” I reached back for the clasp.

Harvison remained silent for a long time as he studied my pendant. Only when Rina cleared her throat did he seem to remember we were in the room. “Forgive me, dear ladies. This is something of a puzzle.” He regarded me. “This was given to you, was it not? When you were very young.”

I nodded. “It was a gift from my mother.”

“The stone is powerful. Or perhaps I should say, it contains power.” He placed the pendant gently on the table, and I noticed his hand shook as he drew it back. “You must wear it at all times, or you will be in grave danger.”

“Danger she’s got aplenty. Lucien Dredmore’s after her,” Rina said tightly. “Can’t you see how that right bastard will try to take her?”

“He cannot.” Harvison gave me a sad smile. “If the onmyouji is to possess her, she must give herself freely.”

“Right, then, that’ll never happen.” I stood. “Thank you for not pretending to see something. Rina, we should go.”

My friend ignored me. “She’s been cursed. Is that what you’re saying?”

Harvison made a helpless gesture. “She is beyond me, dear one. I believe she is beyond all who see.”

“Then see for me.” Rina dropped down and put her hands in his. “See if I lose her to that conniving devil.”

Harvison nodded toward me. “She must leave the room.”

“Oh, she will be glad to.” I stalked out, brushed past his houseman and through the front entry. I was more angry with myself than Rina for allowing her to involve me in this rubbish. She did it out of love; I knew better.

Wrecker eyed me from the carri. “Had enough of One Eye, then, Miss Kit?”

“That I have. Be a sport and turn your head.” As soon as he did, I waved down a horse-drawn cab. “I’m going home. Rina will be furious, but tell her I said to tough it.”

“Just be careful, miss,” Wrecker suggested. “Her won’t like knowing something bad’s happened to you.”

I nodded and let the driver help me into the cab. Once I was shut in, I wrapped my hand around my pendant, holding it so tight it cut into my palm. What Harvison had said about it containing power was nonsense, of course . . . but I kept remembering how his hand shook. Before I could think better of it, I reached back and thumbed the clasp, releasing it so I could pull the chain from my neck. I thrust the pendant into my reticule and dropped it on the bench beside me.

Harry White appeared on the rear-facing seat. “Took you long enough. What were you waiting for, lass? Her Majesty’s Diamond Jube?”

I curled my hands into fists. “My mother wore only two pieces of jewelry when she was alive,” I told him. “One was her wedding ring. What was the other?”

“A gold chain round her left ankle,” he replied at once. “On the chain hung a silver ring set with seven stones in the shape of a star. Three rubies, three sapphires, and a black diamond.”

No one knew about my mother’s anklet but my father and me. “You gave it to her.”

“Technically, no. When she came to the morgue to identify me, she took the ring from my body.” He showed me his left hand, and the pale circle left around the base of his fourth finger. “Your father had the ankle chain made.”

“So she could hide it under her skirts,” I guessed.