“I was left waiting-me, left waiting! — in this room for hours,” I said. “Hours! I was forced to seek out a water closet. The hospitality of your House, sir, is nothing short of brutal.” I poked him in the chest with my finger. His face went purple with suppressed rage. “You may inform the groom he will need to seek the services of another florist. Do you hear? I will not stand for rudeness. Walter and Walter has a long history of being retained by the finest families in Rannit for their nuptial floral needs. We have no need of your sort of coin, no need at all. Good day, sir.”
With that, I turned, snatched my hat off the hook, and marched for the door.
The other man darted ahead of me and opened it for me and slammed it behind me.
I squinted in the sunlight. I was unthrashed, well fed and immaculately hatted. I had learned that Carris’s mother knew nothing of his whereabouts and feared him dead.
Not a bad morning’s work, for a humble wedding florist.
My cabbie was long gone, leaving me to hoof it back down the Hill in the hope an empty one would rattle along before I developed blisters on my heels.
The green and pleasant lawns of the Hill kept me company as I walked. The shade was generous and cool. The Houses, all set well back from the street, were quiet and stately, whether they housed murderous halfdead or Rannit’s living rich.
You’d think walking down the Hill would be easy. And it is, at first, but any long walk on an incline becomes difficult after a while. Especially if the walker has been spending too much time behind desks and various restaurant tables of late.
I’d worked up a sweat before I was even a quarter of the way down, and still no friendly cabs drew near. By the halfway point, I was mincing and hopping and my visit-the-rich-folks shoes were reminding me with every step they were neither broken in nor made for long downhill hikes.
So when the peaked roofs of Avalante rose above the blood-oaks, I put my brooch back on and mopped the sweat from my face and decided my dignity could withstand a bit of begging for a ride downtown. I wouldn’t trouble Evis, of course, who would still be deep in his vampire slumber, but I was known to enough of the daytime staff to make the occasional nuisance of myself.
And so it was that I crossed the Brown River Bridge for the second time that day aboard one of Avalante’s many carriages. The bridge clowns gave us wide berth, as they do all of the Dark Houses. I waved at them anyway and got obscene gestures back for my troubles.
My driver, a taciturn older gentleman named Halbert, struck a clown square in the face with the core of the apple he’d been munching on when we left. The clowns applauded and bowed.
“Good throw,” I shouted.
“Thankee.”
I thought for a moment. “Drop me off at the corner of Harold and Skinner, will you?”
I’d told him to head for the offices of Lethway Mining when we’d left Avalante. Now I was having second thoughts about being seen arriving in a cab bearing Avalante’s crest. I doubted the Lethway patriarch was going to be pleased by my visit, and there was no need to drag Evis into this.
“Whatever you say.”
We rattled off the bridge, and I settled back and gathered my thoughts.
Seeing a man like Mr. Lethway is no easy task. He employs a building full of secretaries and assistants and managers just to make sure he seldom actually sees anyone himself.
When I passed through his doors, I was still unsure of which words I would speak to the smiling young woman perched behind the slab of polished granite that took up half the room. The walls were dark oak, recently polished with something that contained lemon juice. The floors were marble. The potted plants in the corners probably earned a higher wage than half of Rannit would ever see.
A bent little man in a fancy footman’s outfit closed the doors behind me. “Welcome, sir,” he said, his voice barely audible. “May I take your hat?”
“You may indeed,” I said. My smile would have dazzled, had there been enough light. “Thank you.”
I crossed to the desk while my hat was slowly conveyed to a row of gold hooks on the wall. Judging by the number of hats already hanging there, Lethway Mining was having a busy day.
“Good afternoon.” I rested my elbows on the granite desk and leaned down a bit. The girl behind the desk smiled, but it was a practiced, neutral smile, and I suspected she wore it all day, whether I was standing there or not.
“Good afternoon.” Her voice was as smooth and as practiced as her smile. “With whom is your appointment?”
“I’m here to speak with Mr. Lethway. My name is Markhat.”
Her smile never wavered. Her eyes did, lowering, inspecting some document I couldn’t see.
“I won’t be on your list.” I lowered my voice to conspiratorial whisper. “This is a private matter.”
“I’m sure it is, Mr. Markhat. But this is a place of business, and if you don’t have an appointment, I’m afraid Mr. Lethway isn’t available. Good day.”
“Has anyone told you lately you have lovely eyes?”
“My husband. Twice a day. Simmons will fetch your hat.”
“Tell Simmons to hold on for just a moment. Mr. Lethway needs to see me, even though he doesn’t know it yet. This is important.”
She sighed. Her eyes were indeed lovely, but they weren’t softening.
“Important or not, no appointment means Simmons fetches your hat.”
Someone tapped me on my shoulder. I hadn’t heard anyone approach. I turned my head, and marveled that a man so big could move so quietly.
“Does dis man have an appointment, Miss Marchin?”
“He does not.”
“Den why is he still here, Miss Marchin?”
“He was just saying goodbye. Weren’t you, Mr. Markhat?”
I straightened, nice and slow, so no ham-fisted giants in my vicinity would misinterpret my action as preparatory to rudeness.
“I was indeed. Good day, Miss Marchin. Give my best to Mr. Marchin and all the little Marchins.”
“Simmons has your hat,” spoke the giant. “Dat’s him. By the door. You have the nice day.”
Indeed, the grizzled Simmons was standing by the door, my hat clutched in his shaking hand. His grin was small but spiteful.
I turned to face the behemoth behind me.
He was a full head taller than me, and then some. He’d clearly left his neck in his other shirt, possibly because there wasn’t room on a single human frame for a neck and those shoulders. His chest bulged, and not from fat. His arms were more ogre than human.
He had short, black hair slicked back with oil and a crooked, flat nose and much to my surprise, all of his teeth, which gleamed a pearly white.
His eyes were neither dim nor close-set. I even fancied I could see humor there.
“My name is Markhat,” I said, adjusting my tie. “Who might you be?”
“I might be da pleasant gentleman what shows you polite-like to the door, or I might be da man who picks you up and throws you through it,” he said, still smiling. “Who do you want me to be?”
“Look. You’ve both got me all wrong. I’m not a salesman. I’m not a mooch. I need to see Mr. Lethway on an urgent private matter, and-”
“Den I’ll be the second one,” said the giant.
He put his hands under my arms and picked me up before I could say another word.
I could have done a couple of things, in that moment. I could have boxed his ears, for instance. Or poked my fingers in his eyes. Or kicked him in the groin. Yes indeed, I could have dealt out any number of crushing blows, since his hands were occupied and I was facing him in close quarters.
But I didn’t. Mainly because my ribs were bending double and he’d squeezed the breath out of me.
But also because he winked.
So I deigned to allow myself to be carried unceremoniously from the downtown offices of Lethway Mining. As we passed Simmons, I did manage to reach out and grab my hat, which I stuck jauntily on my head.