It was his turn to look frustrated. “Great ideas? Maybe. But they’re all ideas that would get us in trouble with the Guild or even the empress herself.”
“Such as?”
He gave a short, humorless laugh. “I don’t know. The mine children. Or the poorhouses. Or the technomancers in their factories, poisoned by lead dust and mercury. Name any horrible thing the Empire has done, and I’ve probably thought about writing about it. Wouldn’t that go over well?”
“In a light comedy sort of mood, I see.”
He snorted.
“What about just a nice love story? Keep it simple, safe.”
We stopped on the street corner and waited for the Mechanical Traffic Conductor to whir and flip its eight arms to change the lights above each lane. It stood on a pedestal in the middle of the street—brass and iron arms arching like a naked umbrella, high above the endless flow of buggies, carriages, and more than a few of the new steam-powered horseless carriages that were becoming popular with the wealthy nobles.
A large, black coach with a duke’s coat of arms painted on the side rumbled past us. Six magnificent black horses pulled it, their coats glossy in the late-afternoon sun. An ArachniCab skittered behind the coach. It was a public cab whose body was round and could hold up to nine passengers, and it had eight mechanical legs of steel that clambered along, making it look like a large spider. Its belly held luggage, and it had a small, bubble-shaped head where the driver sat.
After the ArachniCab passed, the Mechanical Traffic Conductor’s arms spun and flipped, changing the light in front of us from orange to green. We could cross the street.
“That’s the problem,” Raymond continued, when we had turned onto a side street and left the crowds and traffic behind. “I’ve got the power to make people live my stories. Make them see the world differently. I could set the entire empire on fire over whatever matters most to me. I don’t want to waste a gift like that by writing something safe.”
“I understand.” And I did. It was why I had to keep Delphine alive. It was why I was determined to overcome the nightmares of my past. It wasn’t enough just to go through life playing it safe. Life was too short, too full of uncertainty. At any moment, it could end. In my heart, I knew each moment had to count. It had to matter. “You’ll find the right story. Something that will make a statement, but won’t get us barred from the Guild. Or arrested. You’re a great writer, and you’ve got powerful fabulamancy. Our team’s play is going to be the best.”
“Thanks.” He smiled at me, his eyes warm behind his round spectacles. He had attached small reading lenses to the frames. He looked stylishly schol and very smart. “I’ve been working on some new ways to magically enhance the script—the audience won’t know what hit them.”
“I’m sure.”
But I didn’t want to point out that since most playwright apprentices at the Alchemy were fabulamancers, the other final project groups would be trying to do the same thing with their scripts. The rest of us tended to overlook fabulamancy because it was only really used to enhance the scripts the playwrights created. Their magic made their words more vivid, coming alive in the minds of those who read or listened to them. But vicimorph magic was so much more blatant and noticeable, people forgot that the script itself could be magically enhanced. I didn’t even know how it worked, and Raymond never explained much about it.
His expression turned thoughtful. “What about you? Working on that secret project, aren’t you?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“How did it go?”
I shrugged. “Not brilliantly. But I can’t tell you any more than that.” I actually hadn’t found much helpful. Nothing that wasn’t already in the police report. The witnesses who had been interviewed for the paper hadn’t witnessed anything at all. About the only interesting tidbit I’d found was that one of them said the soon-to-be-victim—Dame Bosworth, I thought—had been unusually calm and relaxed during the show. Apparently, she was given to a bit of stage anxiety normally.
“Sorry to hear it. Are you all right? Thea and I were noticing how tired you’ve been the last two days.”
“I’ll be fine. This project is only for a few weeks, and then things will be back to normal.”
I wondered, though. Would anything go back to normal? Somehow, I doubted it. And tonight, I had to see Dietrich again. My stomach fluttered. I didn’t want to face him after falling apart in his arms like that. He must think I was such a twit. And I didn’t want to look into his eyes and see brotherly affection. I wasn’t sure what I did want to see, but it definitely wasn’t that.
“Well, if there’s anything Thea or I can do to help, you know you just have to ask.”
Raymond was so sweet. “Thanks.” An idea occurred to me. “Raymond?”
“Minx.” He tipped his cap at me and winked.
I grinned. “You don’t…that is, I’m not…”
“Yes?” he said, exaggerating the “y.”
I stopped and grabbed his arm, turning him toward me. “Do you think of me as your sister?”
He looked so startled, I almost laughed. But then, the expression in his eyes changed to one I’d never seen before. Sort of dark, a bit smoky. His gaze traveled slowly down my body and back up, lingering on places no gentleman ever spoke of. Little electric shivers shot through me. He finally met my eyes again, holding them with an unspoken message. The smallest quirk of a brow, eyes half-closed, and a barely-there smile told me everything I needed to know.
I felt suddenly powerful. And beautiful.
And strangely, not afraid.
I gave him a flirtatious smile in return. He started walking again, and I fell in beside him. Neither of us spoke, but he caught my hand in his.
I liked it very much.
Chapter Thirteen
Delphine was waiting for me in the corridor after my first training class the next morning. She took me by the elbow, steering me to a small alcove away from the other apprentices. “I need your help,” she said in a low voice.
I swallowed my smile and pick up her wrist, holding my fingers to it as if I were checking her pulse. When I went to feel her forehead, she swatted me away.
“Are you mad? Stop it.”
“You just asked me for help—I figured you must be feverish.”
She gave me a look of disgust. “Of all the apprentices in the world, I’m stuck with you.”
“Aren’t you lucky?” I said cheerfully.
“Just shut up.” She put a hand in her bag, feeling around for something.
“You’re out of sorts this morning.”
“Only because I am talking to you.”
“Ooh, you wound me, sweet Delphine.” I put my hand over my heart. “And here I thought we were finally learning to love each other.”
She fished a folded notepaper out of her bag. “I’m glad all this is so amusing to you. I supposed when I’m dangling at the end of the Peacock’s rope, you’ll really laugh then.”
“Don’t be so melodramatic. Didn’t they teach you about over-acting?”
She held out the note to me. “Just read this.”
I unfolded the paper and squinted at the unfamiliar handwriting. “Dear Miss Birdwell, we regret to inform you that your debt is now three months overdue. You have two weeks from receiving this letter to bring the entire amount owed to your loan officer or we will have no choice but to expose certain truths to the Theatrical Guild and several interested journalists. Usually, we do not allow so much additional time for our clients to pay us, but your age and circumstances have moved us to take this generous step. But be warned, at the end of two weeks from now, you must make full payment or face the consequences outlined above.”
The letter wasn’t signed. I looked up at Delphine’s worried eyes.
“Hell, Delphine. What did you do?”
“I merely took out a loan,” she said, tilting her nose in the air. But I could tell it was just bravado. She was really scared.
“A loa
n from who? The mafia?” I handed back the letter.
“It’s none of your business, I’m sure.”
“How much?”
The amount she named made me gasp. It was more than an apprentice received in allowance in five years.
“Damn. You really know how to land yourself in trouble.”
“Stow it. I didn’t come to you for an opinion.”
“Well, I hope you’re not asking for money. None of us have that much.”
“Of course not. Why do you think I took the job at the Coggled Noggin?”
Oh dear. She’d been doing that for three years. If this was how much she still owed, she must have borrowed a small fortune to start with.
“So what do you need from me?”
“I won’t have money from the investigators for helping catch the Peacock until after it’s over.” She didn’t add and if I survive, but I saw it in her eyes. “And that’s too late. I don’t have any choice but to continue performing at the Noggin.”
“I thought you quit.”
“I did, but they’ll take me back. Their audience loves me.” She spoke with a careless pride, as if she took it for granted that she was adored.
“So what do you need me for?”
“I need you to tell Dietrich that you need to move rehearsal earlier in the day.”
I hooted mockingly. “Why me? I’m not the one being chased by a loan shark.”
“I already bailed from rehearsal a couple days ago. I don’t want him wondering what’s going on.”
“Just tell him.”
“No! I’d get kicked out of the program for sure.”
She was such a cog-brain. “Look, you’re putting your life on the line for our star actress. You really think anyone is going to kick you out after that?”
She gave me a level look. “You and Dietrich aren’t the only ones who can read between the lines. The Guild doesn’t give a monkey’s arse about what happens to me, and we all know it.”
I couldn’t argue with that. “Dietrich wouldn’t turn you in, you know.”
“No, I don’t know. He’s a Guild member.”
“So is Nadine, but you trusted her.”
“That’s different.” She grabbed my arm. “Please, Minx. Just ask Dietrich to move rehearsal earlier. I’ve already sent word to the Noggin that I’ll be there. I have to do this.”
There was a wild urgency in her eyes, a sort of desperation that not even my hatred of her could ignore. I didn’t know what sort of trouble she was in, but it wouldn’t have been right to refuse to help her.
“All right. Fine. I’ll ask. But I’m going with you.”
She dropped her hand and stepped back, looking offended. “I don’t need you.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Of course not.” I mimicked her, “Please, Minx! I have to do this! I beg you!” Then, in my own voice, “No, you don’t need me at all.”
“Why do you want to come?”
“For safe-keeping. If you disappear, who’s going to be Peacock bait for us? Someone’s got to watch out for you until then.” My tone was sarcastic, but I actually meant it, and not just because of the Peacock. If she disappeared, I didn’t want it on my conscience that I stood by and did nothing.
She scowled. “Your concern for my well-being is touching. Truly.”
“Yes, I’m just soft-hearted that way. Can’t help it.”
“Bitch.”
“Back at you, sweetheart.”
“Fine. If you can get rehearsal rescheduled, you can come. Be at the storage room at eight tonight.”
I saluted her. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
She looked at the ceiling and shook her head and walked away.
Captain Diva-bitch.
I hurried the opposite direction in search of Dietrich, hoping my teacher for Symbolism Theory of Theatrical Design wouldn’t be too angry at my absence.
I successfully convinced Dietrich that we needed to move our rehearsal time to late afternoon in order for us to keep up the appearance of continuing work on our regular projects. He seemed slightly suspicious, but he didn’t object.
He had not mentioned at all what had happened between us backstage that first night. In fact, he was so professionally distant, I wondered at times if I’d just imagined the whole thing.
Except I knew I wasn’t the same now. Since the kidnapping, I had been so afraid of all men. I hadn’t gone courting with any of the apprentices, even when they’d shown interest. I just couldn’t stand the idea of being alone with them. The thought of being touched by a boy turned my stomach. I’d resigned myself to a life without romance.
But then Tuesday that had all changed. Could it have only been three days ago? I voluntarily touched Raymond’s hand. Sure, we had only linked pinky fingers, but I had done it myself, because I wanted to. And then later that evening, I had let Dietrich hold me. Yesterday, Raymond had taken my hand, and I enjoyed it.
When had I started to heal? I didn’t even realize it was happening.
Maybe it was Raymond. He had always made me feel so comfortable, so safe. He had been friends with Thea when I returned to the theater, and she introduced us. In those early days, I was so broken, so fragile and scared. I admit I took a lot of my anger and hurt out on him. But he never got angry back. He had won my trust with quiet patience and unrelenting kindness.
And now, it looked like he wanted to win my heart as well.
Did I want him to? I wasn’t sure. But I definitely hoped he would try.
Then again, maybe the change was also because of Dietrich. Being held by him had shown me that perhaps I wouldn’t be broken forever after all. In his arms, I had still felt afraid, but beneath the fear, there’d been an awakening heat. And I felt truly upset that he called me “little sister.”
I didn’t want to be his little sister. And that in itself was something of a miracle.
Now, I sat alone on a workbench in the tech studio where my personal locker was, working on the first prototype for a wrist cuff that would extend finger-like knife blades from it at the push of a button. If I could get it to work, I would build it into the gloves of Delphine’s Julia Donovan costume. I had about an hour before I had to meet Delphine in the storage room, and I needed every moment I could grab.
The mechanism required tiny springs and gears. I had to concentrate hard on my magic to tease the hair-like wires from the bar of steel.
The door opened, and Wallace Shelby peeked in. He was a young stage hand who had been hired a couple months ago. He was a friendly thing, nothing ever bothered him. I couldn’t even imagine him in a bad mood.
“Hello, Miss Mellor. I didn’t realize anyone was still using this studio. I was just making sure everything was locked up.”
“Mr. Shelby! Lovely to see you.” I slid some scrap pieces of metal over my sketch book. “I’ll probably be working a little longer. I hope that’s not a problem.”
“Not at all.” He walked over to the table and peered over my shoulder. Too close. I stifled a shudder. Maybe I was healing, but I still hated to have most men so near.
He nudged the scraps off my sketch book.
Shit.
“Goodness, Miss Mellor! These look dangerous. I may have nightmares now.”
I twisted my head to look up at him. His eyes were wide as he surveyed my drawings.
Thankfully, I was used to acting comfortable even when I wasn’t. I mustered up a laugh. “You flatter me. They’re just props, of course. For As You Like It.”
“Really? I don’t remember any combat in that play.”
I thought fast. “The beginning—where the Duke’s brother and his men chase the Duke into the forest. Presul Wolff wants to make the show more contemporary by using modern-looking weaponry.” I’d have to remember to tell Dietrich that’s what he wanted, in case it came up later.
“Oh, I see. Modernizing Bacon is quite the fashion now, isn’t it?”
I nodded, trying to look busy. I really didn’t want him to stay and chat.
He must have taken the hint for he stepped back and bowed a little to me. “I won’t interrupt your hard work. I can’t wait to see the show. You apprentices amaze me. Greatest program in the empire.”
I smiled at him. “That’s very kind of you. We do our best.”
He bid me goodnight, and the studio was silent again. It was too bad I didn’t have a private studio to use. I’d just have to be more careful in the future.
I had just finished forming a tiny steel spring and had started on another when the door opened a second time. I swallowed a growl of frustration, and glanced up, ready to get rid of Mr. Shelby again.
But my irritation evaporated when I saw Raymond’s face. A happy warmth spilled across my heart. I covered my sketch book again and bid him come in.
He sat down on the bench next to me, his back to the table, his feet stretched out. “So this is where you’ve been hiding all evening.”
I grimaced. “Lots of work to do.”
“Lots of work you can’t tell me about, right?”
“Right. Sorry.”
He shrugged. “How is it going?”
“Slower than I would like.” I set the spring down and faced him. “This is big, Raymond. Really big. And if I mess it up, it’s going to be bad for a lot of people.”
“You’re going to do fine. You always do.”
“I hope you’re right. But for the next several weeks, this will be my life, right here.”
“And here I was worried you were avoiding me today.”
“Why would I do that?”
He picked up the spring I’d just made and rolled it between his fingers. “The last guy who try to hold your hand got his face slapped.”
Ah. Everett Jones, my fifth year. “I’d only been back a few months. He terrified me. And when I told him to let go of me, he thought I was teasing.”
“It taught all of us to be very careful around you, Minx.”
I couldn’t tell if that was a criticism or not. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it.”
“I know.” He slowly, hesitantly, reached up and brushed my cheek with his fingers. “I’m not sure I even want to know exactly what happened to you while you were gone, but I’d really like to kill the bastard that hurt you.”
Chains of Silver: a YA Theater Steampunk Novel (Alchemy Empire Book 1) Page 11
