Prince of Secrets and Shadows

by C. S. Johnson

“Thank you,” I said, giving Amir a quick curtsy. I ignored Harshad. I never thought he was impressed with me, and I never expected him to change his mind—least of all now, as I returned from a failed mission.

  Before they could ask me any questions, Ben cleared his throat. “What is the latest news?”

  Amir and Harshad looked to Lady POW as she settled herself behind the desk.

  It was such a simple movement, but it was one that summed up my life since Lady Penelope, and her small group of spies and secret guards, had arrived in my father’s manor in Prague. It not only changed my present and my future but my past, too. Thanks to learning the truth about my mother and the Order of the Crystal Daggers, the ideas I had about my family and my childhood had faded into illusions.

  “Well, what has happened?” I asked. “Were we able to catch Lord Maximillian?”

  Lady POW wrinkled her nose. “Unfortunately, no.”

  “What?” I put my hands on my hips, allowing my right hand to rest just above my dagger. Having it so close lent me courage, and I knew I would need it in standing up to my grandmother. She was not called the Iron Dowager for nothing. “He orchestrated the attack on the castle.”

  Ben gave me a rueful look. “Since the man who attacked us by the wine cellar is dead, there is no way to prove Lord Maximillian was involved.”

  My breath left my body in a rush. I did not know why I was surprised to hear our attacker was dead.

  From the sympathetic look on Ben’s face, he had been anticipating my reaction. He knew I was not prepared for death, let alone one I might have caused.

  “We are back to where we started, with Dr. Artha’s unresolved murder,” Lady Penelope said, as Amir slipped around the desk and made his way to stand beside Ben and me.

  At the mention of Dr. Artha—my father’s former doctor and a consult to King Ferdinand V, as well as a former politician—another wave of weariness washed over me. A lifetime had passed since the Order’s arrival, and I was still reeling from my losses.

  It seemed like just yesterday when Ben and I had been working to prepare a grand engagement celebration for my stepbrother, Alex, and Lady Teresa Marie, Lord Maximillian’s daughter. I remembered that night vividly—Lady Penelope, my indomitable grandmother, commanding the entire dining hall as I floundered in the kitchens with my friends and fellow-servants; Cecilia, my stepmother, unable to whine her away out from Lady POW’s thumb. There was also Ben’s initial disgust at meeting our spymaster grandmother, my early arguments with the reserved but determined Amir, and hearing Harshad speak with such daring against my grandmother, even while going along with her wishes.

  Everything about that night became a fixed anchor in my life, a point where time stopped, and the direction of my life forever altered.

  “That is not entirely true, Pepé,” Harshad insisted. “We know that the political system has been compromised by a powerful coup, with foreign players and native members alike. The doctor’s death has allowed us to discover this connection.”

  We knew Dr. Artha had been murdered as he researched the mysterious deaths that were happening around Bohemia, especially after finding out several had been poisoned. Dr. Artha had been trying to make the antidote when he was murdered outside the Church of Our Lady of the Snows.

  Upon arriving in Prague, Lady Penelope had set out to find out why. Then she found Ben and me, and she began to train us as members of the Order. As we slowly uncovered an organized plot to take over the kingdom, we discovered the truth about King Ferdinand’s secret heir.

  Heirs, I silently corrected myself.

  “Eleanora, I knew you were caught in the castle when you did not return here after the ball.” Her eyes looked up and down my dress before she narrowed her eyes at the combs in my hair. “I heard Karl Marcelin was at Tynem today with the empress and King Ferdinand. Did you see him at all after the wine cellar collapsed?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “The empress sent you after him, did she not? And you were unable to find him?”

  “No, I didn’t see him. He had left earlier, remember?”

  “I remember.” Lady Penelope’s eyes flicked over me again before her brow furrowed. “Are you quite certain that you did not meet with him?”

  There was something almost sadistic in her voice, strangely threatening. She knew I was keeping secrets from her.

  “Anything at all could help,” she added slowly, as if she knew each second her gaze burned into me left me more anxious than the last. “We will need some help, too, if we are going to find your friends from Lady Cecilia’s household. Not to mention the Bohemian heir could be in danger.”

  Ferdy.

  Recalling what Philip had said earlier, I blanched. “Why do you think that?”

  “Karl Marcelin is at the center of the coup,” Lady Penelope said. “He might have initiated it, but it could easily get out of hand. Despite what fairy tales might tell you, there is no honor among thieves. I know that well enough from my own experiences.”

  I was confused for a moment before I realized Lady Penelope did not know about Ferdy.

  Thank you, Lord.

  One of my biggest questions had been answered, and one of my biggest fears had been allayed. While I was happy she did not know the extent of my humiliation and failure, there was something else that kept me back from trusting Lady Penelope with the truth about Ferdy. I did not know what it was, or at least, I did not know how to describe it; maybe it was because of my promise to Philip, and by extension, Empress Maria Anna, or maybe it was because of Lady Penelope’s own reluctance to share her past. Either way, my nerves rattled as her eyes stared at me, watching me with her cool, unblinking gaze.

  “Well, Eleanora? Is there anything else?”

  “No.” I shook my head fiercely. It was time to ask my own questions. “Why do you want to know? Do you think Dr. Artha was the one who told Lord Maximillian about Karl? Would he have known about him?”

  “We do not know that for sure,” Lady Penelope admitted. “I am not inclined to think so, but there is no way to verify that now.”

  Amir cleared his throat. “There are others who could have informed Lord Maximillian of the Bohemian heir. The League has a history in Prague.”

  “I have already considered that, Amir,” Lady Penelope snapped brusquely. “I do not wish to discuss it. We are discussing Dr. Artha’s death, not the Revolution, and not heir to the Bohemian—”

  “I fear there are other connections to the past we cannot ignore, Madame,” Amir interrupted his voice oddly laced with impatience.

  At the abrupt interruption, I blinked. For the entire time I had known him, Amir had always allowed Lady POW an impressive amount of deference, even when she did not reciprocate. His hardened tone caught me off guard as much as it did Lady POW.

  Amir glanced my way as he added, “And you well know.”

  Lady Penelope’s jaw tensed, and Amir remained steadfast as he weathered her wrath. As they glared at each other, silence paralyzed the room. I dared not even breathe as Amir, and Lady POW faced off against each other in wordless rage.

  Finally, Lady Penelope sighed. “Jakub is dead.”

  “Jakub?” Harshad repeated. “Dezda’s father? He died fifteen years ago, shortly after he retired from the League.”

  “One does not merely ‘retire’ from the League.” Lady POW’s lips pursed, wrinkling her face and souring her whole demeanor like a slow poison.

  “Wait.” I stepped forward. “You mean my grandfather is a member of the League of Ungentlemanly Warfare?”

  “He was.” Lady POW could not hold back her small, cruel smile. “He is dead now, likely fighting the devil for his throne in hell.”

  “After being dead for fifteen years, it is unlikely he has influenced our current situation significantly,” Harshad said.

  “But he had friends and contacts,” Amir said. “Tulia is one of them. Her codename is Míra. And there are others. I reached out to some of them for information la
st week, and that was how we discovered Mr. Marcelin and Lord Maximillian were working together.”

  Lady POW shot up out of her seat. Her anger was palpable as she faced down Amir. I worried for him, but his face remained calm. He was not afraid of her.

  That did not comfort me as much as I hoped.

  “Jakub is dead,” Lady Penelope repeated, briefly narrowing her gaze at Ben and me. “He was a liar from the start, and I was a fool to believe anything he said. You would do well to do the same, Amir.”

  “Amir, you know Pepé, and I do not agree on much,” Harshad said, “but there is no telling how much, if any, of his old followers can be trusted.”

  If Amir interrupting Lady POW had been a surprise, it was nothing compared to seeing him shake his head at Harshad. I had never seen the two of them disagree about anything, especially something this important.

  “I believe there are some we can trust,” he said. I watched as he clasped his hands together before him, his fingers curling over the bright white scar on his fist. “Our current information from my source has been proven true.”

  Lady POW snorted disdainfully. “They always give you some truth so the lies will be more easily believed. In the future, Amir, you will cease contact with your sources from Jakub’s counsel. We are in a tenuous enough situation.”

  “There is no need to make it worse, Madame.”

  “I am glad you agree with me, then. You should have no trouble ceasing your communications with them. Even Tulia was reluctant to give me more information. I cannot imagine what would compel them to make our jobs easier.”

  “I know there are friendly—”

  “You’re fortunate enough that I can trust Harshad and you, Amir, but I do not trust your so-called friends.” Lady POW glowered at him, and Amir, in realizing he would not win, fell into a disgruntled silence.

  I found myself wishing Lady POW would argue with him in another language, like she usually did with Harshad. At least then I would have some idea of the level of vitriol between them. Both of them seemed to accept the impasse between them, but neither regarded it as a good position. It was too quiet for Lady POW to bow out of a fight, and it was unusual that Amir stood up to her in such a direct and disrespectful manner.

  A knock at the door interrupted us. A footman materialized in the doorway with a note in his hand. Lady POW broke off her taciturn war with Amir as she took the message, allowing the rest of us a moment of peaceable reprieve.

  When I first met Amir, Lady POW had expressed the utmost confidence in him. Now, he wore a deadly expression, one that marked him as a man who was very capable of hurting others, and one who was possibly eager to do so. I saw his fingers twitch before curling around the hilt of his curved dagger, the one he always carried at his side.

  Beside me, Ben looked worried as Lady POW returned.

  “It seems that we have some more complications to deal with in addition to figuring out Lord Maximillian’s next steps,” Lady Penelope said. She had a tired look in her eyes as she sighed. “John has just informed me that Lady Cecilia has completely disappeared.”

  I wrinkled my nose in disdain at the mention of my stepmother. “I don’t know if I would call that a complication.”

  “It is still suspicious,” Harshad said. His brusque tone made me flinch. “She is Lord Maximillian’s cousin, and, by your own admission, one of the only few who knew of his plans.”

  “It is even more suspicious because she knows we are here,” Lady Penelope said. “She and her offspring have refrained from going out into Society since our arrival. But she could easily do much damage in undermining my authority and our reputation.”

  “But she doesn’t know about the Order,” I said. “Does she?”

  “Not to my knowledge. But she has always been trouble, and she sees us as her enemies. You know this better than anyone.”

  I did not want that to be true; it was too uncomfortable. I looked away and straightened my skirts, brushing some imaginary dust off the finery Ferdy had given me.

  “If she has been kidnapped,” Amir added somberly, “her life could be in danger, too.”

  I wrung my hands, torn because I did not care much that Cecilia was in danger, but I felt like if I were a better person, I might have felt more sympathy for her.

  “I have instructed my footmen to keep searching for clues to their whereabouts,” Lady Penelope said. “There is no one here to tell us where she might be.”

  “I’m still happy she is gone,” I muttered, more to myself than anyone else.

  Amir reached out and put a hand on my shoulder, unsettling me. “I know you did not get along, and I even know to say that is an extremely poor understatement. But Cecilia is also a source, one who might be able to give us the connection between your father’s murder and the current political killings.”

  His remarks made me curious. “Why would my father’s death matter after all this time, Amir? Lady Penelope said before it was unlikely that it was the same person,” I reminded him.

  “It was not likely the same person.” Lady Penelope interrupted our quieted conversation through gritted teeth. “But it was clearly done under the same direction.”

  I frowned at my grandmother, who shot an angry glare at Amir. “What do you mean?” I asked.

  Before Lady POW could dismiss the issue, Amir cleared his throat. “The Order of the Crystal Daggers has a disturbing connection to these murders, Eleanora, and not just because they threaten to upset the political order and possibly damage the British relations with India,” he explained. “The silver thallis herb was a mixture that was originally concocted by a member of the Order. Since the Justinian era, the Order has used it as a silent killer.”

  “Our secret weapon is poison? Not our daggers?” My hand involuntarily went to my own weapon, hidden in the pockets between my stealth habit and my new dress.

  Lady Penelope groaned loudly. “You see, Harshad? This is why you need to instruct her!”

  I felt my cheeks flush over in embarrassment. “What is it? What did I say?”

  “Daggers are a poor choice of weapons,” Ben told me in a hushed voice, as Harshad and Lady POW began one of their famous fights. “They can do quite a lot of damage in skilled hands, but it is easier to kill with a sword or a pistol.”

  “Or poison,” Amir added.

  I nodded slowly. “Oh.”

  “Poison is not considered an honorable weapon.” Despite his avid disagreement with Lady Penelope, Amir gave me a kind smile, one that tugged at the ends of his neatly trimmed mustache. “It is not a topic Society would consider proper.”

  “Propriety be damned, right?” I replied, making a small laugh break free from him.

  At the sound, Lady POW broke off her argument with Harshad to turn and snap at me. “You would not know such things, Eleanora, because Harshad has been reluctant to teach you anything.”

  “I have been learning other things,” I said. Harshad had made it clear he wanted very little to do with me, and I doubted he wanted to instruct me any more than I wanted to learn from him. “Surely it takes more than a fortnight to learn everything.”

  “It takes a lifetime.” Harshad scowled as he looked at me. “And even your mother stopped well before then. Perhaps she gave up even before she left.”

  I felt my mouth drop open in surprise, but before I could say anything, Lady Penelope shook her head.

  “Harshad.” Lady Penelope stepped between us, as I tried to recover from my shock. “That is enough. Eleanora is young yet. She questions these things out of ignorance, not impudence.”

  Harshad tucked his hands behind his back and turned to face the fireplace. There was no evidence of remorse in his demeanor.

  “We have let enough time go by, Harshad. Especially now that we will have to locate Cecilia and her household.”

  “The whole household is gone?” I asked, surprised.

  “Of course.” Lady Penelope arched her brow at me. “Did you fail to notice there is no one in
the stables? All of the servants and your step-siblings are gone, too.”

  “That is...strange.” I blushed at my mistake; while I did not care much for Cecilia, Alex, or Priscilla, several of the other servants, including Betsy and Mavis, were friends of mine.

  What could have happened to them?

  Another concern rose up from inside of me. “Is Tulia still here?”

  Silence once more descended on the room as no one stepped up to answer me. From the stoic expressions on Harshad and Lady Penelope’s faces, to Amir’s sympathetic look, and even Ben’s clear resignation, I knew the answer.

  She was gone.

  My breath rushed out of me in a huff, as though I had been kicked in the stomach. My mother’s companion was gone. My head fell into my hands as another part of my heart collapsed.

  “We have to find her.” Tulia had been attacked the previous week and was making a slow recovery. She was older, too, and I knew she would not be able to last long without proper care.

  The sickness inside my stomach transformed into anger. When I looked back up, I saw everyone quickly divert their gazes.

  “We will do our best,” Lady Penelope said, surprising me with her patient tone. “It is not an easy situation in which we find ourselves.”

  “Do not forget,” Amir said, “they disappeared under our watch, too.”

  My fingers clasped around the hilt of my dagger. “Lord Maximillian must be behind it. We may not be able to prove he was behind the attack on the castle, but we know he was the one who supplied the wine. Cecilia would have known of his guilt. Maybe he took her to live with him.”

  “He has been staying with the Hohenwart family,” Lady Penelope reminded me. “He does not need servants for a household.”

  “Perhaps he is moving?” I suggested. “Surely staying with them is temporary.”

  She considered the idea, tapping her fingers together as she thought it over. “We will need to investigate.”

  “I don’t think that will be too difficult,” I said. “When can I go back out into Society? Surely someone will be able to tell us something.”

  Ignoring my question, Lady Penelope began her habitual pacing. “Since the Advent Ball, King Ferdinand and Empress Maria Anna have let it be known that there was an accident that started the fire, which in turn destroyed different parts of the castle.”