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By Root 1405 0

him,” Luvander said, seating himself backward in a chair and casting a curious glance at the clock on the wall. It was wooden, carved in the shape of some enormous sea beast with sharp teeth; the claws overhung the face of the clock, and it appeared the hands were made of wood and not metal. Perhaps it had come from the same place as the mask—I was beginning to be slightly overwhelmed by all the curious details in back of Luvander’s shop. Attempting to take them all in at once to paint a portrait of the man’s tastes was making my head whirl. I wished I’d thought to bring a notebook so that I might write them down, to ponder them more methodically at a later date.

“He’s never late,” Balfour said, adjusting one of his gloves at the wrist. “At least, not unless my concierge got him in her claws again. I’m starting to think she likes him, actually. It’s the only possible explanati—Ow!”

Luvander cleared his throat innocently, and turned to smile at Laure. “I imagine the matter must be something very serious, for him to go to all the trouble of gathering us here and exposing you to our considerable charms,” he said, tugging at the scarf around his throat to tighten it, but not before I caught a glimpse of the purple scar curving up from the base of his collarbone over the bob of his Adam’s apple. Perhaps the scarf wasn’t so much fashionable as it was a necessity; with a gruesome scar like that, it would probably be difficult to sell fripperies. “He wouldn’t tell me anything—not even a peep—without getting your okay first, but since you’re here now, perhaps you might fill the two of us in, just so we don’t have to go over everything again when Adamo arrives? He likes to streamline communications. Quite frankly, I don’t think he’d speak at all if he didn’t have to.”

“Some people sure do like talking an awful lot more than others,” Laure agreed in a way that somehow managed to compliment Adamo and insult Luvander at the very same time. I hadn’t known her to be such an adept study at doublespeak, and I was unexpectedly proud.

“Then allow me to be the first to capitulate,” Luvander murmured. “I cede the floor to you, my bonny redhead. If you’re comfortable, please do proceed.”

Laure reached forward to take a gulp of tea, then looked around the table.

“I’ve got an appointment with one of them physicians they hired to look over the new students,” Laure said, glancing toward me as though she meant to ask if that was the best place to begin. “It’s kind of a long story, with a lot of boring ins and outs, but what it shakes down to is that everyone who’s gone to see this physician comes back sick, and one of our friends didn’t come back at all. I know it sounds loopy, and that’s part of why I waited so long to ever say anything, only now it’s my turn to go back and I didn’t want to risk it. You all can think I’m crazy—I’m giving you permission right now—but I know that Germaine woman made me hear voices. Never had delusions before.”

“Voices?” Luvander asked, his expression suddenly sharper than it’d been only seconds ago.

Laure reached for her tea but collided with Balfour—who was doing the same thing—and one of them spilled the cup all over the table, splashing against his hand.

“Shit!” she said, leaping up and casting about for a napkin. “I’m sorry. If you get it under cold water quick, the burn shouldn’t be that bad.”

“It’s all right,” Balfour said, surprisingly mild. Luvander had already produced a number of cloth napkins from the tray, and I took some myself to help sop up the tea before it ran over the edge of the table and stained anyone’s lap.

I was so focused on my task that I nearly missed Balfour removing his right glove, the pale fabric stained with a dark brown blotch of tea. But for once it wasn’t the mess that really caught my attention. Rather, it was the sudden flash of silver—I’d assumed it was a bracelet when I saw it earlier—but once I’d looked, I found I couldn’t tear my eyes away. It was one thing having heard about it and quite another to see it for oneself—what those “Steelhands” looked like in person.