Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
That next morning, Michel received word that his trade contact, Johann, had returned to Bukhara.
Michel set out right away to meet with him.
Johann hailed as a merchant who specialized in dyes and virgin silks, but his true passion came from the curiosities he collected on his travels.
He also collected gossip and knew secrets that reached across the continents.
Michel had known him for many years and felt comfortable asking him candid questions.
Michel had insisted that Eve stay by his side and go with him to meet Johann.
Part of him didn’t want to leave her for fear of her safety, part of him wanted to introduce her to his friend, and part of him just didn’t want to spend a second away from her, especially after last night.
He shook his head again, thinking about it as they walked through the alleyways that led to Johann’s apartment.
In one hand, he held a gift for Johann—his tithe—but with the other, Michel held onto the back of Eve’s dress possessively, prepared to leap out at anyone who looked at her.
Luckily, the walk was uneventful, and in a moment, he was knocking on Johann’s door.
“Michel!” Johann said, pulling open the door. The short man had neat white hair and a long white beard. The coloring had made him always seem old to Michel, even though he was probably only a few years older than Michel’s father. Johann held his arms wide. “My friend!”
Michel smiled to see the man and gave him a hug. “Good to see you, Johann,” he said. “I hope your travels were profitable.”
“They always are.” Johann leaned back with a wink. He turned his attention to Eve, then. “Now, who is this lovely lady?”
Michel spoke up. “This is Eve. I have hired her to help me with my books. Keep me organized.”
Johann took her hand in both of his and gave her a warm smile, looking at her over his gold spectacles. “It’s nice to meet you, mademoiselle.”
“You as well.” She smiled.
“Hmmm,” Johann tittered, retreating into his apartment. He held out his hand. “Please, come inside.”
Johann’s apartment was small and cluttered with curios from all over the world.
The doorway led them through a narrow hallway with shelves crowded with all kinds of things: pots and pans, tools, springs, china, pocket watches, spectacles, buttons, dolls, utensils, magnifiers, glass disks, and scores of other knick-knacks with no obvious purpose.
Michel remembered his first visit here with his father, when he had been fifteen.
He’d spent hours examining the unique items. Now, however, Michel had too many other things on his mind to enjoy Johann’s oddities.
Johann led them to his sitting area at the end of the hallway.
It was a small room crowded with wardrobes and mismatched chairs, a cluttered workbench, and uneven stacks of books and parchments in little towers across the floor.
One high window was open and gave the room light.
Johann swiped a pile of gears off the settee so Eve could sit, and then he picked up the side of a bench to slide a collection of spoons into a basket, clanking and rattling as they went.
Johann smiled proudly and held out his hand for Michel to sit.
“Johann, somehow it is always more crowded in here than the previous time,” Michel said as he sat down.
Johann grinned. “You know me, Michel,” he said as he cleared a spot on his workbench. “Now what do you bring me?” His expression, shining with excitement.
“Bold of you to assume this box is for you,” Michel grinned at the man.
“Ho, Michel, don’t toy with me.” He held out his hands. “Give it here.”
Michel handed over the package, and Johann put it on his worktable.
“Okay, okay,” he said, observing the weight and size of the box, perhaps just big enough for a pair of fancy boots, as he unwrapped the fabric covering it.
“Ah,” he said, a giddy note in his voice as the covering fell away.
“It is lovely.” He ran his hands over the gold-leafed etching, over the dials and windows with numbers. “What is it?”
“It’s a Pascaline. An adding machine,” Michel said. “They are wildly popular in Paris.”
“An adding machine!” Johann clapped his hands together with glee. “My, my, my.” He twiddled the dial. “I can add…I can add anything I want!”
Michel enjoyed watching his friend play with his new toy, but he was eager for his reward. “Now, Johann, what is the news? I need information.”
“Yes, yes,” Johann said. “What would you like to know?” He twisted a knob, and the box made a click. “Ooh!” he chortled.
“We were attacked in the hills.”
Johann scoffed, not looking up. “You are always attacked in the hills,” he said, playing coy.
Michel glanced at Eve and met her eyes. She looked down. “Yes,” he said, “but this was different.”
Johann spoke but did not turn his attention from the Pascaline.
“The horde is looking for someone.” He pulled his hand down his long beard.
“A woman.” He adjusted his glasses. “An odd-looking woman.” He glanced at Eve, then Michel, over his spectacles.
“Perhaps one traveling with a Frenchman.” He raised his eyebrows and turned back to the adding machine.
“Why are they looking for her?” Michel asked evenly.
“Her tribe wants her for retribution. It is said,” he cleared his throat, his voice dipping low, almost as a mumble, “it is said she killed her husband.”
Michel sat still. “And what will they do with her if they find her?” He turned to Eve. She looked back at him, with secrets in her eyes.
“That I do not know, Michel,” he said. “But,” he drew the word out as he fiddled with the machine.
“The tribes know better than to disrupt the trade routes. The woman is lucky she has found a Frenchman to travel with. We French are safe in this part of the world, if we don’t step out of place,” he said, accentuating the if.
He ran his fingers over the little windows that displayed numbers.
“Eight plus seven,” he muttered to himself.
“Let’s see.” He adjusted a few dials. “Too far East, the French have no influence. The inner clans care not for such connections.” He clicked something into place. “Fifteen! My goodness! It’s correct!”
Michel gave him a small smile, thinking how these inner clans had been the exact ones he had hoped to woo. What a fool. “I’m glad it works,” he said to Johann.
Johann turned in his spot to face Michel and Eve then.
“Listen, my friend, you are safe in the walls of the cities. You are safe if you stick to the well-traveled roads. The tribes don’t want to start trouble with France.
Or with you. But you, young lady,” he turned to Eve and took her hand before continuing, “You stay covered when you are out. Gossip travels faster than horses.” He gave her hand a pat before releasing it.
Then he addressed Michel, “The tribes are mostly on their northern treks with the herds right now. It is unlikely you will have many encounters like you did coming into town, if you stay clever.” He paused.
“I would complete your business promptly and not linger. You understand that angering the horde will destabilize the entire line. It will put a lot of men out of business between here and France. And lives…” He gave a grim nod.
“Lives could be lost.” He turned back to his table.
“I wouldn’t want to be the man who causes Cardinal Mazarin any trouble. ”
Michel looked at Eve, whose eyes were downcast. “Well, Johann.” Michel sighed, already feeling defeated. “That brings me to my next question. Any chance you have found a contact for cashmere?”
Johann grinned. “Actually, my friend,” he chirped, still twisting knobs on his machine. “Yes. I believe I have found someone who will be willing to trade with you.”
Eve listened to Michel and Johann talk as she stared out the window.
Despite Johann’s warning, Michel had shifted back to business and talked with excitement about the potential deal.
She wanted Michel to achieve his goal. She understood his objectives.
Eve had selfishly placed herself in his path, never thinking about the trouble she would bring him.
She had seen him as a way to get to France, to escape.
He didn’t need to know more about her or her past.
But she had begun to rely on him. She had begun to want to be near him.
Her focus had changed.
It had all happened so fast, these changes to her life.
Just three months earlier, Eve had been standing on the arid plains of her homeland, surrounded by the beautiful colors that would always live in her dreams. The wind howled that day.
It blocked everything else out and let her mind work.
As she tended the goats in the pasture, she knew she was at a crossroads in her life.
There was nothing better than the cold of dawn and the screaming wind to help her focus her energy.
The last of her brothers, Yul, had announced his engagement, and the tribe celebrated this wonderful union.
She had felt nothing but happiness at the pairing, but it meant, once again, eyes were on her.
Who would Eve marry? She was twenty-five.
Most women her age were married, already mothers.
Eve had refused every suitor she had ever been offered. She just had no interest.
It wasn’t that marriage was distasteful to her, but she wanted to ensure her own union would give her a chance to continue to grow.
Her father had always allowed her to participate in strategizing for the tribes, but he was unique in his ways.
Eve knew she would not be satisfied if a marriage took away her voice, and it was very likely this would be the case.
An ability to influence, a desire to help her people prosper, lived inside her.
A wrong decision about her future would silence her.
She always thought about France in such moments, wondering how her life would have been different if Grandfather had stayed with Cecile in France instead of the other way around.
Those were her thoughts as she had gazed out across the hills that were her home, among the noisy bleating from the goats, the soothing cries of the wind, the dancing grey-green grasses, when she had heard a noise that didn’t match.
She turned to see three men on horses, not far from her.
She ran immediately, knowing she would never get away in time, hoping someone would help her.
She sprinted, heart pumping, legs darting.
For a second, the wind at her back made her think she would get away.
Then a hand had gone over her mouth, and she was swept onto the back of a horse.
From that moment, nothing had been the same. Somehow, months later, she had found herself a world away, sitting in a cozy little hovel, next to a man who had saved her from being stolen once more. But in doing so, she feared, this very man was on the verge of stealing her heart.