Chapter Twelve
Red Handed
Eleanor was lounging on her rickety bed, reading a book she’d managed to find in the rubbish pile near the bookshop in the Centre.
She had no idea why someone would throw out a perfectly good book.
Although the cover was gone and she had cleaned off a wet, slimy substance, yet the pages remained undamaged.
An evil curse haunted a ruined kingdom in the story, compelling their royal line to live only at nighttime.
As Eleanor was getting to the good bit, where the heroine was being married off to her kingdom’s greatest enemy, when she heard her name being hesitantly called from underneath her closed door.
With a sigh, she carefully placed a dried leaf between the pages and heard the voice once more.
“Eleanor?”
“Come in,” she called.
Lucy stood in her door and uncharacteristically shifted from foot to foot. “The city guards are here. Iris said to come quick.”
Shit.
Eleanor tore down the corridor towards the kitchens, where she thankfully hadn’t heard any shouting yet.
Hopefully, whatever Julia had done or stolen this time wasn’t beyond salvaging.
She scowled that this was becoming a frequent occurrence, with the city guards coming to reprimand Julia.
If the guards were in a good mood today, hopefully Eleanor could placate them with some poor wine and flirting.
They were yet to take the guards to one side and give them a quick fuck in exchange for looking the other way.
Eleanor hoped that today wouldn’t be the day they needed to go that far for the girl.
As she entered the kitchen, Iris was talking to two city guards—in her sultry voice that she reserved for her clients—both of whom were scowling in their shiny bronze and beige armour. A pale Julia perched on a stool, nibbling at her bottom lip.
“—this is a simple case of mistaken identity, gentlemen. I’m sure we can come to some arrangement,” Iris said in her enchanting voice while she flipped her long, dark hair over one golden-brown shoulder.
Eleanor blew out a relieved breath, seeing which of the city guards were in the kitchen.
“Sergeant Ryland, Becker,” she greeted with a manageable smile and tried not to look at the king’s crest emblazoned on their bronze breastplate.
It was half the size of a normal breastplate, as it cut off under the pectorals, revealing the beige tabard that told everyone they were a part of the city guard.
Becker had plain bronze pauldrons, while Ryland’s right pauldron bore three chevrons, marking his officer ranking.
That was the only way she could use to differentiate between them.
Fortunately, she wouldn’t need to offer herself to these guards. This pair, unlike the other men in the guard, appeared to enjoy coming here, though she wasn’t certain if it was for her or Iris. “This is unexpected, even if it is lovely to see the two of you pop by.”
She had met them in her first week at the pleasure house.
It hadn’t been her most dignified first meeting.
She had stumbled into the kitchen after sleeping in past the house’s noon-breakfast, and her holey dressing gown had flown open with the biting wind as they’d opened what was supposed to be a barred back door.
Turned out Milk and Cookie had given Ryland a key for safeguarding, something Madam Grace would punish them for.
Eleanor was still puzzled about how Milk and Cookie determined their trustworthiness for a key.
She wasn’t questioning it, as it meant they could discreetly bring Julia back without the madam or her house guards finding out about Julia’s little indiscretions.
Almost absentmindedly, Eleanor pulled at her dressing gown’s ties, not to have a repeat of that particular meeting. The movement didn’t go unnoticed, as Becker gave her a knowing smirk while Ryland reinforced his maturity through not showing any reaction.
“Good morning, Eleanor. We can’t keep doing this,” greeted Ryland with an easy grin that made him look younger than Becker.
Even though she couldn’t place their age, they both had faces that were…
average. She couldn’t even decide if their hair and skin tone was light, dusky, or dark.
They seemed to always shift tones depending on wherever she bumped into them.
Their short haircut seemed to be a common feature among soldiers, helping them blend in with the other guards, and their indiscriminate faces meant they didn’t have to constantly wear their helms and could lead a normal life outside of the guard.
“I’m sure it’s no hardship,” she replied in a tone that was just as light-hearted.
After her first surprising introduction to Ryland and Becker, it seemed to be a weekly occurrence to run into them.
At first, she’d been suspicious, but after tailing them and staking out their barracks for a few weeks, she relaxed around them.
Eleanor discovered that Ryland and Becker treated her as conscientiously as a select few in Breninsol.
Eleanor bumped into them at the Grain, just last week.
She couldn't figure out what she’d done to earn a spot on their list of people they were keeping an eye on, but she was on it.
Surprisingly, Eleanor found she didn’t much mind it.
“Lia almost got caught, and the lord graciously decided not to press any charges this time,” Becker said. Typically, he tended to be the more straightforward one of the pair.
“How generous of him,” Iris purred.
Ryland chuckled. “It is, considering it was the marquis.”
Iris’s eyes went wide. “ Julia! ”
The girl shrank back on her stool with tears welling in her eyes. “I’m sorry…I didn’t know who it was.”
“Kind of hard to miss him, considering he was the one strutting through Breninsol’s most expensive street like he owned the whole damned place,” Becker said.
“He’s rich enough,” Julia added unhelpfully.
“This won’t happen again boys, we’ll make sure of it, won’t we?” Iris framed that pointed question at Julia, who mumbled something to appease Iris’s ire.
“Just be careful, the lord might not be so generous next time,” Becker cautioned, with an eye on Julia.
“There won’t be a next time,” Iris said with her folded arms fully on Julia, so the girl had the full weight of being chastised.
Eleanor gave Ryland and Becker a smile. “Thanks for being the ones to bring her back, boys.”
They both chuckled and shook their heads as they sensed their job was done, having delivered the troublesome youth and there being no further reason for them to linger.
“We’ll leave you ladies to it then,” Ryland said, moving towards the door, but stopped in his tracks as something came to his mind. “Oh, and ladies…” He glanced at his partner.
“Yes?” Eleanor prompted.
Ryland coughed. “We’ve had some reports of women going Missing recently.”
“Oh?” she replied, trying to give a light questioning tone to encourage them to continue giving her information that they had in their possession.
Ryland shifted, looking uneasy about the topic, but Becker seamlessly picked up the conversation. “I’m sure you ladies have heard. You all know what goes on among you.”
Eleanor knew there was no point to feign ignorance, so she nodded. “The woman from the Moonlight House, we’ve heard.”
“She’s not the first,” Iris added dryly.
The guards both shifted and exchanged glances. There was something else there. “We’ve been…hearing things, unusual things. Just stay in at night and be careful, will you?” Ryland finished and nodded as both soldiers made their leave.
“Of course, flowers. ” Iris replied.
Eleanor noticed a change in their stance, indicating something was amiss. She asked in a voice laced with concern. “Do you know anything? So we can keep our girls safe?”
Becker moved to follow his partner, but leaned closer to her, as if what he was telling her was for her ears only. “We heard the last client she saw was some toff from the Centre, a right rich guy. Rumour is, it might even be a noble, from the way those girls talk.”
Eleanor gazed into his sincere eyes. “What makes you say that?”
“Rumours,” Becker said, but even from the look on his face said he didn’t fully believe what he was saying.
Becker looked at Ryland, who quickly answered.
“Madam Joanna still had the gifts from the client. They were right, fine pieces, too fine and fancy. A few of the lads in the guard had been stationed at the palace and they thought of them as being the types that the aristos wear in court. You know the kind, too fine for outside the party palace.”
Eleanor understood what he was saying. The intricate delicate designs of the jewellery worn at the palace sparkled brilliantly with clarity. It was hard to forget the jewellery once you had seen it. The jewellery in the Cloth and Flea paled in comparison.
“That old bat only kept them as she’s having issues pawning them,” Iris scoffed.
Eleanor ignored Iris’s comment. “Why would an aristo bother coming all the way to the Barrow?” she asked, seeing the warning in Ryland’s eyes with the unspoken urge for her to keep her wits about her.
“Like we say, rumours is all,” Becker said, a bit louder. “Better to stay in at night, otherwise the Witch Queen’s shadow-beast will be dragging you back to her.” He chuckled, thinking what he’d said was a funny joke.
They thanked Ryland and Becker and showed them out the back door, then Iris and Eleanor swiftly closed it to shut out the cold. Julia caught their attention as she tried to creep off the stool slowly.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Iris admonished, making the girl backtrack and resume her perch on the stool. “Well? You’re lucky the old bat is out right now. Imagine if she’d come in here and seen the city guard in here.”
Julia gulped and her eyes told Eleanor that the girl hadn’t considered the fallout of her actions, nor the implication of Madam Grace being around.
“Exactly.” Iris crossed her arms and looked at Julia with the look of a scolding mother.