Читать книгу King Of Fools - Amanda Foody - Страница 18

Church bells tolled across Olde Town, making the wrought-iron gates and window bars tremble. Everything in Olde Town was sharp—the spindly towers, the spear-like points atop the fences, the crumbling spires. It was a neighborhood of thorns and barbed wire. And with every new haunting graveyard or condemned building that Enne passed, she wondered how Levi and Jac could possibly be so fond of this place.

The address Levi had given her over the phone this morning led her down the Street of the Holy Tombs, to an abandoned, overgrown park and an impressive marble building hidden among the trees. She tread up its stone steps and peered at the graffiti painted over its once beautiful oak doors. The building was grand enough to be a palace, with the columns and sweeping windows to match. But over a period of probably many years, after hurricanes and infestations and general waste, Olde Town had swallowed it whole.

The door creaked open, making Enne jolt, and Levi peered out with a smirk. “Did I spook you?”

Enne hmphed and straightened her skirts. “What is this place?”

“The remnants of an art museum that was looted and closed during the Revolution,” Levi explained. Then he grinned. “Pretty swanky, right?”

Enne slipped inside. The floor was coated in dust and broken glass, and the magnificent dome ceiling was home to several bats. “That wouldn’t have been my first descriptor.”

“Well, it’s vacant, and no one comes here,” he said, shrugging. “The Scarhands have Scrap Market. The Doves have...whatever hole they crawl out of. So the first thing on both our agendas should be finding our own places to claim. This is right in the middle of Olde Town, safe, large—”

“You intend for people to live here?” Enne asked in disbelief.

“Yes, myself included.”

“It’s filthy.”

“There’s history here.”

“Not anymore.”

Levi cracked his neck. “Then there will be.” He made for the stairs and motioned for her to follow. “Come on.”

They climbed to the third, top floor, where a large set of windows offered a magnificent view of the Brint, and, beyond it, the glittering skyscrapers of the Financial District. The stairwell forked, leading to two separate hallways, each one lined with rooms.

“This is it,” Levi declared, rubbing his hands together. “I have a good feeling.”

Enne grimaced at a dead rat on the floor. “Your good feelings are not to be trusted.”

He rolled his eyes. “You’ll be happy to know I did do some thinking last night on how I’m going to help you.”

“That’s interesting you say that,” she said, trailing after him as he continued down the hall. For someone so injured, he walked very fast, and she suspected he was running on nothing but his delusions of grandeur. “Because I have an idea myself.”

She rummaged around in her purse. It was filled with invitations Vianca had recently sent her for political salons and parties in the South Side, some of them dated as soon as two weeks from now. She dug around them and found the worn edges of The City of Sin, a Guidebook: Where To Go and Where Not To. She pulled it out and flipped to the map.

“The gangs have each claimed a neighborhood of the North Side. You have Olde Town and the Casino District. The Scarhands have the Factory District. The Doves have the Deadman District. But no one has this one.” She held up the book and tapped the Ruins District, in the northwest corner of the map.

“That’s because no one goes there,” Levi said. “It’s where the royal family and the nobles used to live. It’s just rat nests and empty estates now. The Faithful think it’s cursed.”

Enne triumphantly snapped the guidebook closed. “Then it’s simple. I could claim anything in the Ruins District that’s still standing.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” Levi admitted. “But you’ll still need to recruit members—”

“I have an appointment with the Orphan Guild today at three o’clock.”

“The Orphan Guild?” he echoed, his brown eyes wide. “But that’s—”

“Lola’s already spoken to Bryce.” Lola had woken up early today to meet with him—partially on Enne’s behalf, partially to hear for herself if the news was true. She’d returned to St. Morse several shades paler and with an appointment scheduled for this afternoon.

Levi shook his head. “I don’t like the Orphan Guild. Reymond always relied on them, but I won’t pretend that Reymond had a straight moral compass.”

Enne didn’t think she was in a position to limit herself to good morals. “Well,” she responded, “Vianca told me to, so I don’t really have a choice.”

They turned down an archway and into the final room in the hallway. Inside was a bench covered in a thick film of dust, and walls decorated with a mélange of cobwebs.

Levi took one look at the bench and sat down with a sigh of relief, dust and all. He winced and held a hand to his abdomen. “Even the wicked need to rest sometimes,” he breathed.

Enne sat down beside him and flushed, remembering how she’d kissed him last night. The memory had replayed in her mind a few times on the walk here.

But there was still business to attend to.

“I have another idea, too,” she said quietly. “I have something to ask you. I’m pretty sure you’ll say no...”

Levi shot her a coy smile. “For all your ideas, are you sure you need my help at all?”

She cleared her throat and tried not to look too pleased. “The Scarhands sell weapons, the Doves kill people, you...” She didn’t particularly understand how the Irons made volts. “Steal from people?”

“I contract dealers and workers to casinos,” he said flatly, as though offended she didn’t care more about his business.

Enne nodded like she understood what that meant. “I need a way to pay for this gang, and it occurred to me... Of all the worries we have, why should volts be one of them? When both of us—”

Levi shook his head. “Enne, making volts is dangerous. What you are is dangerous.”

His concerns weren’t anything she hadn’t considered herself only the day before. But she could feel the volts in her skin constantly, pulsing in tune with her heartbeat. It was an incessant reminder that real power was so easily within reach.

“We could be rich,” she said.

He threw his head back and let out a sound somewhere betweent a sigh and a groan. “Careful. You’re appealing to my vices.”

“When Lourdes led me to you, we could think of no good reason why she’d give me your name. Now it seems obvious. An orb-maker and a Mizer, of course she—”

“Enne, do you know any other orb-makers?” Levi asked seriously.

“No.” It wasn’t a very common talent.

“That’s because almost all the orb-makers are dead. The estates in the Ruins District belonged to them, too.” Levi took a deep, steady breath. For all his broken bones and bruises, it was obvious the pain on his face right now was a different sort. It came from older wounds. “This is all very new for you. Not only did you not know your true talents until a few days ago—a shock I can’t even imagine—but you also didn’t grow up on the Republic’s mainland. There aren’t Revolution landmarks on every other block in Bellamy.” His expression darkened. “I grew up in the shadows of that history.”

Enne knew that Levi hadn’t been born in New Reynes, as much as he liked to call himself a Sinner. But the details of his past were a mystery to her. “Do you want to talk about it, then?”

“I... There’s nothing to talk about. I’m a different person now.” He said it like he was trying to convince himself. “My father’s father was the personal orb-maker to the king of Caroko.” Enne knew Caroko was the capital of one of the seven Mizer nations that existed before the Revolution. “The monarchists believe the First Party went too far after the Revolution. Families like mine, who served the Mizers, were forcefully relocated closer to New Reynes, where we could more easily be watched. My parents lost their home and the lives they knew, but they were considered the lucky ones. Plenty of other orb-makers were executed.”

Enne realized how insensitive she must’ve sounded. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have suggested it.”

“We’ll think of something else,” he offered.

“Before I meet Bryce?”

He closed his eyes. “We have to try.”

Enne allowed a few moments of silence to pass between them. Part of her was still ashamed for her suggestion, and so she glanced at the empty space between their hands, looking for assurances.

Later, Levi had promised her. I will be the most attentive listener.

There was no one to interrupt them now.

And so she placed her hand on his.

Levi stiffened and looked down to where they touched with a pained expression.

“Enne.” All of his wry smiles from last night were gone. He moved away from her with slow, reluctant restraint. “This is dangerous.”

Enne’s cheeks burned. “Everything in our lives is dangerous—”

“This is different,” he said suddenly, almost forcefully. “I’ll help you—of course I’ll help you—in any way I can. We’re a team. We’re partners. But this...it’s not a good idea, for either of us.”

“But last night...” Enne swallowed. “You seemed—”

“It was a mistake,” he answered, looking away from her.

Enne didn’t pretend to understand everything going through Levi’s mind these past few days, while his entire life had fallen part. But a memory stirred in her of Luckluster Casino, when Levi had been a moment away from kissing her, like it was the last chance he’d ever have.

So that was it, then. She was a danger he would only risk when he had nothing left to lose.

He was allowed to feel that way, but that didn’t make it hurt less. They had faced the worst together and sacrificed for each other. She could tell he was holding back from the way he spoke, that he wanted this as much as she did.

But he’d decided he wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

Well, she wouldn’t push him into something he would only regret.

“I should go meet with Lola,” Enne said, as an excuse. It was silly to let her feelings get in the way of the help she needed, but she couldn’t remember last night and feel anything less than humiliated.

“You don’t need to leave,” he told her weakly.

“Don’t I?” she asked, her words somewhere between a question and a challenge.

“What will you tell Bryce? What sort of associates are you looking for?” Levi asked. “Or are you expecting to find others who follow your finishing school curriculum?”

She gritted her teeth. “No, but—”

“If you’d like, I’m sure you can make them call you a lady, rather than lord.”

The comment shouldn’t have struck her like it did. She’d heard those jokes before. But in that moment, seconds after his stinging rejection, she decided she didn’t need this sort of help.

Muck Levi’s jokes, she thought to herself, not even cringing at the curse. She’d already decided yesterday not to be ashamed of who she was. When Enne did hire her gangsters, she would do so in pointed toe heels. She would shake hands for business deals in lace gloves. She would claim herself a palace.

Enne stood up. “I should head back.” Levi made to get to his feet, but Enne quickly stopped him. “Don’t rush up and hurt yourself. You’ve been enough help today.”

“Have I?” He bit his lip. “Don’t answer that. I know I haven’t. And I’m sorry. I... I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

Enne shouldn’t feel petty. Levi was her friend—and no matter how many times he claimed they were in this together, he was allowed to draw this line between them. But she was also allowed to be hurt.

“Goodbye, Levi,” she said, and then she walked out, in the direction of an empire of her own.