Love and Other Wicked Games (A Wicked Game Novel) (27 page)

“No. I don’t think you’re a carriage thief.”

He put his elbow on his knee and rested his head on his fist, giving her a direct and piercing gaze. “How do you know that? What if I was?”

“Well, I suppose I don’t know, but that’s not really of any concern to me. If you were then I guess I’d just hope we have fast horses.”

“But what if I was? Really. What would you do then?”

“Nothing, really. It’s a little too late to change my mind now. I didn’t dress for jumping out of a carriage today.”

“Hell.” He leaned back in his seat, smiling. “I knew women’s fashion was complicated but I had no idea they made dresses for that...”

“They don’t. But that sounds like an untapped market. I can’t be the only woman running around the city with a man who may or not be a criminal. So, I’ll suggest the dresses to my mother.” Ellie couldn’t stop herself from grinning no matter how much she tried. “I suppose that doesn’t help me now, though…Not that I think you’re a criminal, or that it would matter to me either way.”

He smirked but he honestly seemed to be thrown by the idea that she actually wanted to be here with him, of all people. “But you really wouldn’t change your mind about being here? With me? Even if I
was
a carriage thief?”

She didn’t even think about it. “Absolutely not.”

“No need to worry.” He nodded his head and leaned back heavily against the seat. “I didn’t steal this carriage. I hired it.”

“Why?” she asked tersely.

“Same reason I didn’t bring my ow—” He cleared his throat and put his fingers up to his lips where they fluttered, but it was too late. She already knew what he was going to say; ‘my own carriage.’ Another piece of the convoluted puzzle discovered. She felt her eyes widen as he continued. “Because someone might follow me. This is dangerous enough as it is.”

“You were being followed when we first met, too. You weren’t in a carriage then. “

“And if you recall I spent a great deal time running. We both did.”

Ellie cleared her throat. “…I liked the running.”

“Oh did you, now? Which part? The exercise… or holding my hand?”

She gulped loudly as she tried to figure out the best way to answer this. She expected him to touch her hand now, as he did so often lately, but instead he placed his hands on his own lap and just looked at her before turning to look out the carriage window through the gap in the curtains.

“I liked the running too…” he said eventually, in a low voice. “But it was dangerous. And stupid.”

“And taking a carriage through this area of town—at night—isn’t?”

“It’s just a hired hack, and it’s not anymore stupid than being here and doing what we’re doing to begin with.”

“But this carriage is bound to draw attention. What if someone sees you?”

“Well, the first thing I’d ask them is how they learned to see through walls, because I tell you there’s a few times that would have been incredibly useful…”

“Cal!”

“No one is going to see me. And as much as you might think something like this draws attention, believe me, it’s more likely to do the opposite.”

“How so?”

“What does a thief do when a magistrate walks by?

“Look the other way.”

“Exactly. The only people who come through here in carriages are the wealthy to-dos responsible for making this place what it is to begin with.” He swallowed and she thought she saw his lip twitch. “They’re not the sort of people anyone around here wants to notice. So, just trust me when I say, no one is going to see us…”

“But
aren’t
you a wealthy-to-do?” Ellie asked hoping he would slip up and give her more clues about who he was, but the look on Cal’s face told her she had touched a raw wound. “Oh. I’m sorr—”

“If we do get out of the carriage we’ll do it a few streets from where we’re going, just to be safe.” His voice had a measured flatness.

“But—”

“And if by some chance something does go amiss, this thing is much faster than running.”

“Is this because of me? This is because of me, isn’t it?”

“Yes… and No… But mostly yes…” He cleared his throat and added, “You don’t deserve to run through dangerous streets at night, or any other time for that matter. You deserve to be safe… You deserve… better.”

He said this with an even, matter-of-fact tone, as if he was doing nothing more than reading her passages from a dictionary. The sound of his voice cut the air strangely and set her on edge. He smiled at her then, softly when he sensed her reaction, but it didn’t make her feel any better. There was a weight to it all, his demeanor and his voice. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was or why it was making her heart hurt, but it was there and it felt like a tightening noose.

They sat there for a moment in silence as Ellie considered the intense air between them. After a while she knew she needed to grasp onto something tangible, something that she could try to understand, before she lost herself into the depth of this other consuming feeling.

“I still don’t understand…” she asked in a low voice. “We’ve traveled through these streets together a dozen or more times before. Why the carriage now? Why are you suddenly concerned about danger?”

“Who said I’m only just now concerned?”

“So… we
have
been in danger?”

“Of course. Perhaps,” Cal answered coarsely, making it clear that Ellie had hit a nerve. “I mean we probably should have travelled in a carriage starting from our first outing, if I’d even taken you at all—”

“What?” Ellie had not expected this and it hurt her more than she wanted to let on. “But I thought that you—that—that we—”

“That’s not the point,” he said, cutting her off. “And I’d really rather not talk about that right now.”

“But—”

“Ellie, please,” he said. He turned his head back to look at her. His voice was once again even and composed but his eyes, those green stained glass windows to his soul, seemed to be begging for her compliance.

“Alright.” Ellie nodded her head and furrowed her brow, unsure what else to do. She was tired of his secrets but she’d grown used to them. This though… this was not more of what she was used to. This was a nudge, and she didn’t know the direction it was sending her in.

“We’re taking a carriage now because I’ve come to my senses. And we’re also going a bit farther than I, for one, would like to walk.”

“I thought we were going to the cotton mills.”

“Oh, we are. I promised you that so I’ll take you, but we won’t be staying there for long.”

“What do you mean? Where are we going?”

“Somewhere even better. A surprise. Somewhere I hope you will always remember.”

Ellie shivered, but it wasn’t a happy feeling. She felt a chill setting into her bones and she didn’t like anything about the way it made her feel. There were so many things she wanted to ask him now. So many things she needed to know, but for the first time since she’d met him, she actually felt scared. Not of him, not ever, but of the way he was acting. It was like he was setting his final affairs in order in anticipation for a major change.

Neither of them said another word as the carriage bumped along London Road north to where it became Piccadilly near the commercial district, and then west where it turned into Market Street jutting through the city center—just south of Withy Grove and Shudehill where they’d spent most of their time at meetings—and then to where it intersected with Deansgate, which they took north.

Somewhere along the way they left Deansgate for a road Ellie did not recognize, the bump of the cobblestone became soft earth, and the path they traveled became narrower and darker. In some places they we unable to pass as the covered walkways held barely enough room for a single person let alone a carriage and horses. In those areas they were forced to loop back around on yet another unrecognizable street until at last Ellie heard the sound of slow moving water and her nostrils were filled with the scent of death and decay. She wrinkled her nose and gulped, trying to hold back the convulsions of her stomach. She’d been wrong to think that she smelled death before this moment. Here the stagnant scent of waste and unbridled putrefaction was unmistakable. It was something she would never forget.

Ellie leaned against the window of the carriage for a better look as the carriage slowed its pace. She could see that they were now on a bridge and she craned her neck to look over the low barricade.

“This is Ducie Bridge,” Cal informed her as her eyes jutted around in the darkness, “And that’s the River Irk.”

Ellie gagged and pulled a handkerchief from her pocket to cover her nose and mouth.

“Why is the water that color? Is it just because there’s so little light?”

“Oh, I wish I could tell you that but I’m afraid that would not even be close to the truth. That color comes from the waste. From the people, from the factories, and from the mills. There are also several tanneries around here, which is part of what you’re smelling.” Cal’s face twitched as he pointed to the south bank of the river. “And over there, are just a few of the many rows of houses in this area.”

Ellie felt her stomach drop. “Those? Those are houses?” she asked as she squinted her eyes and tried to take it all in. “But some of them are coming right out of the river! That one doesn’t even have a roof! And that one… well, the bottom floor seems to be wide open to the elements with filth flowing right inside… And look at all those people crowded around that one… They can’t all live there can they?” Her jaw slacked. Though she’d learned about the sharing of rooms at the union meetings, it had never even occurred to her to ask the size of the rooms. The one she could see now looked barely bigger in length and width than a tall man. “I can see from here that room barely holds a bed…”

“This place, the closest to the factories and mills, this is the worst. So much of it is built up on the old structures and has been long forgotten about as the city grew and the wealthy moved outward. But it’s still here, crumbling around these men and women.”

“Can we get out of the carriage?”

“No.” Cal shook his head rapidly. “That wouldn’t be a good idea. Withy Grove and Shudehill were bad enough, but this area… it’s not the sort of place you should really walk through unless you belong, especially not at night.”

“But you said no one will—”

“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be cautious. You can see whatever you want, I’ll point it out, but we’re staying in the carriage. You can see much of the area from here on the bridge, which is why I brought you here.”

“But I wanted to see the mills…”

“And you can. From here. But you said you needed an image to hold in your mind. You said you wanted to see the mills, but the mills do not stand on their own. They are held in place by these people and so I wanted you to see how the worst of them live. We’re only as strong as the weakest of us and there’s no place weaker than Long Millgate and its adjacent areas.” Cal tilted his head. “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” she said.

He nodded. And so, for the next half hour or so Ellie asked questions about the area and Cal answered, occasionally pointing to the right or left of the river for a visual as he explained.

He told her about the factories, mills, tanneries, and so forth explaining that the sewage they produced had no place to go but the streets and the rivers. He pointed out several places where the water was blocked up nearly to a standstill and bubbles of gas popped up through the sludge. He even pointed out several of the Duke of McAlister’s mills along the waterway and the large areas of buildings he owned where his workers lived. Just the thought of him made Ellie shudder and she saw Cal wince at her discomfort.

She also learned about the irregular construction of the neighborhoods. For someone unfamiliar with the area it was easy to become lost in the twist and turns of homes and alleyways, or to be taken unaware by the irregularly shaped spaces amid the buildings.

“Between many of the buildings,” Cal told her, “are courtyards of varying sizes. But they’re not the type of courtyards and alleyways you’re used to. These places aren’t used for leisure because they’re rather often full of standing water and foul waste from any number of sources. In some of those places the smell is even worse than it is here on the bridge as privies are few and far between. And the ones that are in use are constantly full and without proper ventilation.”

He also told her more about the people and the buildings they called home too. She’d learned quite a bit on her own talking with the workers and their families at the meetings. But in those situations, the people had been far removed from their normal lives and Ellie had been forced to rely on her own interpretations of their descriptions. When Ellie tried to picture what she had been told about the living quarters she always imagined them to be in much the same state as the meeting locations and their surrounding areas. But the fact of the matter was that none of the places they had visited had been homes.

From where they were now, Ellie was finally able to put a visual with the descriptions she had been given and confirm the fear she’d had all along that the living conditions were much worse than she could have ever imagined. Even at this time of night there were huddled masses of people on the streets alongside the buildings she now knew were homes. Light flickered here and there and she realized after a while that what she was seeing were small fires in the roads which the people were gathered around. She could see the smudges and grime of their face in the flashes of light and the utter disrepair of their clothing. In every direction were piles of garbage from various sources. Not only were stray animals digging through the waste for food, but here and there she could see children doing the same.

She wiped at a tear on her cheek and breathed deeply to hold back the sobs.

“Why are they outside?” she eventually asked Cal.

“There isn’t ventilation in most of the rooms either and with so many people packed into such a small space the temperature rises quickly.”

“So why the fires then?”

“It’s too hot inside and too cold outside. They’re trying to find a balance. I’d say it’s also a form of security. It provides some light and some comfort in the dark.”