Total pages in book: 207
Estimated words: 196971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 985(@200wpm)___ 788(@250wpm)___ 657(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 985(@200wpm)___ 788(@250wpm)___ 657(@300wpm)
The stairs under their steps creaked as they began their descent. A greenish beam of light filtered from underneath a doorway at the end, and in front of her, Lord Erou gripped the hilt of his sword as if already anticipating a threat.
But when they finally made it to the other side, no danger existed.
Instead, they saw a strung-up pair of pin lights beaming down two badly mutilated corpses. The first one was Ms. Geraldine Joyce, the tourist that had gone missing, while the other body was of the seamstress Ms. Brown. There was, however, no sign of Emily in the basement or any other part of the shop.
Chapter Fifteen
Rhapsody had secretly been hoping for a distraction when she had gone searching for Emily, and it was this that reminded her of the old adage. Be careful with what you wish for...or it might just come true.
Morbid thoughts crawled all over her mind as she found herself mulling over recent events on the carriage ride back to The Progressive. In the past six months, an anonymous individual had been supplying Sangre residents with humans to torture but had managed to elude capture and escape into Asphodel. It was after this that Erou had been assigned to take over the case, and the earl was convinced that the individual had reopened his business in the seamstress' basement.
Since there had been evidence of someone making a hasty escape through one of the second-floor windows, it was most likely the individual now knew that the net was closing around him and made more dangerous by desperation.
As for Emily, while Lord Erou had promised to make inquiries about her schoolmate, he had also warned Rhapsody against jumping to any conclusions. She might or might not be another victim. She could also have simply run away or even be a daughter of another seamstress.
Rhapsody had just arrived back in school when a servant hurriedly came to her, saying that a gentleman caller had come to see her. It could only be Mr. Booth, Rhapsody thought, and so she thanked the servant sand quickly made her way to the drawing room in the students' dormitory.
Her steps came to a halt by the doorway, however, when she saw a stranger in Mr. Booth's place.
The gentleman rose to his feet in a movement of lithe elegance. He was tall and attractive-looking, albeit in a rather piratical sort of way, and with piercing gray eyes.
"Lady Rhapsody, is it not?" The stranger's voice was gentle but strangely icy at the same time. "I know it is improper to call on you without being properly introduced, but your guardian, Sir Isaac Booth, says this was a most urgent matter."
Rhapsody was still wary. Mr. Booth's guardianship wasn't exactly a secret, so this could be a mere ploy to gain her trust.
"Your guardian came searching for me." He took a letter out of her coat pocket and handed it to her.
She glanced down and recognized her guardian's seal. Her fingers shook as she broke the seal open, and they shook even harder as she read the first line.
Dear Rhapsody,
It is with much regret that I write this, and because I know you are not for drivel that is only meant to soften the truth, I shall go straight to the point. I received a letter some weeks ago from the Marquis of Sangre. He wishes me to find you another heartkeeper—-
She quickly refolded the letter, unable to bear reading the rest. I am a coward, Rhapsody thought, but somehow she couldn't make herself regret this. Glancing up at the stranger, she said carefully, "The letter speaks of another heartkeeper."
"And that would be me."
Her heart leapt as soon as the words were uttered, but she couldn't even tell whether it was because it hurt or shocked her to hear the words. It was just...odd, the way she suddenly seemed unable to decide what to even think, much less feel, about the matter.
"Your guardian had in his possession a vial with a drop of your blood," the gentleman went on to explain. "It was enough to confirm the most essential facts."
"How remarkably cost-efficient." She saw the stranger smile and realized she might have been misunderstood. "It wasn't a joke," Rhapsody felt obliged to explain. "I am incapable of making jokes—-" She paused, realizing only at that moment she had yet to learn how to address him. Was he a plain mister, a sir, or a lord?
"I apologize," the stranger said right away, apparently sensing her predicament. "I am William Domnescu—-"
"The Earl of Impietri," Rhapsody realized, having recognized the name. He was a half-demon from an ancient line of lions and one with vast properties in both Lunare and Brimstone.
The earl's gray eyes glinted. "You know me then?"
"Only what I've read from The Chalysian Peerage." Rhapsody hesitated. "However, there is also another matter..."