“Well,” Yvienne began. “That’s quite a story.”
She had a gift for understatement, Tesara thought, as her sister recounted her night: going to Treacher’s shop to search for evidence of the plot against their family, finding Treacher dead and the shop ransacked, and setting the shop on fire to mask her illicit visit there.
“No one saw me, and I saw no one,” she finished. “I came straight home.”
Tesara sank down on the bed. What was Yvienne thinking? A young merchant woman, sneaking out of the house alone in the middle of the night? Breaking into shops? Setting them on fire? And Tesara thought she was bringing danger down upon them. She took her sister’s hands and held them tight, feeling how slender they were, but also how strong.
“Yvienne, you have to promise me. The Guild can’t know that you were involved in any of this.” It was bad, very bad, that Trune found her in the study in the house, and then later saw her at the Saint Frey party. But if they discovered what Yvienne was up to – they were in trouble indeed.
“I know,” Yvienne admitted. “It was stupid and dangerous and I’ll never do it again. I promise. Besides,” she attempted a smile, “I’ll be a governess soon, and there won’t be time for any more scrapes.”
The smallest of suspicions crossed Tesara’s mind, but she discounted it. “Right,” she said finally. “No more scrapes. Except for the cards.”
This time Yvienne’s smile bloomed. “Except for the cards. Now. Here’s what you’re going to do. Do you think you can get into more salons than the Idercis’?”
Tesara shrugged. “I don’t even know how I came to the attention of the Idercis. But yes, I believe I can snare more invitations.” She was friends with Jone and Mirandine now, and she knew that where they were invited she would soon be welcomed. If the price of attendance for a Saint Frey to appear at a merchant salon was a disreputable Mederos, savvy hostesses would gladly pay.
The plan was simple – poor Tesara Mederos, the wayward daughter of a wayward House, was going to have developed a Fatal Tendency. Gambling was a genteel hobby among the wealthy, but when it became an obsession, it was a moral failing, and one equally judged and taken advantage of. An eagerness to game, combined with a youthful naiveté and lack of skill, meant that she would be able to sit at any table. Poor little Tesara Mederos, she could hear the matrons saying. So sad that she has fallen so low. Come sit at our table, dear.
And each time, poor little Tesara Mederos would have astonishing good luck.
“Did Uncle teach you any cheats besides counting cards?” Yvienne asked.
“Sweet sister, counting cards is cheating,” Tesara purred in self-satisfied response. “I must say, it will be lovely to hit them where it hurts the most.”
“Yes,” her sister agreed. “You just keep doing what you’re doing, Tes. Distract them. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“What do you mean?” Tesara asked, giving her sister a sidelong glance.
“I’m going to find out who defrauded us. The answer is with the Guild, Tes. And when I find it, I’ll make them pay.”
“Goodness!” Tesara said. She hoped her encouragement didn’t sound as sickly as she felt. It’s just as well she doesn’t believe me about my powers.
She would hate to have her sister’s fury turned upon her.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Deceiving Tesara was necessary but it went down ill. Yvienne had but a few seconds to come up with a story that had enough of the truth in it that she could get away without telling the rest. She could not possibly share that she had relieved three drunken gentlemen of their wallets the night before, or that she planned to continue her criminal activities. It crossed her mind that Tesara had come up with her wild story for the exact same reason, but there was something in the way her sister defended her tale that took Yvienne aback. Tesara was serious.
What if she’s telling the truth?
Tes was right – Madam Callier’s punishment for the bizarre accident at the headmaster’s table had far exceeded the crime. At the time, Yvienne thought it a way to put the Mederos girls in their place and nothing more, an excuse for unimaginable violence. But had Tesara done something from across the room? Strange things always happen around me. That was an understatement, Yvienne thought. But the family had always discounted it. It was just Tes, clumsy, woolly-headed, naughty Tes, who broke things and dropped things, and didn’t take care of her things.
Yvienne knew that Tesara had something the Guild wanted. They were being watched for some reason, according to the mysterious correspondence in Madam’s records. There was even a scathing letter about Madam’s punishment, and the wording was most assuredly not for Tesara’s well-being but for how Madam had damaged her. Had she sunk the fleet?
There had been a dinner party, she remembered suddenly. It had been a few weeks before the news broke that the ships had gone down with all hands but one, and the alarming revelation that Uncle Samwell had not insured the fleet. It was before all their troubles began. Tesara had been naughtier than usual that night, disgusting their parents in front of one of Uncle Samwell’s friends. Her little sister had burst out in a tantrum at the dinner table and gone running upstairs.
Not long after, a massive wind shook the house. The wild weather had been discounted as a freak storm as sometimes happened, but…
It’s not possible, Yvienne thought. It can’t be possible.
She had to admit that part of the reason she didn’t want to believe was because if it were true, woolly-headed Tesara Mederos had more power than anyone else in Port Saint Frey.
As so often happened in Port Saint Frey, the blithe summer days gave way to miserable rain. Tesara hunched beneath her umbrella, her coat buttoned
