Chapter 2: The Locked Doors Behind Evander
The pitcher tilted another inch before Evander reached us. Cold water slid from the crystal lip and struck the marble beside my knee, spreading through the cracks between broken plates. Cambria held the handle with both hands, her champagne-gold dress catching the chandelier light as if the foyer belonged to her alone. Around us, party guests stood in a loose circle, silent except for the faint scrape of shoes shifting backward.
“Put it down.”
Evander’s voice did not rise. That made the command carry farther.
Cambria looked at him, then at me. The pitcher remained suspended between us. A drop of water traveled down my cheek and disappeared beneath my collar. Poppy’s arms tightened around my neck, her stained apron pressed against my soaked uniform.
“She threatened me, Evander.”
The sentence moved through the foyer more quickly than the water had. A few faces turned toward mine. I kept my eyes on Poppy. Her red ribbon had come loose, and one strand of tangled brown hair stuck to her cheek.
Evander stepped close enough to take the pitcher without touching Cambria. His hand closed over the crystal beneath hers. For a moment, neither released it. Then he drew it away, slowly, and set it on a narrow table against the wall. The glass made a small, careful sound against the wood.
Cambria’s hands fell to her sides.
I reached for the envelope.
It had landed near a broken plate, its yellowed paper darkened at the edges. My fingers shook as I pulled it free of the water shining across the floor. The writing remained visible. I folded the flap over the words and tucked the envelope against my chest.
Poppy noticed the movement. She reached toward the nearest shard of white porcelain.
“Don’t.”
The word left me before I could soften it. I caught her wrist and moved her hand away. Her gray-green eyes lifted to mine, frightened and questioning. I gathered the larger pieces myself, pushing them into a dry patch beside my knee. The work was clumsy with my wet sleeves, but it gave me something to do besides look at the people watching.
Evander crouched a few feet away. His attention moved from the pitcher to the broken plates, then to the envelope in my hand. His gray-green eyes stopped there.
I lowered my gaze.
He had seen the words. He had not heard them from me.
Cambria shifted toward him. The satin of her dress whispered against the marble. “She threatened me, Evander.”
The accusation hung unsupported, but no one challenged it. The guests had witnessed water, broken plates, my kneeling body, and Cambria standing dry above me. They had also heard her explanation first. That was enough to give the scene a shape I could not pull apart.
Evander looked over his shoulder at the locked white double doors. Beyond them lay the interior passage, dark and quiet compared with the crowded foyer. He returned his attention to Poppy.
“Lora? Lora? I found him, mama.”
Poppy’s words came small and breathless. Her arms loosened only enough for her to turn her face toward Evander.
I felt every eye in the foyer move with her.
Evander did not reach for the child. Instead, he extended one hand, palm open, and covered her trembling shoulder. Poppy leaned toward him without releasing me. His touch was gentle, but it carried a decision the room could understand: he was taking us out of the center.
I rose carefully, keeping the envelope hidden beneath my folded arm. Water ran from my uniform onto the marble. My knees ached from the floor, and one jagged plate edge had cut through the fabric near my shin. I did not look at the blood. Poppy stayed against my side.
Evander opened a narrow door beside the locked double doors. It led into an adjoining passage where the music softened and the light thinned. He moved aside for us.
The passage offered privacy, but it also made the foyer look at us differently. We were no longer merely the woman beneath a pitcher and the child clinging to her. We were being removed.
Cambria remained beside the table, one hand resting near the crystal. Her face was composed again.
May you like
As I crossed the threshold, I heard the guests begin to murmur. Evander followed close behind. The door started to swing inward, shutting out the chandelier glare and leaving Cambria’s accusation alive among the people who had heard it.
I tightened my grip on the wet envelope and waited for the next door to open.
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