“It doesn’t matter,” she interrupted, almost slurring her words. “What does any of it matter? It is done. It is done.”
None of this was making any sense. Even if this lover was a White Flower, what was the point of protecting a regular member? What consequence would there be, short of having him on a Scarlet hit list? He couldn’t be high up. It certainly wasn’t Roma, and it wasn’t Benedikt. If not a Montagov, then why the torment? Why did Rosalind squeeze her eyes shut as if the world were bearing upon her?
A sudden knock on the door. Juliette jolted, her heart hammering in her chest as if she had gotten caught doing something bad. The Scarlet poked his head back in, scanning the scene. She expected him to remark on Rosalind’s mumblings, but instead:
“Telephone call for you, Miss Cai.”
Juliette nodded, then got to her feet, reaching out to pull Rosalind’s blankets a little higher. Rosalind hardly stirred. She only closed her eyes, shivering and shivering, even once Juliette left the room, shutting the door after herself.
“Don’t bother her,” she warned the Scarlet. “Let her sleep.”
“You’re going too easy on traitors,” he called after her.
Juliette thinned her lips, proceeding down the hallway. He was right. They were going too easy on her—Juliette was going too easy on her. And because Juliette had been the one to interrupt the whipping, her father would give the task to her just to teach her a lesson: if Rosalind gave no information soon, then it would be on Juliette to uncover why her cousin had betrayed them, by whatever means necessary.
Juliette swallowed hard, approaching the telephone. She had no doubt she could do it. She had never hesitated to garrote and cut her way through the other Scarlets that her father had sent her after, whether for rent money or a quick answer on a trade receipt. The question now was whether she wanted to, whether she believed that this was a stain on her conscience too large to bear.
Juliette picked up the receiver and pressed it to her ear. “Wéi?”
“Miss Cai?”
The voice was speaking English. And it sounded like—
“Roma?”
An uncomfortable cough. “Close, but no. It’s Benedikt.”
Juliette released a tight breath, pushing back her disappointment. She told herself it was because she had been expecting Roma to have found the Frenchman, not because she wanted to hear Roma’s voice.
“Did something happen?” she asked, lowering her volume. A quick glance over her shoulder showed her there was no one else in the hallway, but that didn’t mean no one was listening in on her conversation.
“Define what something is,” Benedikt replied, his voice pitching low too. “I’ve been meaning to contact you for days, but this is the first time I managed to shake Roma off. Your cousin took his sister.”
For a long moment, Juliette did not comprehend what Benedikt Montagov was talking about. Then, as the words registered, she spluttered, “What? Rosalind took Alisa?”
“No, no,” Benedikt rushed to correct. English was far too simple a language for familial relations, and he sounded confused that she had leaped to that conclusion. “Your tángdì. Cai Tailei. Now Roma has torn through the whole city looking for Alisa, but she’s nowhere to be found. I figured that when his back was turned I may as well ask if you knew anything.”
Juliette pressed a hand to her eyes, biting back the burning urge to scream. Of course Tyler would pull a stunt like this now. As if one wayward cousin wasn’t enough. Now another had to go poke at the blood feud.
“I do not,” Juliette replied bitterly. “I did not even know that he had taken her. Is she safe?”
“He cannot harm her—won’t harm her. She will have to remain safe and alive if he is to get his chance at killing Roma.”
Juliette almost dropped the receiver. “I beg your pardon?” She looked around again. Two messengers were on the landing of the stairs, giving her a suspicious look. Juliette forced herself to refrain from shouting. “How do you mean?”
Benedikt was unspeaking for a long moment. It almost seemed he was regretful to have to deliver this news.
“A duel, Miss Cai. If Roma can’t find Alisa in three days’ time, then he’s going to fight a duel with Tyler to get her back.”
Juliette found Tyler hours later, among the dimly illuminated tables at Bailemen. It seemed like decades had passed since she was last here with Roma, like the city had shifted and grown so much wider underneath her feet. The dance hall, however, was as full as ever. A place like Bailemen would probably never fully clear out, even if there was war outside.