The Price {Completed}

Chapter Twenty-Two

We didn't talk for what felt like hours, but in reality couldn't be more than twenty minutes. Ferdinand knew his way around the city, threading through back roads and alleys that looked like nothing more than shadowed doorways to me until we launched into them.

We made our way inward, heading for the part of the city that housed the businessmen and lawyers. The houses were all joined, nice but not overtly grandiose. A few even still had rose bushes in their front gardens, looking terribly out of place when the roads were packed with men and women shouldering makeshift weapons and trying to find out where the latest skirmish between Vigilant Men and the king's soldiers were.

Ferdinand ducked his head, slowing his pace so that we looked as if we belonged. I followed suit, letting my eyes wander from glossy black door to the next, as I thought that any working girl would find this place interesting.

"What are we doing here?" I whispered, unhooking my hand from his. None of the other women clung to their men, and I felt like a child tugging on her father's coattails amongst them.

"The owner of the Rumonin lives here. He might be able to put us up until I can find somewhere more suitable," Ferdinand said, suddenly grabbing one of the front gates and swinging it open. We clattered up the brick steps to the front door of one of the identical townhomes, and Ferdinand knocked. I resisted the urge to glance around and see if any of the folk walking by thought it strange that we were standing on such a clean and well-kept stoop. It would only invite more attention to us.

No one answered the door, which wasn't surprising. Visitors were not welcome. Not anymore. Ferdinand didn't let it stop him, however. He kept up his banging on the door, and added in his voice.

"Mr. Padva? It's Ferdinand! Please, open up!"

A few of the men across the road looked up at the commotion, and I tried to place the most menacing look on my face as I could. I tilted my chin up at them in a ridiculous bid to make ourselves look as if we were somehow part of their group. The men frowned, but they didn't approach us, and that was the best I could hope for.

"Mr. Padva!" Ferdinand kicked the bottom of the door, causing it to rattle.

Perhaps it was the incessant noise, or perhaps Mr. Padva could resist Ferdinand's pleas no more, but the door finally creaked open. A voice came from the darkness beyond.

"Quick!" was all it said.

Ferdinand squeezed in and I followed closely in his wake. As soon as my feet cleared the mantel, the door was pushed firmly shut and the sound of multiple locks clicking into place filled the hallway. I could see nothing beyond what little lamplight filtered in behind the curtains. Ferdinand's breath alerted me to his presence on my left, and then the sound of the unfamiliar voice came from ahead of me.

"What were you thinking?" it said. "We've managed to escape notice until now, and I sincerely hope that your tomfoolery didn't just cost my wife and me our lives."

The scratch of a match being struck came from the darkness, and the visage of a middle-aged man appeared in the gloom. He held the flame to a candle, revealing even more of his face. His mouth was stern and disapproving, but he didn't seem to hold any real malice.

"We've been dodging trouble as well, Mr. Padva. We'd be as harmed as you," Ferdinand said.

The man sighed. "Nevermind that." His eyes moved from Ferdinand's face to me. A line appeared between his eyebrows, and his lips slightly pursed. "Introduce me to your companion there. Just because there's a revolution on doesn't mean that we need to lose our manners."

Ferdinand nodded. "Of course. Mr. Padva, this is Nadia Lennox."

The sound of my new last name came as a shock. I'd all but forgotten about that hurried little ceremony that had anointed me as Lennox, yet Ferdinand remembered. It had sounded so smooth coming off his tongue as well, as if he'd practiced it before. I tried to hide my discomfort as best I could, and took the offered hand of Mr. Padva.