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.
"Enchanted, Miss Lennox," he said.
"Likewise, Mr. Padva. Truly, I am very sorry if we've put your family in any danger," I said, not bothering to correct the prefix to my name. "It's only that we've been running for so long and Ferdinand thought you might be able to help us."
Mr. Padva's smile was tight. "Don't think on it, my dear. You need some tea. Come with me. My wife will be glad to see visitors."
We walked into a parlor lit with the barest amount of candles. Everything hung in a gloom, with shadows that stretched up the walls and across the ceiling. No fire burned in the hearth, which made for a chilly room, and the curtains were all drawn tight. No one on the street would know this house was occupied, which was exactly the point.
Ferdinand kept to my side as Mr. Padva shuffled across the thin carpet and toward one of the two chairs standing in front of the fireplace. In better times they would have been cozy and domestic, a place for knitting and chat, but now they were cold and hard, half hidden in shadows.
Mr. Padva rested his hand on the shoulder of a woman sunken in the cushions of the chairs. She looked older than him, though I guessed from the style of gown she wore that she was not the age her face suggested. A cap covered her graying hair, and she stuffed her hands in a dove-gray muff. The girls in the corps would be jealous of the finery of her coat, though I only thought it seemed slightly sad that she should be forced to wear her furs indoors.
"This is my wife, Eustacia," Mr. Padva said, and the woman gently withdrew her hand from her muff to place on his. He looked down at her, his brows drawn, and sighed. "You remember Ferdinand, don't you, dear? He was our best dancer until he jumped ship."
"I think we had him over for dinner once," the woman, Eustacia, said. Her voice trembled and there was no force behind it. For all the world she looked like she was about to melt away into the shadows that clung to her skin, and leave behind only her fine clothes. "Too much of a flirt, but good underneath it all, nonetheless." She tried to laugh, but it was a watery imitation.
Ferdinand smiled and sketch a small bow. "We're sorry for intruding but we found ourselves caught out when it is rather safer for ones such as us to be indoors."
Eustacia nodded and began to reach for a small bell on the sidetable by her side. She'd nearly gripped the oak handle when she hesitated, her face falling, and pulled her hand back. "I would offer you some tea, but I'm afraid our servants have all left."
"I'll get it for them, darling," Mr. Padva said, patting her shoulder before pushing away. As he passed us by, he inclined his head toward the dark hallway. Ferdinand followed, and for a moment I wavered between keeping close to him and staying with poor Mrs. Padva, but before I could make a decision Ferdinand reached behind him and gripped my hand.
Mr. Padva led is through the narrow hallways always present in townhomes, until we came to a worn door that opened into the cramped but tidy kitchen. He banged through the cabinets as he gathered the tea items, and while we waited for the water to boil on the stove, he leaned back on the counter and eyed us up and down with arms crossed.
"Is there a story here?" he asked.
I sunk within myself, somehow thinking I could escape his scrutiny by ducking behind Ferdinand's arm. I still wasn't used to people noticing me, and having this man ask after my story... well, I knew it was not a tale that a polite man such as himself would find suitable for his household. Ferdinand, on the other hand, put out the air of not much caring what Mr. Padva might think. Though, I did notice that he chose his words carefully.
"Nadia is my partner at the Lennox Company. The riots interrupted in the middle of one of our shows, and we've been hiding where we can ever since. So far we've been having good luck at keeping away from the worst of it, but we were caught out this time. Yours was the only place I could think of nearby."
"Lennox. Hm." Mr. Padva nodded his head and pushed away from the counter. He beckoned at me, and I stepped forward with some apprehension.
"Would you be so kind as to fetch some milk out of the cellar? The door is just out in the hall, on your right."
After being furnished with a candle, I tiptoed out of the kitchen, feeling their eyes on my back the entire time.
I found the cellar door exactly where I'd been told it would be, and pulled it open to a cold draft. The flame of my candle guttered and I quickly shielded it with one hand while trailing the other along the rickety bannister fastened to the brick wall. Each step creaked under my weight, echoing in the hollow space beneath the house. The candle barely touched the expanse and struggled to even cut the gloom just around my feet. I was forced to shuffle through the cellar, dodging barrels and bundles of food until I reached the shelves where straw overflowed onto the floor. The items likely to spoil were always kept in straw to keep them cold, and when I dug around to find the china pitcher filled with milk, my fingers grew chilled enough to ache.
With the white-and-blue pitcher tucked under my arm and the candle carefully protected from the draft with my body, I made my way back up the stairs and to the kitchen door.
My hand rested on the panels of the door, ready to push it open and deliver the milk to Mr. Padva, when I heard the harsh rasp of whispers. Immediately, my body froze, too accustomed to secrecy to ever think that whispers were anything but malicious.
They were too quiet to understand, so I carefully nudged the door open to create a crack to listen through. I didn't want to think Ferdinand could be plotting anything, but Mr. Padva had made sure to get me out of the room before they started. A shiver ran down my spine, but I forced myself to listen in, hoping against hope that I wouldn't hear anything that I would regret.
"I'm sorry Ferdinand, but the risk it too great." Mr. Padva's voice, curt and drawn.
"Look, we only need somewhere to sleep tonight. I can find us somewhere else tomorrow." This from Ferdinand. "All you and Eustacia have to do is not tell anyone that you saw us."
"Are people going to be asking after you?" Guarded.
"Maybe. I don't know. Just don't let them know where we are. Especially if-" Ferdinand broke off. "Don't say anything about us to anyone at all."
There was a tense silence, so long that I almost pushed back into the kitchen, thinking they'd finished, but Mr. Padva's voice came back in a whisper so low that I leaned forward on my toes.
"I didn't want to say anything in the other room, but that girl... she's that man's protégée, isn't she?"
Ferdinand didn't answer, but he must have nodded, for Mr. Padva went on.
"My God, Ferdinand, what were you thinking? That man is aligned with the Common Army!"
"It's fine. We're only hiding until the danger dies down."
"No, Ferdinand, I know exactly what you're doing. Don't think I didn't notice that ring on the girl's finger. Lennox will not rest if he knows that you've run off with his wife. What is the plan? Ruin your life and career for a married woman?"
"What life and career? The king is dead!" Ferdinand hissed. "Besides, there is nothing between Nadia and myself. I care for her a great deal, but I only wish to make sure that she is safe."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I respect her marriage, but she is in danger because of it. If I can help her, then I will. Despite what you or others might think of it."
Mr. Padva let out a long breath.
I'd had enough of listening in on conversations. I nudged the door open and slipped into the kitchen. Both men started like children caught doing something they shouldn't, and the room became silent. I handed over the milk and Mr. Padva set it on the counter.
"You may spend the night, but we cannot house you for any longer. I'm sorry." Mr Padva kept his gaze fixed on the wall above our heads.
Ferdinand nodded and took my arm. "We'll skip the tea, thank you. Tell Eustacia goodnight."
Mr. Padva didn't answer, only watched as Ferdinand and I walked out the kitchen arm-in-arm. I felt his gaze pinned against my back. My arm felt somehow suddenly wrong in Ferdinand's, and as we walked up the stairs toward the spare bedrooms, I extracted it as casually as I could manage.