Infernal Investigations

The walk through the interior gardens of the estate was enjoyable, if brief. Lady Karsin’s servants took us through the gate and guided us along a path towards the back of the estate, trees and bushes of varying kinds forming a wall blocking sight from the main entrance.

I wondered how many visitors to the estates realized that the garden’s layout kept certain parts well out of sight.

“You’ve been to the gardens before?” Montague asked as we walked behind the servant.

“Twice, they are very impressive,” I said. “Especially with the rarity of some of these plants. I’m surprised they’ve managed a display that’s pleasing to look at out of such a wide variety.”

Considering some of these plants shouldn’t be alive in this climate, very surprising. I’d tried to linger before to figure out why, only to be shooed politely out of the estate each time.

The tower was our destination, standing tall over all the estate. Still made in a style gone out of fashion three hundred years ago, the enchantments were newer, keeping the grim edifice defensible. Looking up the nearly hundred feet to the steel-covered roof, I idly wondered if the arrow slits had anyone lurking behind them, keeping watch on the activity down below.

The garden section we traveled through was narrow and had little decoration. A swift way to get people from the side entrance to the tower itself. There was no one else there except for a pair of guards at the base of the tower, muskets in hand.

They guarded a metal door with far too many locks that took far too long to open. The servants took us into a small little room to wait, albeit a much nicer one than I’d waited for Lady Karsin in the past. There was wallpaper, a table, even chairs that had cushioning and didn’t tilt! I was sure I’d been waiting in the tower’s old dungeon before today. The benefits of traveling around with nobility, even scandal-stricken nobility.

The servant had left to fetch Lady Karsin, leaving me trying to make small talk with Gregory Montague.

We were being watched, of course. The watching was probably more due to me than Montague. I let him guide the conversation, which immediately dovetailed into gossip, much of it centered on his father. I’d only known the meaning of Lord Montague’s disguise as Lord Thierry because of the publicity of that specific blowout becoming public news when a duel between Lord Thierry’s son and Lord Montague’s second son had resulted in the former nearly dying.

I inquired about that subject as we waited for Lady Karsin.

Gregory Montague’s lips quirked when I asked about it. “I watched it, being my brother’s second. Charles loves dueling as much as he loves his service to our country. Far away from our father. I envy him, but the army life is not for me.”

“Not as many lovers to pursue?” I asked.

“According to my brother, that’s not an issue,” Montague said. “Honestly, it’s because I couldn’t stand leaving the city. The thought of leaving my mother city, why it physically pains me, I love it so much!”

A fact I might believe more if not for the grin on his face.

“Keep your secrets,” I replied amusedly. “Throwing stones is something I can hardly do in regards to our personal lives. I am curious about one thing, though. It’s doubtful Lady Karsin would appreciate you being here. Another member of a noble house showing up practically unannounced in her home? Yet they just let you right in.”

“I share afternoon tea with the ladyship as part of my family’s meeting with her Thursday. All that’s changed is I’m here a few hours ahead of schedule. Besides, my father could do without my presence at his house and find someone else to vent his frustrations to. Perhaps Lady Karsin if he finally wears her down.”

“Lord Montague is courting? We just finished talking about the duel held over his current marriage,” I said.

“Oh, not Maria. Honestly, she makes him happy and even manages to do so without sharing some of his more odious political views. If he were trying to leave her, I’d be at the estate telling him what a brilliant idea it was in my best efforts to make him stay with her. No, he’s trying to wed Edward to Lady Karsin, uniting our two houses.”

“Do you think it will work?” I asked.

Gregory shrugged. “Maybe. Recent events might have been a good reminder about how frail her house’s standing is. If she dies, Desmond is only fourteen, and no matter how loyal and capable her household might be, he’ll be in a weak position if she passes. And if the reverse were to occur, well then she must wed. Or adopt again, although I doubt Her Majesty will be so willing to let that occur a second time. My father hopes to have a Montague heir, of course.”

“Seem a rotten hand to be dealt, my lord.”

He shrugged. “Such is the game. Show weakness, shore it up. Father has an eye on Edward inheriting all of this, perhaps hoping the curse will occur.”

A curse? That hadn’t come up in the research I’d done on Lady Karsin. Of course, there would be gaps in that, but he’d mentioned it so casually.

“I was unaware there was a curse on her household,” I said carefully. “She’s gone to great effort to hide it.”

Gregory looked at me in confusion for a few seconds. “Oh. No, not an actual curse. Her lineage’s misfortune in these last few centuries. The family line is down to just her and her heir at this point. Premature deaths and only a single line have been common, but despite the amount of death, they’ve made a good fortune in trade and keeping their own estate in order. There’s rumors about a deal with devils, of course.”

“There always are,” I muttered. I knew she and her heir were the only living members, which is why I suspected she’d been willing to deal with a low-life Infernal alchemist to begin with.

She’d never been impolite in our dealings, but there were some things nobility could just not be seen doing unless desperation forced them to.

“I wouldn’t have believed it anything more than gossip, but I’ve seen the records myself of each death. They do point to a rather nasty pattern.”

“You have access to the death records? I hardly think they’d be something you went out of your way to find.”

Gregory laughed. “Oh, I didn’t have to look very hard for any of them. My family is the keeper of the royal records for Avernon, from back when the nobility living here wasn’t in vogue. It actually grates quite a bit on various counts and barons that a lowly lord has access to all the official records regarding them and their families. It’s the main reason for my father and Lord Thierry’s falling out after the marriage. Lord Thierry expected his son-in-law to provide him access to the various records for free and was very upset to find out my father wouldn’t.”

“I imagine it would be an advantage for all members of your family,” I said.

It is interesting that he would be so blatant about his father’s goals when Lady Karsin’s servants were undoubtedly listening. Something he wanted to get to her, although I couldn’t tell if it was to irk his father or to help her.

“Oh, he let us only into the records he approves of. Depending on the child. My access is by far the most limited.”

“As he should, around such an incorrigible character as yourself, Lord Gregory!”

Lady Karsin swept into the room, two guards behind her stopping at either side of the door.

Lady Karsin’s face had that agelessness of those with elf blood, although she didn’t have the typical large eyes, and her ears were only slightly pointed. A pair of violet eyes stared out at the world, filled with pleased mischief I typically associated with people much less refined than the noblewoman I’d met twice before now.

She’d settled for a simple dress once again, priceless compared to that old servant’s dress I’d gotten ruined a few days back. Very plain by the standards of nobility, but not when she moved.

I had half-memories of a performance, watching with family back when ‘Infernal’ was barely a word I knew. Back when I thought there were no problems. Faded memories covered in nostalgia. I knew my aunt had not restrained her tongue around me even when I couldn’t understand the words. Still, it had been a delight, watching the performers on stage, dancing with a grace that had seemed otherworldly.

Just by walking from the doorway to the table, it felt like Lady Karsin put those dancers to shame.

I curtsied, but Gregory Montague had gone past me, bowing down while taking Lady Karsin’s hand and kissing it. Since the guards weren’t even twitching, I assumed this was normal.

Montague suddenly grabbing Lady Karsin and spinning her around till she was bent over, him leaning overhead, was probably not.

“Lady Karsin, you look as beautiful as you did when I first met you ten years ago today. Even more so I’d argue, only growing more and more gorgeous with each rising of the sun.”

“Oh, Gregory. Still trying to create a scandal with me that would make marriage with your brother impossible?” Lady Karsin straightened herself up, gently but firmly pushing away a disappointed-looking Lord Montague.

I forced down a sudden bit of anger that tried to rise up in my throat. I suddenly felt very much like an afterthought to all of this, despite being the one they had sent for.

Lord Montague’s slightly dour expression went back to ecstatic within moments. “Oh, my lady Karsin. The fun goes away if you know what I’m doing. This is mostly my attempt to do both you and my brother a service by scuttling his plans. Although I’ll not deny any attraction. You wear over a hundred years much better than that harridan my father tried to force on me.”

“Lady Josephina? You know the sad thing is age didn’t make her like that. She’s always been a harpy even when she was 13.”

I tried to cough politely, only to find it stuck in my throat. Do not feel intimidated, Malvia! They’re goddamn nobles. Trading gossip about things that you could find on any corner of the Quarter.

At least affairs in the Quarter ended at the first brawl, bitten out throat, or swearing of vengeance between two families for life that ended the moment winter’s chill needed them to huddle together for warmth.

Lady Karsin’s attention turned to me without requiring a cough. “Ah, Miss Falara. It’s so good of you to come so soon.”

“Yes, well, I could hardly risk my reputation. Patients dying of toxins I cured them of would be a black mark on my record.”

My record had quite a few black marks from when I’d started out, but neither of them needed to know that.

Lady Karsin turned to face Lord Montague.

“Lord Gregory, if you’ll excuse me for a moment, my son’s health-”

“-should take top priority, of course,” he finished. “I’d ask about coming along, but the fewer people to crowd little Desmond, the better. Tell him I said hello.”

***

Montague didn’t need to worry about crowding Desmond Karsin. Desmond Karsin was asleep, which was good because the first time I’d been here, he’d been lucid enough to ask his mother if I was going to eat his soul. It had taken forty minutes of talking to both his mother and me to convince him that his friend Francesca Starling, daughter of a duke, was talking out of her ass when she claimed all Infernals dined on mortal souls. Only put in nicer terms.

Mortal souls were much more of a “once you’ve died and gone straight to the hells” food. Trying to acquire them here was much more difficult.

I didn’t want to find out what other things he’d been fed about Infernals by this Francesca, one of which was probably that I would be attempting to seduce his mother. Nobles.

Also, it helped because no one liked having blood drawn. I adjusted the tube piping as I pulled back on the plunger, drawing the blood out of him. He seemed very peaceful, the only movement that of his chest as he breathed.

“I still remember when they used knives for this,” Lady Karsin whispered softly.

She and two other servants were in Desmond’s room with me, the servants probably in case I somehow went insane and decided to try and kill the child. She’d insisted on sitting next to me, which was proving very distracting. I was used to working in solitude, not with another living person right next to me, shifting around, breathing.

“It still is, where they can’t afford these,” I replied. “Owning one puts me in a very small group of people within the Quarter.”

I’d been lucky that these had survived the destruction that had carved its path through my apartment. Truth be told, maybe whoever had done the wrecking didn’t realize what this was. Then again, considering I’d found it fallen behind a shelf in the limited time I had before getting in the carriage, perhaps I’d just gotten lucky.

As it stood it was an extremely slow one, not helped by the fact I was being as careful with this patient as I could be.

Lady Karsin frowned. “That shouldn’t be the case. I realize things in the Quarter are never well, but I would think the charity hospitals would be better equipped.”

“It depends on who manages them,” I replied. “Typically, if it’s not someone looking to grift, it’s an official from the city, and they’ve held a grudge since…”

I trailed off, realizing that instinctive answers had almost given everything away. Katheryn Falara might possibly be low enough in the mulch of the Quarter to plausibly know about Understreet, but she wouldn’t bring it up casually.

“Held a grudge since when Miss Falara?” Lady Karsin asked in a polite tone. Still, my hackles were raised.

“Just a theory,” I said, keeping a careful grip on the needle. Wear the mask. “Probably just my paranoia. I’ve been having a rough time lately, with far too many strangers suddenly intruding in my life. Including the one downstairs.”

“Hrrm, you should be careful around that one, Miss Falara,” Lady Karsin said, grinning at me. “Known breaker of hearts, and has never been successfully tied down despite his father’s best wishes. Our brief conversations have made me think there’s some ambition hiding inside you despite your best efforts, but best not to aim for that particular star.”

“I have no interest in Gregory Montague,” I said swiftly. “I met the man less than a few hours ago, going through my ransacked apartments.”

“Really?” Lady Karsin seemed shocked. “That seems a little strange for him.”

“I don’t believe he ransacked them, but I’ve hardly formed a favorable opinion of him.”

“Very few do at first. Although, given how flustered you seemed in there, how is your opinion of me, Miss Falara?”

I froze, calling on my sculpt to keep my face still. I was being made sport of. It’s the only thing that made sense. I didn’t trust myself to reply, merely focusing on my work. The ticking of the clock grew louder as I focused on the needle. Biosculpts I’d crafted could control my expression. They couldn’t control the flushing of skin. Please let that just be warmth from the small room.

“Miss Falara?”

“Just a few seconds more, maybe half a minute,” I replied mechanically. I didn’t look away from the apparatus.

After the needle was filled, I took the glove off my hand. Pulling the sample of blood out, I carefully poured a little into the palm of my hand, waiting.

“I thought the substance was dangerous to your kind?”

“It dilutes enough there should only be a slight burning,” I said. “Even a trace amount will still react, and it will be apparent, but I don’t need to mix my blood with it unless I want to be theatrical. Truthfully, I just don’t want to cut myself again. I’m much less certain of my ability to keep the wound clean. It’ll hurt, it may even be a little singed, but it’ll be easier to care for than a cut.”

I waited, counting until half a minute passed. There was no sensation on my hand but that of the liquid lying in it. After half a minute had passed, I grabbed a plain glass from the side of the table and poured the blood in. There was not even a mark on my hand.

“Whatever your heir was dosed with, it isn’t Angel’s Sorrow. I can run tests although my current tools are limited, if you want me to?”

She nodded firmly. “Anything that you can provide a second opinion on would be appreciated. I should probably go keep Lord Montague entertained, but I trust you with my heir.”

Well, as long as two of her servants were here to keep an eye on me, I noted. Lady Karsin was already rising from her chair, preparing to leave the room.

“Before you go Lady Karsin,” I asked quickly, making her pause. “I...this may sound foolish, but I have no idea why you called me here. It is clear from the start that your son has not suffered from another dose of Angel’s Sorrow. Why call me here?”

She looked down at me for a few moments, seeming to honestly struggle for the words.

“You saved my son’s life,” she said earnestly. “That’s worth more than the best money can buy to me.”

And with that, she left.

I continued testing what I could under the gaze of the two servants, I considered why exactly I was here. Oh, the statement about trusting me so much for saving her son’s life had certainly sounded heartfelt, but that was easy to fake. I’d fallen for that act a few times before learning to never take those statements at face value.

With her out of the room it was surprisingly easier to focus than it had been with her or Montague. The two servants were quiet, which helped immensely.

So why was I here? It could hardly be my expertise or discretion, so there would be another reason. A test of some kind? I eyed both of the servants, who seemed disinterested in talk. A few casual remarks inviting conversation got nothing but grunts of disinterest from both of them.

They seemed as still as stone and with demeanors to match. They looked human, but if I were to pull the same trick I had on Golvar, would I find alterations under their skin?

I was being paranoid. Not everything was a trap or a trick. Besides, if it was a trap, Lady Karsin had used very obvious bait.

On a whim, I said, “Quite a conundrum, isn’t it, Mr. Voltar? The boy is poisoned, but not lethally, right after someone assuredly tries to kill him. One would assume this is perhaps one of the boy's ill-behaved friends among the other noble’s children playing an extremely poorly planned and thought-out prank, no?”

Neither of the servants so much as twitched.

After a few more tests, I was forced to admit defeat. Not a difficult defeat to see coming, with most of my equipment destroyed and my reagents along with it. And I hadn’t figured out why I was here either.