“There has been mention of a nightclub and a policewoman,” Claudea said.
“We’ve only four hours left.” Analise, one of her older ladies, touched a plump beringed hand to her silver-streaked black curls. “Or perhaps he won’t arrive until after dawn.”
Claudea sighed. “If he’s wanting sport, he’ll not wait. He’ll send the guards to drag us from our beds. But could be that he’s become infatuated with someone in town. He always takes his time when he is.”
“What if he doesn’t return?” Analise said, a wistful note in her voice. “What will happen to us? Who will look after us?”
Werren saw one of the guards heading toward them. “I will. See what more you can learn from the crew. Now go and find some business.”
She waited for the guard, a spiteful brute named Ralston, who took her arm and marched her to an unoccupied corner. “You have a nice chat with your friends, Duchess?”
“I was suggesting some suitable companions for them.” She nodded toward the blackjack table, where her ladies were already engaging the two men with the most chips.
“Looked more like you three were scheming up something.” His grip tightened. “Dutch will hear about it, too.”
“I’ve nothing to hide,” Werren said, and reached up to center the knot in his tie. “Does your shift end before dawn, Mr. Ralston?”
“You think I’m that stupid? That I don’t know what you are?” He shoved her away from him. “Get back to work.”
Werren left the hot, smoky confines of the casino and walked out onto the observation deck for some air. She’d hoped that Ralston would not have believed anything said about her and the other women—a few of the guards hadn’t, which had proved extremely useful—but lately Dutch wasn’t taking any chances. He had recently become wildly obsessed with his search for the treasure that long ago had been stolen from him, pouring much of their profits into hiring investigators and researchers. He’d also begun leaving behind his bodyguards and making trips by himself into the city. Whatever he was doing there made him frustrated and angry, for he always returned to the Palace in a seething, vicious mood. Once Ralston reported to him tonight, Dutch would probably let him watch as he punished her or the women. This time it would probably be her.
She didn’t mind the beatings so much anymore. It was the inventive humiliations Dutch inflicted that tore at her soul. One day he would shred what was left of it, and then her ladies would have to look after themselves.
Werren avoided looking at the sea and lifted her eyes to the midnight sky, where the moonlight had silvered the dark clouds. Sometimes, if she stared long enough at the moon, she could remember her mother’s face.
It, too, had been round and pale, often ashen with exhaustion from the long days and nights she spent tending the cook pots on the stoves and hanging over the hearths in the duke’s kitchens. But when Magda finally came home to their cottage, she had never been too tired to smile on Werren, or brush out her hair, or tell her how lovely she was.
“My little fortune in waiting,” Magda would croon. “One day, when you’re old enough to marry off, you’ll make us so rich, Werry. Then I’ll never have to lift another pot again.”
How proud would Magda be, to know how many fortunes had been poured into Werren’s hands? How aghast, if she knew how Werren had earned them?
The sound of men speaking in low voices drew Werren’s gaze across the deck. Dutch stood with two strangers in dark suits, and nodded as one of them gestured to the north. The lights from overhead illuminated a strange design tattooed in a circle around an unsightly scar on the stranger’s wrist.
She moved closer.
“You say the one who brought the summons looks like an adolescent,” the tattooed man said, speaking in heavily accented English. “He is not a courier or anyone known to us. He could be a spy.”
“I will dispose of him soon enough.” Dutch didn’t seem concerned. “What about the girl?”
“We intercepted a communication between her and the council,” the man told him. “They have ordered her to find the emeralds. Alenfar may be having his own men search for them. We will take her, and after we interrogate her–”
Her master grabbed the man by the lapels and jerked him close. “Did I ask you to touch her?”
The other man lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender. “We wish only to assure that your property is returned to you, signore. Once you eliminate Alenfar, you will have the jewels as well as the command of an army of warriors to do your bidding.”