Page 63 of Our Violent Ends
Since his stunt with the safe house, the Scarlets had praised him with vigor. She was having quite some trouble doing the same.
“We almost thought you wouldn’t come,” Rosalind said as Juliette joined her, eyes still fixed on Tyler. He was cleaning his pistol, twisting a cloth roughly along the barrel. If he wasn’t careful around the trigger, it was going to go off and then one of his men would have a hole blown through the stomach.
“I didn’t think everyone left so early.” Her mother had sighted her now and was coming this way. “What is Tyler doing here?”
“He came with your mother,” Kathleen supplied, standing to Rosalind’s other side with her arms crossed. “Extra protection for the walk.”
Juliette tried not to grit her teeth so hard. She was going to put a crack in her jaw at this rate.
“Ready?” Lady Cai asked, smoothing her qipao down and waving them along. Tyler stayed put where he was, his men spreading out along the entrance into the temple walls, but Juliette gave him one last look before turning and following after her mother.
“So, I heard an interesting rumor.”
In synchrony, Juliette and Rosalind lifted a foot over the protruding threshold into the temple. Anytime Juliette needed to do this to enter a building, she could gauge its age—gauge that it had been built before the roads were entirely smooth and the people had needed to protect against the possibility of floods. The temple itself was a quaint building, but a vast courtyard circled its perimeter, protected by tall, sun-faded walls with two golden gateways to the north and south, each facing the sides of the dusty red temple.
Rosalind’s eyes slid over. “Quoi?”
“Une rumeur,” Juliette repeated, perhaps with an unnecessary bout of flourish as she switched to French too. “Floating around the city.”
“You know better than to—” Rosalind stopped suddenly, looking beside her. When Juliette turned too, she realized it was because Kathleen had stalled behind, pausing just after the entranceway, looking around the courtyard. It appeared like she was waiting for something.
“Mèimei,” Rosalind called. “You okay?”
A small smile played at Kathleen’s lips. “I’m fine.”
Juliette and Rosalind waited for her to catch up, walking again only when Kathleen had fallen back in step. They passed a silver xianglú—one that was so enormous it looked like a giant bowl fitted with an awning. Three women stood around it to light their incense, delicately holding their sleeves so as not to get caught in the flames in the basin.
“We were just talking about Rosalind’s lover,” Juliette said to Kathleen.
“Shh!” Rosalind immediately hissed, her gaze snapping up to make sure Lady Cai hadn’t heard.
“Then itistrue,” Kathleen exclaimed.
“Do the both of you want to yell any louder?”
“No one here understands us, c’est pas grave.” Juliette bounced in her step. “Why haven’t you told us? Where did you meet?”
Rosalind’s expression tightened. “You really should not trust what the whispers say.”
“Rosalind.” Kathleen sounded stern now, as if she just wanted an answer. “Why are you being so secretive about this?”
“Because...” Rosalind swept another look around. By then they had almost reached the temple building, trailing far behind Lady Cai, who was climbing the steps up. There was no one around them, no one to overhear their conversation even if they happened to speak French.
“Because?” Kathleen prompted.
And all in one breath, Rosalind said, “Because he’s associated with the White Flowers, okay?”
Juliette felt a sudden lump in her throat. The smell of incense permeated the entire courtyard, getting stronger with the closer they approached the temple. It clotted in her nostrils, almost choking her airways if she didn’t justexhale—
“That, I didn’t expect,” Kathleen remarked evenly. “Here I was thinking it was politics, and you gave me blood feud instead.” Meaningfully, Kathleen caught Juliette’s eye. Rosalind didn’t know about Juliette’s past with Roma... but Kathleen had some idea, even if it was not the full picture.
“It’s not ideal, Rosalind,” Juliette finally choked out.Speaking from personal experience. From very, very personal experience.“If my parents find out—”
“Which is exactly why they won’t.” Rosalind lifted the edge of her qipao, starting up the steps. Kathleen made to follow, but Juliette’s skirts swished around freely at the knees. “We were first introduced in a bar on neutral territory, and I only ever see him in places that switch between Scarlet and White Flower just about every second day. Give it some more time and I’ll have convinced him away from the White Flowers. No one has to know.”
Juliette tried to shake off her terror. She nudged her cousin, hoping that a faked brightness would inject real energy into her outlook. “No one has to know,” she echoed. “We’ll help you—right, Kathleen?”
Kathleen, on the other hand, was not afraid of grimacing. She didn’t even try to look happy. “Ugh, I suppose. It’s a dangerous game, Rosalind. But we’re on your side.”
