Hell's Ten

This is part 2 in a series. If you haven't read part 1, you can find it here: Hell's Ten, Kace.

Ethel had been waiting, pacing up and down as the hands of the clock moved steadily onward. Oscar always told her she didn’t have to wait up for him, but she always did, knowing the dangers that lurked in the streets of the city at night. If she had a choice, she wouldn’t have chosen to live in this part for a thousand dollars, but that was just the problem, she didn’t have a thousand dollars to spend on anywhere else. Her father had gambled it all away.

So she and her brother lived in a bare, single room in the worst part of the city, trying to pay off their father’s debts and survive.

Or rather, in her case, die, she corrected herself. The doctor had given her six months to live, and four of those were spent. Light steps sounded on the stairs and Ethel rose, hoping it was finally Oscar. It was. He closed the door quickly and leaned against it. His eyes were dark and staring, and his face white. His breath came in ragged gasps. “You should be in bed,” were his first words, his voice toneless and flat.

“What happened?” She was at his side, her eyes searching his face.

“Nothing.”

“You need to tell me. I know something’s going on. I don’t know everything, but I know a little of the kind of work you do. Come on, you can’t pretend you bind books all day. Then why do you do half your work at night? You need to tell me the truth. You owe it to me.”

Oscar stared at her mutely, and a fierce light entered Ethel’s eyes. “Listen, I’m dying. There’s no point in having secrets now.”

Oscar dropped onto his worn straw mattress and nodded slowly. “I—I went after the wrong person tonight. Maybe that’s what they wanted, I don’t know.”

“Who are they?”

Oscar swallowed. “After Father died, I went to the gambling den to pay off his debts. He owed more than I ever thought, more than I told you. But I met some men there, men who would give you small jobs for a little extra money. I started taking jobs. Nothing big, you know, nothing that bad.” He hesitated.

“Go on. I knew what you were doing wasn’t altogether legal. You should have just told me.”

“It still wasn’t enough. We haven’t been able to buy your medicine in weeks. I knew I had to do something. So I took a real job. They told me where to wait, what he looked like. I had a cudgel, I could have killed him with a few blows. They just didn’t tell me he was the most important man in the whole city.”

“What? Who do you mean? The mayor? Aristocracy?”

He shook his head. “No, a Lowry.”

He could see the shock register on her face. “Jakob Lowry?”

“Not Jakob, one of his sons.”

“Did you kill him?”

“No. I was too startled when I saw his face, and then everyone was after me at once. I don’t even know how I got away.”

“You should never have done that. Especially not on my account. Are you crazy? You could have died.”

He shrugged miserably. “I don’t know what to do. I want you to live.”

“You can’t save me. Maybe you can give me an extra week, an extra month, but that doesn’t do me any good if you die. Listen, I don’t care if you take small jobs. I won’t ask as long as you’re careful. But promise me you’ll never hire yourself out to kill someone again.”

Come back for part 3! In the meantime, you might also like In Service of the Crown.