Elain's heart grew uneasy. Deep down, she thought it would be nice to be friends with a man like Matheu, but she knew that being close to someone like him would draw attention to her, something she had been avoiding for fourteen years under the Blythmor's roof.
So instead of saying she would be happy to see him too, she simply smiled and bowed before walking away.
The farther her steps took her, the smaller her smile became, until it was nothing more than a shadow.
She went to the same alley where she had last seen Rory, but when she arrived, her cousin was nowhere to be found.
Her brows knitted. Rory hadn't told her that she planned to do anything else in Lilymist other than wander around the fair to see if the merchants had brought anything new.
Elain walked through the long alley between two buildings and only stopped when she reached a dead end. Frustration rising, she sighed and retraced her steps but halted midway when she noticed something on the wall of one of the buildings.
One of the bricks jutted out by an inch, not sitting flush with the others.
She stepped closer. At first, she thought it had loosened with age, but the brick was firm when she pressed it and didn't wobble. The mortar around it was slightly cleaner, less worn than the rest of the wall.
Her gaze shifted outward from that single brick. There was a faint vertical line running down the wall a short distance from it. The mortar along that seam was marginally thicker, almost imperceptible unless someone stood this close. She tapped lightly against the bricks along the line. The sound changed, not hollow enough to be obvious, but softer than the surrounding wall.
She looked back at the protruding brick, and out of curiosity, she pushed it.
She jolted at the soft click from within the wall. A second later, the section of brick along the faint seam shifted.
The line widened, and the entire panel moved inward on hidden hinges. The bricks stayed intact, moving together as a single piece, and a narrow doorway opened where the wall had been.
"A secret door?" Elain's eyes widened as she stared at the opening, a staircase leading upward.
Did Rory pass through this passage? she thought, assuming that her cousin must have had something to do in the alley if she had specifically gone there. But there was nothing at the alley's end. Elain had been to Lilymist several times before, yet she had never heard of this secret place.
She took a step closer, looking up at the stone staircase. A few lanterns were mounted along the walls, lighting the way, but the staircase spiraled upward, preventing her from seeing where it ended.
"I advise you not to enter that passage unless you wish to see things a proper lady such as yourself would deem inappropriate."
Elain's heart nearly leapt out of her throat.
She hadn't realized a man was in the alley with her, standing near the entrance and leaning against the wall with one foot propped behind him.
There was a fair distance between them, but she recognized his figure immediately. Wearing a long black coat, just like the night they first met, the strange man looked at her with the same pair of silver eyes she could vividly remember.
"It's you…"
He tilted his head, a satisfied smile forming on his lips, as if pleased that she remembered him. "Yes, it is me."
"Why are you so fond of appearing out of nowhere? You startled me."
"It is not my fault you have dull senses."
Elain was taken aback by the man's arrogance, but remembering the way he had spoken to her in Mrs. Cobbs's cottage, she realized he had always been like that. A little too cocky and playful, yet carrying an air of superiority, as though he had every right to act as he pleased regardless of how others might react.
"What is the meaning of what you said?" she asked, her thoughts returning to the passage and to where Rory might be.
"Of you having dull senses?"
Her eyes narrowed. "No. About you advising that I shouldn't enter the passage unless I want to see something inappropriate. What exactly is this 'inappropriate' thing you are referring to?"
"It's something you have no business with, I'm sure."
His response annoyed her, but she kept her tone amiable despite the sharpness in her gaze. "That's presumptuous of you to say when you don't even know what I came here for."
He smiled, a devilish sort of smile that would send little girls scurrying behind their mothers' skirts, as he said, "Pray tell, what kind of business does a young lady have in a pleasure house?"
Elain's lips parted, and her cheeks heated instantly, embarrassment biting at her skin like hot coals.
"A p-pleasure house?" She swallowed hard, trying to keep her composure despite hearing something so scandalous, and it didn't help that the malicious gaze of the silver-eyed stranger was fixed on her. "You are joking, aren't you? Why would such a place exist in Lilymist?"
Lilymist was part of the upper towns of the country's capital, with Hollowstone and Ferrygrove as its closest neighbours. Of course, she knew places like pleasure houses existed in certain parts of the city and were visited by wealthy people, but high society preferred to live under the pretense that their towns were well-kept and free from activities they deemed beneath their status. So it was surprising to find one on an open street like this.
"Because, unfortunately, the world is filled with indecent people," the stranger replied, his tone laced with mischief.
"Yourself included?" she asked, giving him a suggestive look. "How else would you know it is a pleasure house if you haven't visited it?"
Amusement glinted in the man's eyes. "Aren't you a little too presumptuous?"
She bit the inside of her bottom lip, realizing she had momentarily forgotten her aunt Cynthia's teachings about minding her words when speaking to others.
"Such places are beneath my taste," he said, implying he hadn't discovered it as a visitor.
Elain wondered if she should believe him. She was curious to see where the stairs led, hoping she might find Rory, but if the man was telling the truth, entering such a place would mean trouble for her.
Deciding not to indulge her curiosity, she stepped back.
Perhaps she had mistaken seeing Rory enter this alley. Could it be the next one?
She decided to leave and wait at the stall where Rory had left her. As she made her way toward the entrance of the alley, she found the silver-eyed man watching her.
Although she didn't appreciate how he taunted her, she did not forget her manners and offered him a small bow in farewell, as she could tell he was a member of high society.
He didn't return the courtesy, which she didn't mind as some people tended to feel superior to others. However, just as she was about to pass him, he stepped forward, blocking her way out of the alley.