Dawn. It isn't exactly a picturesque time of day, dim and dusky and cold in the morning dew. A small figure waits on the corner with a threadbare cap clutched in two hands, upside down, imploring.

"Please sir, spare a penny?"

The men stumbling late out of the bar rarely turn or stop, but the child knows better than to call any louder--better to go ( Read more... )

Victoria closed the door to the powder room and, after a moment's hesitation, stuffed a chair up against it.

The face in the mirror was pale under the layers of fine makeup, but the kohl did not hide the red rim around the eyes. She pinched her arm, hard. "Get a hold of yourself," she told her reflection. So she didn't know which fork went with ( Read more... )

The spring festival is always something of a disaster, which is why when he thinks back on it, Nate will never be able to pinpoint what, exactly, changed that one year, when everything had felt so hopeless that the only thing to do had seemed to be to drink himself stupid in the company of a couple of peripheral acquaintences, young actors from ( Read more... )

Victoria knows her life resembles a fairy tale.  However, in all the fairy tales she knows, the princess is always swept up in events, never the agent of her own destiny, always relying on fate or some prince to see her through.

Victoria is nothing if not the mistress of her own destiny.

Granny Asher had taken her by the shoulders and told her "You ( Read more... )

"Lady Saporta."

Victoria turned, smiled with her mouth only. "Gabriel, we are practically brother and sister, why the formality."

Gabe bowed and winked at her in one fluid motion. "Observing form, my darling sister-in-law. May I present Captain Beckett?"

Victoria raised an eyebrow delicately as she held out her hand for Beckett to bow over. "Ahh, your ( Read more... )

Victoria has her goons, which means they're trained and loyal, but also identifiable, and Mike's only real source, the kid with the pennywhistle,  knows and tells and Mike storms to Saporta Manor without really thinking it through tactically
He sort of yells at her, and she just sits there, cool as anything, and says, when he's stopped for breath, " ( Read more... )

Victoria doesn't get nervous. She also doesn't get summoned down to the grubby dwellings of those she's been observing, though, and yet, here she is. Mike Carden said something like, "Kevin wants to meet you," and then, seeing her hesitation, "If you want this to work, maybe you shouldn't say no."

Victoria hasn't arranged meetings on anyone else's ( Read more... )

The garden party was the picture of elegance on a warm and sunny saturday afternoon. Mike mingled dutifully through the crowds, nodding greetings and accepting best wishes with graceful aplomb. He wore his smile fixed like a mask as his mother introduced him to several young ladies in the city for the season, and nodded at appropriate places as his ( Read more... )

The Hangar seemed...smaller, somehow, yet bigger at the same time. Victoria delicately lifted the hem of her dress clear of the straw on the floor and crossed the room. A few hard-core drinkers were pickling themselves by the fire, but this early in the afternoon, the place was nearly empty.

The boy behind the bar watched her warily as she ( Read more... )

Mike woke to the news.  He knew something was going on the second he stepped out of his room.  The servants stopped talking, and the maid bobbed a nervous curtsey, eyes averted.

"Rosa-" he began.

The poor woman looked terrified.  "Your father asked to see you as soon as you woke, sir," she babbled and fled.

Mike felt a knot form in the pit of his ( Read more... )