The Cerulean (Untitled Duology, #1)(101)

“Please.” Agnes rolled her eyes. “You actually caught her. I merely did not act quickly enough to set her free.”

“You always have to be right, don’t you,” he grumbled.

“Miss McLellan, we have some options for you.” The salesgirl in charge of her was a twentysomething blonde named Gertrude who kept giving Leo doe-eyed looks. Agnes felt it was a testament to her brother’s newfound personality change that he didn’t seem to notice.

She had pulled a rack of dresses out, each one pinker and frillier than the last. Agnes folded her arms across her chest. “No,” she said.

Gertrude looked confused. “But you haven’t tried them on yet.”

Agnes met her eyes with a steely gaze. “No,” she said again.

“How about something in blue or green?” Leo suggested. “Pink isn’t really her color.”

“Of course, sir.” The rack was wheeled away.

“Here’s the thing,” Leo said, leaning forward again. He’d been saying that over and over for the past several days. Agnes hadn’t realized that teaming up with her brother would result in a million questions she didn’t have answers to. She hadn’t thought him a curious person, but now she was discovering a whole new side she had never seen before. Maybe it had always been there, hiding beneath the veneer of vanity and excess and self-congratulation, tucked away in the same place he’d hidden his conscience.

Or maybe it was just the release of their father’s grip on him—on both of them. They were a team for the first time in their lives.

As much as she hated to admit it, it was sort of nice.

“What’s the thing?” she said.

“Well, you’ve got the ship all sorted out, and Sera is working on getting out of the theater, but how are we going to get to the Seaport?”

“What do you mean ‘we’?” Agnes asked.

“I’m going to Pelago with you.”

“No, you’re not,” she said.

Leo looked stunned. “Yes, I am.”

“But I haven’t negotiated your berth with Vada.”

“So negotiate.”

“Ugh, Leo.” Despite his sudden change of heart, he still saw things from an infuriatingly male perspective. “I don’t have enough money to buy passage for you.”

The thousand krogers she’d kept would have to go to food and more travel and other, unforeseen expenses.

“Ugh, Agnes.” Leo imitated her tone perfectly. “I don’t need your money. I have my own.”

He was right, and the fact that Leo could walk into the bank and take out however much he wanted without needing a letter or a chaperone stung.

“Fine,” she said. “But I can’t go to the Seaport again. If the papers can be believed, it’s getting dangerous down there, and besides, what if one of Father’s men recognizes me? His ships are leaving for Pelago any day now.”

“I’ll go myself then. I know what she looks like.”

“She won’t deal with you, you’re a man,” Agnes said. “And a Kaolin one at that.”

She felt she was being horribly petty. Her brother was trying to help. In fact, he was the only line of communication between her and Sera at the moment, something she should be grateful for. And she was.

But she couldn’t help being just a little jealous too. She wanted to be the one talking to Sera. This was her plan. She had started it all.

But Leo appeared undaunted. He turned so he was in profile. “I’ve got the face of a Byrne, don’t I? That’s got to mean something to Pelagans. Every damn one I’ve ever met has mentioned it. Eneas, Kiernan, even Vada said so. It’s about time I got some mileage out of it.”

That could be true, Agnes thought. She herself had used their grandmother’s name to convince Vada initially. But she remembered the warning Vada had given her about Ambrosine and worried that perhaps the currency of Leo’s face would come at a greater cost than she could foresee.

“How much did you pay her already?” Leo asked.

She pursed her lips. “Two thousand krogers.”

He inhaled sharply. “Two—are you insane? Is she insane? That’s . . . that’s . . . extortion!”

A couple of giggling girls paused their conversation and gave Leo curious looks.

“Keep your voice down,” Agnes hissed. “It isn’t extortion if it was paid willingly. No Pelagan ship would take Kaolin passengers, and no Kaolin ship would take a woman without a chaperone. I did what I had to do. I wouldn’t be surprised if she charged you two thousand for your passage alone, being a Kaolin man and all.”

She saw this sink in, Leo recognizing the hurdles she had to jump that were simply never an obstacle for him.

“Okay,” he said. “Two thousand krogers. No problem.”

“No, I suppose it isn’t for you,” she said.

“But that still doesn’t—” Leo was interrupted by Gertrude returning with three new gowns.

“No pink this time,” she said, her cheeks flushed. “Shall I take them to the dressing room?”

“Yes, please,” he said. Agnes didn’t even bother looking at the selection. As she closed the curtain behind her, she heard Leo say, “I’ll let you know if we need any further assistance, thank you.”