Death's Avenger by Charlotte E. English

Author:Charlotte E. English [English, Charlotte E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: historical mystery, murder mystery, victorian detective, supernatural mystery
Publisher: Charlotte E. English
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Two

‘Interesting place,’ murmured Nuritov, his gaze fixed on the peculiar house with the same wide-eyed surprise that Konrad felt himself.

‘I don’t want to go in it,’ Tasha pronounced, and sat back with a frown.

‘It is even stranger inside,’ said Nanda brightly.

‘Wonderful,’ Konrad muttered.

‘Eino bought it about two years ago,’ she continued. ‘It used to belong to an Assevan family, name of Vasilescu.’

‘Why did they sell it?’

‘They didn’t.’

Konrad raised an eyebrow.

‘They were all murdered, about ten years ago. The house stood empty until Eino took it on.’

This disclosure was greeted with a thunderous silence, until Nanda broke it with a peal of laughter. ‘Only joking. They went bankrupt.’

Nuritov was generous enough to greet Nanda’s sally with a polite chuckle, though he looked a trifle pale. Konrad merely rolled his eyes and sank back in his seat. He agreed with Tasha: he did not really want to go inside, whether or not Nanda’s chilling story was true.

But he was the Malykant. If he did not shrink from facing down the vilest of murderers, he would not shrink from a mere house.

As the carriage came to a stop outside the vast, heavy wooden front door, a trio of neatly-uniformed footmen spilled forth and came to meet them. The carriage doors were opened and the luggage taken down and carried inside with impressive efficiency, and Konrad stood breathing the cold, crisp air and staring up at the house in silence. The late afternoon sun limned the turrets in wan, winter sunlight in a display of serene beauty which did… nothing whatsoever to reassure him.

Nanda swept up to the door, chin high, looking every inch a noblewoman. Konrad stumbled after her, feeling out of his depth and curiously out of place.

Master, said Eetapi in his mind, startling him, for she and her brother had maintained an unbroken silence for the past twelve hours or so.

Yes?

Pull yourself together.

Sage advice, if a trifle bluntly put. Doing his best to follow it, Konrad lifted his chin to a sharp ninety-degree angle and strode forth like the dauntless man he was.

On the other side of the enormous front door there proved to be an equally vast hallway, all tiled in coloured mosaics. In the centre of this stood a towering giant of a man with a trimmed black beard, bright black eyes and clothes as plain as the house around him was colourful.

‘Our host, I presume?’ murmured Konrad.

Nanda’s idea of an answer was to proclaim: ‘Eino!’ in ringing tones, and to envelop the giant in an embrace.

Konrad stood by, observing this while trying not to seem to and wondering what one had to do to merit a hug from Nanda.

‘My friends,’ she said, stepping back from the giant, and made gracious introduction of Konrad, Nuritov and Tasha. Eino Holt welcomed all three with a twinkling congeniality which made Konrad feel a tiny bit better about everything.

But then Eino looked long at Konrad and said, apparently to Nanda: ‘An excellent choice, my dear. He will make a fine Diederik.’

Konrad blinked.

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