Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan

Author:Eliza Chan [CHAN, ELIZA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2024-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Four

The rooftop park was filled with the laughter of children. The rhythmic tapping of a featherball against knee and foot as a group of friends counted and watched the boy in the centre. Three older women moved in the slow motion of set stretches. Cordelia had previously found it peaceful. But today she couldn’t ignore the iron grip around her chest as she watched Qiuyue playing. Every so often her daughter would look up through her curtain of hair, checking her mother was still there. Cordelia gave a half-wave, pretending a tranquillity she did not feel. She was monitoring a man at one of the chess tables, setting up the pieces despite lack of a partner. Didn’t recognise him. She calculated how far he was from her daughter, how many steps she would need to get there before him. She damn near throttled him when he stood up to adjust his stool.

“I still can’t believe it,” Ayumu said. Cordelia had ignored the other woman’s frantic waving from across the park, pretending to be engrossed until it was no longer an option. “Kidnapping? Right from under your nose. I could never live with myself if that happened to Finnol.”

Cordelia forgot for a moment she was still in Serena guise, flashing Ayumu the look that gave seawitches their reputation. The other woman cocked her head in some confusion, hesitating for a second before continuing her ruthless upbraiding. “And I mean, you’d think the Minister of Defence would be able to get to the bottom of it. A bit embarrassing. I can’t imagine what Samnang is going through.”

“Investigations are progressing.” Cordelia responded with deliberate curtness, hoping Ayumu would move on. She wished she could avoid the next statement, but courtesy meant she’d be marked by its omission. “I’m terribly sorry to hear about your house. I hope everyone is all right?”

“Shaken but safe. Arson, can you believe it? If the alarm had been raised any later…” Ayumu shuddered at the thought. She had garnered quite a bit of sympathy retelling the story to anyone who cared to listen.

Cordelia’s plans to unseat her rival and give credence to the curfew had not quite gone to plan. She clenched her teeth but nodded along genially to Ayumu’s continued laments. Samnang had taken her hints – had to under her charms – but how the havens had the dragon whelp got there so fast? And the fucking Drawbacks again. Always messing up her schemes. It was far beyond a coincidence. She would suspect Gede, but her son was too soft to double-cross her. At least, not deliberately.

Ayumu prattled on, interrupting her thoughts. “As it is, we’ll have to remodel the whole upper floor. We only had it done a year ago. I always disagreed with Pyanis’s decision to live in such a… multicultural district. I don’t care how up and coming it is. Perhaps she’ll actually listen to me now and let us move back to Jingsha.” Her hand against her forehead, she paused. They both clocked the unusual figure, Mira of the border guards, making a beeline towards them.

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