The Dark Before Dawn by Jaima Fixsen

Author:Jaima Fixsen [Fixsen, Jaima]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jaima Fixsen

Chapter 14

All she could do was breathe. Somewhere in the silence, a dog barked.

“Take your hands off me.”

Unexpectedly, he listened, pulling a few inches away, but she still couldn’t say who the breath in her ears belonged to. She had space now, but he was threateningly close. It wasn’t like her to be trapped with no idea what to do or say. She felt tired and pinched and worn to blankness.

“Don’t look at me like that. You—” He stopped, and Klara saw his face change. He drew a long breath. “You’re her. No wonder—”

Klara stopped the reflexive shake of her head. It was too late. His eyes were on hers, completely certain, and the weight of his arm and the brick at her back made it impossible to run. “Was it the shoes?”

“Shoes?” He looked baffled.

“Then how do you know?” She had Poincaré’s blade as well as her own, but neither was any good to her. She couldn’t kill him. She couldn’t even make her fingers twitch.

“You couldn’t carry Poincaré. And when we picked him up after resting in the street, some of your stubble rubbed off on my cuff. I realized you were a woman, but not—” Breaking off, he shook his head. “I thought— Christ! I thought my uncle knew, but he doesn’t, does he?”

Klara shook her head.

“Then that morning at Sonia’s—what were you doing?”

“I had a reason.” Klara licked her lips. “Same as you. And I didn’t kill him.”

Baeder scrubbed a hand through his hair. “But why—”

“I didn’t kill him,” Klara repeated. “Though I doubt your Uncle Franz will take my word as readily as yours. Olsberg—” Her voice failed. She tried again. “He had something that could hurt me.”

“He knew? No wonder you were so frightened.” He shook his head again, then peered at her. “My uncle truly doesn’t know?”

“No one does.” Her breath shook, and she feared she might cry. Part of her wanted to. It would be such a relief.

“Shh.” He was close again, close enough she could almost feel the cloth of his coat on her face. Cautiously, his fingers spread over her stinging side. “Why are you bleeding?”

Klara stiffened. “It’s nothing.”

“I don’t believe that. You’re hurt.”

Klara shrugged. “I can’t see a doctor.”

“Let me look at it. My house is close by,” he added before she had time to refuse. “Didn’t you hear me say so at Szabo’s house?”

She hadn’t thought it was true, something he read from her face before she could stop him.

“I don’t always lie. Come on.”

Her head spun and her feet felt dead, but she couldn’t refuse. She followed, wishing she could be sick.

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