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She blinked in surprise. "I am not breaking my word."

"I received a tip about the missing tourist being seen frequenting this shop. Are you telling me that you are also here purely by coincidence?" Erou asked sarcastically.

"But it is a coincidence," Rhapsody countered calmly. "I came because I am looking for a schoolmate—-"

"In Sixpence?" Erou said skeptically.

"This exact shop, in fact."

Shit. That meant it was possible Rhapsody's schoolmate could be another victim to be added to the list. His gaze flicked back to the shop's boarded shut. "I can't leave you out here alone, but I don't have time to spare to take you back to your school."

"I understand, milord."

"I also have enough on my plate to worry about the Marquis of Sangre thinking I endangered his pet's life," Erou warned grimly. "You'll need to go in with me, but you need to promise you'll stick close at all times. Understand?"

"Yes, milord."

Placid as ever, Erou thought, but then again, had he really expected Rhapsody to show any kind of fear?

Rhapsody stood patiently to the side as Erou systematically dismantled the planks that had been nailed to the doorway.Did this mean no one had been inside the shop since...or there was another way in and out of the place?

When the last plank was disposed, Erou turned to Rhapsody. "Ready?"

Another sedate nod.

"Remember what I told you."

"I shall stick as closely as propriety allows."

"That's not..."Ah, fuck it. Rhapsody could be stubborn as hell every time she had a blasted bee in her bonnet, and this was probably one of those instances.

It was dark inside the shop, and most of the equipment and furniture had been left in complete disarray. Signs of struggle were everywhere, along with dried bloodstains on the floor.Fuck.Erou's senses bristled. He couldn't detect any otherworldly scent, but he could hear the faintest heartbeat.

Human.

No, two humans.

Coming from below.

Rhapsody's heart thudded steadily against her chest as she followed the earl to the basement. She was aware that this situation should be a cause of fear, and she probably would feel afraid if her body happened to be capable of properly expressing such an emotion.

The stairs under their steps creaked as they began their descent. A greenish beam of light filtered from underneath a doorway at the end, and in front of her, Lord Erou gripped the hilt of his sword as if already anticipating a threat.

But when they finally made it to the other side, no danger existed.

Instead, they saw a strung-up pair of pin lights beaming down two badly mutilated corpses. The first one was Ms. Geraldine Joyce, the tourist that had gone missing, while the other body was of the seamstress Ms. Brown. There was, however, no sign of Emily in the basement or any other part of the shop.

Chapter Fifteen

Rhapsody had secretly been hoping for a distraction when she had gone searching for Emily, and it was this that reminded her of the old adage.Be careful with what you wish for...or it might just come true.

Morbid thoughts crawled all over her mind as she found herself mulling over recent events on the carriage ride back to The Progressive. In the past six months, an anonymous individual had been supplying Sangre residents with humans to torture but had managed to elude capture and escape into Asphodel. It was after this that Erou had been assigned to take over the case, and the earl was convinced that the individual had reopened his business in the seamstress' basement.

Since there had been evidence of someone making a hasty escape through one of the second-floor windows, it was most likely the individual now knew that the net was closing around him and made more dangerous by desperation.

As for Emily, while Lord Erou had promised to make inquiries about her schoolmate, he had also warned Rhapsody against jumping to any conclusions.She might or might not be another victim. She could also have simply run away or even be a daughter of another seamstress.

Rhapsody had just arrived back in school when a servant hurriedly came to her, saying that a gentleman caller had come to see her.It could only be Mr. Booth,Rhapsody thought, and so she thanked the servant sand quickly made her way to the drawing room in the students' dormitory.