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Chapter 62

Nora

Nora had always thought she was too clever to fool.

But now she saw how easily Oskar Wallen had done it.

He was a criminal. Anyone would have told her not to trust him. But his world had seemed so far away from hers, she’d never imagined they could even touch.

And only now, too late, all the pieces of his game dropped into place. He’d made them come to him under the pretense of knowing nothing of the cover-up. He’d praised her cleverness for figuring out his charms. He had never offered too much. Never enough to spark her suspicion.

Nora had imagined wild conspiracies that led to Lukas Schuld’s confessions. Aunt Patience killing her mother to give Modesty her shot at the heirship. The Grims coming for her mother in their quest for a ring to get into the woods.

The truth was simpler.

A criminal who knew how to cover his tracks.

Who knew that a false confession would keep the heat off him.

Any gangster worth their salt would have cops on the payroll. And even if all Oskar took was the one missing ring, leaving the rest to be false evidence, it was still worth millions.

And when August and Nora had come knocking, he’d sent them in the direction of Officer Knapp, then made sure the man was dead by the time they got there.

Nora had made a bad trade. Her loyalty to her family for a dead man and a dead end, which was all part of a setup to throw her off his scent. And she’d almost gotten Lotte killed in the process.

“Why?” Nora asked, pressing past Lotte as she forced her scattered thoughts to pull together. There had to be more to this. She believed Oskar had been honest about one thing: killing an Heiress was an expensive risk. And this was an expensive cover-up. “Why did Oskar Wallen kill my mother?”

“He doesn’t know.” Lotte gave the answer easily. Of course he didn’t. Oskar Wallen wouldn’t be the sort of man to confess his plans. He wasn’t the mustache-twirling villain in a children’s comic strip. He was a dangerous criminal who’d tricked Nora. Who had taken information from her and then used it to try to break the Rydder knight bond to her family.

“Nora,” Lotte said in a low voice, “he doesn’t know anything else.”

Nora believed her cousin.

She watched Lukas Schuld, pressed back against the wall in panic. She had hated him from the moment she’d seen his face in the paper, even after she knew that he’d been lying. He had been a part of this. But she couldn’t find any of that hatred now. He wasn’t really a player in this game, just a piece on the board.

“You should get out of this city,” Nora said. She saw tentative hope break over Lukas Schuld’s face. “If we found you this swiftly, Oskar Wallen won’t be far behind.”

She had about 10,000 zaub on her. She’d started carrying money since it came in handy when she was with August. “You are going to run now , and you’re going to run fast and far.” Lukas stared at her, his mouth opening and closing, and he took the money. “Go!” Nora said. He didn’t have to be told again. He scrambled away, back to his family.

“Oskar Wallen isn’t an easy man to find, you know,” August said as Nora turned back toward the other three.

She knew what he was saying.

Oskar would come for Lukas Schuld. If he didn’t flee the city, he would be bait. An easy way to find Oskar Wallen.

And then a scream rent the air.