Broken Throne Complete Boxed Set Page 7

  Why was her mother keeping — and hiding — these letters?

  Winnie took the first letter from the top, slid the single sheet out of the already opened envelope, unfolded it, and skimmed. Grim-faced, she replaced the letter into the envelope and selected another one, working her way through them all, one at a time.

  They all agreed: the medication controlling the progression of Mom’s arthritis was tripling in price, starting next month. The letters dated back six months, the pharmacy giving her mother plenty of notice before the pending price change.

  Winnie’s mother hadn’t told her because she was trying to protect her from worrying about something else she couldn’t control. Her mother’s medication was their biggest monthly expense, eclipsing even the rent. Now it would triple in price, without any apparent reason. And she had no idea how they could possibly afford it. They were barely getting by. This would bankrupt them, or kill her mother.

  Winnie’s shoulders seemed to gain a thousand pounds. The world was caving in around her. Resolution 84 destroyed her ability to earn a living. It made magic — something that defined who she was — illegal. She’d persevered and discovered a way to get by without being a criminal. That had been her only lifeline in the last twenty-four hours. But now her only hope was gone. Even if Winnie managed to keep her shop open, she’d never earn enough money to make ends meet. Her six months of buffer earned on that last day before the resolution was consumed in a single moment of despair.

  She sat in silence, staring at the envelopes for an hour. Her entire life was falling apart, and her flailing hands couldn’t hold it together. She ran through her options but found no answers. Her mind kept returning to Mrs. Adams’s clock, and Winnie had to wonder why. Repairing magical items for the wealthy wouldn’t generate the income required to cover her mother’s medication. What she was missing?

  Her eyes welling with tears, Winnie reached into her pocket for a tissue and found something else. A business card with only a name and a number: A. Merrilyn.

  Winnie didn’t remember anyone giving it to her. Artos hadn’t handed her anything during his visit, yet here it was. She looked at the plain white card, turning it over in her hand. It was the same on both sides.

  Winnie did have an option, but she couldn’t share it with her mother. She wasn’t sure what else she could do. She supposed she could take a part-time job somewhere else. There had to be something, anything better than working directly for Artos Merrilyn. Carefully folding the letters from the pharmacy, she took the envelopes and returned them to their hiding place.

  She had a choice to make and wasn’t sure how to proceed. Maybe she could sleep on it, get some perspective on how to approach this problem so she could plan better when fresh in the morning.

  Winnie grabbed her backpack, picked the business card from the kitchen table, slid it back into her pocket, then went to her room and slipped into bed.

  She could face this again in the morning.

  And then, everything would change.

  Chapter 10

  Winnie’s phone buzzed and woke her from a troubled sleep.

  Going to bed with her mind occupied by a jumble of emotions and thoughts had led to some bizarre dreams that she couldn’t completely recall. Winnie could remember pushing her mother through a desert in one dream, her wheelchair constantly sinking into the shifting sands. In another, she saw the chanter girl killed at the nightclub a few nights before. Her mouth was moving, as if desperate to tell Winnie something.

  The dreams were disturbing, but still better than the reality of waking up to face the day knowing she couldn’t support her mother. Winnie sat up in bed, then slid to the edge and planted her feet on the cold floor. She had to face the day, and the changes in her life that were sure to come with it. Today’s biggest challenge was to maintain control over her life despite the need to ask someone for help.

  Elaine was already up and bustling in the kitchen, making herself breakfast, when Winnie entered the room. They traded smiles.

  “Morning, Mom.”

  “Good morning, dear. What’s the plan today? Are you planning to work at the shop?”

  “Yes, I have to call Mrs. Adams and let her know the clock is finished.”

  “You finished? Were you able to fix all the things she wanted you to?”

  “I stayed late getting it done. Sorry I wasn’t here for dinner.” Winnie wondered if she should mention finding the letters, but didn’t bother to open her mouth. Elaine would have told her if she wanted Winnie to know. Obviously, she was trying to protect her daughter from the truth. But if Winnie’s plan worked, she’d be able to legally pay for the medication while telling her mother that the income came from the shop.

  “I left you a plate in the fridge. Did you see it?”

  “I was exhausted when I got home. Went straight to bed.”

  “Maybe I can come in with you again today?

  “I don’t think that would be a good idea, Mom. I have a few errands to run, and some things to pick up around the city before I go in. I’ll send you a message when I get to the shop, so you know I got in alright, okay?”

  “What about breakfast? You should eat something if you’re going to insist on working these long hours.”

  “I’ll grab something on the way.” Winnie picked up her backpack, shrugging it onto her shoulders as she headed toward the door. “I’ll let you know what I’m up to, and try to make sure I get home earlier tonight.”

  “Alright, dear. Have a good day. Stay safe.”

  Winnie left the apartment and descended the stairs. Once on the street and out of sight away from Mom’s window, she pulled out Merrilyn’s card from her pocket. It was time to dance with the devil without losing her soul.

  Winnie waited at the bus stop, deeply inhaling the crisp morning air.

  With a gulp, she typed out a text to the number requesting an appointment for later that day, hoping that Merrilyn’s interest in her work would translate into an agreement to meet. Then she lost her nerve and erased it.

  The bus dropped her off a few blocks from Charmed. Winnie looked at the small handful of other chanter-owned businesses lining the street. Middling owners were opening their doors, but the chanter businesses all remained shuttered. Winnie knew every one of those owners. She wondered what they were doing to remodel their businesses. Surely they weren’t all lucky enough to land an opportunity like the one presented by Mrs. Adams just a few days before. Maybe there was a way to parlay her successful business transformation and help the other neighborhood merchants.

  Mrs. Paulson was out in front of her flower shop arranging a display when Winnie walked up. The middling-owned business was second generation and next door to Charmed — Winnie had known the woman forever.

  “Winnie, dear, it’s so good to see you. I’m glad that you’re coming in, even if you can’t sell a thing. Shows you’re standing up to the Resolution. I still can’t believe that it passed.”

  “Neither can I, Mrs. Paulson. I did find a way to keep Charmed in business, though, without violating the new rules. I can repair magically enhanced items. According to the law, it isn’t the same as creating new ones, or casting directed spells myself. I’m here this morning to notify my first new customer that her item has been repaired.”

  “Oh, well that’s very nice.” Mrs. Paulson leaned in and whispered, “I need a specific charm, and wondered if you could come in and … you know?”

  Winnie was shocked. This was an upstanding member of the Chamber of Commerce, asking her to break the law.

  Winnie glanced nervously around, then fixed her eyes on Mrs. Paulson. “Be careful. Someone could be watching.”

  “Don’t worry, dear. Everyone on this street knows you, and what a nice girl you are. They would never turn you in. Just the other day I was talking to Robert Jenkins, said he’d pay just about anything to get a ledger for next year like the one he’s using now. The man has no idea how he’ll balance the books without it. I don’t know what thos
e idiots in the Assembly were thinking, passing this stupid law.”

  Winnie was silent, glancing around again at the few people passing on the street. No one seemed to be paying any attention, but Red Leg informants were never far.

  “Don’t give any mind to what others are doing, Winnie. Come inside, let me tell you what I need.”

  Mrs. Paulson led Winnie inside the flower shop, then into her rear office.

  “Winnie, dear, I think one of my employees is stealing from me. I’m missing an average of more than a hundred dollars a day from what I expect to be making each week. I don’t know who’s taking it. Everyone on staff has worked here for years. I need a way to identify the person taking my money.”

  “Mrs. Paulson, I don’t know what you want me to do,” Winnie said, frustrated.

  The woman was asking for much more than a harmless charm. Technically, any magic that directly affected a person was considered part of the Sable trade, and thus forbidden. When magic interacted directly with a middling, it always left a residual effect. Over time, that cumulative effect could cause lasting harm. That was why menders — chanters who healed magical injuries — were needed. Mrs. Paulson didn’t deserve to have her livelihood pilfered, but Winnie wasn’t sure it was worth causing an employee’s future harm, even a dishonest one.

  “Just think about it. You’re great at what you do. It’s all your mother ever wants to talk about. She says you’re leaps and bounds better at casting spells and charms than she’s ever been, even in her prime. Go on, open your shop. But I’d be willing to share a month’s potential losses if you can help me stop the thief.”

  “I’ll think about it, Mrs. Paulson, but I can’t promise anything.”

  Winnie smiled, then turned to leave. Mrs. Paulson followed her to the front door.

  “A lot of us shop owners in the Chamber of Commerce aren’t happy with Resolution 84. We’re used to having easy access to magic solutions. The right person with the right connections could go far if they’re willing to help where needed. You should really keep that in mind.”

  Winnie nodded, left the flower shop, and headed next door to Charmed. Her thoughts were everywhere. What her neighbor proposed was illegal, immoral, and a possible answer to her prayers. The repair shop plan was good, but it would take time to build that new business and generate the sales needed to cover overhead, let alone her mother’s expenses.

  Winnie unlocked the shop and turned the sign in the door from Closed to Open out of habit. She looked around at the empty store, and the lone repair item sitting naked on the shelf. It wasn’t even a paying job. Mrs. Adams had paid for her repair with a slip of paper.

  She took out her phone, looked at the repair ticket for Mrs. Adam’s clock, tapped in the digits, and waited through the rings.

  On the third ring, a female voice answered. “Hello?”

  “Mrs. Adams?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is Winnie from Charmed. Your clock is finished. You can come pick it up anytime tomorrow.”

  “Excellent. Were you able to keep the original functionality? Does it work as before?”

  “Good as new. I’ll show you the adjustments I made when you pick it up.”

  “I can’t wait. I’m used to knowing my husband’s comings and goings. It’d been difficult since the clock stopped working. I’ll come by in the afternoon after lunchtime.”

  “I’ll be here. See you then.”

  Winnie disconnected the call then collapsed in her desk chair, considering her possible options and any potential plans she could put in place.

  Mrs. Adams was a part of those plans. Her recommendation and word of mouth would be important to getting the shop quickly building a name among her society friends. Coupled with Merrilyn’s connections, Winnie could ensure regular customer traffic.

  But that wouldn’t be enough.

  Yes, steady customer flow was necessary, but even a busy repair business couldn’t compare to the potential income from work like what Mrs. Paulson was proposing.

  Was there something Winnie could do to help her neighbor? She’d never tried that kind of magic before, but it couldn’t be any harder than creating some of the more complex charms on utensils and tools that she’d cast in the past. Heck, the clock had required a charm that bordered the Sable trade. It worked by tracking Mr. Adams’s whereabouts.

  Maybe there was a way to adapt that existing charm to Mrs. Paulson’s needs.

  Fixing the clock reminded Winnie that she still needed to contact Artos. He was interested in her methods of masking magical charms. If she could sell him her technique, then she might be able to pay for Mom’s medications. She hoped Artos accepted that payment for his help saving her store — best to repay him quickly and get it over with.

  Her mind was still pondering the problem of dealing with Artos Merrilyn when her phone chirped. She looked at the screen. It was Tris. She tapped to answer her friend’s call.

  “Hi Tris, what’s up?”

  “I just needed to talk to someone before I explode here at work and lose my job. My boss is a complete jerk and fired another chanter maid because she couldn’t fix the building’s central vacuum system for him.”

  “What’s wrong with it?”

  “Oh, there’s a problem with the vortex charm that creates the suction on each floor. The building cleaning staff is supposed to maintain it, but most of them are middlings and don’t have the ability to keep it working properly when it starts to malfunction.”

  “Why did your boss fire the one person who might be able to repair it?”

  “Because he a bigoted idiot, that’s why. He hates that he has to associate with chanters to keep the building running. I don’t suppose you could come by and take a look at it? I don’t have the time and I’m afraid he’ll take his frustration out on me next.”

  “I suppose I could come by after I close up the shop. Will you still be there?”

  “Sure. I’m not going anywhere. This HVAC air conditioning system is having serious issues. I’m going to be here all night at this rate.”

  “Alright, look for me later on, say around seven?”

  “That works. Stop off and pick up sandwiches for dinner. We can eat on my break and I’ll fill you in on what I think the problem is.”

  Tris hung up the phone and Winnie thought about the trouble her friend was having. A lot of middlings looked down on chanters as cheats and thieves. She supposed it was jealousy.

  Tris was good at what she did or her boss would have fired her long ago, but if he got angry enough he might forget that he needed her. Winnie was happy to do what she could to smooth over her friend’s problems and fix the vacuum system. She also wondered what that maid position paid. Maybe she could pick up some extra work there.

  She texted her mom that she would be home late that night and not to wait up, and then she set to finishing up the remaining work at the shop.

  As she worked, she thought about her financial options. She needed to find more work and find it soon or her options were going to narrow down to the less desirable and less legal options open to her. It was like her future was filled with a choice between bigots and discrimination or a partnership with Artos and constant run-ins with the Red Legs.

  Her mother’s needs overrode her pride.

  Did they override her moral compass, too?

  Chapter 11

  Winnie took the bus downtown after closing shop then picked up dinner for her and Tris.

  She walked to the building where her friend worked, entering through the revolving door out front and immediately turning toward the lobby stairwell. She left it two flights down and entered the boiler room. Exposed pipes and wiring yawned across the ceiling as Winnie wound her way through the noisy maze of machinery. She’d been here a few times before and thought she knew her way.

  Winnie turned the corner and saw Tris seated at a workbench, leaning over a large box, hands buried to her elbows. She tapped the girl on her shoulder.

  Tris
jumped in her seat, cursing as she scraped her arm against the repair panel opening. “Damn, Winnie, why didn’t you text me you were here? You scared the crap out of me.”

  “Sorry, Tris. I didn’t expect you to be so on edge. Look. I brought dinner.” Winnie held up the bag of sandwiches. “Stop working for a minute and eat something. Then you can show me what I’m supposed to fix.”

  “Don’t be in such a hurry to get to work, Win. It’s a mess. The central vac system wasn’t designed properly from the beginning and it’s been patched so many times, the spells often counteract each other and it blows dirt out rather than picking it up.”

  Winnie laughed. “Sounds like a disaster.”

  “It’s not funny. That’s what got the last girl fired.”

  “I guess you’re right.” Winnie paused, searching for her best next words. “About that last girl. Has Mr. Hodges filled the position?”

  “You can’t be interested. It’s some magical repair work, but it’s mostly housekeeping and janitorial. You have the shop, don’t you?”

  “I just found out that it won’t be enough to cover things. My mom’s meds just went up again. They’re going to cost me three times as much. I can afford this month’s dose, but I’m broke after that. I need a part-time job to cover the difference between what the shop makes and what I need to cover rent and meds.”

  “I don’t know, Winnie. You don’t deal well with people like my boss. Hodges is a racist, misogynist asshole, and he’ll bait you just to fight. Trust me: you don’t want to work here.”

  “You work here. You seem to do fine.”

  “I hide from him most of the time. He also knows he needs me to keep things running. I’ve fixed just about everything here at least once; I’m the only one who knows how to keep the lights on. His tenants would never let him fire me. They get how valuable I am. That doesn’t keep him from giving me grief about what kind of chanter bitch I am, but whatever.”

  “How do you put up with it?”

  “You know me, Winnie. I’m good at keeping my head down and ignoring the crap. But you’re always looking for challenges and opportunities to prove your worth. You wouldn’t last a week.”