Free Kitty Peck and the Child of Ill-Fortune by Kate Griffin

immediately, realise who it was.
    I knew what I was expecting to see. I knew what that house was, and I knew what my brother was, even though I hadn’t put it into words, but the reality of it, perhaps I should say the unreality of it, was almost impossible to take in.
    The air was heavy with scent and wine. Little points of light sparked off the crystal ware set along the table. They flickered on the walls giving the oddest impression that everything was moving, like we were on water.
    A score of blurred faces turned to me and a trickle of sweat ran down my back under the stiff grey satin as Joey walked towards me. His face was artfully and perfectly painted – just enough to emphasise the delicate curve of his lips, the tilt of his heavily lashed eyes and the slant of his cheekbones.
    Joseph Peck was a beautiful woman.
    Just as Lucca had told me that night when it all came tumbling out, ‘ He could pass. You might take him for a girl – for a woman. ’ I tightened my hold on the feather fan that had arrived with the dress.
    Then from nowhere the old cow’s voice went off. ‘ I will return your brother to you . . . in due course. But whether you will accept him, now, that is another matter. You will find him much altered. ’ I was back in that churchyard by Ma’s grave staring at Lady Ginger’s white-painted face – her lips cracking into a sticky black smile.
    She knew.
    She knew how I’d feel at this moment and she enjoyed the power of knowing it. I heard a snap and something clattered to the floor. I’d gripped the carved ivory handle of the fan so hard I’d cracked it in two.
    I wasn’t aware of anyone in the room, now, just Joey in his elegant sea-green gown. A thick golden rope of hair was coiled and set high on his head, soft ringlets framed his pointed face, green tear-cut gems trembled from his ears and a treble row of glittering jewels wound about the pale skin of his throat. He was like some mythical creature, a mermaid or a siren – something alien, not my brother.
    ‘You are most welcome.’ He said the words softly and smiled. As he came close I could see a vein moving in his neck and a muscle twitching at the corner of his eye. He held his hands out to me – they were trembling. To cover, he clasped them firmly together and repeated my name, but when he spoke his blue eyes slid down away from mine.
    I felt my belly boil with anger and something sharp stabbed at my temples. I felt the skin on my neck and face flush up.
    You mare, I thought. You monstrous, unnatural, wicked creature, Kitty Peck.
    I hated myself.
    Of a sudden I realised how difficult this was for him , not me. I was so wrapped up in my own concerns I couldn’t see what was happening. This wasn’t about me, at all.
    ‘Kitty?’ The whisper sounded like a plea.
    For a second I couldn’t answer. I looked down at Joey’s tight locked hands and I truly grasped how much this moment meant. He was trusting me with his secret, with his soul. He was honouring me with the truth. In front of his friends, Joseph Peck was making himself utterly vulnerable because I was his sister and because he loved me.
    God knows what he thought I might do or how I might react. I thought then, and still think now, that it was the bravest thing I’ve ever seen anyone do. At that moment my heart nearly burst with pride and love for my brittle, brilliant, beautiful brother.
    I didn’t say anything, I couldn’t, there was something balling in my throat. The tip of my nose prickled and my eyes glassed up. I reached to take Joey’s clenched hands in mine and raised them to my mouth. I kissed them gently and then I looked direct at him. There were tears slipping down his cheeks too. They left a silvery train in the fine pearly powder that made his face gleam in the candlelight. I shook my head and reached across to wipe them away.
    ‘No need for these, eh?’ I smiled and suddenly caught him up in a fierce hug, burying my face in the scented lace of his