Free Steampunk Carnival (Steam World Book 1) by Cassandra Leuthold Page B

of tongs to center a sausage across it. He squirted a steady, practiced stream of mustard down one side and handed it to Katya.
    “Thank you.” Katya hurried away with it, swinging out around the line of ravenous customers. She carefully avoided meeting Brady’s eyes as she passed his game counter. She steered clear of Magdalene working the front of the other food stall, simply noting the modest red hat and jacket brightening the corner of her vision.
    Katya stepped into the shadows leading up to Mr. Warden’s office. She pulled a small, folded slip of paper from the left shoulder of her dress and hid it under the plate. She did not listen at the door this time, well prepared for Mr. Lieber’s presence. Katya knocked a few times before she opened the door, finding the two men in the same places she usually did. Mr. Lieber glared from his standing position on the left side of the back office, and Mr. Warden leaned over from his desk chair on the right to see through the doorway. Whatever they had been discussing, it had left a thoughtful frown on his lips.
    “I brought you a snack,” Katya greeted him, passing through the front room. “I thought you might be hungry.”
    Mr. Warden waved his hand flippantly. “I don’t want anything.”
    Mr. Lieber snatched the plate from Katya’s hand before she could pull it away. She barely managed to hide the slip of paper in her gloved fingers as she closed them.
    Katya turned her back to Mr. Lieber. On the desk in front of Mr. Warden, a thick ledger lay open, column after column filled in with numbers by the ink pen discarded nearby. She rested her loose fist on the desk. “You’re not working too hard, are you?”
    Mr. Warden leaned his head back to look up into Katya’s face. His dark eyes shone with adoration and mischief. “I don’t pay myself to do nothing.”
    “How do you keep it all straight?” Keeping the note tucked against her palm, Katya traced her finger down the far left column of abbreviations.
    Mr. Warden’s demeanor tightened into worry again. “Why don’t you leave that up to me?”
    “All right.”
    Katya could hear Mr. Lieber behind her, slurping at the juicy sausage and muffling bun. She pressed the note into Mr. Warden’s hand and tilted her head to whisper closer to his ear. “Keep this between us.”
    Mr. Warden nodded subtly.
    Katya stepped away to leave the room.
    Mr. Lieber’s hard voice stopped her cold. “Miss Romanova.”
    Katya forced herself to meet Mr. Lieber’s gaze over her shoulder.
    Mr. Lieber sucked sausage grease off his thumb. “Tell those good-for-nothing cooks to buy some real German mustard next time. I’m sick of this scheisse .”
    Katya nodded although she had no intentions of helping him and let herself out of the building.
    Within an hour, Katya felt Mr. Warden’s fingers take hold of her elbow. She stood in the opposite corner of the grounds from his office, having reassured several ladies that the Kaleidoscope did not rotate quickly enough to render them ill. Mr. Warden had been bare-headed before, but he had put on his top hat to come find her, a clean, gleaming black. He guided Katya away from the crowd, further into the corner by the fence. Behind her, the Cannon roared as its cars raced and turned along the sloping, jet-black track. Katya watched the Kaleidoscope gyrate behind Mr. Warden, set on a raised platform so people could see it more easily. Eight color-tinted booths spun on a round disc which turned at a slightly slower pace. Excited shouts rang out from the passengers at irregular intervals, expressing everything from uncertainty to exhilaration.
    “You wanted to see me?” Mr. Warden asked, his expression solemn and distant.
    “Yes.”
    “Are you still worried about the death threats? I told you you shouldn’t be. I hired more security, and I haven’t gotten any more letters.”
    “That’s good.” Katya tried to think of the best way to change the subject toward what she needed to know.