Chapter ONE - Weebly

place was empty. Ethan walked to the middle of the
room and called Janna’s name. After a moment, he
heard the scrape of a chair on the floor overhead, and
slow footsteps leading to the top of the stairway.
“Who that?” a woman’s voice called.
“It’s Ethan Kaille, Janna.”
The woman muttered something that he couldn’t
hear, though he could tell from her voice that she wasn’t
happy he had come. Still, she descended the stairs,
which creaked loudly with each step she took.
She wore a simple linen dress of ivory and a brown
woolen shawl wrapped around her bony shoulders. Her
skin was the color of dark rum; her hair, which she
wore so short that it barely concealed her scalp, was as
white as the moon on a winter night. She had a thin,
wrinkled face, and dark eyes that were as alert and
fierce as a hawk’s. As always, she carried a cup of
Madeira wine; Ethan had never seen her without one.
“Kaille,” she said, scowling at the sight of him.
“Thought you was a customer.”
“Sorry, Janna.”
Her expression didn’t change but she waved him