Page 133 of Heart of Iron

Casting a harsh look around the room, the prince consort ignored him.“Who was the girl?The one who screamed the warning?I want her found—”

“She’s my ward,” Barrons said swiftly.“Miss Lena Todd.She creates clockwork toys and jewelry and sells them to a clockmaker in Clerkenwell.She recognized that the automaton had been tampered with and cried the warning.”

Lynch said nothing as the young lord settled into silence, but he could read the undercurrents in the room.Barrons was protecting someone.The obvious answer would be his ward, but Lynch often found that taking the obvious path blinded one to the truth.

A scrap of material caught his eye.Black.And stained with blood.It was caught on a stud from the upholstery of a chair.

“You.”The prince consort stabbed a finger toward Barrons.“You’re in charge of discovering who tried to assassinate half of my court.And how they got into the heart of the bloody tower itself.And you…”

Lynch straightened.

“Find the humanists.”The prince consort spun on his heel, toward the door.“And bring me their heads.”

Barrons let out a deep breath as the doors slammed shut behind the prince consort and his men.“Well,” he said.“That went well, I thought.He wasn’t too concerned about who murdered Colchester.”

Lynch knelt down.Touched the piece of fabric.Blood stained his finger and heat swam behind his eyes at the sight of it.“They probably saved him the hassle.”

He licked his finger.Taste exploded over his tongue, the ecstasy of a thirst long denied.His mouth went dry and he had to force his body to calm.From the faint scent on the fabric, it had once adorned a woman.

“What have you found?”

Lynch rubbed the smear of blood between his fingertips.The lingering residue of gunpowder caught his nose.“A mystery.”He looked up.“There were four people in this room.Colchester, two verwulfen, and this one.A human.”

“What’s the mystery of that?”

“This one…this one was the humanist,” he said.“The one who fired the gun.”

And he would find her.