Captain Blair pinched the bridge of his nose. “No, you see it doesn’t matter. This isn’t…I need something more concrete if I’m going to bring this up to the commissioner. Parliament believes Graves to be one of their peers. They were already questioning my suspicions and I’ve technically been ordered to‘stand down.’ There’re ordinances I have to tip-toe around and warrants and—”
“Graves suspects we have this information. He might already be covering his tracks,” Devin said.
The Captain chewed on his tongue, concentrating on the board of clues, all leading to nowhere. “Or…” He turned on his heel, a smile that was both sinister and overjoyed distorted his handsome features. “Youare not bound by red tape.”
“What are you playing at, Blair?” Devin crossed his arms, obviously knowing the Captain well enough to piece together his intentions faster than her.
“If you are telling the truth, then time is of the essence. Even with this, I can hardly organize any sort of retaliation before Graves has ample time to destroy evidence. It could be days if I’m lucky, weeks if I’m not.”
“We don’t have that long—” Miranda started and The Captain’s manic eyes turned on her.
“No. We don’t have long at all. But if I had a reason to storm the building before Graves could bury the evidence, some…solid, unquestionable catalyst that would force my hand? Let’s say, two civilians were caught up in this mess, snooping where their noses didn’t belong, and somehow ended up way over their heads. In fact, they are attacked by the very monster they hoped to uncover. And what am I to do when they call on the Watchmen for aid?”
“You’re not using us as bait—”
“We’d be the perfect bait—”
Miranda met Devin’s eyes and she saw his refusal clearly. ‘This was too dangerous, they could get hurt, there was no telling what awaited them if they went inside.’ She could hear the tirade of reasons not to do this, but it didn’t matter if the reasons were valid, it wasn’t what was right. She would go alone if she had to.
“I can give you a moment, if needed,” Captain Blair said, and a glare from Devin had him retreating into the hall, shutting the door behind him.
Devin’s hand hovered near his mouth, worry radiating off him. “I’ll do it alone. There’s no reason for you to be—” He huffed as her chin started to rise, like he knew he already lost. “Fine. Together.”
“You know as well as I do thatweneed to do this. It’s your chance to get Graves and make it look like an accident or self-defense. You could get your revenge and avoid hanging for it.”
“And what about you? Is your sister still set to marry that leech?” Miranda didn’t respond, but that was answer enough. “Then why continue with the charade?”
Miranda worked her lip between her teeth, suddenly nervous. There was something about his eyes that clutched at her heart, like he was asking because his life hinged on her answer.
“I…I wanted to see this through.”
He looked away, withdrawing. “Ah. That tracks, I suppose.”
She set her hand on his cheek and forced him to turn back, to meet her eyes instead of retreat. “And, I was hoping you’d come to your senses.”
He said nothing, just breathed and leaned a fraction further into her touch.
“As you said, we work pretty well together.” She kissed him quickly, blushing. Though, why she would be blushing after all the parts of herhehad kissed, she didn’t understand. Dare she hope that this would all work out? That she’d be useful, to save the city from whatever Graves was planning and finally have someone who didn’t try to control her? Who seemed to admire her and delight in her harsher side? She had not thought a future with Devin was possible, but that was because she hadn’t wanted it. Not before.
Captain Blair opened the door. “Time’s up, we got to move on this.”
Devin shook his head.
“We’ll do it,” Miranda said.
“Thank the Divine.” He shut the door. “It should go without saying that this plan does not leave this office.”
The Captain flagged down a passing officer—since his secretary had the day off—and sent for Rachel.
Rachel’s face didn’t so much as twitch while Captain Blair spoke, his entire body animated.
When he finished and he looked at her expectantly, her features finally softened. “Don’t get your hopes up, Gideon. You’ll be putting your friend at risk and there’s no guarantee it will lead anywhere.” The gentle probing of her words was the first time Miranda could see her affection clearly. Rachel cared how Captain Blair might feel, offered a soft voice of reason when it was clear he was too consumed in his plan to see beyond the details.
“Drake will be fine, he’s been through worse.” The Captain waved her concern away, but Miranda watched the fear fill Rachel’s eyes, how her gaze lingered on the back of Captain Blair’s head while he stampeded through his thoughts unaware.
Devin’s fingers intertwined with Miranda’s, squeezing gently and she wasn’t sure if he was trying to comfort her or himself. She leaned so that her weight pressed into his side, but only barely, hopefully not in a way that would draw notice. Although, with Rachel focused on Captain Blair and Captain Blair focused on his plan, she doubted they would.
“If anyone asks, you came to me with these accusations, but I didn’t believe you. So, the pair of you took matters into your own hands.” The Captain had pulled more maps from a shelf—which took several minutes of searching, though Rachel did not comment—studying them as he spoke. “You two will haveto find your own way inside, shouldn’t be hard. Not with upper class guardian training.” Miranda suspected he hadn’t intended to call her out in front of everyone, but she felt self-conscious all the same. Guardians from families outside the nobility went to a public academy for their training, and only for certain times of the year. It was not as rigorous or intense as her instruction had been.
