Viggo grinned. “What smug smile?”
Solomon groused about certain people needing to keep their noses out of other people’s affairs as they climbed the steps to the front door. Viggo chuckled and rapped on the wood with his knuckles.
Though neither would admit to it, Solomon and Ginny were most definitely in the early throes of some kind of relationship. Only time would tell whether it would become something more permanent.
That thought sobered him a little. Ginny was a noble, just like Evander, and Solomon a thrall, like him. Their paths tohappiness would always be thorny. It was something Evander and Viggo sometimes touched upon, in the intimacy of the duke’s bedroom.
Footsteps echoed from within the house. This was followed by the scrape of a bolt being drawn back. The door opened to reveal Emily Simmons, Tom’s younger sister. Her face brightened when she saw them.
“Mr. Stonewall. Mr. Barden. Please, do come in.”
Viggo and Solomon brushed past the young woman into a modest front room. The space was clean and well-kept, with simple but sturdy furniture and a small fire crackling in the grate. The warmth was a welcome relief from the damp cold outside.
“Everyone’s already in the parlour.” Emily gestured towards a doorway at the back of the room. She cleared her throat. “Katie is here too.”
Viggo caught the subtle emphasis on Katherine Stoker’s name. Emily’s skittish expression confirmed what he’d suspected for a while—something was developing between Tom and the young woman they’d rescued from Musgrave’s facility.
“How has Tom been?” Viggo asked quietly as Emily led them across the room.
The young woman slowed, her face growing serious. “Better. The nightmares are less frequent. But…” She faltered. “There are moments when I catch him staring at his hands with such a strange look on his face. And sometimes I see—” She broke off and bit her lip.
“See what?” Viggo prompted gently.
Emily hesitated as they approached the parlour. “It’s best he tells you himself.”
Evander and Rufus stood near the hearth, the mage still wearing his formal Met uniform from his appearance before the Parliamentary committee.
Viggo’s chest tightened at the sight of his lover. Even in the humble surroundings of a Whitechapel tenement, Evander looked every inch the duke; his dark coat perfectly tailored, his bearing unconsciously aristocratic as he drank tea delicately from a chipped cup. The epaulettes on his shoulders gleamed faintly in the firelight.
Their eyes met across the room. Evander’s expression softened almost imperceptibly, a subtle warmth entering his ice-blue gaze that was meant for Viggo alone.
Though Viggo wanted nothing more than to question him about his hearing before the Parliamentary committee, now wasn’t the time or place for that.
Tom and Katie sat drinking tea with Ginny at a small table near the window.
“There you are,” Ginny said drily. “I was beginning to think you’d gotten lost.” Her green gaze lingered on Solomon for a fraction of a second too long.
“Lest you forget, this is our territory,” Viggo said drily.
“Mr. Stonewall.” Tom rose, his tone full of gratitude. “I’m so pleased you and Mr. Barden could visit.”
Katie stood as well and smoothed down her simple grey dress. She was a striking young blonde with intelligent dark eyes and an air of quiet competence. A protégé of Lord Aldous Fairfax, she’d begun working at Hampton Shipping a couple of months before her abduction by Musgrave and his men. It was a remarkable achievement for a thrall, made possible by her exceptional aptitude for mathematics and languages.
Viggo took in Tom’s appearance with a critical eye while Emily served him and Solomon tea. The young man looked healthier than he had a week ago. Some colour had returned to his cheeks and the haunted quality had faded from his eyes. But there was something different about him too. An indefinable quality that hadn’t been there before.
“Our apologies again for the intrusion, Tom,” Evander said smoothly after he’d finished his drink. “We wanted to see how you were recovering.”
“It’s no intrusion at all,” Tom said warmly. He glanced at Katie with barely concealed affection. “Katie and I were only discussing Euclidean geometry.”
Katie flushed but didn’t look away. “Mathematics can be quite beautiful when you understand its elegance.”
“Miss Stoker has been helping me catch up on my education,” Tom explained, a shy smile crossing his face. “I never had much schooling as a child, working the docks.”
Viggo felt a familiar pang in his chest. He and Tom shared similar backgrounds. They were both orphans who’d survived on the streets through a combination of luck, determination, and the intervention of kind souls. In Tom’s case, his sister Emily had kept them together. In Viggo’s, his uncle Jack had found him before the streets could claim him completely.
“That’s very admirable,” Evander said kindly. “How are you feeling otherwise?”
“Well enough, sir. Mrs. Sinclair visits twice a week to check on me.” The young man’s expression grew conflicted. “She’s been very kind, your Grace. I don’t know how to thank you for?—“
