“Ain’t no reason for me to stay among reavers,” the boy said, jutting his chin out.
“Fletcher, are you calling my word into question?” Kendrick asked mildly.
To his credit, the boy’s eyes widened in surprise. “No, guv.”
“Good, because I might have to challenge you to a duel.”
“Kendrick!” Genevieve exclaimed.
“Coo!” Fletcher burst out. “You off your head, guv?”
“No, Fletcher, I’m very serious.” Kendrick opened the door to the butler’s pantry and gestured. “Let’s discuss it together, shall we?” He set a calming hand on Genevieve’s arm when she would have opened her mouth to protest.Trust me, he said with his eyes.
Even though her expression was drawn and worried, Genevieve bit her lip and nodded.
It was as if the floorboards under him had shifted, throwing him off-balance. Hiswifewas willing to put her trust in him. Kendrick swallowed, determined to prove himself worthy of it.
Genevieve wanted the boy safe. But safety was not what Fletcher wanted most. So they would have to meet him where he was.
To Fletcher, Kendrick said, “If you want to have this conversation in front of the kitchen staff, we can, but I thought you’d want a bit of privacy.”
Fletcher stuck out his chin and stalked into the room. Kendrick and Genevieve followed him in. Shutting the door, Kendrick took a seat in one of the threadbare armchairs and set his hands on his knees. “Tell us why you want to leave,” he said simply, watching the boy’s pride war with a yearning he likely had no name for.
“I’m better, and the tykes have their mum back. There ain’t no reason for me to stick around, guv,” Fletcher declared. His voice was firm and full of cockney bluster, but he wouldn’t meet their eyes.
“Our invitation isn’t enough?” Genevieve asked, clasping her hands together in her lap. Her knuckles were very white.
“Ain’t taking charity, mum.”
“You need to earn your keep? Pull your weight?” Kendrick asked. “What if I told you I had a reason for you to stay?”
Genevieve turned a confused gaze on him.
“Like what?” Fletcher said, grudgingly curious.
“We need you.”
“Nobody never needed me, guv,” the boy said in tones of deep scorn. “Most tried to get me to scarper double quick.”
“To their own detriment,” Kendrick said seriously. “For you are a clever, loyal lad. But it is true. I suspect we need you.”
“What do you mean?” Genevieve asked, looking from Kendrick to Fletcher.
Kendrick leaned back in the chair and said to her, “I think we need a connection to humanity more than we admit to ourselves. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that episodes of madness have occurred in younger and younger vampires confined to the Ossuary, but I have maintained my equilibrium.”
“I lived in the Ossuary and never had a problem,” Genevieve said, working through his thoughts.
“But you could get out…and you had the children and Fletcher.”
Genevieve’s eyes lit up in understanding.
“If we lose the tether to humanity, we lose everything. One of the ways to do that is to maintain connections to the human world—and human people.” Kendrick turned to the boy, who had followed his exchange with a frown. “Fletcher, we need you. You helped Genevieve stay sane these last few years.”
“I ain’t saying I won’t visit,” Fletcher offered uneasily. “But these houses ain’t for the likes of me. I’m no toff.”
Genevieve leaned forward, the lines of her body tense. “Fletcher, do you think they’re for me?”
“’Course.”
