Then I was before him, kicking the box out of his hands without conscious choice. It landed with a clatter a few feet away. Grasping him roughly by the neck with both hands, I hauled Bates to his feet. With one hand, I reared back to deliver a blow to his face.
Thunk!
I registered the sound of the board that slammed across the side of my face before I felt it. White hot agony burned through my skull a second later. Before I could right myself, the board rained down another blow, this time on my side. I heard the snap of my rib before the pain registered with a great choking gasp.
Blood streamed into my eye from the first hit as I tried to roll over onto my knees. To do what—I hadn’t the slightest idea. Bates pulled his foot back to deliver a kick to the same ribs.
Air abandoned me. My head was screaming for air, but my lungs wouldn’t obey. Every attempt led to a choking sound that would have been frightening if I could think on it.
My vision darkened at the sides with yet another kick, this one to the stomach. And then I heard the sweetest and most terrifying sound in the entire world.
“Will!”
And then the blackness took her too.
Thirty-Nine
HASKET HOUSE, LONDON - JUNE 28, 1816
CELINE
I leftRycliffe Place fully intending to return home and prepare for a dreary whist party at some lady or other’s house. But when I rounded the corner that would take me home, I spotted Gabriel’s resting place ahead.
I slipped in through the side gate and found him much the same way I left him last. My fingers found my lips for a kiss before I recognized that I was not quite interested in offering that kiss today.
I dropped my hand with a sigh and settled onto my bench with the folder beside me.
“I’m unbearably cross with you right now. Did you know?” A warm breeze rustled through my hair.
“Of course you did. It’s been seven years, Gabriel. It’s been seven years and I’m lonely. I found a man who loves me. He adores me. And I ruined it because your senseless schemes are still haunting me. I have it right here,” I said, lifting the folder at him. “You ruined him. You promised me you were done with all of it, but you couldn’t help yourself. One last bet. Look wherethat got you. Banknotes hidden in a drawer for seven years. Was it worth it?”
I sniffed pathetically. “I love you. I wanted to find justice for you. I put William in danger too. He’s in danger right now, because of me.”
A little blue butterfly flitted over from the irises, surprisingly still in bloom, and landed on my knee once again.
“It’s enough now. I know, and that has to be enough. Because I can’t lose him too.
“So I’m going to burn these. Find some way to let Mr. Parker know they’re gone—I’m finished. And I’m going to beg William for forgiveness.
“Because I love him. I’m in love with him. It’s not what you and I had. It’s different, softer, steadier. But I’m different now.
“You died that day. You were the one who died, but I’ve been acting like I died too. I didn’t. I’m still here and I deserve to live. If that means the truth never comes out, that you never get justice, then so be it.”
The sun dipped below the horizon when I stood on spindly legs and walked over to him, then dropped the belated kiss on his stone. The breeze returned, rushing through the tree again, leaves chittering above me. The folder blew to the ground, scattering the documents every which way.
“You’re an arse, you know that?” I muttered to the wind as I bent to gather the papers and froze. My veins turned to ice.
Not a one of these documents were the ones I took from Gabriel’s bedside table. Instead, they were from one of Davina’s exploits. I took the wrong folder.
Surely Will or Xander had noticed by now. My plan lay in shambles at my feet. Neither of them would let it rest, I was certain.
Picking up the pages, I had every intention of yelling at Gabriel more when I heard the distinctive two-note chirp of the great tit.
He flew at me, squawking his song with greater urgency than I’d ever known. He flitted around me, agitated. His circles constricted tighter and tighter until he was right in front of my face.
Then he flitted away, darting back to check on me, and flitting toward the gate once more.
The chirps, so frantic, so repetitive, began to form a single word.
