“I’m glad you stayed in your rooms, safe and sound,” he said. “The street is no place for someone so lovely as you.”
“It was no place for you, either, Aiden. An innocent child? You should have had a home, safety, security.” She shook her head.
He threaded his fingers through hers. “There were many worse off than I was. Though I admit I was on a path of utter destruction. Arrest or death was my destination, and I knew it. I didn’t care. I almost welcomed those ends, for it meant no more rainy nights in alleys or being chased by toughs.”
“How did you escape?” she asked, her voice trembling.
“I didn’t. I got caught,” he said. “I was in a tavern in one of the better parts of town, pretending to sell newspapers I’d stolen. Really, I was just looking for a mark. I’d gotten cocky, you see, thinking I could take from a toff as easily as I’d taken from a drunk in the rookery. I chose one. This dandy, or at least I thought he was a dandy. He was dressed nice and that said dandy to me at the time. But when I brought my hand out of his pocket, he grabbed my wrist.”
She lifted a hand to her lips. “Oh no.”
“Oh yes. I’ll never forget what he said to me, ‘That was a good pull, boy. I almost didn’t feel it.’”
Celia blinked. “I’m sorry, he wasimpressed?”
“It seemed so, butIwas terrified.” He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling every moment he described. “Especially when some others caught on and started screeching for the guard. I got dragged outside with the gentleman following, calm as you please. I was getting pushed around, people were yelling. Every time I tried to escape, someone else had me by the scruff of the neck.”
“And the gentleman just watched?” she asked.
He nodded. “Just watched. But as the guard appeared, two massive men who looked like they could rip my arms off, the gentleman stepped up to me and started asking questions.”
“What kind of questions?” she asked, clearly engrossed in the story.
And in truth, so was he. He often tried to forget his past, his story. Saying these words out loud brought back all of it, the good and the bad. There was something almost cathartic about the process.
“He wanted to know my name, but I wouldn’t give it. So he started asking me about how long I’d been on the street. Whether I knew how to read. He said if I was truthful, he might be able to help me.”
“So you told him,” she said.
“Hell no, I told him to sod off,” Clairemont said. “Excuse my language.”
“I have a feeling your true language was worse,” she said with a soft laugh. “But why did you do that? He was offering you an out.”
“But I was certain it came with a price. Why would I let some dandy have one over on me? That was my thought. I refused him, even as the guard got closer and my fate became clearer. And then they called him ‘my lord’ and I knew my goose was cooked. I’d get transported likely, if not worse.”
“You escaped?” she said.
“No, not at all. They were about to drag me off when the gentleman stepped in. He told them I hadn’t taken anything. That he wanted to handle it himself.”
Her lips parted. “What didthatmean?”
“I wanted to know that myself. After a bit of negotiating, the guard gave me up. Probably didn’t want to have to deal with whatever they had to do to put me away and arrange for everything to do with my punishment. I was turned over to the man I’d tried to steal from. First thing I did was try to bolt, of course.”
“Of course,” she said. “I would have done the same.”
“But he had me firmly and tossed me in a carriage, and off we went. Back to this palace in the middle of a part of London I’d never dared to look at, let alone go into.”
“What did he want from you?” she asked, her hands shaking.
His had done the same that dark night. He remembered every moment so perfectly, all the horrible fates he had feared would befall him. And then he smiled.
“Once we were at his place, he took me into the kitchen and his servants brought me food. So much food. I’d never imagined one plate could hold so much. I gorged until I nearly vomited. And when I was done, he asked me if I’d come to work for him.”
“As what?”
He arched a brow. “Well,thatwasn’t clear at first. I mean, there wasn’t any work he had me do, really. He made me go to lessons and cleaned me up. It took over a year before he told me what I’d be doing for him.”
“And that was?”
