A thrill crested over him, a joy, an utter peace. But it was followed by heartbreak. She gave, but it would all be taken away, and soon.
“I love you with all my heart, and it scares me,” she continued. “I am so afraid of it, of you, of what you can do to me with just a look, with just a touch. And mostly I’m afraid because I know what I’ve done, I know what I am, and those things will steal any future we might have been able to make together.”
He pulled her closer, letting his arms come around her as he molded her body to his with a ragged sigh. She was right, of course. He might not be able to save her. There was too much at their backs now. But he still had to try.
He kissed the crown of her head, breathing in her vanilla scent, dragging it deeply into his lungs and making it a permanent part of him. “You said you didn’t take Katherine’s bracelet at the ball,” he murmured.
She looked up at him. “I would never do that. I’d never hurt her or my brother that way.”
“I believe you,” he said. “I always believed you.”
She sagged in relief and he buoyed her up with his strength. Everything about her had softened with those words. His faith meant something to her. She’d experienced so little of it in her life, given or received. He knew that was part of why she’d become what she’d become. He knew it was why she could change herself if she wanted to do so.
“But if you didn’t do it, that means someone wanted to make it look like you did,” he said. “They knew your secret, Selina. And they used it against you in an attempt to destroy you.”
She pursed her lips. “Yes. I’ve thought of that, myself. The same person who left my glove in Lady Winford’s room, I suppose, was the one who went further with Katherine’s necklace. Little trails left to damage me.”
“Do you have any idea who?”
She sighed. “There could be many people. A person I robbed, another thief who hates my infamy or wants it for their own.”
“What about a friend?” he asked.
Her eyes went wide and it was clear she took his meaning. “Vale?”
He nodded slowly.
“No, I don’t…I don’twantto believe it.” She backed away a fraction, though she kept his hands clasped in hers. Like she was afraid to let go. “She and I have known each other for years. I helped her off the street.”
“That’s how you met?”
She shifted and he waited for her to push back, just as she always had when he’d asked about Vale in the past. Only this time, she didn’t.
“I was gaming one night in a nasty underground club.” Her voice barely carried. “The bet was…unconventional.”
“Christ,” he muttered, trying not to picture what unconventional meant.
She shrugged. “I would win his money, he’d win a night a with me.”
He flinched at the idea she’d be so desperate as to make such a wager. Selina liked pleasure, he didn’t begrudge her that past. He certainly benefited from it. But this was something…different.
“I won,” she continued. “Hewas angry. And he followed me. He had me cornered in an alley and it was clear my body wasn’t all he’d take. And then this sprite leapt out of the shadows and bashed him in the head with a piece of wood she found laying there. Knocked him out cold.”
Derrick shuddered at the dangers this woman had experienced in her relatively short life. Things that had almost kept him from ever knowing her. “She saved your life.”
“Yes.” She dropped her chin. “It created an instant bond between us. I came to trust her. Enough that I told her my secret about The Fox. She has never come close to letting it slip. We don’t always agree. She believes her way is the only way, and she can be hard. But I can’t believe she would betray me. Try to harm me.”
“Selina…” he said, more uncertain than she was. After all, Vale had access. She had means galore to frame her friend.
“I’m her golden goose,” she insisted. “At the minimum, why would she destroy me and deplete her means of income?”
He pursed his lips. Selina wasn’t wrong, of course. But he wasn’t certain her faith was perfectly placed. “I recognize that you don’t want to hear Vale as a potential suspect. But if shehadbetrayed you, tell me, would she harm you? Physically.”
“No,” she said instantly. “No.”
That gave him some small relief. “Then I’ll keep looking into who could have done it,” he said. “But you must understand that Barber won’t back down. He’s riding for you.”
“As he should,” she said with a sigh. “He’s a good man.”
