“Oh, la, la, the might of Command Street. Hear that Patrolman Joe? We are facing the might of Command Street.” The watchman smirked at his counterpart.
“Am shaking in me boots, I am.”
“Always apleasureto have such a fine gentleman in our midst, eh, boys?”
The tide had turned from the two groups fighting one another to showing a united front. The moment the inquisitor left, they’d be back at each others’ throats.
“Look around, Dresden. These are pleasures you’ll never have. A fine ale, a fine woman.” The man pointed to the couple in the corner, then to us.
The inquisitor’s gaze found mine and narrowed. Noble hooked his fingers into the meat of my thigh, brushing between my legs at the same time he pulled my earlobe between his lips.
I arched back and gasped.
The inquisitor grimaced and turned away. “You can have your weak drink and pox-ridden prostitutes.”
Outrage pierced my haze. I was neither a prostitute nor pox-ridden. The man who called me “a fine woman” rose through the rafters in my esteem, while the inquisitor buried himself six feet below.
The inquisitor sneered at the serving gal as she passed, and all hell broke loose.
“Don’t you sneer at Betsy!”
Noble chuckled against my throat, warm puffs of air hitting my skin before skittering away. He sat back to watch the fray. I grabbed my mug and took a few quick gulps.
“Betsy, is it?” The inquisitor looked our waitress up and down, his eyes communicating open contempt.
Betsy narrowed her hard, lined eyes. “Rumor whispers you have the cock of a worm. Hard to catch the pox with such wee bait.”
I spewed my drink. Noble patted my back as the pub roared with laughter.
“Just what I expect from aladyin this place.” The inquisitor moved to the corner and cleared the table there with a word. He scanned the room, assessing and watching movement the same way we were—just without any subtlety at all.
The token at my wrist warmed.
Noble pressed close to my ear. “Come.” He nudged me up and we snaked through the crowd. With the arrival of the patrolmen and inquisitor, normal pubgoers were forced to spill outside. Our table was swallowed immediately.
The inquisitor’s gaze followed us until we stepped through the door. The eavesdropping enchantment fell with the step, making me blink and reorient my senses.
Outside, Noble activated his seemingly boundless charm on the people milling around the street—patrons, pickpockets, patrollers, prostitutes. It took a few exchanges before I eased into the role, aiding him with raucous queries about the watch and inquisitors. Most had seen nothing that night. Some had seen the arrest. It wasn’t until well past midnight that we found treasure.
A beribboned prostitute, smelling of gin and sex, looked Noble up and down. “I seen another man, yea. He was standing over both of ‘em—the girl that got herself killed and the boy they arrested.”
I froze, my arm still wrapped in Noble’s as it had been most of the night.
“What did he look like?” Noble’s tone was casual, but tension vibrated through him as well.
“Hard to tell, yea. But dark hair. Clothes dark too.”
“Could you recognize him, were you to see him again?”
The prostitute blew out a breathy laugh, and curled a ribbon around her finger. “Coulda been you for all I seen.”
“Why didn’t you tell the watch?” I asked. Noble squeezed my arm.
“Cor, you sound right gilded, your highness.” She laughed at her own joke, making the ribbons in her hair dance. “Best get those airs gone. Though I s’pose some men might toss for it.” She eyed Noble again. “Maybe should get me some airs.”
My speech turned crisper when Ineededan answer—a hindrance—Noble wasn’t wrong about that. Though the prostitute seemed too far in her cups to care. I tried again in a more relaxed tone. “Why didn’t you tell the watch?”
“That ol’ Daise seen something that mattered?” She laughed riotously. “Gonna get back to me corner, unless you want somethin’ besides talk?”
