And if I did the wrong thing, would one more sin damn me? I was already a ruined man.
I had been since I was sixteen.
Chapter 11
MARIETTA
I reread the note Gabriel had handed me as I paced the kitchen. Ferris was secure in a house hidden in Lower East Gildon. Safe. At least for the moment. He was liable to do any number of stupid things—like walking out because he became bored, or because he didn’t grasp the seriousness of the matter.
Though perhaps he did. He had looked shaken when we’d met at a hidden spot in Westerly Park, before disappearing with Gabriel’s men.
Gabriel had been strangely silent since Coroner’s Court. No quips, no barbs. He had held and comforted me, but his gaze had been strange and unfocused. It still was. And if I had thought him diligent and hardworking before, a new intensity underlined every motion. He was buried in tomes and treatises, laws and pamphlets. Notes fluttered everywhere. Timelines and dates, initials and locations. I’d tried to read a few, but if they’d been incomprehensible before, his shorthand had become a language unto itself.
We hadn’t discussed last night, though with the events of the morning, there hadn’t been time for tiptoeing, discomfort, or passionate declarations.
“Marietta?”
I turned to him. Another strange thing. Gabriel neverhunched. He held himself as if he were two steps away from seduction—as if at any time he could rise and have me begging for a kiss.
He still looked kissworthy, with his hair falling over his forehead, his green eyes intent on mine, his lips parted on the question of my name—but his body curled over his cryptic notes.
“Yes?”
“Stop pacing.”
It was a relief to hear him say something normal. I dropped into the seat across from him. “I need something to do. If you tell me what you are researching, I can help.”
I fingered the wooden token he had given me on our first outing. I hadn’t taken it off since. The comforting buzz of protection was addictive. Less restrictive than gloves, and less powerful, butbetter. More focused, personal. I had increasingly noticed similar plain charms in taverns and on the street worn by working-class men and women both.
Not always on wrists. Sometimes attached to cords around the neck, or pinned at the breast or waist. But brushing by a person wearing one gave the same buzz of magic. Comforting.Familiar.
And far stronger now. Both in how I felt it and in the way it resonated. A night spent shifting my understanding of magic, a night spent in his arms... The world vibrated around me.
He looked at the spread of books and papers. “Why don’t you visit Ferris? Make sure he is settled, remind him not to leave.” His voice was casual. The hair on the back of my neck rose. “I’ll have the carriage take you in a very roundabout way, just in case. You may want to tear your way out of the vehicle by the time you arrive, but I’ll pack a lunch.”
It all sounded reasonable. But how often had reason been my companion? “And you?”
His lower lip slid between his teeth. “I’m going to sit here and pore over legal documents. Nothing exciting,” he said, voice bland.
“Oh?” The air around me vibrated strangely, as if in disagreement. But he was looking through documents again, and I did want to speak with Ferris. To make sure hestayedsafe.
Besides, I trusted Gabriel, didn’t I?
“Find out where he was last night. If anyone can vouch for him, we’ll submit their testimony to Dresden or just publishit in the papers directly. Also, here are the dates of the other murders.” He handed me a slip of paper. “See if he can remember where he was on those days. I can send someone to your house to gather the correspondence records if he needs help with his memory.”
He tapped a forefinger against the scarred table. “I had Billy pay your servants and turn them out with the proper papers.”
I supposed I ought to be displeased that he had acted without asking, but it was what needed to be done. “I will pay you back. Thank you.”
His shoulders relaxed slightly, but tension remained. He looked at me through his hanging locks. “I thought you might be angry.”
The arrogant, supremely confident man I’d first met was still there, underneath, waiting to be unleashed, but something had muted him momentarily.
“I might. But there is little doubt nothing in the house would remain intact otherwise.” Which could still hold true.
