Her lower lip trembled. “Why are you asking me this now?”
Leonard tightened his grip on his fingers to keep his hands from her. He had a sudden desire to lift his hand and trace the corner of her mouth. But he was quite sure she wouldn’t appreciate him drawing attention to her small lapse of vulnerability. She was more like him than he had realized. She only hid it in a different way.
After a bit of an awkward silence, he continued. “Why do you need me on this little adventure?”
She chewed her lip, successfully stopping the quivering. Her head tilted to the side in a half-hearted shrug. “I told you.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.” She swallowed. “For protection.”
“You seem quite capable of that yourself.”
Her eyes widened and her breaths deepened, causing her chest to rise. But she didn’t answer him. Only stared—as if she felt cornered.
“No one should have to feel utterly alone in this world,” he said, filling in her silence. “Not even you, Honora Gillingham.”
“I—” She paused, taking another breath. “I do not need anyone.”
“Yes you do,” he gently insisted.
Her eyes came to his, unshed tears glistening. “No one would want me. If they truly saw me, then they would want nothing to do with me.”
“I see you,” he said, his words nearly a whisper.
Her previously tender expression morphed to steel. It was a strange motion. He hardly noticed her face move, and yet he couldn’t deny the temperament was drastically different.
“No,” she said, eyes glinting. “You see what I want you to see.”
Voices echoed down a nearby alleyway. First, they kept their gaze, the words they were speaking casting a spell over them. Then, as the shouts neared, the enchantment broke.
“We need to go,” Honora said, standing and holding a hand out to him.
Though he didn’t want to admit he needed her assistance, he took it.
With gritted teeth, he stood. The blood flowing out of the cut on the side of his face had finally stopped, but his entire body felt like it had been—well—thrown into a table.
“Lead the way,” he said, nodding to her and offering his arm. She took it, bearing his weight instead of the other way around, and hobbled, rather quickly, toward another alley. He turned to look at her, and she moved ahead as if she could see their location from a bird's-eye view, knowing the directions she needed to take like the back of her hand. Then, she turned to him, her brow scrunching as she watched his awkward gait.
“When you need a rest, let me know. It will be a long walk.”
“I’m fine,” he said, his words short, as if each one cost him something. Like his pride.
Slowing her pace, she glanced behind them to be sure no one was there. The voices had faded, which Leonard hoped meant they were heading in an opposite direction. “Hopefully we will come across a hackney on our way.”
He swallowed, a slightly metallic taste on his tongue. “I’m not holding my breath for anything at this hour.”
“Then let us hope you are resilient.” Pausing at the end of a path, she turned her head to look both left and right.
Leonard leaned to one side, resting his shoulder against the wall. “Are—” He took a tight breath. “You lost?”
“Of course not,” she assured him, choosing the direction to the right and pulling him with her. “I was only contemplating which way our adversaries were likely to take so we do not come uponthem.” Her breath fogged, wisping up into the cold air, dancing in the moonlight before slowly disappearing.
So went the next hour as they slogged their way through the alleyways of London. Leonard miraculously did not ask to stop along the way, but his steps were markedly slower than when they had first begun their journey.
“The Thames,” he said, sighing at the sight. “Thank goodness.”
Now, at the very least, they had gas lamps lighting their way, making it easier to navigate. And they might finally come upon some transportation to get them the rest of the way home.
