“Because the second someone notices it’s missing, they’ll either change out the lock, increase security, or move the exhibit. I don’t want to risk that.”
Fletcher gave a long-suffering sigh. “I’ll see what I can do. Naturally, this couldn’t be simple.”
“Nothing ever is,” Kane said. He pulled out his pocket watch, grimacing when he saw the time. “I’d better get back to Zaria. She’ll wonder where the hell I’ve ended up. This place is a maze.”
“How’s it going?” Fletcher wondered, too innocently. “Has she stopped glaring at you yet?”
“I think we’re getting there.”
“Kane.”
Kane turned. “What?”
Fletcher shot him a meaningful look. “I know you love a challenge, but don’t convince her to like you. It’s not in either of your best interests. You can’t give her any of what you’re promising.”
For some reason, Kane didn’t think Fletcher was referring only to the money.
He kept his voice light. “I don’t think I’m in danger of her liking me.”
“I’m just saying.”
Kane gritted his teeth. It shouldn’t have bothered him, but it did. Getting people to like him was part of his unofficial job description.Zaria, though, was different. She’d known who he was from the very beginning, and Kane hadn’t bothered doing much in the way of convincing her otherwise. Why should he? They’d made a deal. They both wanted something, and he suspected they’d both do whatever they needed to in order to get it. Zaria Mendoza was temporary. Kane’s desire to win her over was borne of habit, nothing more.
“Well,stopsaying,” he said to Fletcher. “I’ll see you later.”
Fletcher touched the brim of his police-issue hat, a clear indication that he wouldn’t broach the subject again, but Kane didn’t miss his friend’s eye roll.
Now that he knew more or less where he was going, it didn’t take him long to find Zaria. She’d moved, but not far, her attention on an enormous telescope angled toward the ceiling far above their heads. It was at least three times as long as Kane’s entire body, shiny and intriguing. For a fleeting moment, he ached to put his eye to it. To see whether it really did allow one to cast their gaze into space and track the movement of the stars.
“You’re back,” she said as Kane came to a halt beside her. “That took a while.”
“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but this is a fairly large building.”
He expected her to snap a retort. To roll her eyes or make a dismissive sound in the back of her throat. Instead, though, Zaria smiled.
It was an insidious thing, that smile, and it stole Kane’s breath away. It occurred to him that he hadn’t yet seen her smile—not at him, not really. It changed the entire structure of her face somehow.
Kane thought of Fletcher’s warning. He shouldn’t let Zaria soften toward him, not with what he was planning. But he was, after all, a selfish boy.
So he gave a small smile back, a ghost of the real thing.
“What do you think of the telescope?”
Zaria’s question came unbidden, another thing catching Kane off guard, and for a heartbeat, he wasn’t sure how to respond. He was no longer thinking of the telescope at all. He was thinking of perilous plots and dangerous betrayals and all the things he wanted but didn’t deserve.
“It’s interesting” was the reply he settled on. He wasn’t about to tell Zaria how he’d always been intrigued by space—how he loved to be able to see the stars on those rare clear nights, because they made him feel small, and lately he felt far too big for his corner of London.
Zaria’s gaze was fixed on a well-dressed man gesturing animatedly at the telescope, his voice a wavering boom as he provided a lengthy explanation to a middle-aged couple. “Itisinteresting, isn’t it?”
There was a sly note in the way she spoke, and Kane stared at her, hard. It wasn’t often he encountered someone he couldn’t decipher. Some sixth sense told him Zaria was hiding something. But what?
Before he could settle on a response, an unwelcome voice drifted over to them.
“Hunt?”
Kane stiffened, careful to react as little as possible. He knew who he would see even before the man who had spoken drew up beside him.
“Lord Saville.” He turned, plastering a grin onto his face.
