Whatever he held back, she was fine not hearing it.
She’d yet to tell him perhaps the biggest thread in this woven nightmare of a scene. That there was a man well over a century dead below them, and the society wished for her to reverse that. She’d not yet told him of the host of soulless people masquerading as attendants downstairs either.
She’d been selfish, complaining about her own ailment and the loss of her book before relaying all the ways in which theymight be in real, imminent danger here.The Risenshouldn’t matter nearly so much as those.
It shouldn’t…but it did.
She sat upon the bed, the lush coverings pressing against her as she sank into the mattress. Her body begged for rest. But her mind—it couldn’t be quieted. She’d survived on little sleep in those last horrific days in Ghadra, and she was certain she could again.
Also, she had an idea. Something which began as a feeling when she’d stared upon it but had slowly grown over her mind like a mold. Riselda had been tied intricately into the plot designed to destroy her city. Though she could not be the architect this time, Lux was surer than ever her false aunt had formed more than one knot in this wicked mess.
She must find them and unravel them.
She must go first to Grimrook House.
Chapter thirty-six
“Thesebootspinchlikethe damn devil itself.”
Lux swung around to scowl at Shaw in the dark. “Shh,” she hissed between her teeth. Because she’d already told him—about what Kent had said regarding guardian’sleech—and he’d acted properly horrified. Now, it seemed he was more horrified with his expensive new boots. She eyed the brambles with unease.
The collector had said they could sense a person’s heart, but that didn’t mean they should draw even more attention by tromping down the path, complaining. Lux eyed the first statue and then the looming manor itself.Besides, who knows what else is listening?
She stalked farther down the path. Shaw caught up to her in several strides and bent to her ear. “You’ve mastered the silent steps, I see.”
Lux bit down on her tongue to keep from retorting.Why he thinks he is the only one good at sneaking about…
Her will was not strong enough, in the end. “I always have. You should take lessons from me. Considering it wasyouwho nearly exposed us with your moaning and groaning in your climb over the wall that time.”
“My climb…at the mayor’s mansion? I did notmoan.”
She snorted but otherwise didn’t reply. They passed the statue of the distraught Granville Grimrook. The garden appeared infinitely more uninviting in the late night. It hadn’t been inviting to start, but still, Lux was taken aback by the oppressive gloom. She adjusted the hem of her top, black to match the sky. She’d brought it along—that lace blouse she’d worn more often than not in Ghadra—though she hadn’t pulled it on once throughout her journey. It felt familiar to wear it now, but in a strange way. The rest of the ensemble, though, she was quite content with. Her skirt fell to her knees, blessedly short.
They passed by the melancholy Rosamund Grimrook. Then those she hadn’t memorized yet, but had dubbed the Miserly Lord and the Concerned Groom. More were too far buried in the overgrowth to discern, and she and Shaw came soon enough to the door.
Lux stepped up to it. The lamppost at this exit was unlit, and she could hardly see a thing. Still, she pulled the key from her corset. She glanced to Shaw, watched him nod, and said, “Why didn’t you change your shirt before coming to find me?”
A cloud shifted to offer the barest glimmer of cool light. It lit upon his features and the dried stain both. “It’s your blood,” he replied with a tone of appreciation.
Lux wrinkled her nose. “How morbid.”
He only grinned. “Put the key in the lock, Lux.”
She crouched and prodded around for it. The lock was there, she discovered, only camouflaged. The key was a perfect fit. And Lux, grinning with triumph, turned it.
But a click didn’t come. Scowling, she yanked it out and returned it. This time, she used more effort. Then she used both hands.
“Let me try,” said Shaw, coming forward.
Lux was loath to release it—it had been her idea after all: to use the key she’d discovered in her fit of temper that had thus unlocked her mirror. But she did release it. Shaw’s hand enclosed over the key in her absence.
He didn’t use force, but a gentle pressure, and all the while, he bent his ear to the thing like it would speak to him and tell him what they’d done wrong. But Lux knew what they did wrong. It was the wrong key. Of course it was. Otherwise, it would have been too easy for the pair of them.
The universe never has luck to spare.She huffed an irritated sigh when he released it. “Can you pick it?”
He rose and tucked the key securely into her corset, his fingers dipping beneath the garment for hardly a second. It was, unfortunately, all that was needed to unravel her. Lux pressed her eyes closed when he turned away. His tools were already in hand, and she needed to restrain herself.
But he hadn’t evenkissedher yet.
