“Do you want to walk out here,” Maxen snapped, “or crawl?”
“Fitz,” the man rasped. “John Fitz.”
“The solicitor Dagger brokered the rental deal through,” Drake spoke up.
Maxen nodded and jutted a chin to the water. His brother stepped up to free one of the Rollings arms, handing him the cup. Rollings gulped the contents down in one go.
“And how do you know John Fitz?” Drake asked.
Rollings inhaled a sharp breath. “Known him for years. Met through a mutual acquaintance.”
“So many acquaintances,” Maxen murmured. “Who is the mutual one?”
“Passed away last year.”
Maxen sneered. “And how does Calliope Turner know John Fitz?” What woman had a solicitor in London? Not his kind. Not unless she belonged to a world he despised.
“You’ll have to ask Fitz that.”
Maxen sneered. “Or Miss Turner, correct?”
The man pursed his lips.
Maxen’s fists clenched, and he stalked a slow circle around the chair. “If I discover you are lying...”
“I’m not! I vow I’m not!”
Drake made a sound like a half-scoff, half-snort.
Maxen stopped behind Rollings, fingers flexing. “What else?” he asked. “What else do you know about her?”
“N-nothing,” Rollings stammered. “Nothing, I swear.”
“Are you sure?” Maxen watched the man’s spine from behind.
“I’m sure, I swear!”
The man wasn’t lying. Even so, it wasn’t enough. Not when Maxen could still see her green eyes narrowing on him like a ruffled little mouse ready to scatter if he made one wrong move. The deliberate way she chose to answer questions, not to flinch, not to give anything away. Not when he kept recalling how she looked at him like she was the one observing him and not the other way around.
“She doesn’t belong in this world,” Rollings said in a rush, as though reading Maxen’s mind. “Too decent. Too...”
“Too what?” Maxen asked in a low voice.
“Good.”
Maxen’s jaw ticked. That was what bothered him too. Not what she did. But what she didn’t.
“I warned her,” the man babbled on. “I warned her about you—”
Maxen stiffened.
“—warned her about the beasts that rule Brighton. But,” he hastily added. “I didn’t give your names. Only warned her to be careful.”
Fury exploded. Maxen wanted to throttle the damn man.
“Maxen,” Drake warned. “Don’t.”
Damnation! The only reason he managed to restrain every urge to beat Rollings into the floor was due to that last part. He hadn’t given their names.
