It was late in the afternoon by the time the last photograph had been transferred to albumen paper and set in the sunshine. Charlie worried the paper wasn’t dry enough for the photographs to remain fixed, but at least they’d come out clearly enough.
They’d captured almost every man who had been at Fairford House at one point or another. The only men who had managedto avoid the camera completely were Hammond and Dalhurst, which did not surprise Charlie at all.
“We can pack those between sheets of linen,” Jonathan told Charlie as he brought the finished photographs back into the kitchen. “They should be safe in the time it takes us to reach The Zagreus Den.”
“That’s where we’re going?” Charlie asked, thrilled and anxious together.
Jonathan nodded. “I think it’s our only choice, though I have a hell of a lot of questions for Brutus and Titus.”
Charlie nodded in response. He had questions for the two men, too.
They wasted no time once everything was packed. Both of them were still in the clothes they’d worn the day before and both were in dire need of a full bath. They were both weighed down with bags and satchels as they slipped out the back door of the shop and cut through the mews to a side street, where Jonathan hired a hack to take them to Tyburnia.
As the hack passed in front of the shop, Jonathan glanced out the window with a worried look. “I have this horrible feeling in my stomach like this is the last time I will ever see this place,” he said.
Charlie reached for his hand and squeezed it. He had the same feeling.
Half an hour later, the hired carriage pulled up in front of the plain brick façade of The Zagreus Den. The driver helped them with their things, Jonathan paid the man, and they approached the Den’s ordinary door.
One knock was all it took. One knock, and as soon as the attendant who opened the door saw them with their arms laden with baggage, they were welcomed into the Den with open arms.
Jonathan flinched when the door shut behind him. “Never has a closing door felt so final,” he said quietly to Charlie.
“If you would like, sir, I can see to your belongings,” the door attendant said with a welcoming smile.
Charlie nodded subtly at Jonathan, certain the lightness he felt was in deep contrast to the wariness he could see in his master’s eyes.
“You may take these,” Jonathan replied, setting down the two cases he carried, then stepping over to Charlie to take the satchel from his shoulder. “This one, we’ll keep with us.”
The satchel contained the photographs. It was the only thing they’d brought with them that truly mattered.
As soon as their belongings were sorted, the attendant led them deeper into the Den. Instead of being shown to the grand banquet hall, where Charlie could hear music and conversation, they were taken to the same parlor where they’d had their last audience with Brutus and Titus.
They did not have to wait there long. Jonathan was in the middle of pacing restlessly and Charlie stood to the side watching him when Brutus and Titus strode purposefully into the room, Valentine following them.
Charlie burst into a relieved smile at the sight of his friend, but Jonathan rounded on Brutus and Titus, suddenly brimming with anger.
“You sent me into a viper’s pit without giving me sufficient warning,” he said, approaching them with angry strides. “Two men were murdered before our eyes and a third somewhere else. I’ve no doubt that Charlie and I would have been next.”
Brutus and Titus stopped a few feet short of Jonathan and exchanged regretful looks.
“So Charles has resorted to violence,” Titus said, sounding upset at the admission.
Brutus blew out a breath and lowered his head for a moment. “We always knew he had that sort of rancor in his soul.”
“He is your brother,” Jonathan spat, angrier by the second. “You did not inform me that I was to be a pawn in the middle of a game between brothers.”
Charlie wanted to go to him and hold him, if only to bring a shred of calm to his soul.
Brutus and Titus looked surprised that Jonathan knew the truth.
“We did not tell you because we did not anticipate your role in the war we are fighting against our brother to be as dangerous as it has apparently been,” Brutus said.
“What did you think would happen when you sent me to a place where politicians and industrialists were being courted into blackmail and where a young lord was being drugged and held for God only knows what purpose?”
Brutus and Titus exchanged another quick, almost triumphant look.
“Lord Fabian is at Fairford House?” Titus asked.
