Her lower lip trembled before she bit it. “Why can’t he have his turn here in England?”
“Because I want to go home,” Duke said, his tone gentler.
She sniffed, turning her face away.
“There’s a month before he leaves,” Matt said. “Plenty of time for you to get used to the idea, Willie.”
“Used to it? Ha!”
“Why don’t the two of you go out tonight and discuss it.”
Willie lifted her chin even further. “Nope. I told you, he’s dead to me.”
Duke rolled his eyes. “We’ll have a few drinks, find some trouble… It’ll be just like old times.”
“Not too much trouble,” India added.
Willie wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “I s’pose we could get drunk together so you can see what you’ll be missing. By the end of the night, I reckon you’ll change your mind about leaving me.”
Duke’s lips twitched as he tried not to smile. “I don’t want to get arrested, so we better behave.”
“Naw, no need to worry. I’m married to a policeman, so he can get me out.”
“Again,” Matt muttered.
Catherine gazed proudly at Cyclops. “My husband can also help, now that he’s moving up the ranks.”
Cyclops, however, didn’t hear her. He was too busy looking down at the floor, all around. “Did anyone see where the boys went?”
He, Catherine, Duke and Willie hurried from the room, leaving me alone with Matt and India for the first time since my arrival. India, however, was a little distracted by the disappearance of her son, until Matt’s fingers brushed against hers to get her attention.
“They’ve got it under control,” he said.
She leaned into him, a soft smile on her lips. “I know. Do you think it’s safe to have Bristow send in refreshments if Mrs. Bristow distracts the boys in the kitchen while we chat to Professor Nash?”
Matt rang for tea then they sat on the sofa, inviting me to sit on one of the armchairs. With the chaos of the babies crawling on the floor, nobody had yet taken a seat.
“You seemed enthusiastic when you arrived,” Matt said. “Does that mean you were successful at Hope’s library?”
I pushed my glasses up my nose. “Indeed we were. Oscar is unpacking the crate of books at his flat as we speak.”
“Anything in particular catch your eye?”
“Not so much a book, but a letter. Two, in fact.” I told them about the Scotsman named Kinloch who’d refused to sell a particular book to Lord Coyle, and the American railroad magnate who’d also wanted it. “It’s a treatise written by Scotland’s Lord Advocate, George Mackenzie, on the laws in that country relating to witch trials. He was an important figure at the time, and his work led to the abolition of witchcraft trials around the world. The book will be a worthy addition to our library. Your library.”
“It won’t belong to us,” Matt said.
India regarded me with those warm gray eyes of hers. She seemed to be trying to work something out. Indeed, she appeared to be trying to work something out about me. “That’s all very interesting, professor, but that’s not the entire reason you want the book, is it?”
I cleared my throat. “It’s the reason I want it. Oscar wants it for a different reason, as does the American, John J. Defoe. According to his letter to Lord Coyle, A Treatise on the Laws of Witchcraft and Maleficium in Scotland mentions the location of another text. That text supposedly tells of an ink magic spell that can give the tattooed person the ability to fly.”
They blinked back at me with twin expressions of disbelief.
“You look as skeptical as I am,” I said.
“You don’t believe such a thing is possible?” India asked.
I hesitated, carefully considering my answer. “I’d say the spell has been lost centuries ago.”
