The room we’d shared as children was now in the same state as the living space. In place of the small beds we’d slept on, even after we’d outgrown them, was nothing now but a thin mattress piled with worn blankets.
Louis leaned against the cracked window frame, gathering up his hair in a knot on the back of his head. “I’ll take the floor tonight.”
I set down my valise and opened it with a flick of my thumb on the latch. I’d been careful not to pack anything too fine, but I drew out an old tunic of Noah’s he hadn’t wanted anymore and a pair of trousers. “Here. These might be a bit tight in the shoulders and hips, but I think they’ll fit.”
Louis took a tentative step forward. “You don’t have to do that…”
“I know, but I wanted to.”
“I don’t need it,” he said a little more firmly. “I’m fine.”
Heat seared across the bridge of my nose as I stared at the boy who was now a man. I hated recognizing myself in his stance—the tendons standing out across the backs of his hands from his tight fists, the height of his shoulders bunching toward his ears, the blank expression in his eyes, which were the exact shade as mine.
“I’m working the docks now under the name Francis Martin to save up enough to leave,” he continued. “Today’s off for All Souls, but…I’m making enough.”
I was relieved to hear he wasn’t using his real name, but my brows ticked up all the same. “Do they suspect?”
A few locks of hair fell from the knot as he shook his head. “No, she doesn’t really notice I’m gone, and Father…well…”
I would be surprised if I saw Father at all while I was here. We shared a grimace before I pressed the clothes to his chest. “Take them.”
After a long moment of silence he nodded, scraped and bloodied fingers closing around the fabric, and took a step back. He turned toward the window, slid it open and leaned over the sill. With a heave, he dragged a large box through and set it on the ground. It was covered in moss, a few vines even hanging from one end, and attached to a long line trailing out the window.
Louis opened the lid, careful not to let any dirt drop inside, and placed the folded clothes on top of the small pile of items he’d collected. A pair of shoes, a steel-backed hairbrush, a small bag of what I was sure wasoyista.
“That isn’t all of it, right?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
He shook his head. “No.”
I knew better than to ask where he hid the rest of his money. He took his time closing the box and replacing it outside within the tangle of ivy and bushes beneath the back window.
“Where will you put your things?” he asked, looking around the room.
“There’s no point. She knows I’ve brought a case. I’ll just keep it close.”
Tension rippled across his shoulders. “You shouldn’t have come.”
I sighed, crossed the room and wrapped my arms around his waist. “I know.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ralph twisted his hands together, his big body trembling with tension, hinting at a shift that was still a few weeks off.
“Do you want something to drink?” I offered, gesturing inside the house. “You’re more than welcome to come in.”
Though I’d known Ralph for over twenty years, only in the last decade or so had our acquaintanceship morphed into friendship. That was the reason I trusted him to take care of Adrienne when I could not. He was a beta with powerful Lycan magic that could rival an alpha’s on a good night. Or a bad one, depending on what side of it you were on.
Tonight appeared to be one of those nights.
He shook his head, copper and gold hair flying with the ferocity of the movement. “I am afraid if I come inside, I might break something valuable.”
“Nothing inside is valuable,” I corrected softly.
“Mademoiselle Valois asked for me to stop the carriage on the edge of the outer city.”
A soft growl slid through Ralph’s teeth in response to my hands fisting at my sides—a natural answer to another predator’s tension. In a rasp, he told me of her request to walk the remainder of the way. She had reassured him that she wouldbe fine. But he also described the pinched look on her face, her trembling hand as she carried her valise. My heart splintered. Before I could ask, he took a step closer.
“I followed her, of course. Stayed out of sight, but I made sure no one bothered her as she walked—but there were a few who would have, Eamon.”
