Someone caught him by the coat. “Bex, the place is about to fall in. That man is already lost.”
They’d killed another one.
Another man had died, and Arthur couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t breathe. He coughed on foul air and drowned in the sense of loss.
Phineas shook Bex hard. He was the ghost following him. “Come out of it, man. You’re in shock.”
“Not on theZhonda.”
He shook Arthur again. “You’re playing a role, or you’ve hit your head. You’re not on a boat. You’re at the warehouse on the Lower Thames.”
Angered, he punched at Phineas. “It’s a trick. You’ll say anything. But I saw the cargo hull. I saw the men chained in there. I won’t let you kill any more.”
Arthur turned back to the fallen man pinned by debris. He clawed at the beam. Char broke free and flaked in his hands.
“Bex, you have to go.” This new voice sounded loud and strong behind him. Not a ghost. A woman’s cry. It wound its way to his heart and made it beat faster. “But the men?”
“Bex. I love you. I’ll die with you, then. If I can’t convince you to come out, then I won’t go, either. It’s Ester, Bex. Whatever dark place you are, come back to me. You never wanted me hurt. Save me, save you.”
Arthur came to himself. His wife was in danger. “Save you, Ester?” He scooped her up in his arms.
Phineas yanked on his sleeve. “This way, Bex. The whole place is going to fall any minute.”
It was the reporter, the one who’d been a pest, the one whose life he’d saved at the park. He wanted to turn back, but there was nothing but flames, the stench of choking death coming to take Ester. Arthur had to trust his enemy to get his wife to safety. He trudged forward.
Ester’s coughing became worse, but she clung to his neck.
The heat. The smell of sulfur and burning flesh almost overtook him before seeing the light. They made it to the doorway.
He set Ester’s feet down but turned back to the flames.
She put her hands about his waist and held him. “I can’t lose you, Arthur Bex. I can’t lose you. You want to save others. Sometimes, you have to save yourself. Papa won’t let his grooms leave, not until he knows you’ve come out.”
Bex looked at the man stretched out on the sidewalk and Phineas waving him forward.
Coughing, he took a step over the threshold and then another.
“Come on, Bex.”
Heart beating fast. The smoke swirling about his eyes. His fingers slacked away from hers.
The warehouse collapsed, sending fumes to suffocate him. He dropped to his knees looking for the sky. Air couldn’t get to him and smoke filled his lungs.
Arthur fell flat on the sidewalk.
Chapter Nineteen
Saving All My Love
Ester soaked in the deep copper tub. She was home in Nineteen Fournier, at her parent’s house, in the bathing chamber upstairs. The acanthus carving in the upper molding had been finished, as if to say,Welcome home, conquering hero.
But Ester was no hero.
She was a lucky fool who’d almost lost the two most important men in her life, two men she’d held in bondage, not forgiving them for things that didn’t matter.
She pushed at the water; the lilac soap wafted about her, relaxing her taut muscles, but her fears wouldn’t quit. Papa grew worse, his speech had become more difficult by the time they’d put him in his carriage, and her husband hadn’t yet awakened.
They’d cut away Bex’s shirt, cleaned a wound to his shoulder, and he’d just lain there, motionless.
