Forged by Desire

by Bec McMaster

  “Are you all right?” She’d been quiet on the ride over, distracted again. Those small silences might have fallen one too many times in the last month, but they’d been silences full of things left unsaid and swift little glances that each of them stole when they thought the other wasn’t looking. Silences that seemed thick and lush and full of what had happened at the opera.

  This was different.

  “I can’t help thinking that this is where they’ll display her,” Perry whispered, trailing her fingers over a lace doily on the back of an embroidered armchair. “It’s already like a crypt.”

  A stuffed parrot stared glassily back at him from its perch on some ornamental table display. Garrett silently agreed. The parlor was still, waiting. Full of polished furniture that would never see use until someone passed away and needed to be displayed. Even the ormolu clock on the mantel had frozen. No doubt someone had simply forgotten to wind it, but the silence held a deafening feel.

  The staccato of shoes echoed on the marble tiles in the entrance, and then Lord Keller appeared, the silver wings of his hair powdered and swept back from his forehead. His skin bore traces of rice powder and his lips had been slightly rouged, which gave him the appearance of something that had returned from the dead. One of the more old-fashioned members of the Echelon then, still wearing his Georgian pumps and silk stockings. Some of the older blue bloods did that, lingering in their pasts.

  Keller’s gaze raked over them. “Nighthawks in my home.” His lips thinned and pressed together, as if to contain something. “You’ve found her then.”

  So Miss Amelia had been missing? Why hadn’t anyone sent word to him?

  “My lord, I’m so terribly sorry,” Garrett said. “We discovered two bodies this morning at the draining factory, and Amelia has been identified by a contemporary. We would like you to confirm this identification.”

  Keller sank into the nearest armchair as if someone had cut his strings. He bobbed his head, pressing his fist to his mouth, unable even to speak.

  As usual, Perry looked uncomfortable at the sight of such a display. The butler hovered in the door, and Garrett gestured for him to find something alcoholic. He knelt and took Lord Keller’s hand.

  The man squeezed his fingers almost painfully, swallowing again and again. The silent display of grief lashed at Garrett. This was the part of the job he hated the most, but he did it, because he knew he was better at it than the others.

  “Here,” he said, offering a bloodied glass of whiskey when the butler returned.

  Keller forced it to his lips, coughing some of it down.

  “Is his consort here?” Garrett murmured to the butler.

  “She passed away three years ago,” the man replied.

  “Children?”

  “Miss Amelia was the only child. He does have a brother, though, in Kensington.”

  “Send word.” Garrett turned back to the grieving lord. “My lord, you mentioned that Miss Amelia was missing. Might I ask the circumstances?”

  The session droned on as Keller sputtered his way through several glasses of whiskey and blood. Miss Amelia, it seemed, had returned from a ball early the previous morning, made her way to her room, and was missing by the time the afternoon sun started to set. Keller had immediately set his people to searching for her, fearing the worst. Assassinations or kidnappings were not uncommon among the Echelon. They were practically expected, in order to further one’s family name or House. And Lord Keller couldn’t fathom his shy daughter sneaking out of her own volition.

  “Her relationship with the Earl of Brumley was cordial?” Garrett asked.

  Keller looked up. “Brumley? Of course. Brumley would never have lifted a hand against her.”

  They’d have to confirm that—and Brumley’s whereabouts. Perry began shifting restlessly. Garrett glanced at her and she tipped her chin up.

  He nodded. Go.

  Perry excused herself to search the debutante’s room, while Garrett began making a list of those who might be enemies of Lord Keller and his House.

  ***

  “Well?” Garrett demanded, strolling along the footpath in Mayfair with his hands in the pockets of his leather great cloak and a bowler hat perched cockily on his head.

  He could have been any one of the blue blood nobility on the streets here. Others barely gave him a glance as they hurried about their business. Perry was a different tale. Eyes caught hers and skittered away, then back with a slight widening as they recognized her gender and the body armor she wore.

  How ironic that in the world of the Echelon, a man like Garrett, born to streets far to the east of here, fit in, while she, who had been born onto silk sheets, did not. He was a damned chameleon, mingling with every level of society as if he belonged, an ability she’d never owned. Indeed, she’d never felt as though she belonged anywhere—not the Echelon of her youth or even strictly the guild. She was always slightly aware that she was a woman in a man’s traditional role. Easier sometimes to fade into the background and pretend that she wasn’t there.

  “The window’s on the second story,” she murmured, glancing up at the gleaming white brickwork of the Keller mansion. A black iron fence guarded the house, with thick, lush roses twining around each bar of the fence. The alley that ran along the side of the house was cobbled and wide enough to fit a dray. “There’s no way a sheltered debutante like Miss Keller climbed out.”

  Garrett strode down the alley and looked up. “I could climb that.”

  “I never doubted your skill at entering any sort of bedroom.”

  He flashed her a grin. Her heart kicked in her chest like a mule.

  “Where there is a will…” Garrett reached up and gripped the downpipe, lifting himself onto his toes. Above him, iron squealed as a screw threatened to pull loose. “However, not using this.”

  “Most blue bloods could climb the wall. There’s no sign of entrance in the room, however. No marks on the sill or scratches on the lock. No dirt on the floor. No sign she slept there, either,” Perry replied, following Garrett as he turned back toward the street and the steam carriage. “The bed was freshly made and the sheets smelled laundered. I asked the maid, who admitted they were changed yesterday.”

  “So she vanished sometime after she came in?”

  “Or perhaps she said her good nights, kissed her doting father on the cheek, and slipped out the back while nobody was looking.”

  Garrett walked backward in front of her, his hands in his pockets. “He claims there was no one else courting her. The thrall contract was all but signed.”

  “Brumley’s old enough to be her father. If she had a younger beau, then he would be a secret.” Some of the games that young blue bloods and potential thralls played were carried out in secret, after all. She could well remember the little clockwork butterflies Moncrieff had commissioned to lure her into darkened spaces. A little code, just between the two of them during the initial stages of their courtship, when she’d been young and captivated by him.

  One would flutter onto her shoulder, and then he’d call it back to him with the beacon and she’d follow, slipping from the ballroom with her heart pounding madly in her ears… The thought made her toe catch on an upraised cobble. Garrett caught her arm as she tripped, and Perry grabbed a fistful of his coat, the nearness of his mouth swallowing up her vision as she staggered against his chest.

  There was an awkward moment as his eyes widened and they tried to disentangle themselves.

  The moment stretched out, Garrett’s expression strangely unreadable. Then he shook himself and graced her with one of those charming, insincere smiles he had in abundance. “Well, I’m used to women throwing themselves at me, but this—”

  “Don’t flatter yourself,” Perry replied, stepping away from him and straightening her long leather coat. The feel of his hard body lingered, igniting her own. Strike her bli
nd, but she was no innocent. Sometimes she wished she was, just so she wouldn’t know what she was missing out on. “I’m a woman of rather discerning taste. Whereas you have none.”

  “Taste? Or discernment?”

  “Both could be applicable.” Could he see the flush of red in her cheeks? Perry strode ahead. “Come. We still have to visit the Fortescues. They’ll be slighted by anything less than the guild master himself. Let some of the men do the groundwork.”

  “I’ll send Larkin and Hayes to question whether Miss Keller had a secret beau, one she didn’t want her father to know about.” His brow furrowed. “I hate it when you’re right.”

  “One of us has to be the voice of reason.”

  “What would I do without you, Perry?”

  Idle words. But they froze her on the inside. “Let’s hope we never have to find out.” This time she darted ahead and held the coach door open for him, forcing a teasing smile to her lips. “Shall we, sir?”

  “Only if you don’t call me ‘sir’ again.”

  ***

  The visit to the Fortescues was no less draining. Garrett straightened his coat as he hurried down the portico, Perry at his heels.

  “Well, that went well,” Perry murmured.

  Garrett reached out and jerked the door open. “After you.”

  A long, slow look from those dark gray eyes. A ridiculous little game, but it eased the tension in his shoulders. He needed her for this. To help him forget the horrible way Lady Fortescue had started crying, those watery green eyes staring at him in silent condemnation, as if he hadn’t done enough to save her daughter.

  He’d never been able to divorce himself from the burden of the job the way Lynch and some of the others managed, but today had been worse than usual, with every little fidgeting move Lady Fortescue made rustling her bombazine skirts in a way that prickled beneath his skin. It didn’t help that a part of him saw only prey when he looked at the poor widow.

  “Three days Miss Fortescue’s been missing,” Garrett said, frustration leaching out of him, “and no one saw fit to mention it to us.”

  Perry glanced at him as she sat. “Not unusual if her mother thought she’d run off with some man. I get the feeling Miss Fortescue was somewhat fast, judging by the list of potential beaus we have.”

  “Lady Fortescue asked for Lynch.”

  “Because Lynch is all they know,” Perry replied. “This transition period was unexpected, and you’re an unknown. That will change.”

  “Mmm.” He stared out the window.

  The next stop was the Earl of Brumley’s manor. It was a modest abode, by Echelon standards, on the outskirts of Kensington.

  “Ten pounds says Brumley’s involved,” Garrett murmured under his breath as he knocked.

  “On what do you base that theory?”

  “He’s older, she’s younger. No doubt she attracts the eyes of other young blue bloods… Besides, years of experience in cases like these often prove the husband figure guilty.”

  A frown worked over her brow. “I’ll take your bet,” she replied. “From what I recall of Brumley, I don’t think he had the capacity to do this.”

  The moment they were ushered into the earl’s presence, Garrett realized he’d been mistaken. Brumley was seated behind his desk, wings of silver lining his hair. The minute they entered, he pushed away from the desk and then maneuvered his wheeled contraption out from behind it.

  The craving virus could heal almost everything, but not amputation of the lower leg, it seemed. In the working classes, mechanical limbs were often grafted in place of an amputation, but this was the Echelon. Such a thing was considered to make one less than human, part machine and therefore with fewer rights. Brumley had evidently disdained such a mechanism.

  “Lost it in the Crimea,” Brumley said stiffly, noting the direction of Garrett’s gaze. “How may I help you?”

  The man’s abrupt manner spoke of years in the military, which was unusual. No doubt Brumley had been a younger son or cousin. Not expected to become earl.

  The moment Garrett explained what they were there for, the earl’s entire mien changed.

  “I…see,” he murmured, a distant, hurt expression crossing his face. Whatever he’d felt for Miss Keller, there had been affection and respect. The earl was no fool, however. His gaze sharpened. “Who?”

  “We’re uncertain as of yet—”

  “Hence your appearance here,” Brumley said. He turned and rolled to the decanter in the corner to pour himself a blud-wein. “As you can see, the chances of me being involved are limited. At the least, I’d need servants to carry me, and I could barely travel to the factory itself without a fully staffed carriage.”

  “Do you know who might have wished her harm? Or how she could have turned up at the factory?” Garrett asked.

  “Amelia was…not the sort to make enemies.” For a moment Brumley’s countenance softened. “She was kind. Perhaps too kind. She spent most of her time involved with her charities or visiting with me. Balls never interested her. No, I cannot even fathom how she came to be in that area.”

  “Did she know Miss Fortescue?” Perry asked.

  “Everybody knew Miss Fortescue,” Brumley replied dryly. “But Amelia had little to do with her. I cannot form a connection there either, beyond a vague association.”

  After fifteen minutes, they’d gleaned what they could from the earl. He saw them to the door of his study, then paused. “You’ll tell me? If you find who did this? I should like to know.”

  And in that instant, Garrett saw not a man in a wheeled chair, but a man who could and would take revenge. A hard man with years of killing behind him. Someone who might not have risen to the position of earl through happenstance.

  “As soon as they are taken into custody,” he replied.

  Brumley would have to be satisfied with that.

  The afternoon was clouding over as they left the building. “So Miss Keller’s a saint and Miss Fortescue is a sinner,” Perry murmured. “And there’s little connection between them.”

  “That he knew of,” Garrett replied. “Why those two girls? And why the factory? How does that play into this?”

  “Time to go back to the factories then,” she said. “We need to find that connection.”

  Five

  The rocking of the carriage lulled him into a brief sleep during the journey back to the East End. By the time the carriage disgorged them into the bustling streets near the factories, workmen swarmed the streets, heading home—or to the nearest pub—for the rest of the day. He and Perry worked their way through the costermongers and barrow boys, questioning them about anything they might have seen that morning, before meeting back by the corner of Craven Street and Old Bailey. It was cold work, and though he didn’t feel it as strongly as a human, he tried to breathe some warmth back into his cupped hands.

  “No luck?” Perry asked him.

  “Someone mentioned a creature prowling these streets that he called ‘Steel Jaw.’ He reeked of gin though, so I’m not inclined to believe him.”

  “Steel Jaw?”

  “Someone along the vein of Spring-Heeled Jack.” Garrett shrugged. There were dozens of so-called mythic creatures and devilish murderers prowling the stews.

  “Ha’penny for your luck, guv!”

  Garrett stopped in his tracks, his attention focusing on a brash young lad sitting on the stoop of a disused shop. The moment their eyes met, the boy jerked his chin with a wink. “Why, a rum cove like you, bet you’re sharper ’n a shiv.” He gestured to the box crate set up in front of him with three chipped cups on it. Swiping one cup out of the way, he revealed a bottle cap and then tossed it in the air. “Think you can guess which cup she’s under?”

  A second later the bottle cap was gone and the cups were in motion, dancing under the boy’s nimble fingers.

  Gar
rett knelt down, leather straining over his knees. “This one?” he asked with a slightly questioning lilt, tapping the middle cup.

  The lad snatched it out of the way, revealing the bottle cap. “Aw, strike me blind, guv. They says you gotta watch you Nighthawks. Here, again. A flatch, sir?”

  “You’ve got deep pockets,” Garrett drawled, reaching inside his coat for his change purse. He flipped a brightly polished ha’penny onto the top of the crate. “What’s your name, lad?”

  “Tolliver.”

  “Off you go then, Tolliver. Let’s see how good you are.”

  The cups started their madcap dance. Perry stepped closer, leaning over Garrett’s shoulder to watch. For a moment he almost forgot what he was doing, feeling her breath on the back of his neck.

  “Which one, sir?”

  “Hmm.” He reached out, hand hovering over one of the cups. Then the other. The lad’s eyes brightened but his expression stayed the same. He might have been all of eight.

  “This one,” Garrett said, picking the cup on the right.

  The bottle cap gleamed underneath it. The lad begrudged him the chink, and Garrett tapped the crate to say, “Again.”

  “You do know thimble-rigging’s illegal?” Perry murmured under her breath. “Why are you encouraging him?”

  Because he knew what it was like to have no other way to earn coin. The prince consort’s brutal crush on the streets dated back to Garrett’s time as a lad, when the prince had been nothing more than an advisor to the king, before he’d overthrown him and married the young princess. Humans became little more than cattle then, the blood taxes doubling, and even honest men forced to supplement their trade with dishonest work.

  Or children.

  Garrett tapped the crate. The cups moved faster this time, the boy determined. Any man watching would barely be able to tell which cup was which. Garrett won another coin. And another, disappearing them into his coin purse. The boy’s brows drew together, the world vanishing around them as he moved ever quicker. “And now?” Tolliver challenged.