“And what offer is that?” Mr. Kent asked, unable to resist.
“I invited him to India to help me rid it of all the Englishmen,” Miss Rao answered with a frown. “If I keep doing this alone, I’ll only be deemed a villain like your deadly friend, so I need many others. The rest of you may come if you must. Except you, truthseeker.”
An angry growl of thunder shook the sky.
“Well, all this noise must have woken a person or two. We should probably leave,” Mr. Kent said, hurrying to William’s carriage.
We settled ourselves in, sharing smiles at a job well done. A pleasant silence reigned for a moment, before Mr. Kent found the courage to speak again and clapped his hands. “So, Miss Rao has her very good plan that I will not ask anything more about. What about you, Miss Chen?” he asked.
She shrugged, of course, but looked out the window thoughtfully. “Find my family in New York, I think. I’d like to see my brother. Want to come visit?”
“Ah, I’ve heard horrible stories of deceit and debauchery from there. It sounds lovely,” Mr. Kent said. His eyes slid toward Laura and Emily. “But I don’t believe I can quite destroy my family’s name yet.”
“Laura and I have decided to never marry,” Emily announced. “Maybe that will help.”
Mr. Kent nodded at her gratefully.
“We are going to be spinsters!” Laura agreed, like it was the naughtiest word she knew. “And grow old together as the best of friends. We shall have five puppies.”
Mr. Kent was looking rather skeptical but admitted grudgingly, “I should like to see my stepmother’s house overrun with muddy dogs.”
“Oh! Can you give the house to Mrs. Tuffins?” Laura asked, bright eyed and overflowing. “She would take such good care of it. And we can all live together!”
Mr. Kent fixed her with a thoughtful look. “Now that’s an idea, Kit.…”
The rest of the drive passed merrily, with everyone batting around ideas for the future—places to travel, ways to make Mr. Kent even more disreputable. But I found myself growing anxious the closer we got, the lighter the sky grew. It was almost time, finally.
My thoughtful sister seemed to be well aware of that. When our carriage rolled to a stop at Sebastian’s country estate, dawn breaking lightly over the trees, Rose came out to meet us, bleary eyed and wrapped in a blanket.
“How did it go?” she asked.
“Well, I think everything is settled,” I said, “given what our most pressing concerns are now.…”
Behind me, Mr. Kent and Miss Chen were loudly arguing about whether blackmail or the destruction of buildings was more satisfying and Mr. Adeoti was offering to settle the matter by experiencing both with his power.
“Perfect,” she said, a true smile settling peacefully on her face. She reached one arm out of her blanket and pulled mine in under it. “His powers should be low enough now. Shall we go visit him?”
“Yes,” I said, holding tightly.
“Miss Wyndham!” Mr. Kent called after me. “Don’t forget to tell Mr. Braddock that he is back to owing me his life!”
“I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to hear that,” I replied.
“Who wouldn’t want an excuse to keep me in their life?” Mr. Kent asked.
There were a couple replies from the group that made Mr. Kent frown regretfully over asking the rhetorical question, but my honest response—“I couldn’t possibly imagine.”—seemed to help.
He looked at me speculatively for a few heartbeats, his warm eyes sparkling with the sunrise, lips smirking. Then he turned smartly back to the house, catching Laura around the waist and hoisting her off her feet, sending into her a fit of giggles and shrieks as they went inside.
Rose’s hand was warm on my arm, and she was quiet as we slipped away, heading out to the parson’s cottage. The morning dew dampened our skirts as we climbed the rolling hills. The air was warm, and flowers were beginning to open their buds as the sun called to them. The thought of spring sent a reflexive shudder through me. A new London Season would be starting soon.
“I wonder what Mother would say about the coming Season,” I said. “After all this.”
Rose gave me a sad smile. “I believe she’d be rejoicing over arranging the match between you and Mr. Braddock.”
“Oh yes, she’d take full credit for it,” I said, feeling a pang of sadness that I’d never get to argue with her over that. “And she’d be making big plans for your debut.”
“I don’t think she’d have planned for my choice of suitor,” Rose said. “Or what I want to do.”
“Medical school?” I asked.
Rose shook her head. “No, maybe one day, but … well, Catherine and I have been thinking about setting up a … a sanctuary, of sorts, with Mr. Adeoti. We thought it could even be … something of a place powered people can visit for some peace. A second home in London. We want to speak to Mrs. Tuffins and see if she would like to live there with us. We owe her a house, after all.”
“Mr. Kent may be in the middle of offering her his home, but it’s a wonderful idea,” I said. “But what about … your worries about … Catherine?”
Rose gave me one burning look, then lowered her eyes. “Well, I talked to Mr. Adeoti about Mr. Jarsdel’s lost love for me. He suspects my powers’ effects could have properties like Mr. Braddock’s. They likely wear off when I’m away from someone longer than I’m with them.”
I stopped walking. “So … if you’re with someone for a day and then you leave for a day, they return to normal?”
Rose nodded hesitantly. “At least I hope so. Catherine is going to go stay with her parents for a while. And when she returns … if I could know, could really know if someone … felt something for me, not as a part of my powers, well. Then maybe…” She trailed off, but the light didn’t leave her yet.
I hugged her to my side, hoping it was true. God, I hoped it was true. Rose deserved it. She deserved to have the life and home she wanted.
I finally let go of her, letting her breathe again. “I think it good that one of us will stay here.” Only as I said it did I realize that I would not remain in London, in England.
She did not protest as I expected. Just sighed and gave me a sidelong look. “I always thought London was too small for you.”
“Yes, tiny city, pathetic, really,” I said.
We resumed our walking, and after a few minutes we finally made it to a small cottage nestled by a stream. It looked abandoned, tall grass and ivy half covering it. I felt suddenly shy, and Rose gave me an amused look before stepping forward and knocking solidly on the front door.
“Mr. Braddock?”
No response. She knocked again, louder. My heart beating, I pushed the door open and found the reason for the silence. The room was empty, the bed in disarray, and the window open, curtains swaying in the breeze. Sebastian had run away again.
“I am going to kill him,” I growled. “And then I’m going to somehow heal him and kill him again.”
“Ev, don’t be hasty—” Rose said.
“Where’s my dagger fan?” I asked.
“It’s … right here,” Sebastian’s voice called from behind us.
He was coming from the stream, soaking wet, the dagger in one hand, a shirt in the other. He was naked to the waist and very suddenly aware of that fact upon seeing our expressions. My mouth was open, but I was entirely unable to shut it. A sunlit, bare-chested, and wounded Sebastian was too much for me, and he seemed to realize it. He muttered an apology and gently eased his shirt on, which got rather wet and clingy in the process, doing little to help his indecent appearance once it was on.
The entire sight made it difficult to figure out what to do with my words, hands, life, and even anger, but it had to go somewhere. “You! You-you shouldn’t be out of bed … cleaning things!” I threw my hands up wildly, aware that I needed to find some control over myself.
He frowned. “I needed to wash up. I was careful with my woun—”
“I thought you ran away!” I said.