My Lady Quicksilver

Twenty-five

Lynch rolled to the edge of the bed and sat up, scrubbing his hands over his face. Soft dawn light crept through the window and he could hear pigeons cooing on the roof above.

Panic surged through him and he dragged his shaking hand down over his mouth. So much he hadn’t been able to get through last night. And so much he had…

He glanced down, at the slumbering woman on the bed beside him. Rosa’s warmth lingered in the sheets, her breath shifting the cotton sheet that wrapped precariously around her, caressing the lush curves of her bottom. His heart stuttered in his chest. The memories of last night hammered at him like pinpricks of image shoved red-hot into his brain. Everything she’d admitted to, everything she’d said, those last whispered words he’d pretended not to hear… The ones that did so much damage to his heart.

He wanted them to be true. Wanted this to at least be worth it. But could he trust them? Trust her?

The answer to that was easy; if he believed that they were true, then he wouldn’t even be questioning it.

Lynch felt utterly drained. Judging by the clock on the mantel, he had only three hours before he was due to present himself before the court. His chest caught again, panic clutching at him with greedy fingers. He couldn’t breathe. His lungs simply refused to open. Reaching out, he grabbed for Rosa’s hand, felt her warm fingers tighten around his as she stirred with a soft moan. He didn’t want to be alone. Not this morning.

Somehow he sucked in a breath. It was easier, with her hand in his, but not enough. Lynch turned to her, sliding his other hand down over her bottom as he kissed her shoulder. Her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks as he kissed her, stole her own breath.

This was good-bye. Those dark eyes met his as she woke and then she slid her iron hand into his hair and yanked his mouth to hers as if she felt the need, the fury that rode him. “Jasper?” she whispered, but he didn’t wish to speak. Not now.

He pushed her onto her back and came over her desperately. The heat of her body drove away the last of the panic as he thrust into her with fierce need. Each soft gasp from her lips anchored him, fighting off the last of his fear. If he could protect her, if she lived because of his sacrifice, then that would be enough.

It was fast, furious, desperate. And when it was over, she smiled up at him with dazed eyes, one hand still linked with his, and those iron fingers drifting tenderly over his cheek. His heart squeezed again and he buried his face in her shoulder, holding her beneath him as he fought one last wave of panic.

“Lynch?” she murmured, shifting as if to look at him. “Are you all right?”

His throat was dry. “I’m fine.” Lynch wrapped his arms around her and shifted her so that her body tucked into the curve of his hip, his face buried in that glorious red hair. So that she couldn’t see him. “Go back to sleep.”

She brought their linked hands to her lips and pressed a kiss to his white knuckles. “I think I will,” she murmured, in her husky Mrs. Marberry voice. “You’ve quite worn me out.”

Her soft laughter echoed through her chest as he held her. For a moment all felt right with the world. He breathed in the scent of her hair, so familiar and yet so uniquely hers.

The minutes stretched out, each tick of the clock sounding like the clang of a jail cell. Rosa softened in his arms, her breathing becoming slow and even. He wanted to stay here all day. Forever. But the hour hand struck nine and he knew there was too much to do if he wanted to protect her.

Untangling himself from her body, he slipped from the bed with careful grace and made his way to the door.

He didn’t say good-bye.

He didn’t even leave a note, though he lingered over his desk for long moments in indecision.

In the end, they’d said everything that needed to be said.

There was a knock at the door. Rosalind lifted her head off the pillow, feeling the aching bruise of that fall into the orchestra pit. She winced, then realized she was alone.

Jerking the sheet up to her chest, she looked around, her heart hammering a little faster. There was no sign of Lynch and from the sunlight streaming in through the window, she’d slept half the morning away. Little wonder, what with the emotional and physical exertion of the night before.

“Mrs. Marberry?” Perry called. “May I come in?”

Scraping her hair behind her ear, she called out an assent. Her eyes felt tight and puffy. Vanity compelled her to admit it was probably a good thing Lynch had left early.

Or was it?

She couldn’t help feeling nervous. So much had happened between them in the last day, and yet not all of it had been resolved. He’d forgiven her? Hadn’t he?

Perry swept in with Rosalind’s green dress from the previous afternoon over her arm. Dark circles lingered beneath her cerulean eyes; she looked almost as poorly as Rosalind felt.

“Here,” Perry said, thrusting the dress toward her. “Garrett said it was time for you to get up. He wishes to speak with you.”

The abrupt tone of her voice made Rosalind’s chest tighten. They didn’t know. They couldn’t. “Is Lynch here?” she asked. “Is he…did he want to see me?”

Perry stiffened, her gaze darting to Rosalind’s—then away. “You’ll have to ask Garrett.”

Perry left her to dress. Rosalind made swift work of the gown and stockings, butterflies starting to tickle in her abdomen. Instinct—ever a curse—was starting to make her nervous. Something was wrong. Perry had been warming to her last night but this morning they might as well have been strangers.

When she jerked open the door to Lynch’s bedchambers, she found Garrett drumming his fingers on the desk in Lynch’s office. The fingers stopped, his gaze examining her with an obliqueness that wasn’t normal. One could always gauge Garrett’s thoughts by the expressions that flickered across his face. There was no sign of his usual, slightly self-mocking smile as he stared at her.

“What’s going on?” Rosalind asked.

He eased to his feet, white lines straining around his mouth. “Mrs. Marberry.” Those blue eyes were watchful. “I’ve been instructed to escort you to the dungeons.”

The blood drained out of her face. “What?” He wouldn’t. Not Lynch. Damn it, last night had to have meant something. She’d given him everything, until she was almost wrung dry. Unless…she had hurt him so badly that she had destroyed even the glimmer of affection that he’d had for her.

Garrett gestured her in front of him. “Shall we?”

She wouldn’t break. Not here. Not in front of Garrett or any of the Nighthawks she might see on the trip to the cells below. Her vision white with shock, she preceded him through the door, seeing none of the twists and turns they took. All too soon, she was standing in front of what looked like a pair of doors made entirely of interlocking brass cogs.

Garrett stepped past, his hands darting over the display. Each cog gave a click as he turned them, though she couldn’t fathom by which order he moved them. Then he stepped to the side and pressed a small button concealed beside the doors.

The whole display began to move, the cogs in the middle beginning to grind, then each subsequent cog turning and shifting the others at its peripheral until the whole door was a whirling rotation. A heavy clunk sounded within. Then another. And a final, dull throb that sounded as if it were low within the door. The cogs ground to a halt, and then the thin crack in the middle began to separate.

“A clockwork door,” Garrett murmured. “You must move the pieces correctly the first time, or it grinds to a halt and can’t be resurrected until the entire thing is reset. Lynch and Fitz came up with the idea. Nobody can get in without the first piece of the puzzle—and nobody can get out.”

The doors parted to reveal the inside of an elevation chamber. Rosalind swallowed hard and stepped inside.

“He has an extraordinary mind,” she replied quietly.

Garrett stepped beside her, then pressed the button for the doors to close. The boxcar began to move, the steely rasp of the heavy winch sounding above her.

“He has an extraordinary heart,” he corrected, shadows darkening his vision. “He told me who you are and what you had done.”

The words were polite; the tone held a core of steel however.

Each jerk of the elevation chamber reminded her that there was no way out. Worrying at her gloves, she tried to keep her breathing steady. Already little white dots danced in her vision. “Does he intend to speak to me?”

She could feel him looking at her, his gaze burning through her. “You puzzle me, Mrs. Marberry—or whatever your name is—”

“Rosalind. My name is Rosalind.”

“Rosalind.” He seemed to be considering something. “I’m not quite certain if you are playing games or if you truly do care. I thought you were rather enamored of him.”

She kept silent, despising the probing nature of his question.

He let out a low breath. “As impenetrable as a damned sphinx. I see. You don’t give a damn what I think of you, do you?”

The boxcar came to a halt, its doors opening to reveal another set of clockwork doors. Rosalind met his gaze. “Not at all, sir.” After all, she’d been hated and feared and worse in her time. She’d grown used to the sensation, to the thick callus that seemed her only form of protection.

Or had been once.

The only one whose opinion mattered wasn’t here.

Garrett turned several of the cogs in the door—she tried to watch this time—and the mechanism swept into a whirling, dizzying dance again.

“We don’t often keep prisoners,” he said, gesturing her through the doors. He wouldn’t stop looking at her, as if trying to puzzle out some mystery. “Only the five of us who make up Lynch’s Hand know of the existence of this one—and have the code to the doors.”

“Are you trying to suggest that there’s no one here to help me escape?”

He stopped in the middle of the corridor, a row of gaslight’s gleaming on the shiny black leather of his body armor. A moment of surprise, then he bowed his head. “My apologies. I hadn’t realized that you don’t understand his intentions. We’re not here to lock you in a cell, Rosalind.”

“Though your opinion differs from his.”

“No,” he said. Again he seemed on the verge of saying something, then shook his head with a frustrated expression. “I’m hoping that I was correct. I’m hoping that some part of you did care for him. Here.” He stepped toward one of the cell doors. They were all made of interlocking clockworks.

Garrett set one in motion and stepped back to wait. Rosalind held her breath, watching the cogs glisten and gleam as they ground slowly through their transition. Whatever was on the other side of this door was going to change her life, she was certain of it.

The locks clicked. The doors began to part.

Rosalind found herself staring into a small, dark cell with no windows, a single gaslight shining down on the occupant within. The boy sitting on the single cot winced at the sudden brightness, his arm held up before his eyes. Rosalind’s heart dropped through the floor of her stomach. She knew him—knew him so well she’d practically been his mother.

“Jeremy,” she whispered. There were hands on her shoulders, helping to hold her up. Clinging to Garrett, she blinked, trying to orientate herself, but the world was still spinning and she had the feeling it would never stop.

“Rosa?” Jeremy lowered his arm, the color blanching out of his face. He jerked to his feet, horror painting itself across his expression. “Damn it, I wouldn’t tell ’em nothing. What happened? How’d they get you?”

She took a step forward. Then another. Then he was in her arms, and she was crushed against his chest, her hot tears staining the rough cambric shirt someone had provided for him. So big now. Tall and lanky and pale for lack of the sun.

“Oh God,” she whispered. “You’re alive. You’re…not hurt.” Clutching at his arms, she felt his chest and shoulders, dashing at her tears with her gloves. She couldn’t stop crying. He was real. He was there. All this time… all of the hours she’d spent worrying and searching and he was alive.

“What happened?” A hiccup took her. “How long have you been here?”

He shot a glare over her shoulder. “They got me just after the tower. The Nighthawk’s been hammerin’ me with questions, but I swear I didn’t tell him naught. He don’t come so often anymore. Only this mornin’. Didn’t say much but he knew me name this time. Didn’t figure he had you.” His hands caught her upper arms. “What happened? How’d you get nicked?”

“I didn’t. I’m not—” She looked at Garrett, who lounged in the door with his lashes half-masted over his eyes. “What happens now?”

“I escort you to the exit and you leave.”

“Just like that?” she asked, wiping her face. Surely there couldn’t be any more tears left. But with her fingers clenched through her brother’s, she felt it bubbling up again: anger, joy, disbelief… How? How had this happened? She could remember that night in the alleyway and Lynch’s reticence once he discovered her brother was a humanist.

He’d known.

Known and promised her he would do his best to give her brother back to her. No doubt he’d fought his own instincts, knowing that Jeremy had been part of the bombing and wondering if it were the right thing to do. Yet, he’d still given her what she longed for the most.

Her heart swelled…and broke. Despite her treachery, he’d given her the one thing she desired most in the world.

“Where’s Lynch?” she asked. “Would I… Could I thank him. Please?”

“He’s gone to court.” Garrett pushed away from the door. “I’d suggest we get your brother out of here. Quickly. Before someone with less nobler intentions than I realizes what’s going on.”

She hurried behind him, dragging Jeremy in her wake. “I thought you said only his Hand knew his mind.”

“I did.” Garrett ushered them into the elevation chamber. “You have to remember that he took us off the streets or the execution block and gave us a way to live. Not all of us think you should go unpunished for this.”

The doors shut and the elevation chamber started upwards. “Byrnes,” she guessed.

“Byrnes is our biggest problem,” Garrett admitted. “Though not the only one. Doyle thinks you ought to be whipped.”

“How fortunate that you obey Lynch’s commands still.”

He met her eyes then. “I’m still undecided.”

“Rosa?” Jeremy asked. “What’s going on?”

She stilled him with a hand. Urgency settled heavily on her shoulders. She had to get Jeremy out of here. Then she could deal with Lynch. This was all starting to confuse her. Her nerves—which should have settled—were stretching tighter. What wasn’t Garrett telling her?

Once they reached the ground level of the guild headquarters, Garrett ushered them down several dark corridors and halls. She kept expecting Nighthawks to leap out from behind each corner, but the halls were strangely silent.

“Perry’s keeping the others busy,” Garrett murmured, pausing before a heavy-set steel-bound door. When he swung it open, sunlight flooded in, revealing the back entrance to the guild and the alley behind it.

Rosalind’s spirits lifted immediately. She looked at Jeremy and met his astonished gaze before giving his hand a tremulous squeeze. She was free and Jeremy was safe. Jack and Ingrid would be so happy. And she—her elation died slightly.

She would speak to Lynch. Last night had to have meant something, didn’t it? She wouldn’t let this be the end of it.

Jeremy dashed through the door, tugging her after him. “Come on, Rosa. Let’s get the hell outta here.”

But she paused in the alley and glanced back at Garrett, Jeremy’s fingertips sliding through hers.

“Tell him that I’m sorry,” she said. “And thank him for this.”

“I can’t.” Garrett folded his arms over his chest and stared at her. This was what he’d been waiting for, she suddenly suspected, from the hungry, desperate look he gave her.

The hairs along the back of her neck lifted. Something was wrong.

“Why?”

That stare. As if it tried to peel the protective layers off her. “I promised I wouldn’t tell you. But I think you should know. There was a price for this, Rosalind. And he is going to pay it.”

“I don’t understand. What did he do? What price?”

“The Council gave him three weeks to find Mercury. Or he would share Mercury’s fate.”

The world went white around her. She thought she staggered, but she wasn’t sure. No. No! “When?” A whisper.

“Today.” Garrett was merciless. “It was him. Or it was you.”

And that was when she finally noticed the gleaming epaulets of the Guild Master on his own shoulders.