Sebastian waited beyond the light cast by the flickering oil lamp at the head of the lane. The theater was still closed for the summer, but rehearsals for the upcoming season were already under way. The dark street rang with the laughter of the departing troupe.
He kept his gaze on the stage door.
The night was warm, the wind a soft caress scented by oranges and a thousand bittersweet memories. He heard the stage door open, watched a woman and two men walk toward the street. The woman paused for a moment beneath the streetlight, caught up in conversation with her fellow players. The dancing flame from the oil lamp glinted on the auburn highlights in her thick, dark hair and flickered seductively over the familiar, beloved planes of her face. She had her head thrown back, lost in laughter at one of her friends remarks. Then she stilled suddenly, her head turning, her eyes widening in a useless attempt to probe the darkness. And Sebastian knew she had sensed his presence and that the bond between them that had existed all these years, while weakened, had not broken.
Her name was Kat Boleyn, and she was the most celebrated actress of the London stage. Once, she had been the love of Sebastian s life. Once, he had thought to grow old with her at his side, and to hell with the shocked mutterings of society and the outraged opposition of his father of the Earl of Hendon, he reminded himself. Then an ugly tangle of lies and an even uglier truth had intervened. Now Kat was married to a flamboyant ex-privateer named Russell Yates, a man with a secret, forbidden passion for his own gender and shadowy ties to the smugglers and agents who plied the channel between England and Napol on s France.
Sebastian watched her say good night to her friends and walk up to him. She wore an ivory silk cloak thrown over her shoulders, the hood thrust back in a way that framed her face. He said, You shouldn t walk alone at night.
Because of these latest murders, you mean? She turned to stroll beside him up Hart Street. The pavement was crowded with richly harnessed horses and elegant carriages, their swaying lamps filling the air with the scent of hot oil. Gibson tells me you have involved yourself in the investigation. He watched her eyebrows pinch together in a worried frown as she said it, for she knew him well. She knew the price he paid with each descent into the dark world of fear and hatred, greed and despair, that inevitably swirled around a murder. Yet even though she knew, intellectually, what drove him to it, she could never quite understand his need to do what he did.
He said, Don t worry about me.
A smile lit her eyes. Yet you are free to worry about me? The smile faded as she paused to turn toward him, her gaze searching. She had deeply set eyes, thickly lashed and of a uniquely intense blue that she had inherited from her natural father, the Earl of Hendon. And every time he looked into them, he knew a searing pain that was like a dagger thrust to the heart.
She said, You re not here for the sake of auld lang syne, Sebastian; what is it?
I m told Yates has dealings with a tavern owner named Jamie Knox.
She sucked in a quick breath that jerked her chest. It was an unusual betrayal for an actress who could normally control her every look, every tone, her every word and movement.
He said, Obviously, you know Knox as well. What can you tell me about him?
Very little, actually. He is an intensely private person, cold and dangerous. Most people who know him are afraid of him. It s an aura he cultivates.
You met him through Yates?
Yes. She hesitated, then asked, He is involved in this murder? How?
He was seen arguing with Gabrielle Tennyson several days before she was killed. He claims it was over a Roman mosaic.
You don t believe him?
No. But I don t understand how he fits into anything else I ve learned, either.
I ll see what I can find out. The door to a tavern near the corner opened, spilling light and voices and laughter into the street. Has Knox seen you?
Why do you ask?
Her gaze met his. You know why.
They had reached the arch where her carriage awaited. Sebastian said, A few weeks ago, I met a man in Chelsea who told me I reminded him of a highwayman who d once held up his carriage on Hounslow Heath.
You believe that was Knox?
I m told he took to the High Toby for a time after he left the Rifles. I wouldn t want to think there are three of us walking around.
He said it lightly, but his words drew no answering smile from her. She said, I know you ve had men on the Continent, searching for your mother. Have they found her?
No.
You can t simply let it go, Sebastian?
He searched her pale, beloved face. All those years when you didn t know the identity of your father, if you thought you had the truth within reach, could you have let it go?
Yes. She did smile then, a sweet, sad smile.
But then, my demons are different from yours. Reaching up on tiptoe, she brushed her lips against his cheek, then turned away. Good night, Sebastian. Keep yourself safe.
He walked down increasingly empty streets. The sky above was dark and starless, the air close; the oil lamps mounted high on the dark, looming walls of the tightly packed, grimy brick houses and shops flickered with his passing. At one point he was aware of two men falling into step behind him. He tightened his grip on the walking stick he carried tucked beneath one arm. But they melted away down a noisome side alley, their footfalls echoing softly into the night.
He walked on, rounding the corner toward Long Street. He could hear the thin, reedy wail of a babe somewhere in the distance, the jingle of an off-tune piano, the rattle of carriage wheels passing in the next block. And from the murky shadows of a narrow passageway up ahead came a soft whisper.
C est lui.
He drew up just as the same two men burst from the passage and fanned out to take up positions, one in front of him, the other to his rear. Whirling, Sebastian saw the glint of a knife in the hand of one; the other, a big, fair-haired man in dark trousers and high leather boots, carried a cudgel he slapped tauntingly against his left palm.
Watch! shouted Sebastian as the man raised the club over his head. Watch, I say!
Before the man could bring the club down, Sebastian rushed him, the walking stick whistling through the air toward the assailant s head. The man threw up his left arm, blocking Sebastian s blow at the last instant. The impact shattered the ebony shaft of the walking stick, shearing it off some eight inches from Sebastian s fist. But the shock of the unexpected counterattack was enough to send the man staggering back. He lost his footing and went down.
His companion growled, B tard!
Watch! shouted Sebastian again, swinging around just as the second man smaller, leaner, darker than his companion lunged, his knife held in an underhanded grip.
Sebastian tried to parry the man s thrust with the broken shaft of the walking stick and felt the blade slip off the wood to slice along his forearm. Then the man on the ground closed his hands around Sebastian s ankle and yanked.
Lurching backward, Sebastian stumbled over the fallen man and went down, bruising his hip on a loose cobblestone as he rolled. Swearing long and hard, he grabbed the cobblestone as he surged up onto his knees.
The man with the cudgel took a swipe. Sebastian ducked, then came up to smash the stone into the side of his attacker s head with a bone crushing twunk. The man reeled back, eyes rolling up, the side of his face a sheet of gore. Panting hard, Sebastian reached into his boot and yanked his own dagger from its hidden sheath.
The knife clenched in one hand, the bloody rock still gripped in the other, he rose into a low crouch. Come on, you bastard, he spat, his gaze locking with that of his remaining assailant.
The man was clean-shaven and relatively young, no more than thirty, his coat worn but clean, his cravat simply but neatly tied. He licked his lower lip, his gaze flicking from Sebastian to the still figure lying between them in a spreading pool of blood.
His nostrils flared on a quickly indrawn breath.
Well? said Sebastian.
The man turned and ran.
Sebastian slumped back against the brick wall, his injured arm cradled against his chest, his blood thrumming in his ears, his gaze on the dead man beside him.