A Study in Silks (48 page)

Slowly, reluctantly, Evelina sank back to her heels and turned to look around the room. Tiny balls of light whisked through the air like sparkling dust motes, intoxicated by the sudden surge of energy in the room. They were beautiful, fuzzy balls of gold and blue and green no bigger than her hand—and yet filled with destructive potential. Normally, devas were too small to throw a book or light a flame by themselves, but the silver fire changed everything.
We called devas. Drunk, delirious devas
.

A clump of tiny blue lights pushed a candlestick off a tabletop. It fell with a heavy clunk to the carpet, the mercifully unlit candle falling out and rolling away.

Apprehension turned Evelina cold. She wondered how far away the devas had felt the surge of power. Mouse and Bird were locked safely in her bedroom. Had they felt it? Or had the scent of energy reached the nearby parklands? How many might yet come? This was exactly the kind of thing her Gran had feared would give them away—and why she would have turned Nick out into the cold before the authorities arrested the entire circus for harboring demons in their midst.

Evelina pulled away from Nick entirely, struggling with her skirts as she got to her feet. “No, no, stop that!” She
batted at the devas frantically, as if they were troublesome flies. “Stop it at once!”

Or what, little witch?
One of them buzzed around her head, tugging at a hairpin.

She clamped down on her power, willing it back inside her until she thought she might choke. The silver fire shrank inward, dragging the devas with it. That only concentrated the problem. The tiny spirits buzzed around them like gnats, sucking the last of the energy like sots crowding around the bar at last call. One dove through Nick’s ankle, riding the strongest current of power and making him curse at the sensation as it popped out the other side.

Evelina backed away, putting even more distance between her and Nick, breaking their connection altogether. As the last silver light disappeared, the sudden wind died. As she moved away, the fire in the grate sank back to a dull glow of coals.
And that happened only from a touch. What if we had kissed? What if we had lain together, as man and wife?
They might start another Great Fire of London.

Nick massaged his ankle. “This feels better.”

But Evelina held up her hand, silencing him. Then she heard it more clearly—the rattle of the door handle. Her mind flew from detail to detail. They’d been speaking in quiet voices. The fire was low now, so little light would escape under the door. But there had been a great many thumps—all the noise must have attracted attention. Both of them remained frozen, playing statues.

But the devas were pushing another candlestick to the floor. Nick looked her way to see the horrified expression on her face. Wordlessly, Evelina pointed. Just in time, he dove to catch the falling object, his feet silent on the carpet.

Evelina’s gut twisted into a cold knot. She fell back another step, as if her body were seeking a place to hide even if her mind had frozen, unable to form a complete thought. The ornate brass door knob turned again as someone pushed against it on the other side. She bit her lip and watched the devas, deprived of their feast of silver energy, drift aimlessly about the room. Nick, still holding the candlestick,
looked from the door to the window and back. His only escape was the window, but if he raised it, whoever was outside the door would hear it for sure.

The door handle stopped moving. “Locked,” someone whispered. “Let’s try somewhere else.” The words were followed by a barely heard giggle.

Evelina released her breath. It had just been two guests—or maybe servants—taking advantage of the after-dinner confusion to slip away for a moment or two. As she heard footfalls moving away from the door, her heart gradually slowed. They were safe—for now.

A few of the devas slipped beneath the sash of the window. Another glowing ball turned to a needle of light, sliding between the floorboards at the edge of the room. The rest were fading away like snowflakes, disappearing into thin air.

The crisis was past.

Sharing power had felt so good, but now Evelina’s body ached with the release of tension. She hastily picked up the volumes, shoving them back onto the shelf. Her hands trembled, aching to drop the books and return to Nick, starting the folly all over again. It wasn’t just the power. All of her old feelings had reawakened. She wanted to touch
him
.

“You should go,” she said softly.
Before I give way and fall into your arms and destroy us both
. “You see what happens when we’re together.”

“I know,” he said.

She turned to him. His features were perfectly calm. To him, one more peril was just business as usual for a showman, another chance to pit his wits against fate.

She didn’t walk the high wire anymore. “I wish I had your nerve.”

He shrugged. “What did you expect would happen? We’ve never learned to control the power.”

“Exactly.”

He took a step forward, lifting a hand to reach out, and then letting it fall. Gran had said control wasn’t possible, not with Nick’s strange bloodline. And if anyone knew about
magic, it was Gran Cooper. Evelina said nothing, her chest too tight to speak.

Even without the wild magic, she wasn’t sure they could stay together. She didn’t belong in his world anymore, and he’d never belong in Mayfair, and love wasn’t everything. Her parents had been a similar mismatch, and she’d watched her mother fade like a flower cut off from its sustaining vine, shriveling until she died. That had left a shadow on Evelina’s soul that was impossible to dispell.
I wish I knew what was the right thing to do
. But there were no guarantees, and with the magic in the mix, it didn’t matter. They had to stay apart.

He must have seen her thoughts on her face. “Very well. I’ll go.”

“I’m sorry.” It was all she could think of to say.

His features were a neutral mask, giving away nothing. “One thing before I leave. I overheard Bancroft talking with Magnus.”

“When?”

He sank back onto the sofa. Perhaps he was healed, but he was clearly still exhausted. “Earlier tonight. I’ve been trying to find a way to speak to you. I wanted to warn you about Magnus, but this place is guarded like Buckingham Palace.”

She hugged herself, afraid to come any closer to him. “I’m glad you stayed away. It’s too dangerous for you to be here.”

He leaned forward and peered up under his brows. She knew the look—it was the one he used when he spoke from his gut. “Evie, we go too far back for me to stand by and watch you sail into a storm.”

There was no answer to that. Her throat ached too much anyway, filled with unshed tears—of gratitude, of regret, and mostly of confusion.

“Magnus wants something,” Nick said. “I don’t understand what it is, but he thinks he can make Lord Bancroft help him get it from the Gold King. And he’s stolen something from Bancroft, and he’s holding it over his head. Something—he said trunks and cargo—that sounds like it would ruin him.”

The automatons! Evelina tingled with excitement. “That fits. Bancroft and Magnus were friends once, but now they hate each other.”

“Why?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know how it started. Whatever it is, Lady B and Tobias don’t seem to mind him. It’s between the two men.” She thought of the conversation she’d overheard in the library. Lord Bancroft had looked like a haunted soul from that night on.
That was why. He knew Magnus had his dolls
.

“Evelina.” Nick’s face was pale and serious. “Wherever you think your life is going, what we did tonight is who you really are. Magic is in you, and it’s something your new people can’t help you with, even the few who wouldn’t hang you just for having it. And as much as I want to be by your side—and I would cut the heart out of my chest if I thought it would buy me the privilege—I can’t protect you. Not where you’re bound. You’ll be walking alone. That frightens me.”

Her breath caught in her chest, too painful to move. She knew all this, but she didn’t want to hear it in words, least of all from Nick. It was hard enough without adding the memory of his pain-wracked face. Tears blurred the sight of him.

He reached out, taking her hand, the faintest silver light gloving their fingers. His palm was rough and hot, the hands of a man used to work. “Magnus wants you—or what you can do. I’m not sure what he’s planning, but it sounds like a play for power dressed up in big words and mumbo jumbo. He’d dead set on a spat with the steam barons, so you can bet there’s bad news coming.”

His voice was gentle, low and rough and familiar as the smell of horse and the earth under her bare feet. “I know you want to be careful and keep this new life of yours clean, but you’re going to have to be ready for a fight. And tonight was just the start. This isn’t over.”

She barely understood her magic, much less how to fight with it, but that probably didn’t matter. “What’s this all about, anyhow?”

“Power and money.” It was more or less the same thing Tobias had said. “Magic is just a way to get it.”

“I’m in the middle, aren’t I? I’m caught between your world and theirs. Gran Cooper and Grandmamma Holmes.”

That might have been too frank. Nick pulled his hand away, looking down at the floor. She flexed her fingers, already feeling his absence.

“I won’t tell you what to do. I love you too much to keep you in a box, however much I long to keep you safe. But I beg you to be careful.”

The words shook her to the bone, bringing a sting to her eyes. “I will.”

“If you ever want to come home to Ploughman’s, I’ll defend you to my death. But if you stay here, Magnus will know where you are, Evelina.”

Her heart pounded beneath her stays. “I can’t run forever.”

A long pause followed. It was plain to both of them that she wasn’t going back to the circus, though Nick would never know the whole reason. All those years ago, she wouldn’t let him give up the one home he knew for her sake. Magnus or no Magnus, she wasn’t about to do that now.

Nick rose from the chair stiffly. “I have to go.”

She took a step forward, longing to hold him but knowing that meant never letting him go. “What do I do?”

Nick shook his head. “I can’t answer that for you.”

He touched the side of her face lightly, just dusting her skin with magic. She wanted to lean in to the touch, to feel the comfort of his familiar warmth. The earthy salt of his skin called to memories deep in her bones.
I can’t let him go. He’s part of me
. And yet that was the one thing she absolutely had to do.

Tears stung her eyes. “I don’t want to run or hide or be used by someone else. I just want to be who I am.”

He stepped back, letting go of a sigh. “Then be prepared to fight for it, because only the strongest get to stand on their own.”

“
THERE MUST BE A WAY TO MAKE THIS WORK
.”

Tobias stood back from the stuffed sheep and switched on the device. He was in a mood and more than a little drunk. The late afternoon had been spent at the clubhouse behind the tailor’s shop, trying to make sense out of, well, pretty much everything.

His hoped-for reunion with Dr. Magnus had not occurred beyond a polite greeting at dinner. Magnus had been put at the other end of the table and had disappeared just after the meal. Evelina had apparently taken to her bed with a headache. The two had clearly spoiled each other’s digestion and had left Tobias stranded with Alice Keating. Alice was nice enough—well, actually quite pretty and a definite wit—but she wasn’t Evelina.

Altogether it had been a miserable meal. The tension among his father—who for some reason looked like he’d been in a fight—Jasper Keating, and Dr. Magnus had worn away at his nerves. He had been counting down the minutes until Keating had whipped out some new invention to torture the guests. Perhaps steam-powered thumbscrews, or a spring-loaded guillotine designed for a faster slice.

He hadn’t seen Evelina or Magnus since. He fervently hoped this afternoon would be less of a waste. He was testing his version of Aragon Jackson’s contraption, last seen
electrocuting the upstairs maid. It was his firm opinion that whatever the Gold King wrought, the Society for the Proliferation of Impertinent Events could do it better.

The mission might have been more personal to him than to the rest of SPIE. Smythe had his regiment, and Bucky and Edgerton were destined to take their place in their fathers’ manufactories. Tobias alone had no plans and, just speaking statistically, he couldn’t be a blot on the universe every hour of every day. There had to be something constructive he could do.

He stopped to take a swig out of his hip flask and then considered the sheep in its technological finery. Tobias remembered some Serb had recently published a paper on wireless transmission, and Jackson had put the cutting-edge theories to bad use. The device consisted of a wristband strapped to the forearm—in this case foreleg—and a receiver that circled the head, a little like a tiara with an antenna on top. Tobias had stitched it awkwardly onto one of the frilly white caps the maids wore. On the sheep, it looked slightly rakish.