Everett took up the handle of the cart and asked, “Which way?”
Rayne pointed in the direction of Markim’s house. She had checked. He didn’t have any family, and it would take a while for the lawyers to figure out who owned the house, let alone organise new tenants. It would give them a place to hide while they sorted out this mess. Also she was hoping to search the place for more evidence.
She placed her hand over Victor’s covered form for a moment to remind herself that he was alive. Their small group trudged through the streets. The energy of the day having drained out of them in relief.
They slowed as they approached Markim’s place as Larkin waited outside of the door. Rayne glanced at Victor’s covered form. She didn’t want to lie to her partner but she also couldn’t tell him what they were up to as it would put his career at risk. Unlike her he didn’t have wealth is fall back on.
Larkin unrolled a newspaper and read the headline, “Lady Golden hand is mated to a Dragon.” As a way of greeting it certainly surprised her. She frowned and he continued with the heading paragraph, “It has come to this writers’ attention that the dragon set to be hung this afternoon has found a new bride. None other than Lady Rayne Ancaster. Seen weeping at the trial a witness has confirmed that her father was in negotiations for her hand with the dragon before…” he stopped reading and raised an eyebrow.
This could complicate things. She had hoped to return home after dropping Victor at Markims. He could recover and fly away. No one would need to know of her part in this situation. There were likely to be someone watching her house and her movements. This forced their hand. If she wanted to go back to her life she would have to find something to prove Maynes was the real killer.
“I can explain, Larkin.” She rubbed a hand over her eyes. Too tired to have any tact she struggled to find the words to explain anything.
He rolled the paper back up and said, “So is that the dragon under there?”
Rayne’s shoulders dropped. Larkin didn’t ask for permission but lifted up the corner of the cloth covering Victor.
She held her breath wondering if Larkin would hand them in to the authorities. He wouldn’t have to fight them. They would go with him. But she would try to talk him out of it first.
Larkin motioned. “Let’s get inside.” He glanced around at the neat neighbourhood.
Rayne said, “They didn’t hear a very loud murder happen here I doubt they will notice us.” It was one of the factors she had taken in when she had picked their hideout. “How did you know we’d be here, Larkin?”
Larkin flashed one of his rare smiles. “I know you, my lady.” It warmed her to have all these people in her life that understood her and helped her to achieve what she felt was right in her bones.
Larkin dropped the paper on the table and said, “Lord Rowan gave me a note to pass on to you.” Her heart dropped. Charles would not be pleased with what she had done. She knew she was risking her career by saving Victor.
The tone of the greeting on the note though alleviated her fears. He did say that she should take a few days off so he couldn’t be pleased either.
Rayne glanced at the newspaper and knew why he had suggested it.
Larkin tapped his hat against his hand and said, “I’ll pop around some time tomorrow. I’ll have a look round to see if I can find anything on Maynes.” When Larkin turned to leave Rayne rested her hand on his arm. He turned back with a slight frown.
“Thank you.”
He put his hat on and said, “That is what partners are for.”
Once he left she said to Everett and Katherine, “You don’t have to stay.”
Everett said, “Nonsense. You’ll need us to take down Maynes.”
Katherine more pragmatic said, “Besides you need a chaperone.” She glanced significantly at Victor.
Rayne decided to change the subject and motioned to the collar around Victor’s neck that prevented him from changing into his dragon for.
“Let’s get that thing off your neck.” She hated to see the remnants of his incarceration.
Everett clapped his hands, “Yes, let’s see if the blackmailer has any tools.”
In the end they used a butter knife and a hairpin to take off the collar around Victor’s neck. She watched this from the doorway, worried by Victor’s subdued nature. He wasn’t a reticent man but he had barely said two words since they rescued him. She wasn’t sure it was his near death experience or the way the people of Londinuim had turned on him. But then it could also be the collar or the fact his own people hadn’t been able to bail him out. She supposed he had every right to be quiet but it bothered her anyway.
Chapter Twenty
Rayne put the chairs, knocked over by the fight that had ended in Markim’s death, in their rightful place. The Collectors had cleaned up the blood leaving a scrubbed area that was significantly cleaner than the area around it. Victor came up next to her and took some candle sticks that had been tossed aside and set them on the mantelpiece.
He asked, “What are you doing up so late?”
The others had gone to bed hours before. She had tried but couldn’t sleep. She thought doing something productive would let her mind settle.
She smoothed her hand down her night gown. Her other hand ended in the stump as she hadn’t bothered to put her mechanical hand on to fuss around. She was used to making do so she hadn’t even noticed. Now a little embarrassed she shoved her arm behind her.
Victor stepped forward and slid his hand down her arm, bringing her arm forward. He studied the end. Running his hands over the healed skin.
His voice, holding a touch of awe mixed with curiosity, “Can you feel anything?”
“Of course.” In fact she felt a lot. A shiver ran over her. Victor’s eyes came up to her own. His touch becoming reverent rather than curious. Caressing her arm, his thumb a breath over the inside of her elbow. His eyes never left her own. Rayne blushed but didn’t pull her arm away.
She saw that there weren’t even bruises on his neck from where he had hung. Frowning she said, “You healed very quickly.”
He shrugged it off and said, “It’s a dragon thing. We can heal almost anything instantly. A little more sophisticated than chemicals but not nearly as fun.”
His fingers caressed as he said in a voice that was deeper than usual, “I haven’t thanked you for saving me.”
“It was the right thing to do. You didn’t hurt those people.” She defended him out of habit.
“I have hurt people before. It might be considered justice for my past.” He seemed philosophical about his near death experience.
“Your past?” She knew dragons lived for a very long time so he could be referencing a lot of things.
“I was an angry dragon when I arrived to Earth. The newspapers were accurate.”
“That was supposed to be you?” She thought back to the bone strewn image of a dragon attacking the knight. Victor shifted closer so she could feel the heat coming from his body.
“I wasn’t always a nice guy.” His voice barely a whisper.
“Are you trying to chase me off?” she asked a little confused by the conversation and her own feelings.
“No, just making sure you know everything before we start anything.”
He tipped her head up. His eyes sparked with emotion before he lowered his lips to her own. She slipped her arms around his neck. No longer worried what he would think of her lack or that he only liked her because she was unique.
Breathless he pulled away and muttered, “Why couldn’t you choose a room with proper chairs.” He glared past her to the single wingback chairs.
He bent his knees, taking them both to the floor. Rayne hesitated. She wasn’t so sure she wanted to move this fast. But the heat of the moment had her sinking into the feelings and tightening her arms around him.
Victor must have sensed her hesitation as he rolled so she was above him. His hands moving to caress her sides. So she didn’t crush him with her weight s
he propped herself up with her good hand.
A click had her frowning and glancing up. A small sliver of the floor had lifted. Victor groaned in protest as she pulled away from him. She shifted off him so she could use her good hand to explore the lifted floor panel. It rose easily at her touch, as there was a mechanism inside that helped raise it.
She shoved the chairs aside and lifted it completely, revealing a metal lined case in the floor. Files were neatly stacked on their sides with little tabs showing what each file was about.
She gasped. “He had copies.” As she had hoped. She hadn’t expected him to be this organised.
At the end of the files was also a stack of leather bound books. All bulging with extra pages and kept shut with a strip of leather wrapped around them.
Victor, who had also sat up, muttered, “I see where your true passion lies.”
She glanced at him. Blushing at his words. Then she firmed her shoulders. “I did warn you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You did. I apologise. Do you need help?”
She nodded and passed him the first bound journal while she perused the tabs to see if Maynes was mentioned. She was rewarded with a fat folder. Pulling it out from the others she laid it on the floor so she could spread out her find.
Victor took a seat in one of the wing backed leather chairs and said, “He is very organised. These are his journals dating back to when he first started as a bow street runner.”
Without looking up from her own find she asked, “Look for anything about Maynes.” He grunted in response at her obvious direction.
She pulled out one page that had a clipping from a newspaper. “It has here an article of when he became one of the leaders of the Yard. It has the same picture that I have the plate for.”
“Here is a mention of Maynes.” Victor cleared his throat before he read, as if he were reading to a child. Putting on a different voice for the narrator. “Don’t like the new boss Maynes. He seems too squeaky clean. I don’t like it when I don’t have leverage. Spoke to his old boss. I like Maynes a little more now. He got passed over for a promotion because of a new law. Dragons meddling again.”
Victor looked up and frowned. “I have no idea what law they are talking about. I’ve had a few changed over the years. I wouldn’t know how it impacted anyone. Or really how the law effected Maynes and his promotion but he finally fell in the cream, surely he didn’t see a point in holding a grudge against me.”
“Ah, but you have to remember all this happened back before his position in the Metropolitan. He might have thought his career was stunted because of that. Is there anything else? Knowing why Maynes might have targeted you is interesting but it isn’t going to convince anyone he is a murderer.”
He huffed but returned to scanning the pages for any mention of Maynes. Her own attention was already on the files in front of her. There was a letter amongst the other pages that looked like the one that had been burned. The slant of the words were different so this was a copy. Maynes was the one that had summoned Sebastian.
There were also other notes that Markim had somehow intercepted. They were between Sebastian and Maynes about what they would need to know for Eleanor to seduce Victor. The notes were detailed enough to make her blush.
She asked, “How did Maynes know you?” She held up the page to show the detailed notes of everything that could be of interest about Victor. His eyes snapped with fire, probably at the invasion of privacy or possibly feeling anger at the betrayal all over again.
“He didn’t. We only met when he got in the way of me seeing Laurie.”
“Do you think he killed Laurie because he asked too many questions about Eleanor?” She was the one to bring up Eleanor to Laurie. “I shouldn’t have said anything to him. I’m the reason he is dead.”
Victor’s voice was fierce, “You didn’t hurt anyone. Sir Laurie couldn’t have known his friend was a murderer. The only real person to blame is Maynes. He is on a spree, taking out anyone who could know even the least about his crimes.”
Rayne sat back on her heels. “I wonder why now? It has been years. He could have left it and no one would have known. It wasn’t like Sebastian was making any plans to come here. He hasn’t been to Londinium for years.”
Victor pointed to another entry in the journal. “This might help. ‘I sent the note to Basher. He should be here in a couple of days. I don’t bluff.’”
“So Markim had Sebastian come to town and not Maynes. He must have had someone copy his hand writing as Markim’s copy is in his own writing.”
She smoothed her hands over the different slants of writing in the letters. “Do you think Maynes stopped paying Markim? It would have been expensive to have to pay him for this long. Mmm.”
She got thoughtful as she took in all the different pieces if information.
Victor asked, “Is this enough?”
“For Charles? Yes. Whether it will get him convicted is another thing altogether. Maynes has a lot of influence.”
Victor interrupted her with an excited, “Ha.”
He waved the book and said, “Markim wasn’t the only blackmailer. So was Eleanor. Markim thought it amateurish what she was doing and wasn’t surprised it got her killed.”
It didn’t surprise her that Eleanor blackmailed Maynes. She was an opportunist. It also meant that they had to be cautious about taking out Maynes. He had a tendency to kill anyone who went against him.
The panicked nature of Markim’s death came back to her. He must have really hated Sebastian to have mutilated his corpse or did he do that purely to get back at Victor. He couldn’t have known she would find Markim and make the link between him and the blackmailer.
Markim had a slew of enemies and anyone of them could wish him dead. Technically even Lady Beechworth was on that list. She had known where Markim lived and she had reason to have him silenced. It was the frenzied nature of the attack that pointed to Maynes.
Control that was the issue she couldn’t connect. Maynes liked to have everything under his control. He had all the files in his office until they were no longer relevant. He had everyone file their reports through him. Every word on every report was in his hand. These attacks weren’t about control they were about the lack of control.
She sat back on her heels again as she said more to herself to get her thoughts in the right order, “So years ago you got the governor to change a law. Because of this Maynes didn’t get a promotion and instead went to work for Sir Laurie. There he met Eleanor and Sebastian. He saw what they did to Sir Laurie and decided that you needed the same kind of treatment. So he contacts them and they like the idea of making as much out of you as they can. You meet them at the inn. They probably had no carriage and just made sure you felt pity for her. That would appeal to your sense of superiority. Coming in to rescue her. I don’t think there are many men who wouldn’t find that a boost to their pride.”
Victor winced. “That doesn’t flatter men in general and certainly not me. But I also can’t disagree. I liked that I was helping her. Most dragons see it that way. We like to swoop in and be powerful.”
“You pitied me for my hand. I knew straight away what kind of person you were. Maynes must have figured that out as well. Or maybe Eleanor and Sebastian, who were already masters at seducing people, figured it out from what Maynes told them.”
Victor seemed stuck on what she had first said as he said gently, “I didn’t pity you. I thought you were amazing because you are different and you don’t let that change who you are.”
“But it has. I’m stronger because I haven’t had it easy. I shouldn’t be pitied though. I have a great family who love me and I have a purpose in life.” Her own vehemence surprised her.
Victor put aside the journal and knelt in front of her. He cupped her face. “You are so beautiful right now.”
She feared she would end up being a complete watering pot so she bowed her head, hiding her eyes. She didn’t see the kiss coming.
Heat suff
used her and she screwed her eyes shut as she marvelled in the moment. She could get used to this. But she also feared that it would mean having to make too many sacrifices and she was honestly done with sacrifices. She wanted it all, even though she knew that sentiment was selfish.
Chapter Twenty-One
Rayne looked up from the notes when Katherine found them both lounging in the wing backed chairs early in the morning. She was bleary eyed herself and took a moment to take them in.
She frowned and said, “You didn’t do anything silly, did you?” Pointing a finger at them each accusingly.
Rayne couldn’t help her blush as they had ended up on the floor making out at least once last night. If she hadn’t found the hidden cache they very well could have gone further.
To take away from her embarrassment she made sure her little sister didn’t read anything into the blush and insisted, “No, we found Markim’s hidden records and journals. He kept copies of everything he used to blackmail people with.”
Victor added, “We found out why Sebastian was pardoned.”
Katherine raised an eyebrow. Rayne added, “That was all Sir Laurie. He didn’t realise that Sebastian was a conman and he felt a little nostalgic and so had him pardoned for Eleanor’s sake. Maynes would have preferred that he die and tie up Eleanor’s death in a neat bow but his hatred of dragons got the better of him. Maynes working for Sir Laurie hinted it was the dragon that murdered Eleanor and that tipped Sir Laurie into helping Sebastian. Giving him money and everything. Maynes probably couldn’t help himself to dig at Victor. He really did hate dragons.”
Katherine asked, “Is there proof here?”
“Several letters. How Markim got hold of them I have no idea. He was certainly good at being a blackmailer.” Rayne wasn’t sure she should be impressed with his skills but he had been an investigator for the police so maybe he got his skills from that.
Katherine smiled. “Well, bundle up all the evidence. Everett and I will take it over this morning and get everything sorted with Uncle Rowan. Should we tell him about Victor though?”
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