Page 30 of Baking and Angels

The formal words sounded wrong, but Rafferty took her offered hand, tipping her knuckles up so that he could bow over them. It may have been deeply old-fashioned and old country, but he didn’t care. It reflected how deep his own guilt went. Scarlet took it in stride, not at all surprised by the gesture.

“This is not your fault, lady,” he said when he straightened.

She shook her head, firmly, the tears threatening her eyes again. “No, sir,” she stated. “I won’t accept that this was only Yosef’s choice and only he isto blame.”

“Rafferty,” Helena said, meeting his eyes, using them to give him a warning about sayingtoo much.

Scarlet looked between the two of them, the once-older woman seeing more then they wanted to reveal. “So, you twoarea couple, then?” She turned again, speaking to Helena even as she continued to hold Rafferty’s hand. “I wondered how you found him for the Winter Rose Ballso fast.”

Squeezing his fingers once, Scarlet let them go. “I just wish that all your effort hadn’t gone to absolute waste.” She moved to the table, setting down her purse so she could remove her gloves.

“What happened? The other night after…” Helena’s question died on her lips as her voice thickened. He could see the memory of the terrible events playing in her eyes, the ease and joy they had struggled so hard to gain back that morning washed away.

Scarlet continued. “The other night…” She cleared her throat. “This is partly why I came, even against the advice of my lawyer. I wasn’t even sure you would see me. As you can imagine, Scarlet Promotions is utterly destroyed. Despite everything we did over the last year, there is no point in trying to save what remains. Half of the staff have already jumped ship, and I told the other half that they could continue to draw salaries while they looked for another job. I am even calling in every favor I have left to try to get them placed in new situations so the fallout from my disgrace doesn’t taint theirrésumés.”

“Your disgrace?” Helena repeated, taken aback. “But this wasn’t your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Whatever the facts are at this point are irrelevant—at least in terms of business. The news outlets and social media are feeding conspiracy theories back and forth, claiming that I…” More tears beaded her eyes. “That I sacrificed my own assistant in order to gain youth and beauty. You have to admit it’s a very compelling, classical narrative.”

The weight of everything forced Scarlet to pull out one of the chairs from the table and sit down with an unladylike heaviness, as she lost herself to tears again.

Urgently, Helena retrieved the box of tissues from the side table near the bed and offered them to her mentor, her movements jerky as if she itched to do something,anything.

“Scarlet?” she asked softly.

The other woman blinked as if coming back awake, then grabbed Helena’s hand instead of the tissues to give it a little squeeze. “And you most of all, my darling girl. I had thought to leave you with a legacy, and now I’ve brought you downwith me!”

“It’s my fault,” Rafferty interrupted, his back ramrod straight, his arms at his side, like a soldier at attention. “I summoned demons to the kitchen that night. I am the reason your loveris dead.”

Stunned silence.

Rafferty knew the risk he was taking. He had not used Vassago’s name. He had in fact summoned many demons to the kitchen that night to help him. The spirit of the bargain would remain preserved. Probably. He understood the dangers of making deals with demons; this sort of thing was very hard not to do, but it was too late to regret it now.

“What?” Scarlet asked, swiveling her head toward Helena. “What are yousaying…?”

“No, it’s not that simple. It’s my fault,” Helenainsisted.

Rafferty’s heart skipped a beat. What if he couldn’t trust her after all? In her hurry to defend him, would she condemn him by revealing…

“I brought Rafferty in and asked an impossible taskof him…”

The surprise and relief he would have felt evaporated instantly. He shook his head, growling, “You asked for help from your boyfriend. I’m the one who took ittoo far—”

“It’s not your fault! I shouldn’t have put you in that position to… Or I should have explained—”

“I should have believed in you—”

“I should have—”

“Stop it!” Scarlet barked, silencing the fight before it could grow. The now-young woman fidgeted violently with her gloves like they were a squirming animal, as she struggled with what Rafferty could only imagine were turbulentemotions.

She then indicated Helena. “You. Go. Speak.”

Helena took a deep breath in. “A few months ago, I… accidentally summoned a demon. It was the night of my dinner party in fact, the nightyou came—”

Scarlet nodded and waved. “Yes, yes, I remember.” She gestured for her to get on with it.

“It was a complete accident. I still am not entirely sure how I did it, but once I had summoned Rafferty”—she gestured to him where he still stood straight as an arrow—“he… he did me a favor, and I was able to send him back safely, but then I felt…” She struggled for a moment, her eyes flashing him apologies. “Sorryfor him. I summoned him back again, not to get anything from him. I just wanted to give him a break from Hell, you know. I know this sounds insane, but we… we became friends and then…”

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