Page 70 of Hexbound
Sebastian's mouth felt dry.
"I'll come again," the demon said, and reached for the door. "When you've had time to think."
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Chapter 17
FINDING ELIJAH HORROWAYwas easier said than done.
The necromancer wasn't at Balthazar's Labyrinth, where he could usually be found. Indeed, Marius Hastings, Horroway's one true friend, hadn't seen him in over two weeks.
But he did have something that belonged to Horroway; a ring that he'd once given to a long-ago lover, according to Marius.
"And with this," Verity announced, as she and Bishop left the Labyrinth, "I can find him anywhere." She twirled in a circle, dancing a little jig. "We're getting closer! Now we have the means to track him."
"Is it more difficult to find people rather than things?" Bishop asked, using his body to protect her from the onslaught of a herd of tweed-bedecked businessmen trotting to work on the pavement.
Verity grew a little nervous at the proximity of his body. Neither of them had mentioned last night, or the way she'd taken flight.And I'm certainly not going to bring it up. She shot him a meaningless smile. "Sometimes. People change all the time, whereas objects don't. Sometimes people change enough that they no longer 'match' the psychic imprint that they've left on the object."
"A little like how the police are using fingerprints these days to identify criminals," he mused. "Every person has their own 'imprint.'"
"Somewhat. I don't think I could prove the ring belongs to a specific someone in a court of law, however."
"I'm certain if you put your mind to it, you should stand a fair chance."
Verity paused and looked up at the stern line of his jaw and those firm lips. "Was that a compliment? Or a critique of my tenacious nature?"
Lazy brown eyes twinkled as he glanced down. His voice softened. "Merely a comment that youcanbe a force of nature when you wish to be. Now stop stalling. Find me Elijah Horroway."
"As my master commands, I serve and obey." She rolled her eyes, but obliged.
Tucked against his shoulder, Verity let her vision glaze and her senses lock around the ring. It was faint, but it was there. A tingle pulled her to the east. "This way," she said, darting past him and waving a hand at a hackney that was clopping along. "I've got him now."
The bewildered hackney driver agreed to ferry them, though the lack of a firm direction made one of his eyebrows arch. "Quid's on you," he finally said with a shrug, and Bishop handed her up into the hackney.
"What did you use to track me?" Bishop asked, settling in across the carriage from her, his long legs eating up the space.
"Some of your hair."
"My hair?" He touched his skull. "How on earth did you...?"
Verity arched a brow. "You probably don't want to know."
"Try me."
"You were on Bond Street, arguing with another sorcerer about a book you wanted to buy. You didn't even see me in the crowd." Flipping her knife out of her sleeve, she made a quick slashing movement, then vanished the knife and grinned. "So much for your impressive powers of observation."
Bishop scowled.
"You get very focused when it comes to books," she mused. "For someone who thinks his only talent is killing, you have a very strong interest in reading, and in creating strange magical inventions. One would almost suspect you had scientific leanings."
"I'm only curious, and I like books." He glanced out the window. "After my mother died and I was sent to Burma, they were the only things I had to console me for a long time."
Curiosity itched at her. "What was it like to travel the world?"
His face closed over. "I was no explorer, Verity. I had a particular talent and the Order saw a use for it. They saddled me with Major Richard Winthrop for a master, and he was a Servant of the Empire who knew the Grave Arts. I'm sure it made sense at the time, but the second we were on the ship I learned he wasn't the type of man he portrayed in Society, or in the Order. He cared nothing for my grief, nor for teaching me. I'm certain the only reason he accepted my apprenticeship was because he knew who'd fathered me and hoped to ingratiate himself there.
"Winthrop was the only Servant of the Empire sent in with the British Imperial forces in Burma. His major gift was the art of illusions, and the official company line went that we were removing the Burmese king, Thibaw, in favor of his elder half-brother, Nyaungyan, who had escaped Thibaw's earlier massacre of his brothers and sisters when he inherited the crown. The problem was that Nyaungyan—who had lived in British India in exile—was dead. So Winthrop was called upon to disguise a young man as the king's brother, to present to the locals on the way to Mandalay. Some of them even cheered when they saw him, as the king was not well liked in some circles. We weren't to occupy the country for very long... it was all a bunch of lies concocted to make the occupation run smoothly." Bishop drew a breath. "Ugly times. It certainly opened my eyes to the world, and to human nature."
