Page 79 of The Secret of the Three Fates
Gasping, I struggled to sit and spied two figures high up in the ruin and recognized them both at once. One was Ruan—making his way cautiously along the uneven rampart with his right arm in the white cloth sling. The other figure appeared to be Elijah. His fair hair shining like gold in the morning sun. His hands were up as he spoke to someone else—someone deeper in the shadows.
Elijah did not notice Ruan’s quiet approach.
I crept closer, hugging the glass plates to my chest. Elijah and the unknown man were arguing, I could hear the tone in Elijah’s voice, but couldn’t make out the words. The wind whipped around me, catching on my sooty skirt and plastering it to my legs.
Ruan edged closer to the two men.What was he thinking?
He paused and turned straight to me, holding my stare with such intensity I could have sworn I felt him graze my hand. The wind rose up, stronger than before—the air sharp and full of energy. Elijah’s coat flapped angrily around him as he stepped to one side, revealing the man in the shadows.
Inspector Burnett.
Ruan must have already sent word about the missing medium.
A short-lived relief rushed through my veins only to be quashed when Elijah lunged for the inspector. They were grappling over something twenty feet in the air.
This was decidedlynotnormal.
Ruan edged closer to the fray.
Get down, you foolish man.
The inspector slammed Elijah’s head into the stone wall, making a sickening thunk. Elijah stumbled, teetering near the edge. He reached out to steady himself, latching onto the inspector’s coat sleeve.
The two men tumbled forward, and I saw a flash of steel.
Good grief, Elijah had a gun!
The two men struggled, grunting and swearing—and there was absolutely nothing I could do but watch. The inspector knocked the pistol from Elijah and it tumbled from the ramparts, striking the ground near me as a shot rang out, ricocheting back up. All three men paused and Ruan dropped to his knees behind a broken piece of crenellation.
Elijah took this moment of surprise to draw a knife, slashing wildly at the inspector. Inspector Burnett dodged backward, a miscalculation, as the ragged stone beneath his foot gave way. I scrambled back from the edge to avoid the falling debris.
Elijah did not hesitate. Instead of waiting to be sure the inspector fell, he turned and ran across to the far side as the inspector pinwheeled, struggling to regain his footing. My breath caught inmy chest, watching helplessly as the man finally lost his balance and fell to the ground in front of me with a sickening thump and the distinct sound of breaking glass.
I started after Elijah, when I noticed Ruan stumble and changed course.
I would have to catch Elijah later, and I had a sickening feeling I knew exactly where he was headed. If Genevieve was Mariah’s daughter as I now believed, then there was only one place in the world she’d go—and her accomplice would follow along behind.
A daughter’s rage.
The one person I knew who had caused Mariah’s tears. The same one who had been lured to Scotland under false pretenses. I hoped I was wrong, but if the daughter wanted vengeance… there was only one place she’d go.
To Rivenly and Mr. Owen.
Hecate hurried to the inspector’s lifeless body as I raced through the narrow wall to the turret stair after Ruan.
Foolish stubborn bull-headed reckless man.
With my right hand on the center column to keep my balance, I made it halfway up when Ruan met me on his way down.
Infuriating.
Insufferable.
Impulsive.
My internal litany of complaints against him continued, despite the bone-deep relief of seeing him alive.
“What were you thinking, you foolish man?” I started in, poking him hard in his chest. “You could have died. You could have—”
