Dawson had known all along that Jacobs could discern a lie.Ellie had simply assumed that Jacobs’ employers were aware of his uncanny talent as well.After all, that astonishing asset might easily have explained how Jacobs could rise from his checkered background to become the tool of some of the most powerful people in the empire.
But if the Order of Albion knew of Jacobs’ power, why wouldn’t they have told Borthwick about it?
The answer spilled out of her as her thoughts continued to spin.“They don’t know either, do they?The Order.You haven’t told any of them.But why wouldn’t you?Unless…”
More pieces snapped into place, driven by Ellie’s knowledge of the man who loomed over her—which went far deeper than she would ever have wanted.Opposing him had brought them into an unwelcome sort of intimacy.
“You want to keep using it against them,” she burst out, reeling.“You don’t want the Order to know that you can detect a lie because you want to be able to catch them if they’re lying to you.”
Worlds moved through Jacobs’ midnight eyes.Ellie read surprise there, along with anger, wariness… and a knife-thin, grudging respect.
“You don’t trust them,” Ellie accused.
A dark, quick laugh caught at the back of his throat.“Why would I evertrustthem?”
Ellie shook her head.“Then why do you do this?Why are you here?I saw the way Borthwick treats you—like you’re nothing.Julian was hardly better, except that he was too frightened of you to say any of it.Is it like that with all of them?”
But Ellie already knew the answer.Of course, it would be like that.The names Julian had given them were some of the most powerful people in the realm—individuals born to a sense of their own elevated place in the world.
Jacobs wasn’t one of them.Ellie knew it from more than just the hint of the East End that threaded through his speech.He carried himself like a man who had once battled for every scrap of bread.He would have had to claw for each bitterly won step up the ladder of power, knowing that all that stood between him and death was the question of just how much violence he could wreak on whoever tried to take advantage of him.
“You aren’t a man who’d tolerate being treated like that,” Ellie declared firmly.“Not without areason.And it’s not money.You could find another job if you wanted.You’re too bloody clever not to.It must be something else—something only the Order can give you.”
Jacobs’ tone was rich with threat.“Careful, Miss Mallory.”
Ellie couldn’t be careful—not as the last piece of the puzzle clicked into place in her brain.The shock of the picture it created drove her to her feet, even as her wounded calf issued a fiery protest at the movement.
Standing brought her to Jacobs’ level—far closer than she had realized that she would be.Astonishment pushed the words from her lips in spite of her unease.“But there’s only ever been one reason for you—the same one that keeps you from shooting Adam and me on sight.The Order must be tangled up in it as well—yourjustice.”
Ellie had an unsettlingly intimate view of the impact the word had on him.Furious determination wrenched under the surface of his implacable rage.
An unexpected impulse rose inside of her.Ellie gave it voice in spite of all the very good reasons why she shouldn’t.
“But we could help you.If that’s really what this is—if it’s really a matter of justice.Maybe that’s why you saw us in the mirror.”
Jacobs reeled with uncharacteristically bald disgust.“I bloody hope not,” he snarled.
He stepped closer, using his slight advantage in height to force Ellie’s head back, his eyes blazing like black coals.“I won’t save you from your own stupidity—not if it costs me this mission.And don’t underestimate Borthwick.He’s a bigger monster than the one that tried to eat you this afternoon.”
Ellie clung to defiance against the storm of his anger.“That’s rich, coming from a man who once threatened to flay me alive.”
“I threatened to flay you because I needed to get a job done.Borthwick will do it because he wants to hear you scream.”
The assertion cracked out of him like a whip, leaving Ellie speechless.
Jacobs leaned in, his lithe form coiled with threat.“Stay out of my way.”
Then he was gone, stalking across the camp as the sepoys moved aside with wary looks.
Ellie’s hands shook as though she had opened up a basket to find a cobra waiting inside of it, escaping peril by the merest breath of fortune.
Warmth pressed against the side of her leg as Kalb leaned into her side, gazing up at her with concern.
“Oh, fine,” she conceded, dropping back onto the rock and drawing the dog’s head into her lap.
?
Twenty-Three
