“Geoffrey followed you?” Wesley said, frowning.
Sebastian shrugged helplessly. “He seemed to think you’d be mad if he let a friend of yours catch scarlet fever.”
“Well,” Wesley said grudgingly, “he’s notwrong. I just wouldn’t have imagined he’d care whether I was angry or not.” He stood by the end of the bed, still frowning. “And Geoffrey said there was a distantValemount cousin with scarlet fever down at the guest house? When that dangerous paranormal, Mr. Hyde, was taken from his asylum supposedly by his relative?”
Sebastian pulled the glove from his pocket and held it out. “I took this from one of the bedrooms.”
Wesley accepted it, examining the glove. “The fingertips are missing.”
“Hyde has claws he can’t retract,” Sebastian said quietly. “It’s part of the magic left in him from our time under blood magic together.”
“Christ,” Wesley muttered. “But if Hyde was in the guest house, where is he now? Was Valemount moving him, and that’s why the duke has been missing until this evening? I wonder if Brodigan could learn anything if he scried this glove.”
“Or Rory might not see anything at all,” Sebastian pointed out. “Like on the ship.”
“We won’t know unless he tries.” Wesley pursed his lips. “I think we can use Valemount’s scheming to our advantage. We’ll tell him you want to stay behind during the hunt tomorrow to visit with Lady Nora. I’m sure you’d rather not join a fox hunt anyway.”
“It’s almost worse to stay behind,” Sebastian muttered. “Knowing what’s going to happen to the poor thing and being too cowardly to face it.”
“It’s not cowardice, it’s strategy,” Wesley said. “We have a missing paranormal who is, by your accounts, quite dangerous. We have a plot against magic that may or may not be related to Lord Valemount. If you stay behind, perhaps you can get Arthur and Brodigan here to investigate while Valemount is busy on the hunt.”
“I wish we had some of the others here too, with theirmagic.”I wish I had my magic, Sebastian didn’t say.I would make sure it protected you.
“There is no need for magic,” Wesley said, almost too firmly. “We can use our eyes, and our minds, to look for connections and—” He abruptly cut himself off.
“What?” Sebastian said curiously.
“Just a wild thought.” Wesley’s gaze was on the glove again. “You said Geoffrey was told the story today by a doctor, which could have been Lady Nora’s mysterious Dr. Wright.”
“I think we have to assume it’s possible,” Sebastian said.
“And would you agree that it was difficult to place Dr. Wright’s age, or even make out his facial features behind that thick beard and glasses?”
“Yes,” Sebastian said. “Why?”
“I’m just realizing,” Wesley said, “that we’ve never actually seen Valemount and Dr. Wright together.”
Sebastian’s eyes widened. “You don’t think—”
There were voices in the hall again, louder than before—the Marquess and Marchioness of Thornton, perhaps. Then someone knocked on Wesley’s door. “Fine?” Sir Reginald’s voice came through the door. “Fine, aren’t you done talking to the Spaniard yet?” There was a hiccup. “I want to ask you some poker questions, open up.”
“I can’t stay,” Sebastian said, under his breath. “Maybe we got away with it last night, but there are too many others tonight, including your own cousin. I need to go back to my room.”
“And what about me?” Wesley said, just as quietly, as he wrapped a hand around one of the canopy bed’sposts. “I’m supposed to leave you to your demons and what the night might bring?”
“It’s not cowardice,” Sebastian repeated ruefully. “It’s strategy.” He sighed. “We can’t sleep together here, Wes. We don’t have a choice.”
The knocking came again. “Fine.” Sir Reginald sounded quite tipsy still. “I’m tired of losing at gambling, man. I want to talk to you.”
Wesley gritted his teeth. “One moment,” he said to Sebastian.
He crossed toward his trunk, kneeling to open the lid. He rummaged in the trunk for a second, and then was straightening with something green and folded in his arms. “Here.” Wesley held it out. “Indulge me and at least take this.”
Sebastian recognized it immediately: the full-length velvet robe monogrammed with Wesley’s initials, the one Sebastian had swiped for himself a couple of times. He took it with unsteady hands, looking up at Wesley as he held the robe tightly to himself. “Why give me this?”
“Obviously this is not to be considered a concession that it fits you.” Wesley had a tiny wry smile. “But it will keep you warm if you sleep in it. And maybe if you wake in the night, you’ll feel it around you and it will help you remember where you are.”
Sebastian swallowed.This is why I’m in love with you, he wanted to say. “This is really kind, Wes,” he said instead, and he was only a little hoarse.
