“Alastair,” Rohan greeted the man. The Proprietor’s given name was rarely used. Like Rohan, he only had the one.
“Rohan.” Putting more weight on the cane than he once had, the Proprietor of the Devil’s Mercy made his way down the aisle of the plane. With his free hand, he took the kitten from Brady, then eased himself into the adjacent seat. Setting the cane aside, the Proprietor lifted the kitten even with his face, stroking a thumb over the kitten’s head, staring the tiny feline down.
“I did not raise you,” the man told Rohan, “to be needlessly cruel.”
The key word in that sentence wasneedlessly, and Rohan knew it.
“You did not raise me,” Rohan replied with a careless twist of his lips. “I raised myself.”
“Imadeyou. Molded you like clay, carved you from stone—bloodied stone, as it were.” The Proprietor nestled the kitten in the crook of an elbow, and she settled down.
You should not, Rohan thought,settle down, little love.
“That is what makes this so very disappointing,” the Proprietor continued, stroking the kitten again.
Some cruelty had a point. Rohan was not supposed to becomeattachedto anyone or anything, and he knew the Proprietor was not above snapping a kitten’s neck to make that point.
In an attempt to convince him that wasn’t necessary, Rohan smirked like he hadn’t a care in the world. “Her name is Princess Fluffbum.”
“I am not talking about the cat.” The Proprietor’s blue eyes met Rohan’s. “I’m talking about the girl. You led her straight to our door.”
Savannah.Rohan leaned back in his seat. “I did nothing of the sort. It’s hardly my fault that the duchess struck a deal with Bowen Johnstone-Jameson and offered a certain reckless Hawthorne entrance to the Mercy last night. Pity Jameson wasn’t more discreet about taking the duchess up on her invitation, but you know how Hawthornes are.”
“You wanted my attention, boy. You have it.”
Rohan’s smile deepened. “Be an obliging chap, Mr. Daniels, and show the man your arm.”Be smart, scholar. Don’t fight me on this.
Brady met Rohan’s gaze, then rotated his wrist, turning his forearm toward the Proprietor.
“Every third letter on the tattoo.” Rohan didn’t bother seeking confirmation that the duchess had been forbidden from interfering with the Grandest Game—he’d been raised toknow, not ask. “Disappointing, is it not?”
“Where is she?” Brady demanded of the Proprietor. “The duchess?”
“Mr. Daniels here wants what Zella promised him, I’m afraid,” Rohan clarified helpfully.
“And what,” the Proprietor asked Brady, “were you promised?”
“Information.” Brady had enough sense to keep his response brief, which opened the door for Rohan to make his next move.
“She promised him answers about a missing American woman, one who seems to have some very interesting ties to our duchess and to a group whose interests may or may not align with our own.”
The duchess’s allegiance may very well lay elsewhere.Rohan let that sink in.Care to ask me where?
“I see.” The Proprietor stroked his hand over the kitten’s head—and neck—once more. “And you, Rohan? Do you intend to ask me about the girl? About the fate that met her in a place she should not have been?”
The girl. Clever, merciless, formidable winter girl.“Do you want me to ask you about the girl?” Rohan volleyed back.
“She won’t be returning to you.”
Rohan had always excelled at poker, at playing the odds and playing a role. “Oh?”
No part of him could be allowed to so much as think:M-I-N-E.
“She didn’t know.” Zella announced her presence, entering the fray through the cockpit door. “You didn’t tell Savannah that to become Proprietor, one must swear off all worldly ties. No family. No friends. No life in the world above.” Zella arched a brow at Rohan. “Noentanglementsof any kind. That is what it means to sit on the throne you seek, Rohan, and you didn’t tell her.” Zella gave a light shake of her head, her braids swaying. “So I told her for you.”
Savannah was alive and well—and she wasn’t coming back. Shehadn’t known that once Rohan became the Proprietor, this thing between them would end, that it would have to—but now she did.
And she isn’t coming back.
