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“Right … so we shall …” Felicia said as she made Becky back up with her. “Let’s get a running start, shall we?”
They made the jump with feet to spare and stood for a moment hugging one another and nervously laughing before Felicia, still holding her friend’s hand, motioned for them to move across the roof so she could survey the next one.
As it happened the two buildings shared one roof, and with a sigh of relief they slowly made their way unnoticed by
the people below.
The next roof proved to be too far to take on, and Felicia stood frowning as she made up her mind. “Right then. We need to recoup, so breathe in and out for a moment, and then we’ll take the stairs … there.” She indicated with her chin a small structure that housed the stairwell that would lead below.
“Yes, and then … wait for it to be clear enough?”
“Oh, it will never be clear enough, Becky. This part of town never is, but we are dirty enough and mussed up enough to fit in, and that is what we shall do. We will walk slowly and easily with the crowd.” Felicia smiled with more conviction than she felt.
Quietly and slowly they made their way down and found themselves in a dirty hallway at the end of which was a glass door that led to the street.
When they went outside, no one paid them any mind—Felicia was correct: in their present disarray they did fit right in.
They made their way as leisurely as they could down the avenue, trying not to stand out in any way.
“My heart is beating so fast, Felicia,” Becky said breathlessly.
“Yes, mine too,” Felicia answered.
Suddenly Felicia heard a man’s shout, and she closed her eyes. One of their assailants had found them.
She turned, with Becky leaning into her, and discovered one of her would-be-captors peering at them through a press of people in his way. He shouted, “Ye don’t know the ins and outs of Blackburn, do ye? No, ye don’t. We’ll have ye in no time, we will.” He laughed as he and his villainous friend broke free of the crowd, and Felicia took Becky’s hand and ran once more. “We’re coming … me and Styles, we won’t give up till we get what is coming to us.”
All at once, Felicia and Becky were stalled by two large men who stood in their path and sneered at them. Felicia knew they would get no help from that quarter, so for the moment they were trapped. She turned to face heir abductors, her eyes darting all around as she looked for a means to escape.
“Best do as Lew tells ye if ye don’t want to get hurt,” Styles said and leered at them.
“Here is the thing.” Felicia stood straight and took on the air of the duchess Ashton once told her she possessed. “You can’t collect any money unless you have proof of life.”
“Eh? Whot ye mean, proof of life?” Styles said.
“Our people will want proof that we are alive and unharmed. If you hurt us … they won’t pay you a shilling, but they will hunt you until you are found and brought to justice.” Felicia answered with a haughty sneer. “You see … my guardian is a duke and has the Prince Regent’s ear.” She was satisfied to see a look of shock take over both men’s ugly faces.
“Oi don’t loike this,” Styles told Lew.
The men blocking Becky and Felicia at their backs suddenly vanished, and Felicia smiled as she and Becky took a step back and away. Now, at the right moment, they could bolt.
“Aye,” said Lew, “but … how was Oi to know?”
“Yer friend there, she don’t look so well. Aye, maybe yer guardian is a duke, right then, but Oi’m guessing ye don’t want her to bleed … do ye?”
Becky put up her chin. “I have bled before.”
“Touch her, and I will see you hung,” Felicia snapped with such power that both men looked warily at one another again.
“Could be all a hum … how do we know yer guardian is a duke?” Styles asked.
“Now, Becky,” Felicia whispered, and hand in hand they turned and ran.
It was then she looked down the busy avenue to see a coach wielding its way. It was then she saw that coach’s door open wide and a titan jump to the street, followed by her dear Scott.
Felicia stopped in her tracks and pulled Becky to the curbing. Just when she knew she and Becky could never outrun the two at their backs … he had come.
Ashton seemed to glow as she gazed at him. Indeed, it was as though he had descended from heaven. He glittered with bright sparks and shards of light right before her eyes.
