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Chapter Fifteen
Fin
When the door opened, he looked up and was surprised to see Ivy stepping into his office. He watched as she quickly shut the door behind her and crossed the chamber, dropping down into the chair across from him. He leaned back in his own seat and studied her for a long moment, not knowing why she was there. For her part, she remained silent as she stared back at him.
The moment stretched out, growing more strained and awkward. Fin cleared his throat and sat up straighter, lacing his hands together on top of his desk.
“Good morning,” he finally said.
“Good morning, Fin,” she said, her tone somber. “We are apparently leaving for Elix today. I wanted to say goodbye.”
Fin was surprised by her announcement as well as the suddenness of their departure. He cocked his head and looked at her for a moment, pursing his lips.
“Werenae ye s’posed tae be here for a while yet?”
She nodded, and the irritation on her face was more than plain. As he paid closer attention to her, Fin could see that Ivy was not happy about leaving York at all. Some small voice in the back of his mind whispered to him. It asked him if it was York she was most upset about leaving - or him. He knew that he did not want her to leave. Fin knew he had a job to do, but he also wanted to spend more time with Ivy. He wanted to learn more about her. He felt that he had barely scratched the surface, and he was being cheated out of the opportunity to delve deeper.
“We were supposed to be,” she growled. “But my brother says he has pressing business back home. And so, we go.”
Fin’s mind started to spin as he thought about the timing of everything. It only threw another log onto the bonfire of suspicion burning inside of him, stoking it ever higher. Although he thought it felt like another link in that chain being forged, Fin knew he still had nothing in the way of proof. All he had was a lot of coincidences, and when you wanted to accuse an English noble of nefarious doings, he knew you needed a lot more than that.
“Seems awful sudden,” Fin said.
Ivy shrugged. “It does. But that is my brother. He is impulsive at times,” she replied. “It is not the first time he has decided something so hastily, and I am certain it will not be the last.”
“Did he say what business is so pressin’?” Fin asked.
She shook her head. “No. It is probably just some maiden he wants to deflower, knowing him as I do.”
Fin drummed his fingers on the desk as he thought about it. He could see all of the different pieces and knew how they fit together. The trouble was, he could not prove it. He could not prove any of it. But he also could not say for sure that he was right. He could be seeing the way those pieces fit together because that was what he wanted to see.
Fin was not a big believer in coincidences. But even he had to acknowledge that sometimes, they did just happen. He had to admit that sometimes, things lined up just so, and in a way that defied explanation. It was possible that everything that happened in the last day or so could be just that.
Of course, it could also be somethin’ more nefarious, tae.
“So, when are ye leavin’?”
She sighed. “As soon as Brixton finds me.”
Fin gave her a curious look, and she covered her mouth with her hand as she giggled. It was a charming sound that made Fin smile. Slowly, her giggles faded, and she lowered her hand.
“I gave him the slip earlier,” she said. “I did not want him to follow me here.”
“Gave him the slip?”
She nodded, and he loved seeing the mischievous light flash across her face. When they first met, Fin thought she was such a stiff, humorless woman. But now that he had spent a little time with her, he saw that deep down, underneath that mask she presented to the world, she was actually quite witty. And she could be more devilish than he would have imagined. He thought it was not just an interesting facet to her personality, but a downright adorable one, if he was honest.
“I did. I ducked into a crowd so he could not follow me,” she said.
Fin chuckled and shook his head. “And why did ye dae that?”
She leaned back in her chair and smiled at him. It was just a small smile, but it was appealing all the same. It made her face light up and made her even more beautiful than she already was. When Ivy smiled or laughed, she had such an open easiness about her, a lightness of her spirit, it was hard to not feel like a moth drawn to her flame.
“For one thing, I do not enjoy having a shadow everywhere I go,” she said. “And two, I wanted to come say goodbye to you without a chaperone. I do not think that you are a threat to my life.”
Fin smiled. “I’m glad ye came tae see me,” he said. “And nay. I’m nae a threat to yer life. Ye’ve got good instincts.”
They shared a laugh together, but it seemed somewhat strained to Fin. It was as if there was some unspoken truth, some words left unsaid, hanging in the air between them. There was a physical pressure to it that pressed down on him. Fin felt his stomach churning, and his heart swelling and puzzled over it for a moment before he realized what it was.
