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“That we know.”
“She tells us, but we’re not the only people she tells.”
Duchess nodded, understanding. “The fiancé.”
“Who, instead of asking his powerful, arrogant, irritating,pompous, angel-of-judgment brother for help, decides to take matters into his own hands, and—”
“—we shall come back toangel of judgment,” Duchess interjected.
They absolutely would not. “—and returns to Alfie Trumbull’s fight ring to make some quick blunt, and get the girl out of town.”
“They’re not eloping,” Duchess added, understanding. “Or, rather, they’re eloping, but they’re on the run. Chased by the Matchbreaker, the Duke of Clayborn, and... if their luck runs out, her monster of a father.”
“A butcher, a baker, and a candlestick maker.” Adelaide paused. “I, of course, am the candlestick maker. Very clever indeed.”
Duchess’s laugh heralded the opening of the rear door to the tavern, releasing the quiet roar of the teeming masses within, and revealing the tavern owner herself. Maggie O’Tiernen dropped an empty cask and let the door close behind her as she approached. When she spoke, her voice was lush and deep, rich with the sound of the Galway coast of her youth. “Alright, girls?”
Adelaide smiled. Only Maggie would address a duchess and a thief as such, even as she found them in the alleyway behind her tavern, clearly up to something.
A Black woman who’d left Ireland for London the moment she was able, Maggie had come with the clothes on her back to build a new life, where she could live freely as a woman, embodying her true self. Knowing, as she did, what the world could do to those who wished to live authentically, she’d built a safe haven here, in the dark corners of Covent Garden—a tavern known only as The Place. The rules were simple: if you were a woman, and you could find it, The Place would have you, however you came, whomever you loved.
The Place was no different than the palace that rose not a mile to the west; in both locations, women reigned.
If you asked Adelaide, however, she’d be the first to tell you she’d take Maggie’s over Victoria’s any day, because at Maggie’s, every woman could be a queen. Adelaide could still remember her first time inside The Place—the first time she’d felt home in the weeks following her escape from the South Bank.
Maggie had seen her fear, her uncertainty. Adelaide’s panic that she might have to return and face the wrath of her father and the censure of the world she’d tried to escape. They’d become fast friends—two women born into a life that had not been for them. Destined for more. Within a week, Adelaide was living in the rooms above the tavern, working for Duchess, a part of a new, vibrant world she’d never imagined.
“Makin’ plans?” Maggie asked.
“Always,” Adelaide replied.
Maggie lifted a chin in the direction of Duchess. “It’s usually you making them, no?”
The other woman inclined her head. “Not tonight. Tonight, it’s Adelaide outlining the battle.”
Battle.That word again. The promise of the formidable opponent she’d face along the way. Her pulse sped, readying her for what was to come.
“Seen the papers this week, Duchess?” Maggie asked.
A ghost of a smile flickered over Duchess’s face. “I have, in fact.”
Maggie laughed, the sound warm and deep. “I should have guessed you’d be happy with it.”
“With what?” Adelaide asked. “Some of us don’t have the luxury of lying about and reading the papers, you know.”
“Poor babe,” Maggie teased. “TheNewshas gossip from Scotland Yard.”
Adelaide turned to Duchess. “What gossip?”
The other woman made a show of brushing an invisible speck from her sleeve. “It’s important to note that it’s simply gossip. Rubbish alongside an account of Lord Draven’s demise.” She slid Maggie a look. “Which we hadnothingto do with.”
Maggie nodded. “I didn’t think so. It lacked your finesse.”
Adelaide wasn’t a fool. She knew as well as anyone that gossip was never entirely false; certainly not when reported by theNews. “Tell me.”
“Sources from inside Scotland Yard have revealed that Detective Inspector Peck has a name for the group that staged an explosion therein last year.”
The group.Thathadbeen them. Adelaide grinned. “Allegedlystaged.”
