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“For Jack to say anything against me, he’s going to have to return to the city first. Then he’s going to have to admit that he lied the day Theo died,” she reminded Viola. “He’s not going to do that. He has too much riding on his attempt to be some kind of hero.”
The wagon stopped at the dark edge of Madison Park. “This is it,” Ruby said. “I’ll come to the park as soon as I can get away, just like we planned. Wait for me by the fountain. If I’m not there by two, I’m not coming. But please, don’t come for me, and don’t worry. I’ll be fine. I’ll see you as soon as I can get away.”
“Two days,” Viola demanded. “No more.”
She couldn’t stop her mouth from curving at Viola’s determined insistence. “I thought you wanted me to be safe?”
“I want you here, with me,” Viola told her. “Where I can kill anyone who thinks to hurt you.”
“As soon as I can get away without drawing suspicion, I’ll come. I promise.” She leaned forward and kissed Viola, sighing a little as Viola responded without hesitation, lifting her hands to frame Ruby’s face and gently deepening the kiss.
Ruby could have stayed there in that dark, dirty little wagon forever as long as Viola’s mouth was pressed against hers. With their lips touching and their breath intermingled, she could almost forget what lay ahead. The danger she was placing herself in and the importance of the information she needed to get fell away. There was only Viola. Only now. In that impossible moment, the Order didn’t matter, and neither did the city beyond.
She didn’t notice at first when the carriage rattled to a stop, but Viola drew back. Her violet eyes glowed with a need that Ruby felt too keenly. One day, they would have hours to explore each other, hours to ignore the world. But to have those hours—to imagine that future together—they had to stop Jack. And to stop Jack, they needed information that only Ruby could attain.
Then the wagon’s back gate opened, and Jianyu was there, waiting. It was time.
He helped Ruby down from the back of the wagon’s bed, and then she felt the world go a little wobbly as he wrapped her in magic. It felt a bit like looking through old-fashioned glass.
“Take care of her,” Viola demanded, but her eyes searched the darkness, and Ruby understood that she could not see them any longer.
She stepped forward for one last kiss, but Jianyu held her back.
“Come,” he whispered.
Reluctantly, Ruby complied. With her arm tucked through Jianyu’s, they set out through the darkened park hidden by his affinity. She did not allow herself to look back even once—she couldn’t. If she turned back, she might lose her nerve or change her mind. So she walked onward, her head high, promising herself that she would do everything she could to create a future for them. A future where the Order and the Brink and Jack Grew had no power.
And if she could make Jack suffer for what he did to Theo? All the better.
It wasn’t long before they were standing beneath the soaring blade of the Fuller Building—the Flatiron, as the city had taken to calling it for its strange shape.
“You do not have to do this,” Jianyu said when Ruby paused, looking up at the building. “If you are unsure—”
“No,” Ruby said. “I need to do this. I’ll be fine.”
“Do not underestimate the danger,” he warned.
She gave him a weak smile. “I won’t, but I’ve been pretending for these fools my whole life, and they’ve never suspected. What’s another few days?”
She released Jianyu’s arm and stepped out of the safety of his magic. When she turned back, she couldn’t see him any longer, but she knew he was there. She could sense him waiting. Watching.
Her dress was a puddle of silk and taffeta chiffon, but suddenly it felt like armor. She’d worn this gown for Theo, and she felt him now by her side. Terrified though she might be, Ruby would do this in his memory. She would get the information they needed to destroy the man who had killed her dearest friend. And then she would help bring the entire Order to their knees.
Looking up, she gathered her courage beneath the star-swept night, and then, with a blood-curdling scream, she shoved her way into the building.
“Help!” she cried, bursting through the doors. “Someone, please help me!” And then she collapsed into a sobbing heap on the floor.
NEWS FROM THE CITY
New Jersey
The warehouse space he’d rented in New Jersey was not much warmer than the chill winter air outside, but though Jack Grew was in nothing more than shirtsleeves, he didn’t feel the cold. Not even now, in the dead of night. How could the cold touch him when there was a fire burning within him and a voice urging him onward and onward?
His machine was nearly done, and it was magnificent. The gleaming steel of the curved arms glinted in the light of the lamps. He’d redesigned it for his new purposes, and sometimes the sheer magnificence of what he’d created left him breathless.
Jack hadn’t succeeded in finding a maggot to power a new stone. It was his singular regret. But he had the Pharaoh’s Heart, and if he failed to locate a maggot before the Conclave arrived, it would serve his purposes well enough. It was worth the risk of losing the stone to claim his new future.
A knock sounded at the door on the far side of the warehouse. That would be Aaron, he thought, wiping the grime from his hands and putting on his jacket, where the Book was tucked safely into the hidden pocket against his chest. Right on time.
