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“But what?” Viola let out a string of angry—and probably filthy—Italian curses. “Explain yourself.”
“He is trying to, Viola.” Jianyu placed what he probably intended as a calming hand on her arm, but she jerked away.
“I arrived back from the Continent two weeks ago,” Theo said.
“You didn’t send word,” Viola said, frowning. She looked shocked by the news, and maybe even disappointed.
“There hasn’t been time,” Theo told her. “They’ve been watching me since I’ve returned. My family and the Order as well.”
“You are not safe from the Order’s suspicions?” Jianyu asked.
Theo shook his head. “Not completely. Thanks to you, they couldn’t prove anything, and with how everything turned out back in June, they’re angrier at Jack than anyone else. But Jack said enough about my involvement that they’re still unsure. They don’t exactly trust me.”
“Still.” Viola pouted. “You could have sent word. You should have let us know.”
“I haven’t had a minute to myself since my father summoned me back,” Theo explained. “I barely had time to gather my things before my ship left. And from the minute we docked in the harbor, they’ve kept me busy. My father found me a position at his bank, and I started immediately upon my return. In the evenings, when I’m not working, I’ve been doing translations for Morgan. The Order is pretending that everything is fine, but they made it clear that I’m being tested. They’ve been keeping their eye on me. I couldn’t risk trying to contact you, not when they were still so suspicious. I could have led them right to you.”
“Yet you are here now,” Jianyu said, pointing out the contradiction.
“Something happened that made it necessary,” he explained. “When I was working on Morgan’s papers, I overheard a meeting the Inner Circle was having. I don’t think they realized the venting between the rooms was so connected, or they likely wouldn’t have spoken so freely. But it was clear that the Order had information about Cela. Someone had tipped them off about her involvement with what happened at the Flatiron. They knew she was working at the hotel in Atlantic City, and they were planning on bringing her in for questioning. I had to get to her first.”
Cela looked to Viola. “Once he got me out of the hotel, we had to get Newton’s Sigils from where I’d stashed them at my boardinghouse. But there were men watching it. It took two days for them to give up so that we could get close.”
“Two days and you could not send word?” Viola demanded.
“The last thing we wanted was to lead them back here,” Theo repeated.
Cela lifted the satchel from where it was secured across her body and handed it to Jianyu. “They tore apart my room, but I had these somewhere safer—the floor of the boardinghouse’s root cellar. They didn’t find them.”
Viola snatched the bag from Jianyu. In a matter of seconds, she’d pulled her dagger from it. Her attention only on her blade, she handed the satchel back to Jianyu.
“I’m sorry I brought them back here,” Cela said, feeling like she’d failed. “I’ve put you all at risk by coming back, but I didn’t know what else to do.”
Jianyu’s expression softened. “You did well. Exactly as you should have.”
“But Nibsy will be able to track you now,” Cela said.
“He already can.” Jianyu said darkly. “Better to have our weapons here. Better to meet him on our own ground than leave ourselves exposed and unprotected.”
Cela bristled a little at this. “I can take care of myself, you know. Thanks to you and my brother’s heavy-handedness, I have for months now.” But when she saw the guilt that flashed in Jianyu’s eyes, her frustration faded. “But you’re right. I’m glad to be back. This city is my home. I won’t let Nibsy Lorcan or the Order chase me from it again. This is where I want to stand and fight.”
“It isn’t only the Order and Nibsy we have to worry about now,” Viola said, looking to Jianyu with an unreadable expression. “Not with Tom Lee’s noose around your wrist.”
Cela turned to him, confused. Her gaze dropped to his wrist and, just as Viola had said, there was a braided bit of silken cord tied there. “What is that?” She looked up at him and saw the frustration—the fear—in his eyes.
“We thought Nibsy had taken you,” he explained. “We needed an ally who could move outside the city.”
“But my brother could,” Cela said, her stomach already flipping.
“He was already searching,” Jianyu said. “We—I—could not leave it all upon Abel’s shoulders.”
“You went to Tom Lee for help?” Cela asked. He’d told her before how Tom Lee had treated him before he’d left the On Leongs for Dolph Saunders gang. “Why would you do that?”
“Because you were missing,” Jianyu told her, the words infused with so much emotion that Cela took an actual step back.
“Well, call it off,” Cela said. “You don’t need him now.”
Jianyu shook his head. “It is not so easy.”
