AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I snarl, kicking and punching, each twist a fight against my corset, as I curse myself for not spending more time learning how to fight while wearing one. My boot catches a man in the gut, and I pull back to deliver a harder knock in the same spot. He lets out a curse, and I kick again. I find the knife release and press it. The blade flies out. Another slam of my boot, and the man holding my feet loses his grip, and I swing my feet down as I slash with the knife. It makes contact. The other man yowls.
I get my footing and dance back, knife raised. The two men both look at me. Then they look at each other, as if to say “Yougrab her.” They’re so focused on the knife-wielding doxy that they fail to notice the guy standing right behind them, looming a half foot above their heads.
Gray reaches out, almost casually, and lifts one man by the back of his collar. Then he swings him around and delivers a perfect right hook with that same equanimity. The man flies to the ground, and we both step toward the second man.
I would like to think me brandishing my knife spooks the second man. Or maybe the look in my eyes. But let’s be honest—the guy never glances my way. He’s too busy staring at the hulking shadow beside me.
The man glances down the street toward where the young woman ran off with the stalker in hot pursuit. A momentary pause. Then he bolts in the other direction.
His companion wobbles up from the ground. Gray grabs him by the shirt and swings him into the wall with a thud that makes me wince.
Gray doesn’t say a word. Doesn’t even bring his face down to the man’s with a menacing glare. He pins him for three seconds, and then tosses him aside and waves for me to help chase the woman’s stalker.
This time, Gray motions me into the lead. He glances back at the other man, still picking himself up from the ground.
“They have knives!” the man bellows. “Both of them!”
With that, he scrambles away. Gray and I exchange a look. Okay, so I didn’t coincidentally get jumped as we pursued the woman. We were distracted to let her stalker catch her.
“Go on ahead,” I say as I run. “I can’t go any faster in these damned skirts.”
Gray stays behind me, and I resist the urge to snap that I had looked after myself just fine. That isn’t the point. If he’d been the one jumped, I’d stick close, too.
We don’t need to go far. Down one street and then looping back the way we came before we catch voices in a courtyard. I slow to listen.
“I heard you talking about Queen Mab,” the man is saying. “You know where the witch lives.”
“I said it before, and I’ll say it again, no matter how many times you strike me. The only Queen I know sits on the English throne. Notmythrone, whatever the law might say. Mine’s in the castle yonder.”
“I heard you mention Queen—”
“You are mistaken.”
“I am not,” he says.
“If you’re trying to get a free tickle, threatening to turn me in for treason, you’d best walk me down to the police office now, because I don’t sell my favor, and I certainly do not give it away to the likes of you.”
“I’m talking about QueenMab.The witch. Thepoisoner.”
We duck down the close leading to the courtyard. Then I peer around the corner. The woman stares at the man in a show of confusion. As a cop who has interviewed hundreds of witnesses, I can tell she’s overdoing it. I’m not sure he can, though.
“You’re calling the English queen a poisoner? A witch?” The woman chortles. “It seems I am not the one who needs to worry about paying a visit to Calcraft’s toilet.”
I glance at Gray and arch a brow. He leans down to my ear.
“William Calcraft. City hangman.”
The two continue arguing, the man getting increasingly frustrated. I whisper a plan to Gray, who nods, and I’m about to step out when the man slaps the woman again, the blow hard enough to send me barreling out there faster than I intended.
“What’s this?” the man says, his eyes narrowing. He looks past me.
“Your friends are busy with my fellow o’ the evening,” I say. “Doesn’t seem he’ll be in any shape to pay my fee, so I was wondering if you were interested.”
“What?” His face screws up.
I motion at the young woman. “She does not seem interested, and I am. A half crown for a half hour?” I step toward him. “’Twill be the best half crown you’ve ever spent.”
He stares at me in confusion. I take one more step, tossing my curls, and the young woman shoves him hard. He stumbles, and she punches him square in the stomach. Then she bolts.
