Emma Holloway - A Study in Ashes

Tobias was nonplussed. “I refused you and all but threw you and your drunken hangers-on out of my father’s party and now you want to be friends?”

Reading laughed. “No, Mr. Roth, not friends. I don’t make friends. Call it collaborators of convenience, if you must put a label on it.”

“I think not.”

“Fair enough. Let me prove myself to you.”

He watched curiously as the Scarlet King pulled a portfolio into his lap. It had been sitting beside the chair. Now he could see that it was made of fine Spanish leather, the lock a complicated affair that looked like two clasping hands made from chased silver. Reading took a key from his watch chain and inserted it between the hands. The tiny fingers opened with a faint click, and suddenly the two hands were open, palms up. He lifted the cover and extracted a sheaf of documents. They looked stark white against the gray of his fine kid gloves.

“What is that?” Tobias asked.

An amused smile curled Reading’s lips. “I’m sure you’ve spent rather a long time with your nose inside that rogue airship. I came across these plans and thought they might be of interest.”

Curious, Tobias took them from Reading’s hand. They were indeed the plans, detailing every measurement in neatly labeled pencil. Tobias began thumbing through the stack of pages, pulling off his right-hand glove to flip the pages faster.

Reading watched with detached fascination, his blue eyes almost sleepy. “Even from the plans it is not clear who deployed the thing, but I can tell you its origins. I paid a fair price for those scribbles.”

“Spicer Industries,” Tobias said, his thumb stroking the edge of the page. “Their man of business purchased the logic device from Italy. I have the paperwork, but even if I didn’t, the evidence is plain to see. It employs the same principles as a machine for mathematical calculation in the Green Queen’s offices—”

“Ah, yes, darling Jane’s little engine,” the Scarlet King interrupted, clearly annoyed that Tobias had already solved the puzzle. “Crashing bore once she gets on about it. And I think you’ll find the steering has features in common with those carts that rush the post around the underground rails.”

“I know. But why did the Green Queen do it?” Tobias looked up from the plans. “Of all of you on the Steam Council, why her?”

“Why does Jane Spicer do anything? Damned if I know. Becoming a widow and assuming the mantle of the Green Queen was the most exciting thing to ever happen to that vile woman. All she’s ever cared about is her bank and her army of clerks, lawyers, and insurance men. Only she would fail to see the humor in making her vehicle of attack a blood-sucking bug.”

Mind reeling, Tobias passed the papers back to Reading, who tucked them back into their leather case. “But why are you telling this to me, and not claiming the credit of discovery for yourself? Surely my assistance can’t be worth that much.”

The Scarlet King’s eyes grew cold. “It’s not. I might have forgiven you for treating me like a common lackey at your father’s party—I am perfectly serious about the good we could do for each other—but if my offer is not tempting enough for you, well, there’s not much I can do about that.”

“ You forgive me ?” Tobias raised his eyebrows. “For objecting to your behavior?”

The Scarlet King rose from his chair, his spine military-straight. “Your betters know to show respect. I’m not some brewer’s son you can toss into the street. Not anymore.”

Rising as well, Tobias looked him in the eye. He saw a man not that many years older than he was—clever, good-looking, and strong—but for the first time, he also saw the uncertainty of someone who had scrabbled his way to social heights no one had thought possible. One who didn’t think about the responsibility that came with power. “There’s more to wearing big boots than demanding obedience.”

Reading backhanded him across the face. Caught by surprise, Tobias only managed to lessen the blow, not dodge it completely. “Bloody hell, Reading!”

“I don’t forgive you. If you had accepted my offer, I might have spared you. And you should have. I’ve given you Jane Spicer. I couldn’t have delivered the old bag any more neatly than if I’d put her on a platter with an apple in her mouth.”

That was a picture Tobias could have lived without. “Spare me how?”

Reading clicked the portfolio shut. “No doubt you’ll tell Keating about the plans?”

“I already intended to.” His words sounded calm, telling nothing of the struggle he’d had to make that decision.

“Fine. Jane took the first shot at him, but like so many of her plans, it just didn’t stick. Now that he knows it’s Green that started the fight, he’ll be obligated to follow up.” Reading gave a greasy smile. “Don’t think we haven’t anticipated that.”

Tobias was utterly gobsmacked, too stunned to speak. A warning hung in the air, like a cry echoing in the jungle. And then a flutter of excitement started low in his belly. It wasn’t hope or pleasure, just the knowledge that something unexpected had just happened. “You’re trying to start this war! You’re not Keating’s ally. You’ve double-crossed him!”

“Why not?” Reading asked. “He’s been plotting against the rest of us for years.”

“And you’re sacrificing Green to do it.”

“Why not? Would you want to put up with that woman?” He put on his top hat and started toward the door. Tobias followed him toward the front office, doing his best to put the different pieces of the conversation together. The Scarlet King paused and donned a long, stylish coat of dove gray. It fell in thick folds, too heavy for the weather, but it was the last stare in Bond Street fashion.

Tobias stood in the doorway between the two rooms, not sure what to do. He was a maker, not a schemer like Keating or the Scarlet King. He didn’t know what the next move should be. “If you’re trying to provoke Keating by selling out Green, why try to lure me to your side?” And whom haven’t you betrayed in this scenario? This is worse than a Jacobean play .

“I came with two plans.” Reading smiled, teeth white beneath his mustache. “Option one, you treated me with respect. Then together, we might have decided the best use for this information about Green. Option two, you did not. You will tell Keating what you found out. Either way, I win.”

“Either way, I would tell Keating, so I don’t see what the benefit to me would be of licking your boots.”

“Whether you know it or not, you’re one of Keating’s greatest assets.”

Something in the way the Scarlet King spoke reminded him of Bucky’s words. The longer he stayed with Keating, the greater the distance from his old life. Keating kept him close for a reason. Surely I’m not that brilliant, am I?

Then Scarlet went on. “Because you are valuable, if you’re not on my side, I can’t let Keating keep you. A sad inevitability, to be sure.” He raised the portfolio. “Always go with Italian when it comes to contact poisons. They’ve made an art of undetectable death. I knew you would fall for the plans like a kitten chasing a string. Too bad you took your glove off, Mr. Roth.”

He’s poisoned me . Tobias grabbed the customized Webley from beneath his coat, the cool weight pleasing in his hand. Metal he understood, the cause and effect of gear and spring. It was like holding a piece of rationality in the midst of chaos. Suddenly, he had power again.

Still, he knew the fit of bravado wouldn’t last forever. He met Reading’s eyes and held them, remembering how the man had undressed Imogen with his gaze. How he’d come far too close to Poppy. Tobias allowed his hate to seep out in his expression.