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Solomon nodded reluctantly.

A sharp knock interrupted them.Finn burst into the room, his face flushed and his breathing rapid.He held up a folded paper sealed with a crest.

“Urgent message from Lord Fairfax.”He crossed the office and handed it to Viggo.“Just arrived.”

Tension oozed through Viggo as he hastily broke the seal and unfolded the letter.His stomach twisted when he began reading its contents.

“What does it say?”Solomon asked stiffly.

“Fairfax heard back from his associates,” Viggo replied, his tone flat.“Two in Belgravia, one in Kensington, and one in Bloomsbury.Between them, they’ve had five more thrall employees disappear in the past fortnight.All left similar resignation letters.”

“Bloody hell,” Finn muttered.“That makes?—”

“Eighteen that we know of,” Viggo finished, the number hanging in the air like a death knell.His knuckles whitened around the paper as he continued reading.He cursed out loud.“There’s worse.The body of a man named James Harker was found washed up on the banks of the Thames early this morning.According to Fairfax, his remains have been taken to the Met.They’ve identified him as a thrall who worked as an assistant to a bookbinder in Mayfair.”

A fraught silence fell over the room, the hush broken only by the distant sounds ofNightshade’s members going about their business inside the guild.

Solomon fisted his hands, his expression growing dark.“Whoever these bastards are, they’re organised.”

Viggo folded the letter and tucked it inside his coat, his mind still reeling from what they’d just learned.“I’m going to find Evander.He needs to hear about this.Now.”He strode across the room and paused abruptly on the threshold.“Don’t forget you need to visit Lady Hartley this evening,” he told Solomon.“She said to come early so she could have your uniform fitted and have her butler show you the ropes.”

Solomon grimaced.“She’s going to make me wear a cravat, isn’t she?”

Finn snorted, breaking the tension.Viggo managed to keep a straight face by a sheer act of will despite the grim tidings they’d just received.

They’d dropped by Ginny’s that morning to ask for her help with their plans.Though she’d been intensely curious to find out whyNightshadeneeded the favour, she’d readily provided her assistance.The gleam in her eyes when she’d realised Solomon was the one involved in said favour told Viggo his friend had better watch himself around the courtesan.

Another messenger arrived just as Viggo was about to leaveNightshade, this one bearing a note with the Ravenwood crest.He took it with a sense of foreboding.

It was from Hargrove.Evander already had a prior engagement this evening but wished to see him later tonight.Viggo hesitated and looked at his pocket watch.He decided he might as well make his way over to Mayfair now and await his lover’s return.

A delicious tension filled his groin as he flagged down a hansom cab on Commercial Road minutes later.One night away from Evander had been one night too many.He didn’t intend to let the mage sleep tonight.Viggo frowned faintly.

We’re going to have to discuss our living arrangements.

Irongate Prison loomed in the distance to his left when he looked outside.

Viggo’s scar throbbed as he stared at the foreboding outline of the dark fortress etched starkly against the orange sky.

It was the main holding facility for magical criminals in London and the place where the Archmage who had destroyed his village and orchestrated the murder of thousands of innocent thralls had met his final end.

Viggo shook off his bleak mood as the hansom cab left the East End.Now was not the time to dwell on the past.

It was gone six when he reached Evander’s Mayfair townhouse.Hargrove’s chagrined expression when he opened the door immediately alerted him that something wasn’t quite right.

“What’s the matter?”Viggo said stiffly as he entered the foyer.

Hargrove recovered his composure.“Good evening, Mr.Stonewall,” the manservant said smoothly.“I wasn’t expecting your company so soon.Would you like to have supper while you wait for his Grace to return?”

Viggo wasn’t fooled by the former Navy man’s attempt to change the subject.He crossed his arms and scowled.

“Spit it out, Hargrove.”

Evander’s carriagepulled up outsideLe Petit Châteauat precisely six o’clock.

The restaurant occupied a handsome Georgian building with a facade of cream-coloured stone and tall, arched windows that glowed amber against the gathering dusk.Gold lettering adorned the midnight-blue awning and ornate magic lanterns flanked the entrance, the glowing orbs casting pools of warm light onto the cobblestones and the liveried footmen standing to attention beside the gleaming oak doors.

Evander stepped out of the carriage just as the evening fog began rolling into Covent Garden and requested Graham and Samuel to wait for him.He suspected Leon would otherwise make an excuse to arrange for them to spend the entire evening together.