Page 39 of Glimmer and Burn (Unity #1)

Rachel’s face didn’t so much as twitch while Captain Blair spoke, his entire body animated.

When he finished and he looked at her expectantly, her features finally softened.

“Don’t get your hopes up, Gideon. You’ll be putting your friend at risk and there’s no guarantee it will lead anywhere.

” The gentle probing of her words was the first time Miranda could see her affection clearly.

Rachel cared how Captain Blair might feel, offered a soft voice of reason when it was clear he was too consumed in his plan to see beyond the details.

“Drake will be fine, he’s been through worse.” The Captain waved her concern away, but Miranda watched the fear fill Rachel’s eyes, how her gaze lingered on the back of Captain Blair’s head while he stampeded through his thoughts unaware.

Devin’s fingers intertwined with Miranda’s, squeezing gently and she wasn’t sure if he was trying to comfort her or himself.

She leaned so that her weight pressed into his side, but only barely, hopefully not in a way that would draw notice.

Although, with Rachel focused on Captain Blair and Captain Blair focused on his plan, she doubted they would.

“If anyone asks, you came to me with these accusations, but I didn’t believe you.

So, the pair of you took matters into your own hands.

” The Captain had pulled more maps from a shelf—which took several minutes of searching, though Rachel did not comment—studying them as he spoke.

“You two will have to find your own way inside, shouldn’t be hard.

Not with upper class guardian training.” Miranda suspected he hadn’t intended to call her out in front of everyone, but she felt self-conscious all the same.

Guardians from families outside the nobility went to a public academy for their training, and only for certain times of the year.

It was not as rigorous or intense as her instruction had been.

“From there, I just need one of you to find a way to give me a signal that I can use,” The Captain continued, “An explosion. A body falling out a window. Screaming. Something that one of my officers could find, react to, and then call me.”

“I’ll station Singer and Solis on the marina. Solis has sharp eyes and will notice any disturbance and Singer has a habit of stumbling into trouble, so if there’s something to notice, she’ll find it,” Rachel said, her tone clipped.

Miranda suspected that, as much as Graves had wronged Rachel too, she didn’t agree that it was worth the risk.

“I just need to work out a way to get a battalion of Watchmen ready without making it obvious. Maybe I’ll start a training exercise, so they’re all armed up? Or I can…I’ll figure it out. You two okay with your side?”

“Get in. Make it obvious. There’s not much to work out,” Devin answered.

“Perfect, I’ll—”

“Sir?” An officer came to the door.

Gideon huffed. “What? What is it?”

“Oh. Uh, your sister’s, um. Here.”

Captain Blair froze. As literally as Miranda had ever seen someone go from motion to statuesque. He wasn’t even blinking.

“Is he okay?” Miranda asked, resisting the urge to wave her hand in front of his face.

“Yeah, he’ll be fine,” Rachel dismissed with a wave. “Thank you, Miller, he’ll be down in a minute. You two should get started if we’re short on time. If I help, I should be able to get everything in order by tomorrow, is that too soon?”’

“No, I’ll be ready,” Miranda said, knowing that she would have to return home and dreading it.

Her parents might tie her to a chair after all the sneaking around she’d been doing lately.

But she had been wrong when she thought they wouldn’t believe her, maybe she could convince them that she needed to do this, for herself.

Captain Blair resumed breathing, the pencil in his hand snapping in two. He spoke loudly enough to be heard even as she and Devin left the office.

“Where is she?”

“A holding cell,” Miller supplied, his wince audible.

“Fuck, not again.”

Miranda turned to whisper to Devin, “Why is his sister in a holding cell?”

“Let’s just say they took very different paths processing their trauma,” he whispered and Miranda liked how he stayed close to her, how he hadn’t let go of her hand, how their whispered confidence felt intimate, shared.

It was the same sort of comradery she’d felt with Lydia, only she had never wanted to pull Lydia into a dark corner to act on indecent impulses where no one could see.

As they threaded their way through the now bustling main floor, a familiar face stopped Miranda, and eye contact forced a different set of instincts to take over.

She bowed in greeting. “Alderman North,” she said.

What was Alderman Kieran North doing at Watchmen Headquarters at this hour?

North returned the greeting, all precise motions and rigid manners. North had never been known for his warmth and, while she had never found him cruel, his callous disposition was often mistaken as such. “Miss Wilde, what a surprise to find you here.”

“I could say the same thing,” she retorted, then bit her cheek. She had spent much too long in the company of rogues and scoundrels. Even she would not have dared speak to Alderman North that way a week ago. His piercing, frosty stare was unforgiving of indiscretion.

He didn’t seem overly concerned with her slip just now, however, his attention seemed to be drifting elsewhere. His icy grey eyes remained bored as they moved over her shoulder to Devin.

“A friend of yours?” He drawled, voice sending chills down her skin and not the good kind.

“Oh!” She nodded, quickly pulling Devin to her side and then regretting the intimacy of the gesture and pushing him away. Heavens, she was flustered. Two worlds were warring for control and she didn’t know which to fight. “This is Lord Devin Drake. A friend. We were just leaving.”

“Very well. Please give my congratulations to your sister on her happy nuptials or whatever the phrase.”

Miranda nodded and then froze. “What?”

“We’re expected to wish others well in marital endeavors, no? I’ve assumed wrong before.” He sounded as if he cared very little if he assumed wrong or not.

“No, no, it’s…Cordelia isn’t married .” Miranda almost laughed, because the idea was…unthinkable. He had to be mistaken. “Nothing was planned until months from now.”

His harsh brow furrowed, “Strange. I read only just this morning that the pair eloped.”

Miranda’s heart squeezed and the blood drained from her skin. “She…what?”

Alderman North continued as if his words hadn’t knocked the wind from her.

“Elopement. The announcement was in the papers this morning. I don’t forget and I’m rarely wrong.

Though I’m surprised you weren’t aware, as her sister.

Perhaps a long night has kept you from your family?

” His gaze slid to Devin, and there was no smile or sneer, but somehow she was certain he knew what had kept her away the previous night.

If she were not in the midst of panic, she might have cared.

“I…” she reached out to steady herself, for a wall, a chair, anything. A warm hand caught her and Miranda fell into Devin’s strong, solid body.

“Thanks, North, was it?” Devin interrupted, drawing a sharp look from the Alderman, “It’s been a pleasure, but I think I’d better see the lady home now.” Devin’s voice was clipped, impatient.

Miranda’s legs weren’t working properly. She felt wobbly. Unstable. Devin guided her out of the building and began to hail a cab for them with his free arm, his other remained wrapped around her waist.

“It’s alright, Mira. We’ll get to the bottom of this. It has to be a misunderstanding.”

“Or, Graves has found a way to kidnap my sister without raising suspicion.” Her chest felt hollow, raw. Had she eaten today? Her head started to swim, the world blurring into a mess of colors.

“Mira?” Devin caught her as she swayed. “Mira, hold on.”

He lifted her, tucking her against his chest like she was fragile.

She wasn’t fragile…but maybe she could be for the moment.

She set her ear against his chest, soothed by the sound of his heart that drowned the rest of the world.

Devin’s voice was muffled and indistinct.

She sensed him lift her into a cab, sensed him cradle her in his arms, his cheek on her head and his hands attempting soothing, stroking motions.

Had she eaten today?

Miranda’s last conscious thought was of Cordelia, and the overwhelming fear that she was too late to save her.