Page 38 of Harmonic Pleasure (Mysterious Arts #6)

A LITTLE LATER

V ega let Farran take the time he needed.

For one thing, that was kind, and Vega wanted to be continually kind to Farran for all the obvious reasons and the usual ones, and then some.

He was someone who didn’t take kindness for granted, not from most people.

It made her want to give him something different. Reliably different.

Also, she was still starving, and the sandwich was excellent.

Salmon paste, with what must be hothouse cucumbers, thinly sliced.

By the time Farran reappeared, his face a little red, as if he had indeed washed it, she was done with that, and considering if she wanted another half of the remaining sandwich.

Instead of deciding, she looked up, then patted the sofa next to her. “Do you want half?”

“Oh. I suppose. If you’ve had enough.” The thing about asking him was that it gave a bit of a new setting for what they were doing. Enough of a change that he wouldn’t feel like he had to continue sharing the most delicate parts.

“And then we ought to talk about our next steps.” That, of course, was the other part of it. The thing about improvising was that moving from what had been laid out into something new, but doing it in a way that didn’t feel jarring. “Vandermeer? Have you heard anything further from Vivian?”

“There seem to be two things to try,” Farran said, pulling himself back together. “One is to find a direction for our own exploration, and hope he doesn’t turn up. Vivian sent along the potions, enough for one outing, at least. Maybe two. ‘A swallow’ is curiously imprecise as a measurement.”

Vega snorted. “Yes. And it depends so much on the bottle.” She nodded then. “Do you have ideas about that? Given that ‘wander around London’ has some logistical challenges?”

“I was wondering if you’ve had any inclinations. A draw to something, even something like a dream.” Farran asked it carefully, rather gently.

Vega was about to deny anything of the kind, but then she stopped. “Now you say it. No details.” She hesitated. “The last two nights, a sense of a space. No windows, dirt floors, nothing like a modern building. Maybe underground.”

“And we’d been thinking it might be underground. That would explain why it might be more recently disturbed.” Farran nodded. “Anything else?”

“There’s an awful lot of underground, though, isn’t there?” Vega said it, just thinking about the maps she’d seen.

“So.” Farran spoke slowly. “Vivian knows someone who could get us into some of the subway tunnels. I’m wondering if that might be some use. There are quite a few just north of the river, and a station that’s no longer in service. They use those tunnels for storage, that sort of thing.”

“Underground.” Vega sucked in a breath. “The Tube.”

“This is a time to talk about that. You said you didn’t like the Tube. Is it the Tube itself, or being underground? You seemed all right in the caves, but that’s rather different.”

Vega let out the breath, slowly. “The metal of the cars. I can if I have to. I just really don’t like it, and it will affect my magic for a day or two, maybe. Also, my voice. And isn’t it dangerous?”

“We’d need to go down during the dark of the night, when they do maintenance.

Vivian’s contact can get us down, and has some charms to make it so people won’t ask too much in the way of questions.

He’d like to know if there’s something odd there.

Especially if other people might come poking around for it.

And we won’t be in the actual cars, just walking along the tunnels for a bit.

Metal, but not all around us like a car. ” Farran was watching her closely now.

Vega nodded, without saying anything, considering it from as many angles as she could. “What do you think?” That was what it came down to.

“I think it’s worth considering about. Maybe doing.

I think there will be less, um, background noise there?

But it’ll be a question of whether there’s anything like what we’re looking for near enough.

Or accessible enough. There are all sorts of spaces down there, some of them mapped, some of them not so much. And it depends how deep you get.”

“So there is such a thing as a map?” Vega asked.

“For some of it. There’s someone who knows as much as anyone. I was going to meet them when they get off work, six in the morning or so. If it makes sense, we could try tomorrow night, when you’re done at the club. If you want.” Farran hesitated. “If you trust me to make the call.”

“I don’t know that I’d do any better. On the decision, I mean.” Vega let out a puff of breath. “All right. Go meet with them, and write to me when you’re done, and we’ll see. It feels sudden. But on the other hand, I worry that Vandermeer’s going to get closer and closer.”

“That’s the thing, isn’t it?” Farran said.

“We’d both rather take our time. And that’s dangerous, too.

I don’t exactly want to go rushing underground, but I think it’d get us more information.

And I trust Vivian’s judgement? Certainly that she doesn’t want to explain to Uncle Cadmus if something went wrong. Or your family, for that matter.”

“There is that.” Vega felt slightly reassured by that part. “All right. That means you have somewhere specific in mind, right? Do we think Vandermeer might also be interested?”

“Well, it’s in the City proper. So yes.” Farran glanced at the tray.

“Let me clear the tray and bring back the map. Do you want to keep your tea?” She did, so she held the mug while he moved the rest of it away and brought out the map.

“This is the current Monument station. Under the Monument to the Great Fire. But a little south, here, is King William Street Station. It’s been closed since 1900.

Ages, now. And it’s not on the same line as Monument.

Or Bank. But they’re very close to each other. ”

“And here?” Vega peered at the map. “They seem to overlap.”

“The trick of it is the depth of the tunnels. King William Street is very deep, one of the original stations that deep. Bank and Monument are roughly the same depth, both shallower.” Farran paused, then added. “Don’t hold me to this, but something like seventy-five feet compared to twenty at Bank.”

“Quite a difference.” Vega thought about that. “That’s what, five stories of a building between them? Sets of stairs?”

“Yes. But it means that there might be tunnels down at the depth, going away from the river, that are more recently disturbed?” Farran shrugged. “A lot of this isn’t mapped out well. That’s part of the problem.”

Vega tapped at the map. “Wait, what other things are under there? Burial grounds or whatever?”

“Those are mostly not at that depth, as I understand it. That’s why Vivian’s contact matters. His name is Bill Collins. Or Botolphus, apparently, but Bill among the non-magical.”

Vega wrinkled her nose. “Can’t blame him, I suppose. All right. So he’s magical.”

“And his friend. And they’ll show us down there, assuming we go ahead. We might get a better direction from there, anyway. Even if we can’t get from one point to the other.”

Vega nodded. “We talked about it a little more while I was out for the equinox, and I have a charm I can try, something that, um. Aunt Mera said pulls on the familial ties. They weren’t too fond of the idea of my doing it if you didn’t know about the family.

But now you do, officially, and Aunt Ancha approved of you.

I can use it. Without explaining to Bill and his friend. ”

“Frank. Frank’s the friend.” Farran then ducked his chin. “Your aunt approved, then?”

“Oh, yes. And if we pull this off, that will be a good reason to invite you out, and so on.” Vega leaned back a little. “They can’t forbid me seeing who I like. But they, the extended family, can make things uncomfortable. I don’t want to live at Astralis, not yet. But I want to visit.”

“You care about your family, and you’d have a hard time being serious about anyone they didn’t approve of,” Farran said. “I would about anyone who Uncle Cadmus didn’t like. Or Lena.”

“Your housekeeper. I would like to meet them, when we get a chance. And do my best to have their approval.” Vega hesitated, just a half-beat. “You don’t have a lot of family. Their opinions weigh more, I suspect.”

“Yes. And the house matters.” Farran’s shoulder twitched. “If you don’t like the house, then we’d have some problems with anything lasting.”

“Right.” Vega offered him a smile. “We’ll see about my visiting then, to make sure everything’s fine.” Then she took a deep breath. “The underground part.”

“We will go down. There’s a stair, and along the tunnel on foot.

The station is still there, but the lines are turned off.

And will be that time of night, anyway. Bill’s got supplies.

He’s told me what to have with me. Lantern for a charmlight, nothing that will make a spark, just in case.

A whistle, that sort of thing, if we get separated.

Wear sturdy shoes, clothes that can deal with a bit of muck.

A pair of gloves to protect your hands, nothing dainty. ”

“I do, in fact, own clothing that could not possibly be described as dainty.” Vega was amused by it, though. “And Vandermeer?”

“He is, we hope, less likely to appear in a closed-off Tube tunnel at three in the morning. I did tell Bill about the concern, and he’ll take some precautions on the doors and such.

But honestly, it’s apparently the sort of thing where someone has to show you.

They have to have a key or be included on the warding, and you’d never find it yourself. Even with tracking magic, probably.”

“I just...” Vega took a breath and let it out, feeling her nerves rise even just talking about it. “I don’t want to be surprised by him.”

“I don’t either. But we’ll have the potions. We’ll have the timing on our side. We’ll have an option for access he doesn’t. Few people do, and it’s the sort of thing where you need an introduction to get them to agree to take you somewhere.”

“Is there a process for it, then?” Vega was suddenly distracted by that idea. “How often?”

“Something like this? People with a specific project, but private? A couple of times a year, maybe, in a given area. The people working the lines, they have a specific range, of course. As far as they can walk, do the work, and walk back to a safe exit in maybe six hours. Sometimes just four.”

“So there are a lot of little jurisdictional fiefdoms.” Vega said, thinking through the implications. “And Bill’s only goes so far.”

“Exactly.” Farran stretched a little. “And like I said, different lines. They hire their own staff. It’s complicated.”

Vega looked at the maps one more time. She was going to have to do something to move this forward.

And she was going to have to trust that Farran had some clue what he was doing.

“Go have breakfast with Bill, then. And write to me. We can work out the details for once I’m off tomorrow night.

Now, though...” Her chin came up. “I’ve got an hour or so? ”

“And we could find something decidedly pleasant to be doing for an hour?” Farran agreed. “Getting more familiar with each other. Is that the way to put it?”

That made her laugh, and reach out to touch his nose with one finger. “Like that. Can I clear the tray for you? Do you need to tidy anything up in your bedroom?”

“Oh, I was hoping we might end up with a little time for the bedroom,” Farran said, cheerfully. “Already tidy. But if you’d like to see to the tray, I can do something about the lighting.”

The following hour was, indeed, everything Vega wanted and needed out of the time.

Not enough time, certainly. She really wanted to figure out when the two of them could have an evening, overnight, and see what that gave them.

No rushing, no needing to set an alarm. But in the meantime, some pleasure was certainly vastly better than none.

In the midst of it, what she figured out about Farran was that he had a particular touch.

It wasn’t just about the usual sorts of touches that came with sex or whatever they were doing.

Farran was doing something more aligned with his magic, or at least she thought it must be.

It was decidedly something she wanted to explore more when they had time and space to talk about it.