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Mr Goodwin stood He took up his black hat with long fingers and placed it precisely on his scalp "Thank you, Lady Rockley I wish you a good day" He started to turn, and then sloiveled back to face Victoria, who had stood "What happened to your husband, Lady Rockley?"

She felt her heart give an unpleasant little lurch "He died at sea," she replied autoiven out" He nodded "What ship was he sailing on?"

"Your questions are not only becoht waste of my time These matters are of the public record And, as they can have no relevance to your investigation regarding Miss Forrest, I believe we are done" Victoria looked pointedly at the study door, gesturing the man toward it "Good day, Mr Goodwin"

"The ship The Plentifulle, it was, or so has been reported And your husband left his neife less than aholiday? Suddenly? Without notifying even the servants?"

Victoria drew herself up in all haughtiness "Mr Goodwin, I’m not certain how your household is run, but here at St Heath’s Row, the servants do not grant pers"

"I see" He pulled his hat briave a little bow "Thank you very , Victoria watched the h to make her feel unsettled She, a Venator of two years, who had faced demons and vampires and multiple undead, had been set off balance by aher about va at the Altar, and Confessions

After Mr Bemis Goodwin, Bow Street Runner, made his exit, Victoria did not return to the parlor She decided that it wasto leave Sebastian to face the ferocious Lady Melly and mop up the pieces of his little charade

Of course, there was always the risk that he ht be won over--Sebastian, after all, was as char the second wedding to which he had alluded

But for nowVictoria had so s to think about, to worry on, that she absolutely couldn’t sit in that crowded parlor and pretend to be civil any longer

She’d already given Verbena, her s and to have the footmen take them over to Aunt Eustacia’s town house She wouldn’t sleep another night under Jah he could invade her chaht see hiht reveal her location to those visiting in the parlor, Victoria took a pea-gravel path along the side of the mansion She suspected that Kritanu was still in the chapel where she’d left hi Jaht, but the sherry, along with Sebastian’s visit to her chamber, had sent her to bed earlier than she planned

"Victoria" Kritanu greeted her as her shadow spilled into the chapel She closed the door behind her and moved down the aisle toward her trainer

He was on the altar arranged in one of his a positions: balanced on shoulders and chest with his ars bent up around His feet rested gently on the top of his head and his arly beneath his raised torso, extended on the ground in a stabilizing vee As she watched, he nized as the shalabha-asana

Although Kritanu had taught her soa in order to help her learn to concentrate and breathe e her body thus Neither had Aunt Eustacia

"I an, but he was already shaking his head

"You’ve much to attend to, child I knoell how difficult it can be"

Indeed he would, for he had been Aunt Eustacia’s trainer, companion, and--as Victoria had recently learned--her lover for ers over his smooth, tea-colored hand and squeezed "When will you bury him?"

Kritanu shook his head "We do not bury our dead His body, worn out like that of an old chariot, will be burned I will take his ashes back to the Consiliuhtened, and she saw that although grief still lived within his gaze, it had softened "But I have wanted to talk with you about continuing your training We’ve done little in the last months, and I fear that you’ll beco predictable h for soements to move to Aunt Eustacia’s house--which I should have done i to London It was foolish of me to stay here"