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"Come closer," she said "I want a proper look at you I haven’t yet satisfied myself on the state of your health"

He shook his head Absolutely not It had been proven to him, several ti her whenever she came within reach "I’m not injured Just wet"

"Wonderful So now you’ll catch your death of pneumonia" She slid the blanket from her shoulders "At least take this"

His teeth chattered "You keep it"

"Julian, I expect this conversation won’t be brief I can’t watch you shiver through it Unless"--she tipped her head--"you’d care to share the blanket"

He accepted the thing with no sht, and it wasn’t arret

"So what happened?" she asked "Weren’t you able to find them?"

"I found theue He’d followed those men for hours Watched them drink, eat, piss in the alley, drink so the saather they’d only recently arrived in London It was their first adventure in the fair city, as evidenced by the fact they’d lost their way in St Giles, and only much later realized the apathetic whore had made off with their purses He didn’t expect it would console the two Scots when they learned she’d left them with the clap in recompense

Soonto Leo’sout the man, or men, who hired the them under her flimsy excuse for a skirt Despite his chilled state, he knear current of desire Parts of hioodness," she said "I’lad it wasn’t them"

"Don’t you want your brother’s killers found?"

"I do, I do But I don’t want you to find them Not alone and unarmed in the dark If the solution to Leo’s murder comes at the cost of your life, I don’t want it I will live with the mystery, thank you very much"

She looked close to tears He hated the fact that he’d put her through another night of anxiety, but it thrilled him that she cared so much whether he lived or died

"Now, then," she said, sniffing "Speaking of rew up here? Why does Anna call you Ja story"

"Then do begin" She leaned forward, focusing intently on his mouth "But slowly, please"

"My mother …" He sed hard "My mother was born completely deaf She came from a very rural, isolated area of Kent where deafness is coe All in one place? I wonder why that is"

"You, and h fae there For everyone, even the hearing" He propped an elbow on the sill, relaxing into the tale "Anyhen e You’ve heard of Braidwood and his school?"

She nodded "My own speech tutors were trained there"

"His efforts were fa to show charity toward the deaf and mute My mother and her cousin were recruited for employment, offered posts in service here in Town as chaes were an untold suirls from the weald"

"So they accepted?" Lily pro and afraid, but they had each other’s company At first My mother’s cousin took ill and died within a few ic"

"My mother’s lot orse She’d never learned to speak or write, knew no one in London Her eh, but there was a son and he … Well, he took advantage" Bile rose in his throat "Chaine her situation She couldn’t fight him off She couldn’t ask for help Even if she had, it was doubtful she would have received it"

Lily hugged herself "What did she do?"

"She survived, as best she could When the housekeeper finally saw she was pregnant, she was sacked without reference and tossed to the street I caave birth to me in a vacant warehouse"

"Alone?"

"She was afraid of asking for help Thought her baby would be taken from her, and she’d end up in the workhouse or Bedlam It wasn’t an unrealistic fear"

"That was very brave of her"

"Yes Yes, it was" He’d been a help to his rew older But Julian knew at any tireat deal easier on herself by dropping hi hospital She hadn’t They’d always had each other Most tio home to her family?"