A Peace Within by Ann Somerville

Author:Ann Somerville
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: M/M Paranormal, Source: Smashwords, _ Nightstand
Publisher: Ann Somerville
Published: 2010-06-16T00:00:00+00:00

Finally I shook him gently by the upper arm. “Let me take you home, Mase Garwe.”

He let me lead him, his head hanging down, and I knew he felt ashamed. He hid his pain from most people, I suspected. That he had revealed it to me either meant he trusted me, or it had become too much to conceal.

He gently shrugged off my guiding hand as we reached the gate of his sister’s house. “I’ll be all right now,” he said. “I feel a terrible fool.”

“No need to,” I said lightly. “Go inside, sir. Let your sister care for you. It’ll help her.”

He seemed rather startled at that assessment, but then he nodded. “Yes. Quite right. I forget that part. Good evening, Parger Teisu.” He reached over and touched my arm. “And thank you. Will I...see you tomorrow?”

“Certainly. Go on,” I urged, and nodded to the footman, waiting to see what his mistress’ brother would do. The gate swung open, and Mase Garwe stepped through. Safe once again, for another night at least.

I could have gone straight back to my boarding house, but instead I returned to the station, and asked the night clerk what reports we held on the fire at Mase Garwe’s house. He knew the case well—I imagined it was a pretty big event by Disenko’s standards. Fires weren’t uncommon, but a fatal fire of this gravity and in that area, surely was rare. It had been investigated more than usually thoroughly, the clerk assured me—the area, the social standing of the family ensured that—but it had at last been determined to be nothing more than a tragic accident. It was thought that one of the maids, known to be overfond of her drink, may have tipped over a candle in her bedroom. The boy had been ill with some minor complaint, so his mother was sleeping in his room. The fire had trapped them there, and as Mase Garwe had indicated, consumed their bodies to the point where the cause of death was undetermined.

“A dreadful thing,” the clerk said, accepting the file back from me with a heavy sigh. “I went to the funeral. So many people did. A young family like that, destroyed...I remember the husband, speaking in the temple. He made the most beautiful speech. We were all in tears, Parger, but he didn’t cry. So very dignified.”

What had that felt like, to an empath, being surrounded by so many grieving people? I shivered a little. I had my demons, but at least any pain I felt was my own.

I thanked the clerk, and left the station. In days gone by, the streets would have been almost empty at this time, but the new electrical lighting system made them far safer at night, though I was old-fashioned enough to miss the weight of a lamp in my hand. The boarding house wasn’t far from the station, though it was a long way indeed from where Mase Garwe would lay his head that night. It

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