Death by Silver by Melissa Scott

Author:Melissa Scott [Scott, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, mystery, Gay, fantasy, steampunk, alternative history, gaslamp
Publisher: Lethe Press
Published: 2013-07-07T12:00:00+00:00

Julian sprawled on his end of the sofa, regarding Ned with a wary eye. So far, he’d managed to get dinner into him, and half a pint of decent claret along with the brandy, and his color was looking better. That might be the bath, of course, and being warm, but at the moment, Ned looked almost normal, wrapped in Julian’s scarlet dressing gown over borrowed shirt and trousers. His own clothes were hung to dry over the backs of chairs, would probably be no more than damp in the morning, and Julian carefully stretched out one leg so that his foot was almost touching Ned’s thigh. Ned gave him a rather tired smile and Julian lifted his glass.

“More brandy?”

Ned pondered for a moment, then shook his head. “No, thanks. I’m almost asleep already.”

Something plucked at Julian’s hair, and he brushed it away, only to receive a sharp nip from the Urtica mordax. He sat up, swearing, and stuck his finger in his mouth, sucking at the already reddening bite.

Ned laughed. “Sorry. But why did you keep it?”

Julian shrugged, examining the mark. “I’m not really sure. I suppose it seemed a shame to toss it out. Besides, who knows where it would have taken root? We don’t need another Highgate.”

Less than a decade ago, someone had discarded a cane of Vepris durus, sleeping-beauty thorn, inside the fence at Highgate Cemetery, and the fast-growing bramble had taken root, overrunning almost a quarter of the area before a team of gardeners and metaphysicians had been able to beat it back. Stands still cropped up now and then, threatening mausoleums and slow-moving pets. Ned nodded. “Though at least biting thistle isn’t that – aggressive.”

“Mercifully not,” Julian said. “Bed, then?”

“Yes,” Ned said. “But – I’m dead on my feet –”

“We can simply sleep,” Julian said, soothingly, and began turning down the gas.

Once they were in bed, however, with the lights out and the window open to the night air, Ned reached for him with unexpected determination. Julian was happy to oblige, and afterward lay half across him, listening to their hearts slow. He was sure Ned would sleep then, but, though his breathing steadied, it did not ease toward sleep. Julian settled himself more comfortably, one arm still flung across Ned’s chest, and waited.

“I should have stopped her,” Ned said at last, so softly that Julian almost didn’t hear.

“How?”

Ned shifted uneasily. “Grabbed her before she could run, I suppose. I don’t know.”

“You said yourself that wouldn’t have worked,” Julian pointed out. “Someone would have stopped you, and she’d still have been killed.”

“I should have tried.”

“It wouldn’t have done any good,” Julian said. “If she hadn’t been killed, she’d have been arrested, and the best that could have happened then was that she’d spend weeks, months, maybe, in a cell. Even if she was released without being charged, she’d have the devil of a time finding a place. And you know and I know that she didn’t kill anyone, but we also know how simple it would make things if it was her.

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