The Lady and the Gent by Rebecca Connolly

Author:Rebecca Connolly
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: 0
Published: 2018-01-31T18:00:00+00:00

“What do you mean you’ve lost track of him?”

Kem gave Rafe a sharp and very pointed look, which scolded Rafe soundly. Kem was doing Rafe a great favor by being his contact, but he could hardly treat him as though he was one of his typical assets. Kem was a greatly respected leader who could very easily have Rafe torn apart bit by bit without anyone in London having any idea of trouble at all.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, sitting back moodily and looking away. “I’m only anxious about the situation getting out of hand.”

“As are we.”

That brought Rafe’s head around. Generally, the Rom didn’t get anxious about much of anything. Why should they? They were nomads, living off of the land, and the affairs of the gadje as a whole were not something they were generally concerned with.

Kem sat forward and rubbed his hands together slowly. “Tensions between nations cause trouble for all of us. Suspicions are higher and the heart of the gadje is colder. Too many of our men become involved, and we suffer as much as the rest.”

“If not more,” Rafe pointed out, knowing the suffering the Rom endured during peaceful times.

Kem acknowledged this with a nod. “I tried to keep Pov within the vitsa, for his own safety, but he was straying too far out of our way. The chorodies have gotten into his soul, and his behavior made it impossible for him stay.”

Rafe sighed and rubbed his head. Pov was a willful, hot-tempered Rom who never trusted Rafe, nor, it seemed, any gadjo who did not have a pocket of coins for him. He had been suspicious for years, and Rafe had seen him in the city on several occasions during that time, always in the company of people Rafe could tie to various crimes.

Reaching out to Kem had been a brilliant move on Rafe’s part, as Kem would have far more sway over Pov than anyone else, and Kem did not approve of behavior considered “beneath one’s dignity.”

There was some debate as to what exactly that meant, but the sentiment stood.

Pov had been tied to the faction of rebels and traitors that the London League had been tracing, but as yet, Rafe had left him alone. He could prove useful, and as his loyalties only rested with himself, sufficient funds from their end might sway him to divulge sensitive information.

But if Pov was no longer with the kumpania, and cast out of the vitsa, then they had a dangerous and mercenary Rom with no moral compass roaming about with traitors and scum.

That was a sobering thought.

“Will he come back?” Rafe asked quietly.

Kem’s wide jaw tightened and he shook his head. “No. He is now a mahrime.”

Rafe hissed as if in pain. There could hardly be a stronger punishment for his betrayal than to be labeled an outcast, as a Rom unworthy of trust. Word tended to spread of that sort of thing, and any other encampments would have seen him the same, not wanting to bring such a man into their tribe.

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