The Counterfeit Viscount by Ginn Hale

Author:Ginn Hale [Hale, Ginn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LGBT, Fantasy
ISBN: 9781935560807
Publisher: Blind Eye Books
Published: 2020-03-15T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five: Shots in the Dark

Archie arrived a half hour early, only to discover Nimble already waiting in the shadows of the cherry trees. An odd nervousness fluttered through Archie as he stilled to study Nimble’s altered appearance. He’d stripped away his mustache and padding, rinsed the gray from his hair, and washed out the lines and shadows that had previously tempered his striking features. A jewel-blue tailcoat accentuated his glossy black hair and dark complexion, while his indigo pinstriped trousers clung to his legs in a way that Archie found almost mesmerizing.

Nimble was certainly never going to melt away into the dull anonymity of a crowd, Archie thought ruefully as he glanced down at his own wardrobe—another tediously elegant study in shades of pale gray.

Nimble lifted a leather journal and jotted down some note with a clerk’s pencil. Then he returned to his thoughtful study of the fishermen on the far banks of the White River.

“Penning a poem?” Archie called out.

Nimble glanced up and grinned, then schooled his expression into a study of somber dignity and recited:

“Oh, River White, your foam yellow as nags’ teeth!

How many a strange mystery

Of our city’s culinary history

Has come bobbing up from sewer pipes beneath?”

Archie snorted.

“A better question of our time,” Archie answered, “was ne’er before addressed in rhyme.”

“Oh, you should hear the verses I’ve composed on the subject of dental hygiene.” Nimble shoved the journal into his pocket and tucked the stubby pencil behind his right ear, just as a practiced clerk would have done. “Adventures in Dentures is what I’m calling the collection.”

“A biting satire, I suppose?” Archie drew the gilded Dee Club medallion from his coat pocket. He’d chosen a gray silk ribbon but now realized how dowdy it looked compared to everything else Nimble wore. Even the gold of the medallion seemed faded next to the fiery orange quince flowers adorning his waistcoat.

Archie reached out, meaning to hand the thing over, but Nimble stepped nearer to him and bowed his head. A strange sense of intimacy filled Archie as he carefully lifted the ribbon over Nimble’s head. His hands brushed Nimble’s hair and then rested briefly on his shoulders. It was hardly a moment’s contact, much less a caress, and yet, touching Nimble here in broad day, in public, it felt like a kind of declaration.

Two bright blue dragonflies darted past them. From a branch overhead, a shrike took flight after them. In an instant the bird handily snapped up one of the pair in its jaws.

Archie looked back at Nimble. He wished he possessed even a shred of magic to imbue the medallion with any real protection for Nimble.

Nimble lifted his head, and a flush seemed to color his face. He held Archie’s gaze, then ran his hand over the ribbon and medallion. He looked pleased and about to make a joke. Then his smile folded to a straight line and he narrowed his gaze past Archie’s shoulder. Archie turned to see Silas and his two varlets striding from the stable and through the club’s wide green doors.

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