Arcane Adversaries by Jess Faraday

Author:Jess Faraday [Faraday, Jess]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LGBT Mystery, Gaslight Mystery, Historical Mystery
Publisher: One Block Empire (an imprint of Blind Eye Books)
Published: 2019-10-06T22:00:00+00:00

FIRST FOOT

December 31, 1887

“Tell me again what you’re expecting to gain from this,” Elizabeth demanded as another gust of wind tore the words from her lips, nearly ripped her winter hat from her head, and pelted both of our faces with snow.

I would never have asked her to drive me to Bodmin, no less to skip breakfast in order to do so. I’d intended to walk. But when I’d stopped by her house that morning to say goodbye, she’d taken one look at the sky and insisted. A good thing, too. A sudden storm had hit even before we’d reached the Bodmin road. If it kept up like this, the road would become impassable by midmorning. I was also glad for the company.

“Gain?” I shrugged. “I don’t know. We’re meeting at King’s Cross Station to talk,” I said.

She scoffed.

Two days ago I’d received a letter from Cal, asking me to meet him in London. It would have been nice to have had more than a day’s notice, but there was no accounting for the vagaries of the postal service. He’d not said it outright, but by reading between the lines, it had become clear that he’d been as miserable as I had this past year, and that his attempts to drive our relationship from his mind with an impressively long string of empty affairs had come to nothing. Very likely nothing would come from our meeting today, either, except the opportunity to say goodbye in person. Which was why I had to do it.

Elizabeth’s horse slowed in the face of another gust. She whistled, flicked the reins, and continued. “You’re not coming back, you know. I hope you told your station inspector in Bodmin.”

“I took a short leave of absence,” I said. “And I am coming back. I just need to see him face to face.”

“Why?” She turned toward me, her eyes as gray as the storm, and cocked an eyebrow.

“To see if there’s anything left to say, I suppose.”

That sounded thin. But I fully expected that once Cal and I spoke, we’d realize that our paths had diverged too far in the past year to ever be happy together again. Alternately, we might suddenly remember the conflicts, obstacles, and petty irritations that had driven us apart in the first place, and leave with a feeling of good riddance.

On the other hand, we might also come together and realize that we never wanted to be apart again.

And what then? Was I ready to pick up everything and follow Cal back to Edinburgh? He’d made it clear that his leaving the city was out of the question. He had his studies to finish, for one thing. And after that, Dr. Murray, his benefactor, was already clearing a path for him to enter Edinburgh’s medical establishment. His future, and his place in the world were assured.

And mine?

The path ahead of us was an impenetrable cloud of swirling white—a perfect metaphor. I felt terrible dragging Elizabeth out into it, and was a breath away from suggesting we turn back for her sake.

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