Page 23 of To Break the Rules

“She called you bhanvaraa,” he said, wanting to know everything, just as she’d predicted.

Lucia rolled her eyes. “It means bumblebee,” she muttered, her irritation obvious. “When I was a child I was always rushing about, busy, busy,” she added, sounding so adorable Silas couldn’t help but laugh.

“What did she mean?” he asked, still unsettled by the rest of what the old woman had said. “She said to tread carefully, the flames are getting higher.”

They walked on and Lucia took a deep breath, her unwillingness to tell him palpable. “I don’t know really, only sometimes it’s like she knows things,” she said, glancing at him, her expression daring him to mock her. “I’d swear she was a witch if I didn’t know better.”

Silas shook his head and smiled. “When I was a boy, there was a woman in the village who told fortunes. People said she was a witch. She once told me….” He stopped, remembering the phrase with perfect clarity, though at the time he’d not understood it. “She told me I needed to look in the gutters to find my purpose.” He shivered, unnerved all over again. “At the time I thought she was insulting me, but three years later I ran away from home. These streets were my home for a time, and I found my purpose there. I discovered who I was.”

Lucia nodded, and he knew she understood. “That’s everything, isn’t it? To know who you are.”

“Yes,” he said, though he frowned. It wasn’t as simple as that. “But—”

“But what?” she asked, and he smiled at the curiosity in her eyes.

“But it’s not always a comfortable realisation, or… or even what you might expect. It can take courage to see the truth, and not what you or others expect to see. More still to be that person, come what may.”

She looked troubled at that and they walked on a way in silence.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” she asked, watching him with interest. “Revisiting the past?”

Silas chuckled and shook his head. “Visiting the future. I have a new warehouse,” he said, gesturing back the way they’d come. “I was just ensuring everything is in order.”

“Don’t you have people for that sort of thing?” There was something in her voice, a spark of real interest that gave him hope.

“Of course.” Silas shrugged. “But I am not a man who leaves things to chance or assumptions. I built this business from the ground up. I’ll not see it fail because I didn’t take the time to check a few details.”

“They say you reek of the shop,” she said, and he knew she’d said it gauge his reaction to the insult, though there had been no insult in her tone, only curiosity.

He laughed at that. “A viscount who works for a living? My god, the horror.”

She paused then and surprised him by taking his hand, turning it over and tracing her fingers over his palm. “A working man’s hands,” she murmured as she gazed down at it, and pleasure slid under his skin at her touch.

“Yes,” he said, feeling breathless as one gloved finger trailed over his skin.

She blushed then and dropped his hand. “I must go.”

She hurried away from him.

“Lucia!”

He caught her up, holding her arm and making her stop. “At least let me get you a hackney.”

To his relief, she nodded and allowed him to flag one down and see her safely inside.

“I want to see you again,” he said, the words stark and honest.

Lucia shook her head, but he spoke again, refusing to let her deny him.

“You know we’ll meet again, don’t you?” he demanded, knowing it was inevitable, surely she felt it too.

He smiled at the stubborn glint in Lucia’s eyes, knowing he was right.

“Yes, but I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not,” she muttered, folding her arms.

“Lucia,” he said, her name soft on his lips, matching the look in her eyes as she turned back to him. He reached out and took her hand, squeezing her fingers gently before letting her go. “Take care, love.”

She smiled and nodded, and he closed the carriage door and watched it disappear into the distance, knowing he would see her again.