“Why are you calling me sir? And no one wants to be close to Winterstone at the moment, not with him moaning about an Irish Republic again. He’s always been dangerous but he’d be the end of your prospects if you appeared sympathetic.”
“Not all that worried about my prospects,” Reginald replied.
“Then, worry about your safety. Winterstone’s reputation is even darker than mine. Not that he’d let you near him, he’s no fan of yours or your party.”
“Let’s say I just wanted to get a look at him? Where could I do that without tipping him off?”
“You do say the oddest things, Marston.” Lavender noted. “I expect that Winterstone will be at the Coonan’s tonight. I’d hoped to get close to Winterstone myself,” he added under his breath and Reginald became excited again.
“Are you going to kill him?” He whispered and jumped when Lavender’s hand shot out and his palm slapped over Reginald’s mouth. Reginald was pushed back against the cushions and Lavender was snarling at him.
“You will tell me who you’ve been talking to if you want to walk out of this coach.” He removed his hand slowly as he lowered onto the bench across from Reginald.
“Do calm down, sir.” Reginald tugged at his tie and the high collar of his shirt. They were already choking the life out of him. “Devoted,” he reminded Lavender. “You and I are a team. I’ve helped you kill hundreds of people and kept you untraceable.”
“I know this to be a falsehood, and yet,” Lavender rubbed his brow. “I want to believe you for some reason. It’s maddening.”
“That is my brand,” Reginald said with a bright smile. “Chaos but make it spectacularly efficient and dependable.”
“Your brand?”
Reginald tilted toward Lavender. “I’ve given you a scare or two but we’ve scaled the heights and we’re legends in our own time. I’m sure you were just being generous but you did say that I’m your magic secret and that you’d be half the assassin you are now—then—if it weren’t for me. Even though you’d still be a cut above the rest,” he predicted, stunning Lavender.
“How could you possibly know?”
“What if I’m not from this time? What if neither of us is?” Reginald asked.
“What if we could fly?” Lavender countered flatly and Reginald nodded.
“We will! In 1903 the Wright brothers will use lift, thrust, and drag to propel their machine, the Wright Flyer, 180 feet in the air. It’ll only be a decade after that before the first transatlantic flight,” he informed Lavender. His jaw opened and closed as he blinked at Reginald.
“Lift, thrust, and drag?” He said, then held up a finger. “Tell me how that would work.”
“See! I know you and you have to know how everything works!” Reginald waited for Lavender to deny it, then flattened his hand between them. “Now, imagine a carriage with a long body and wide wings like a bird. As the carriage is propelled forward and picks up speed, air flows over the wings and downward, pushing the carriage upwards.”
“What about the horses?” Lavender asked dubiously and Reginald shook his head.
“It doesn’t have horses. It has an engine that runs on combustion from gas. We’ll all have horseless carriages. Lots of people will have their own flying horseless carriage.”
“Gas?”
“Similar to what you find in a lamp. It’ll drive the whole world mad!” Reginald said, making Lavender humph again as he checked the window.
“I’m nearly home but I’m not pleased at the thought of you wandering about on your own now. You know too much about me and you’ll wind up dead if you tell too many people you’re looking for Lord Winterstone,” he said with a weary sigh.
“You had better keep an eye on me then,” Reginald suggested with a pleased grin. Lavender gave him a hard look out of the side of his eye as the carriage rocked to a halt. The door was opened by a footman who bowed at Lavender as he got out. Reginald followed, bounding out and up the front steps of a stately townhome not too far from where he started earlier in the afternoon.
“I’m home and I’m afraid I have company,” Lavender called as his hat and coat were taken by a butler. Reginald was far more impressed with the simple elegance of Lavender’s house. It was light and bright and there were beautiful holly and fir arrangements and garland was strung throughout every room he could see.
“Company? Welcome to whoever it is—” Sage stopped when Reginald slouched and let out a loud groan.
“God. Why do you have to be here too?”
“You’ve brought Lord Marston!” Sage said to Lavender, his smile wide and hard. “What a…surprise.”
“No one is more surprised than I am,” Lavender muttered as he tugged off his gloves. “I did find something special for you while I was out,” he said as he went to Sage. He pressed a kiss to Sage’s cheek, startling him. Lavender sighed as he waved at Reginald. “He knows everything, somehow. There’s no point telling him we’re old chums from school or that it was far more practical to split the cost of a house in Town.”
Reginald scratched his head as he squinted at them. “Why are you British, though?” That got mystified looks from Lavender and Sage.