Page 193 of Immortal Rose

“As I told you, Mr. Reynolds, now is not the time for your urgent business,” Mrs. Keyes told the bedraggled man.

His attention snapped back to us as the commotion in the kitchen settled. “I—well—ye told me to come if I’d ’eard anything about them snatchers. And I did, straight off.”

I began unfastening the heavy pearl earrings, fighting my impatience. Felicity held out her hand for them, already at work removing the roses from the base of the Foxcourt tiara. I ducked to allow her to lift it off my head.

I gritted my teeth. “All right. What is it you’ve found?”

“I’d forgotten till I talked to my boys, see—ye remember how it is, Willie, how these things get away from ye until they matter again,” Reynolds continued, scratching at his nose. “We was having ourselves some ale at Traydon’s and got to talking about the snatchers and such. One of them—Colby, ye remember ’im, don’t ye?”

Willie looked like he wanted to kill Reynolds, then Colby, as slowly as possible. “Yes.”

With a comforting stroke of my arm, Felicity took the parure and ducked out of the kitchen to see it put away.

“Well, ’e mentioned ’e ’eard one of the snatchers being called Sweetflyer,” Reynolds continued. “Colby swears ’e saw ’im take a boy, no more than ten.”

“Could he describe the man at all?” I asked.

Reynolds shook his head. “Said it was dark and ’e wore a cloak. This was years ago, mind, when we were lads ourselves.”

But of course. That would have been too easy.

“Thank you,” I told him.

Reynolds looked to Willie. “About that silver ye promised—ack—” Willie gripped him by the collar, dragging him away.

“I told you not to come here,” Willie growled as the garden door shut behind them.

Mrs. Keyes blew a loose strand of hair out of her face. “Is the hot water ready?”

“Yes, my love,” Mrs. Silver said. “Help me bring it up, won’t you?”

The women hoisted the cans of hot water and vanished through the doorway. Quiet descended on the kitchen as I steeled myself with a long, steadying breath.

“’E’s wrong.”

Theo, for once, had been so quiet I’d forgotten he was there.

“Reynolds?” I asked.

He nodded, scratching absently at his ear. “I’d forgot till now, till I ’eard it, like ’e said.”

“That’s all right,” I said, fighting my impatience to go to the still room. “What was he wrong about?”

“The name of the shadow man.” The boy stared back at me with dark eyes that seemed entirely too old for his face. “The other sweeps, they called ’im Sweetfeather.”

That word again. Sweetfeather.

I started toward the still room, only to be stopped by his quiet whisper.

“That toff,” Theo said. “’E’ll be all right, won’t ’e?”

Through the still room door, I could see where not one but four brown bottles had been placed on a tray, all in whimsical shapes like the others I’d seen in the archive at Briarwood Palace. Greystone had sent them all, not just the nectar.

Rather than amaze me, the realization was unsettling. There would be invisible strings attached to the other three, no doubt.

“Yes,” I promised Theo. “He will.”

Because there was still Immortal Rose.