Free The Last Necromancer by C. J. Archer Page B

but his shoulder. My aim had been better than he thought, but not good enough. The bullet must be lodged somewhere in the wall. "You moved. If I didn't hesitate, how did you know I was going to shoot?"
    "I can't give away all my secrets."
    All? So far, he'd given away nothing. "So I am to remain your prisoner. I have tried escaping, twice today, and yet here I am. What will you do to me?"
    Despite his bleeding shoulder, he remained standing. Perhaps he thought sitting was a sign of weakness. "I will not do anything to you, child."
    I was beginning to hate it when he called me that. Nobody called me "child" anymore. Not since I was a thirteen year-old girl. "Then you will let me go?"
    "No."
    "Then what?"
    "I will wait."
    "For what? For Hell to freeze over? Because that's when I'll give you answers, and not before."
    "I'm a patient man, Charlie, but the situation requires some urgency. The lives of British citizens are in danger, perhaps the life of the queen herself."
    I snorted. "You think that ridiculous fairytale will have me telling you anything?"
    "I thought you said you had nothing more to tell me."
    Damn. "I don't. You're wasting your time and mine."
    "Have an appointment to keep?"
    I gave him a withering glare. His expression didn't change from his usual bland one.
    "I returned to Clerkenwell today," he said. "I spoke to your friends."
    "They're not my friends."
    After a moment he said, "I'm glad you realize that. They were quick to tell me what I wanted to know."
    "You gave them money."
    "Not much."
    I folded the book in my arms against my chest. "And what did they tell you?"
    "They told me where they think you came from before they met you mere months ago."
    "How can they know where I came from?"
    Again he hesitated, as if weighing up how much to tell me. "Your accent and a few words you used were more common in the Whitehall area."
    "I don't have no accent." So I'd thought. Yet he'd been correct. I'd lived in Whitehall before Clerkenwell.
    "I traveled to Whitehall and asked around. A boy matching your description lived there for six months or so. They thought he'd come from Finsbury. Tomorrow I'll send Gus and Seth there to find out about a child who kept his brown hair over his face to hide it." He took a step toward me and lowered his voice. "I will find out where you came from, Charlie, and I when I do, I'll discover how it is you can bring the dead back to life."
    I swallowed past the lump in my throat. I couldn't look away. His gaze held me, pinning me as thoroughly as his body had done moments ago on the bed.
    "Here you go," Seth said, carrying a plate of food in. Gus entered behind him.
    Fitzroy stepped back and marched out the door. "Follow me. Bring the boy and his books. I see he's already in possession of the spare shirt."
    I was too stunned to do anything but follow meekly. Fitzroy had not only dodged the bullet intended for him, but he'd learned more about my past than I'd have liked. And his methods were going to lead him to discover the truth. My only hope was that the further back in time he went, the slower his investigation would become. Gangs broke up, and children died or moved on. And then, of course, he would hit a wall altogether. He would be asking about a boy with hair covering his face, not a girl. My secrets were safe until I chose to reveal them.
    If I chose to do so. I didn't believe his silly story about the queen's life being in danger. I certainly didn't want to reanimate the dead for him or his cause, no matter what it was. On the other hand, Lady Harcourt was his ally, in whatever scheme they had in mind, and surely such a fine noblewoman wouldn't want me to do anything wrong.
    "Where are we taking him, sir?" Seth's question might as well have fallen on deaf ears. Fitzroy strode ahead, heading down two flights of stairs then swiftly along the corridor that housed the bathroom.
    Gus prodded me in the back with the clean chamber pot he still held and I had to trot to keep up with