Free A Matter of Circumstance and Celludrones by Claire Robyns Page B

became. Lord Adair’s supernatural revelation brought a natural order to
the chaos inside her head, answering questions faster than she could formulate
them. Nothing else came nearly as close to describing what she’d felt yesterday
and just now. As if God had taken pity on her and reset the clock of her life
at the direst of moments.
    His scowl cleared. The grim set of his jaw remained. “Lady Ostrich has
somehow tracked us here. Or she will, in roughly thirty minutes. We need to get
the hell away.”
    Lily’s shoulders tensed as they started up the path again. He can
rewind time! She waited for hysteria to descend. But no, only a niggling
concern that she should be more worried about his absurd announcement than she
was. Where there should have been screaming doubt, there wasn’t even a whisper.
    “You rewound time yesterday. That was no vision, or premonition.”
They’d reached the end of the path, where it opened onto the sports field, and
she glanced upward. Many more air paddlers had taken to the skies and the crowd
of spectators had thickened at the edge of the field. Her gaze snapped back to him.
“We need to go to the authorities. This is a matter for the police.”
    “And tell them what? That someone we know only as Lady Ostrich
murdered you?”
    “Of course not.” But he was right. If she went to the police with her
ridiculous claims, there was only one person they’d lock away and it wouldn’t
be Lady Ostrich.
    “Besides, you saw what she did to Neco and Halver, to Ana. A handful
of policemen aren’t going to stand up much better.”
    “I really did die,” she said quietly, needing the words out there.
“She really did kill me.”
    Lord Adair gave her one of his rare, kinder looks that softened his
entire face and hinted at a gentle nature hidden deep beneath his rock-hard
shell. “I cannot imagine how horrific that must have been for you.”
    Dying had been horrific, to say the least, as were
the rebounding memories that had haunted her all night long and most of today.
Now, however, something else was thrown into the mix, a blurred emotion she
couldn’t quite define. The one thing she’d always—to use Lord Adair’s words—had
an unnatural fear of, had transpired yesterday and here she was today, still
living and breathing.
    By Heaven’s stars, I defied death.
    She felt simultaneously terrified and euphoric, vulnerable and
invincible. Either her brain had finally shattered or, with a little help from
Lord Adair, she’d survived death. Given those options, she’d take the latter.
All the rest, possibly even the truth, could be shoved into a jar of mental
formaldehyde, preserved for when she was better able to deal with it.
      “Lily, we must be going.”
    She nodded, falling in beside him as he skirted the crowds and veered
toward the bottom of the field where the carriages were parked. “Do you truly
think Lady Ostrich will still come? When you stepped back yesterday, it
changed the course of events.” Lily glanced up occasionally, searching for
Evelyn amongst the paddlers, relieved each time she couldn’t find her. “I asked
Ana and it seems Lady Ostrich never put in an appearance at my home at all.”
    “Assumptions are dangerous.”
    “You must have some experience in the matter.”
    “When I time-run,” he said, “I usually keep right on running and don’t
look back.”
    “My goodness, Lord Adair, that doesn’t sound like you.”
    “I finally decided to stop and this is what happens.”
    “Me?” she asked, taken aback by the bitterness in his voice. She
surged forward to block his advance.
    He shook his head. “Almost getting you killed.”
    She looked into his eyes, looked past the impossible rogue who
strained her manners and saw the vulnerability lurking there. He always
asserted himself with such confidence and nonchalance, but now she realised he
wasn’t much older than her. How long had he been running? What had he been
running from? “I’m pleased you