There was another long silence. I was beginning to understand why Dominic thought I was so very quick, by contrast.
“I suppose I do, but maybe not like you do. Men are selfish; women, too. But we don’t have to be. We aren’t meant to be. We could always repent. Even your father, even now…”
I had almost believed this when he’d said something similar in the pub. But since then my father had behaved even worse. I’d felt a fool for hoping even then. Now, that small hope was dead.
“No,” I said quietly. “I’ve seen enough. He won’t get any more chances from me.”
Dominic went silent again, though I had the feeling he wanted to say more. Then the front door opened, and I looked up, expecting Will.
It wasn’t Will.
I leapt to my feet. Three large figures stood in the shadowed hall. It was the police, I thought in a panic. Then one of them stepped inside and spoke with a heavy accent.
“You are Miss Hope?” he asked.
“Who are you?” I demanded, willing Dominic to be silent.
“I am Valentin Wolff. I am looking for Miss Theosebeia Hope.”
He pronounced my name very precisely, as though he had practiced. And surely he must have, as he got it right, which no one ever did without practice. He was German, from the accent. Prussian, no doubt. Will’s employer had found him.
But why was he looking for me?
The Prussian walked toward me slowly, and in the darkness I distinguished his broad, heavy shoulders and the walking stick he held in his hand. He surveyed the room, looking me over the same way he did the dying fire, the chest, the brazier in the corner.
“Alles,” he said to the men behind him. “Wir brauchen alles, sagte er.”
All this. We will need it all, he said.
“You are Theosebeia,” said Valentin, returning to English. “You will come with us.”
“I would rather not.”
Valentin paused, and I thought he might be smiling. It was hard to tell in the darkness.
“You are a clever girl, he said,” said Valentin. “He said you would come. If you cannot help your friend, we will kill him.”
There was little point in pretending, but I did it anyway, just in case.
“What are you talking about? What friend?”
He took another step toward me, and now he was close enough that I could just make out his smile.
“William Percy. He is a thief and a fraud, but he thinks you will wish to help him. But perhaps you do not?”
I glanced at the door, where Dominic stayed quiet. I would go, of course, but what to do about Dominic? He might die of thirst before we were free to come back for him.
“What do you want me to do?”
“You will help William Percy pay his debt to Burggraf Ludwig. If this debt is discharged, William Percy’s life will be spared, and you will of course be free to go.”
“And what does William Percy owe to Graf Ludwig?”
“He owes him the Philosopher’s Stone.”
A chill swept over me. My breath wouldn’t come. I forced out words without it.
“And Will … told you I would make it?”
Valentin inclined his head in assent.
I reached for the doorframe. Suddenly I wasn’t sure my legs would hold me. Could Will have told them about me, to save his life? I had thought he wouldn’t ask it of me. But if this were true, then he was not even going to ask. He had forced my hand.
My mind recoiled at the thought. I wouldn’t believe it. I couldn’t.
“You’re a liar,” I said to Valentin as calmly as I could. “But I will come.”
“Thea, don’t!” cried Dominic from behind the door.
The Germans pushed me aside and rattled the door that hid Dominic. When they couldn’t open it, one of them stepped back and began to kick it down. Another decision was made for me.
“Who is this?” asked Valentin when his partner emerged, pulling Dominic with him. “And why did you lock him up?”
“Thea, you can’t.” Dominic looked at me with desperation. His forehead shone with sweat in the last of the firelight. “You know what will happen. Will shouldn’t ask this of you.”
“Perhaps not,” said Valentin. “But, if you do not choose to help him, we will find another way to convince you.”
“Don’t hurt her!” exclaimed Dominic.
Valentin bowed his head and frowned at the thought.
“I hope that will not be necessary,” he said to Dominic. “Perhaps we could hurt you instead.”
Valentin glanced at me to gauge my reaction. Whatever my face showed seemed to satisfy him.
“Wir nehmen ihn auch,” he said.
We take him also.
Dominic had told me he didn’t know German, but he seemed to know well enough what this meant. He lashed out against the man holding him, landing a punch to the jaw before the German had time to react. Valentin took my arm and pulled me back. Each of the Prussians was half again as big as Dominic, and yet Dominic felled one of them with another blow. When the second pushed him into the wall, Dominic threw him off. Valentin watched dispassionately while his two fellows got up and tried again. He drew me close to him and leaned his head down to my ear.
“Is it some of your alchemist’s witchcraft, that he is so strong?” he asked in a low voice. His face brushed mine, and I shuddered and jerked away, but Valentin held me.
The two Germans had finally realized they had to coordinate their attack. Each seized one of Dominic’s arms and threw him face-first to the ground. I winced as his head bounced off the floorboards with a sickening crack. I tried to pull free of Valentin, again without success. The other Germans produced rope and bound Dominic’s hands behind his back.
“Please, let me see if he is hurt,” I said to Valentin.
“There is a surgeon at the Burggraf’s house who will see
