Page 73 of Once a Villain
Joan glanced at Nick; he was already looking back. They’d both come to the same conclusion.
Mary hugged Nick and then to Joan’s surprise, she hugged Joan too. “You know...” She tilted her head. “I’ve been thinking you looked familiar,” she said to Joan. “I just realized why.”
Joan opened her mouth to agree that her stupid wanted poster was everywhere.
But Mary said, “There was a man who used to live up near Westminster. You look so much like him....”
“I don’t think so,” Joan said slowly. Gran had occasionally lived in Westminster, but Joan looked nothing like Mum’s side of the family.
“Ah well. He was a lovely guy. Good with numbers. Used to help people come tax time.”
Joan felt herself go still. Dad was an accountant back home. Mary couldn’t have been talking about Dad, though. He was in Milton Keynes—surely. Except... hehadlived in London for a while before Joan was born. He’d met Mum here.
“Haven’t seen him in a long time,” Mary added.
“The guy who did our numbers for a while?” Finn said. “I heard he was secretly married to a Grave woman.”
“Really?” Mary looked doubtful. “A human and a monster?”
“Rumor is they were both on the run together for years, but the Court found them. The guy was disappeared. And the woman...” Finn grimaced to indicate she was punished somehow.
Couldthey be talking about Dad? About Mum? Joan’s mouth had gone bone-dry.
“Would have been a big scandal for the Graves if it was true,” Mary said.
Aaron was waiting for them, arms folded, when they got back to the monster part of town. He’d parked the car by the river. “Thank God—I thought you got jumped in there.” He eyed Nick. “Find your family?”
Nick nodded.
“And?”
“They’ve been reduced,” Nick said shortly.
“Ah,” Aaron said. Joan had the feeling he’d been about to say something sharp before Nick’s answer. He scratched the back of his neck. “And was this actually worth it, or just an exercise in misery?” His tone was almost sympathetic.
“We got what we needed,” Nick said. He added firmly, “My brother’s involvement ends here.”
Aaron’s expression was difficult to read. But Nick nodded slightly in response. An unspoken mutual agreement had passed between them, Joan realized.Your family stays out of this now, and so does mine.
“So whatdowe have?” Aaron asked.
“Plans for the building,” Joan said. “And something else.” She told Aaron what Nick’s brother had said about the imperial box, and how, in past jubilees, Eleanor had appeared as a three-dimensional recording. “I think this year, she’ll be in the stands for real.”
“So we’re in business, then,” Aaron said.
“We’ll be ready by the jubilee,” Joan said. They’d have to be.
Twenty-Two
The jubilee was the first gloriously sunny day since they’d arrived—another reminder of Eleanor’s attention to detail. She’d never have held her jubilee on a rainy day.
The entire Oliver household left early in the morning to join the festivities. Even humans had the day off, according to Tom—except for the prisoners and gladiators competing in the arena, of course.
Outside, the pavement was sunbaked. A breeze pushed lazily at the trees. Flower sellers strolled by with baskets of fresh red roses, their perfume filling the air with spring.
Above them, more roses were displayed in vases on windowsills, and petals were scattered on the pavement.
Over two weeks of planning and scouting, Joan had walked this route half a dozen times, but the growing crowd added an element of unpredictability that made her stomach churn. In a few hours, these streets would be heaving. Already, guards on horseback stalked down the middle of the road, ordering people to stay on the pavement.
