Page 85 of The Journal of a Thousand Years
He took my hand in his. “I stopped feeling a sense of responsibility for Ivy altogether when she helped Thurlow kidnap Sylvia.”
I rubbed my thumb over his knuckles. “What about Mrs. Hobson?” I asked Alex. “Ivy says she’s dead.”
“My father sent men to the house where Ivy claimed they’d been hiding these last few days. The sergeant telephoned to say he’d found Mrs. Hobson’s body. She’d been shot, most likely this morning.”
I spared a thought for the woman who’d been set against me from the moment we met. It was as if she’d known even then that I would be the catalyst for Gabe ending his relationship with Ivy. She had also blamed me for Gabe refusing to use his family’s reputation to support the Hobsons when they tried to claim all the boots made for the army held magic. That was entirely Gabe’s decision, however. I hadn’t bewitched him on that score, nor did I believe I’d been the entire reason he’d stepped away from Ivy. While my presence may have sped things along, he would have seen her for what she truly was eventually. All he’dneeded was time for her true colors to reveal themselves, and his parents had given him that by leaving for America. Their absence meant he kept putting the wedding off.
Parentsshouldprotect their families to the best of their abilities. My mother had, and so had my father, in the end. Their methods were very different, with my mother avoiding conflict by running away while Melville thought it best to bring it to a head. Neither method was completely right or wrong. In their own ways, they’d loved James and me, and that’s what mattered.
Gabe must have sensed the direction of my thoughts. He squeezed my hand to get my attention and arched his brows in question.
I nodded and offered a smile. I still felt somewhat on edge, but with Thurlow and the Hobsons out of our lives, the future was looking easier. As long as Cyclops found Stanley, all would be well.
Willie clicked her fingers. “How did the prophecy in the Hendry family journal go, Sylv?”
“‘A magician from the line of Hendreau will save time,’” I recited.
She pointed at Gabe. “Time.” She pointed at me. “A member of the Hendreau family. You saved Gabe’s life by creating the paper storm.”
Alex, Tilda and I all looked at Gabe.
He rolled his eyes. “I am not time. I don’t even know what that means.”
“For the purposes of the prophecy youaretime,” Willie shot back.
“Prophecies aren’t real.”
Alex agreed. “They’re deliberately vague to fit the agenda of any moron who believes them.”
Willie bristled. “You calling me a moron?”
Alex merely smiled, which annoyed Willie more.
Tilda put an arm around Willie’s waist and drew her to her side. “You are many things, but a moron isn’t one of them. Now, we need to let the Master of Time get his rest.”
Gabe groaned, but Willie giggled rather girlishly before pecking Tilda’s cheek. “I might be a moron, but I’m your moron.”
Alex snorted as he followed them out of the room. “That’s not the sweet talk you think it is.”
I placed my hands on the pillow on either side of Gabe’s head then kissed him lightly. “I’ll keep your circus quiet while you rest.”
The following morning,I was in the middle of showing Gabe the advertisement Huon had placed inThe Timespraising the graphite magic in Petra’s pencils when Bristow entered the sitting room and handed Gabe a sealed envelope.
“I paid the lad who delivered it,” Bristow said. “He says the man who gave it to him pressed upon him the need for urgency.”
Willie sprang to her feet and approached Gabe. I thought she’d snatch it out of his hand, but she waited for him to open it, albeit impatiently. Without Tilda there to keep her calm, Willie had been anxious all morning, biting her fingernails to the quick. Like the rest of us, she expected Stanley to make a move.
She was right.
“He wants to meet me,” Gabe read.
“No,” Willie snapped. “Absolutely not.”
I agreed with her. I didn’t want him to go anywhere near Stanley.
“What else does he say?” Alex asked.
Gabe passed the note to him. “He apologizes for placing me in danger by taking too much of my blood.”
