Page 43 of Never a Hero

Joan shifted so that Nick could come up too. Where was here? They were in a big marina full of boats—dozens of them: sailboats, speedboats, narrowboats, barges—bright in the afternoon sun. The closest boats were all Hathaway: barges and narrowboats with double-headed hounds on flags and in paint.

‘This is Limehouse,’ Nick said, looking around. ‘We’re not far from where we started.’

‘The Hathaways still call it the Regent’s Canal Dock,’ Tom said, ‘but yeah. Had to play keep-away from the guards for hours. We were down in Putney for a while. Came back up here after the raid cleared. You two slept right through it. Even slept through the lock.’

Joan shaded her eyes from the water’s glare. The Hathaway sprawl was on the walkway too. Muscled figures sat on deck chairs, their animals snoozing and running around chasing seagulls.

Joan did a double take at a familiar figure at the edge of the Hathaway group; a familiar cloud of dark hair. Her heart slammed in her chest. ‘Ruth!’ she shouted.

‘Careful,’ Jamie said as he realised her intention. ‘I’m still tying up!’

But Joan couldn’t wait. She jumped to the pontoon and ran. ‘Ruth!’

Ruth met Joan halfway up the pier, and Joan threw her arms around her, staggering, legs still wobbly from the boat. Ruth squeezed her back hard.

‘You’re here!’ Ruth said hoarsely. ‘I couldn’t believe it when I heard!’ She bent her head, mouth muffled against Joan’s shoulder. ‘What happened? You disappeared off the face of the earth! And then out of the blue, I get word from Edith Nowak that you’d shown up in this period at the Wyvern Inn.’

Joan was getting choked up already. ‘Long story.’

Ruth pushed her back, scanning her, and Joan took the opportunity to look at Ruth too. She was in a black blazer and slim trousers—in the tight cut of this time. Her slash of red lipstick was more crimson than Joan was used to. Other than that, though, she seemed her ordinary self.

‘What happened?’ Ruth said again. ‘Gran thought you’d been taken by the Court!’

‘A bunch of Court Guards came after me at work,’ Joan said. ‘They—They killed my friend Margie.’ She heard her voice shake. ‘And I guess I’m a fugitive now. They put a mark on my wrist.’

Ruth pulled Joan back in at that, arms tight around her. ‘How did you get away? How did you find the Wyvern Inn? I heard you had a human with you.’ The word human was a whisper, like she was saying something scandalous. ‘That you took him into a monster inn.’

‘Nick was in the bakery when they attacked,’ Joan explained. ‘They tried to kill him too, but we escaped together. And the rest of it … It’s a really long story.’ Too long for a rushed conversation on the pier, and she could hear the others approaching. She bunched her thumb and fingertips together in a hollow fist, and then flattened her hand. A Hunt hand signal: Later.

Ruth’s forehead creased. Joan could tell she wasn’t satisfied, but she made the same signal in affirmation.

Joan turned to greet the others. ‘My cousin Ruth,’ she said, introducing her to them.

‘Hi,’ Nick said amiably. ‘I’m Nick.’

Ruth took him in—his square-jawed movie-star face, the muscles under his T-shirt. Her eyebrows went up. ‘Joan saved you from an attack?’

‘He saved me,’ Joan said.

Ruth’s guarded interest shifted to something far more serious at that. ‘He saved your life? Well, then our family owes him a debt.’

Nick reddened slightly. ‘We saved each other.’

Ruth gave him a long, thoughtful look. Then she turned to the others. ‘And you’re the other rescuers?’

‘Tom and Jamie,’ Tom said.

‘And Frankie under Tom’s arm.’ Jamie tilted his head. ‘And you’re the infamous Ruth Hunt. Bane of the Liu houses.’ It was so straight-faced that Joan wasn’t sure if he was joking.

It was Ruth’s turn to flush, but Tom chuckled. ‘What did you do?’ he asked Ruth. ‘Steal from them?’

‘I would never—’ Ruth started.

‘A lot of times,’ Jamie said. ‘You know, you’re technically banned from Liu houses. I don’t know if we can take you to the safe house.’

‘Seriously?’ Ruth said. Joan still couldn’t tell if Jamie was joking either.

‘I was banned from their houses for a while.’ Tom’s tone was nostalgic. ‘Don’t worry. They’ll forgive you. They’re all soft touches, the Lius.’ He glanced over at Jamie, and Jamie’s straight-faced facade cracked into a twinkle.

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