Slowly, Bram guided his horse toward the group of men. They all stared up at him as he neared. All of them were known for their political authority—even a disinterested nobleman like Bram had knowledge of them.

After terse civilities were exchanged, Maxwell spoke. “We beg a moment of your time, Rothwell.” He eyed Bram’s horse. “Perhaps you might deign to lower yourself.”

The impulse to kick his horse into another gallop and ride away seized him.

These men may have vital intelligence, Livia said. If they are as influential as you believe, we cannot afford to ignore them. Not in these dark hours.

I’ve made no pledges to any cause, Bram reminded her acerbically. Yet he dismounted and edged his way into the circle. He counted amongst the five men two senior cabinet officials and one of the king’s closest advisors. Anxiety deepened the lines on their faces and formed bags beneath their eyes. Bram wasn’t alone in his insomnia.

“Unusual to see you about at this hour,” Maxwell noted.

“I need coffee or brandy, or perhaps both,” Bram said. “So let’s keep this brief.”

Maxwell cleared his throat and exchanged glances with the other men. “You are an intimate of John Godfrey, are you not?”

At the mention of John’s name, the hair on the back of Bram’s neck rose. Livia, too, tensed. “We have been friendly, yes.”

“Have been,” pressed one of the cabinet officials, “but are no longer?”

“My time is my own, just as John’s is his. Tell me what you want.”

“Can we trust you?” This, from the king’s advisor, his knuckles whitening on his ivory-topped walking stick.

“I wouldn’t trust anyone,” Bram answered.

“He’s useless,” the cabinet official growled at Maxwell. “Either he’s deliberately being obtuse, or he’s Godfrey’s man.”

“I’m no one’s,” Bram said through clenched teeth.

“What choice have we?” Maxwell looked helplessly at the other men in the circle. “Godfrey keeps his intentions to himself and everyone else at a distance. Rothwell is our only option. He’s the closest thing Godfrey has to a friend.”

The advisor let out a heavy sigh. “Go ahead, then.”

“Nothing has been agreed to,” Bram interjected hotly. The lingering remnants of his temper unraveled. “And if you talk of me like a dumb animal, then I’m getting back on my horse and you can all go to hell.”

Stop growling like a wounded bear, Livia snapped, and listen. John is the Dark One’s closest, most powerful ally. Surely whatever these powdered wigs are speaking of must have significance.

Though Bram’s anger continued to roil, he forced out, “Just say what you want of me.”

“Godfrey’s becoming more aggressive in Parliament,” Maxwell said after a pause. “Creating alliances, breaking apart old confederations. Brokering deals and ensuring that other pacts collapse. ’Tis clear that some greater scheme is afoot, but none of our efforts have been able to determine precisely what he intends.”

“I’m to play the role of spy.” Bram’s voice was flat.

Several of the men grimaced. Typical that they would cringe away from plain speaking—the only means Bram had available to him.

Not so, corrected Livia. You are remarkably subtle and insinuating when dealing with women.

Except you.

I am always the exception. Pride laced her words. He could imagine her tossing her head, regal as an empress.

He fought a smile. Damn, but it was difficult to engage in two conversations simultaneously, especially if one of them was with a ghost that had invaded his consciousness.

“If you might gain Godfrey’s confidence,” Maxwell said. “Learn more about his objectives, and the means he intends to use to gain those objectives.”

“Then pass this intelligence on to you and this distinguished company.” Bram stared at each of the men in turn. “Thus the reason why I keep my involvement with politics to a minimum. I like not this business of cunning and guile.” Strategy was reserved for the battlefield—yet to these men, Whitehall was the battlefield.

“Will you do it?” pressed the king’s advisor.

“Why should I?” Bram fired back.

All of the men began speaking at once, throwing out words like duty, honor, and greater good. The crown itself was endangered, and England would fall with it. Their voices battered against him as waves against a cliff. It took hundreds if not thousands of years for those waves to carve away at the stone.

Cease your reflexive obstinacy, Livia snapped in his mind. Whether you will do as they ask or no, nothing’s harmed by saying yes.

He held up his hand, silencing the cabal. “If it will quiet your infernal nattering, then I agree.” His words were meant for the gathered men as well as Livia.

The men exhaled in a communal sigh of relief. The ghost, however, had some choice Latin curses for him.

“Come to my home tomorrow at ten in the evening,” said Maxwell. “We shall discuss your findings then.”

Bram mounted his horse. He looked down at these powerful men of England, their worn, weary faces, the lines of strain around their mouths. They dressed in the finest in tailoring, and their wigs were immaculately dressed. For all that, they were but a collection of bones and flesh, as vulnerable as a pauper begging for alms, subject to the same inevitability of death and obscurity. They controlled the fate of the nation, but there would come a time when every one of them would be laid out in a box of pine and lowered into the ground.

“When I decide I have something to recount,” he said to them, “I shall let you know. We’ll discuss it at a time and place of my choosing.” Before anyone could speak or argue, he urged his horse into motion.

What will you do? Livia asked as he rode away.

Dance on the edge of a blade, he answered. As I always do.

Books and papers lay in riotous profusion upon every available surface, including the floor. Maps draped over chairs, and the abundance of broken quills on the carpet resembled the massacre of flocks of birds. Unlike Bram’s study, John’s saw much use, and John himself unfolded from behind a massive desk as Bram entered the chamber.

A look of wariness passed briefly over John’s face when the footman announced Bram, but he smoothed it into a welcoming smile, his hand outstretched in greeting.

“A most agreeable surprise,” John murmured, shaking Bram’s hand.

“You seem well-engaged.” Bram released John’s grip and glanced at the mountains of paper on the desk.

“Never too occupied for an old friend and fellow Hellraiser.” Stepping back, he asked, “Can I offer you some tea? Wine?”

“Brandy.”

John’s brow rose, yet he picked his way through the stacks of books and debris toward the sideboard. He poured two glasses.

Bram. Livia spoke with tight urgency. His arms. His hands.

I see them.

For his work at home, John had discarded his coat, and the sleeves of his shirt had been rolled back. Markings of flame covered every inch of exposed skin. His forearms. His hands—from fingers to palm. Bram’s gaze rose higher. Without his stock, the neck of John’s shirt hung open. More flames wound around up from his chest, creeping up his neck like a choking weed.

It’s spread much faster on him than it did on any of the others, Livia said. Fertile ground.

John wended his way back to Bram, navigating the clutter and bearing two full glasses. “’Tis a veritable labyrinth in here. The fault is mine, not my servants, for I forbid any of them from cleaning.”

“And keep them out with a locked door when you aren’t around.” Bram took the offered glass.

John patted a pocket of his waistcoat. “At all times the key is on my person. There are so few who can be trusted.”