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don’t see how this changes matters. The Echelon exterminated the Scottish verwulfen clans at Culloden. This…this piece stirs dangerous sentiments toward an ancient enemy.”
    He picked the clockwork back up and began to nestle it safely in its box, where it might never again see the light of day.
    “The Duke of Malloryn said that the Echelon were considering a peace treaty with the Scandinavian clans,” she blurted.
    Mr. Mandeville froze. Both his eyebrows slowly vanished into his hairline. “That’s unheard of. The Scandinavian verwulfen have been at odds with Britain since Culloden. There’s no chance they would agree to a treaty.”
    “That’s all I know. Mrs. Wade discovered me and I was forced to go look at bonnets.”
    “Goodness,” Mandeville whispered. “I shall have to pass this information on. At once.”
    Lena glanced at Mrs. Wade, who was tapping her reticule impatiently. “Do you think I should meet with Mercury? To tell him what I know? Firsthand?”
    For months Mercury had been only a dashing figment of her imagination. As the mysterious head of the secret humanist movement working right here in London, he was little more than cloaks and shadows. Rumor had it that the Council of Dukes had posted an extravagant reward with the infamous Nighthawks for his capture.
    “No. No, I’ll pass the information on. It wouldn’t do at all to have you involved any further. The fewer people who know of Mercury’s identity the safer he is.”
    “I would never tell a soul.”
    “Oh, Lena, you’re so terribly innocent still.” He gave her a sad smile. “There are ways for a blue blood to make a young woman tell them everything they want to know. Especially those rotten bastards in the Ivory Tower.” He patted her hand. “I’ll pass the message on. Hopefully we can use this information. If this alliance between the Echelon and verwulfen clans goes ahead, there’ll be little chance for the humanists to defeat the Echelon. They’ll be too powerful.”
    He slid a folded envelope toward her, beneath a sheaf of orders. “The usual spot, if you will?”
    Lena palmed it, pretending to rifle through the orders. Her voice rose. “Of course. Thank you for the commissions. I shall select which ones I deem appropriate.”
    “Let me know if you hear more.” A frown crossed his face. “I am most curious about why they’re talking of peace.”
    “I will.”
    Lena picked up the box with the snubbed clockwork inside and turned her back on him. Pasting a smile on her face, she ignored the curiosity that lit Mrs. Wade’s face and gestured toward the carriage. She was about to make her companion’s day much worse.
    “Oh look, we’ve time to visit my brother and sister,” she said lightly, though in fact she’d planned on it.
    Mrs. Wade paled. “Not the rookeries, Lena. If anyone sees—”
    “We’ll be discreet. And they’re my family, after all—even if they are considered persona non grata to the Echelon.” She stepped through the shop door into the warm sunshine. “I’ve a mind to gift Charlie with this toy. Mr. Mandeville doesn’t want it.” And she couldn’t bear to let it go to waste. It was the finest thing she’d ever created, even if it bore striking familiarity to a certain hulking brute that she knew.
    Not that she’d be seeing him this time of day. She’d lived at the warren long enough to know the times that Will came and went. Midday usually found him asleep after his nightly sojourn guarding the rookery.
    Which suited her perfectly.
    She wouldn’t care if she never saw him again.
    ***
    If Honoria was surprised to see him so early, she gave little sign of it. Will growled a greeting and strode past. Sunlight spilled through the attic window, dust motes swirling through its beams. The stink of chemical took his breath, with the faint, underlying tang of blood and chamomile tea.
    “Blade’s still in bed,” Honoria said, brushing a lock of dark hair behind her ear. “He’s