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her heels. The driver shut the door, and in a few minutes they were on their way to Covent Garden.
    Jasper waited until the carriage was in motion before kissing her senseless.
    “I’ve been waiting all day to do that,” he said.
    Oh, they were digging a deep hole and Cat didn’t care. “Me, too.”
    His bright gaze roamed over her. “Did you wear this just for me?”
    She nodded. “Did you?”
    “You know full well I did. I feel like that monkey we saw performing on the street, remember that? That fella had him all trussed up in a suit.”
    Of course she did. It had been right after they’d met and started doing whatever it was they were doing. “You’re much cuter than that monkey.”
    “That was a pretty dang cute monkey.”
    She grinned. “So are you.”
    He kissed her again. In fact, he kissed her all the way to Covent Garden, but he was mindful enough not to muss up her hair, which she found oddly sweet. She used to mock people who treated her as feminine or delicate, because there was nothing delicate about her, but now she could see why some women went out of their way to get attention. It was nice to be treated like something special.
    “We’re here,” Jasper said as the carriage came to a halt. Cat could see the door to Pick-a-dilly Circus through the window. A small crowd of people were on their way inside.
    Suddenly, she didn’t want to go in. Didn’t want to leave the carriage. Part of it was she wanted to stay locked up with him, but another part was worried people would say things about the two of them being together. Then Jasper opened the door and stepped out. He turned and offered her his hand. She couldn’t just sit there like an idiot.
    “Let’s go find that sister of yours.”
    She put her gloved hand in his and stepped out of the carriage. A tendril of dread wrapped around her heart. Part of her hoped Sparrow wasn’t there just so they’d have to come back, because if her sister was there, then Cat’s adventure in London would be over, and she’d be on her way back to New York, sister in tow.
    And she’d probably never see Jasper Renn again.

Chapter Five
    His Aether pistol dug into his hip.
    Jasper was hard-pressed to care, however. The reason the weapon dug into him was because Cat was pressed up against him, watching the performances with wide eyes and a smile on her lips, showing just the slightest hint of fang. She was a strange girl, a peculiar creature, and he adored every unusual inch of her. No one could make him as happy or drive him as mad as she could. For the first time since returning to London, he felt as though the pieces of his life finally fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle.
    Maybe he’d go to hell for it, but he hoped they didn’t find Sparrow at the circus. The longer Cat stayed in London the harder it would be to say goodbye, but he didn’t want to say goodbye just yet, either. More time—that was all he wanted.
    But fate was cruel, and just when he thought he might get his wish, the second-to-last act of the night began. It was Sparrow. He knew it even from a distance, because she looked very much like Cat, even in a brightly decorated mask that covered the upper half of her face. Her costume was snug—somewhat revealing but not outrageously so.
    She climbed up the tall ladder on the right side of the stage, while a young man climbed the one on the left. The platforms they stepped onto were so high that a fall would surely kill them. Jasper realized this just as the fellow wrapped his hands around a trapeze swing and jumped.
    A few gasps rose up, but that wasn’t the exciting part. The man swung over the stage, building momentum, and then Sparrow grabbed a swing on her side and swung out, as well.
    Cat’s fingernails—which were also sharp claws—dug into his leg. He winced and put his hand over hers. Immediately she relaxed, and the pain in his thigh eased. At least she hadn’t ripped through the fabric of his trousers.
    Sparrow swung and