The Serpent's Curse by Lisa Maxwell (read an ebook week .TXT) 📕

to a proper life. She could not help having a daughter born with the old magic, one who used that power to break the Lord’s commandments with such impunity. Perhaps Pasqualina Vaccarelli had never shown Viola the patience that she reserved only for Paolo, but she had tried to show Viola what was right. That was surely a sign of her mother’s love… wasn’t it?

When they reached the carriage, Theo opened the door and offered Viola his hand, as he always did. Ever the gentleman, even if Viola was nothing like a lady. From the expression he wore, Theo was far too pleased with himself and far too sure as well.

Viola hated that he was right. Theo could gain access to the Order easier than any of them. He could verify the information from both Nibsy and Paul, and he could give her and Jianyu the upper hand, so that they could be the ones to retrieve the ring. But Viola could not accept the possibility that Theo might be hurt for helping her—not when he belonged to Ruby.

He was one more worry she had to add to her pile. One more life in her keeping.

“I still say that you don’t need to do this,” she told Theo, when they were finally secure in the carriage and on their way back to the Bowery.

“I believe it’s already been decided,” Theo said pleasantly. Always pleasantly. It was impossible to argue with him.

“You saw what happened at the gala,” she said. “You understand what the Order is capable of. If they discover you’re against them, your money and family name won’t protect you.”

“Perhaps,” he admitted. “But I don’t plan for them to find out.”

She threw her hands up in exasperation. “No one plans for things to go wrong, Theo,” Viola told him. “It’s not worth risking yourself to help us. We have been living under the threat of the Order since we arrived in this city. Jianyu and I can handle ourselves.”

“I’m not doing this for Jianyu,” Theo told her. “I’m helping you, Viola. I’m helping my friend.”

Her stomach twisted. “I am not worth your life.”

“I don’t think that’s quite true,” Theo said. “Neither does Ruby, or she wouldn’t have made me promise to look after you. Blame her if you’d like, but I never break my promises.”

Viola choked on a laugh. “I was sent to kill Ruby, or don’t either of you remember how we met?”

“But you didn’t kill her—or me,” Theo pointed out.

That fact was irrelevant. “Every day you make me think that decision was a mistake,” she muttered.

“Maybe it was,” Theo agreed. “But it doesn’t change the fact that you did spare us, and in sparing us, I believe you became stuck with us.”

“What is one life spared when so many others were not so lucky?” He started to speak, to argue with her, but Viola shook her head and held up her hand to stop him. “No. You need to understand, Theo. Ruby, she has ideas—”

Viola’s throat went tight suddenly as she remembered Ruby’s ideas—how she had leaned in the night of the gala and kissed her. Kissed her.

Why did you do that? Viola had asked.

Because I saw you… and I wanted to.

As though anything could ever be so easy or simple. As though the press of lips, the stirring of breath didn’t have to be worried over or fretted about or earned. As though it could just simply be. Without shame, without reservation.

What about Theo? Viola had asked.

He wouldn’t care.

“Ruby always has ideas,” Theo said with a sigh. “She doesn’t always think them through, but she’s also not often wrong.”

He was looking at Viola with an unsettling softness in his expression. His light eyes and his pleasant face and his golden hair had no place in Viola’s world, but Theo Barclay was looking at her like he understood something about her that even Viola did not have words for.

“She’s wrong this time,” Viola told him, wishing it were otherwise. “I need for you to think. I need for you to understand. Don’t tell yourself stories about me, about my hidden goodness. I was made to be what I am. Every heart I stopped from beating was a choice. My choice. And I do not regret those choices.”

Theo was still looking at her with an unreadable expression. “You didn’t kill Ruby,” he said finally. “You didn’t allow me to die. You risked quite a lot to save Jianyu today, and it’s clear from the way you speak of your friend Dolph that you would have gladly given your life if it could have saved his as well.”

“It’s not enough,” Viola told him, feeling the truth of those words as clearly as she felt her own affinity. “One bit of good doesn’t erase the rest.”

“Maybe not,” Theo agreed, his eyes soft with pity. “Maybe you are an assassin, by birth and by choice, but you are also my friend, Viola. You are Ruby’s friend as well.” He shrugged. “In my estimation, that’s more than enough reason to help you, but in case you’ve forgotten, I have a stake in this too. Jack Grew was the one who ordered Ruby’s death. For that reason alone, I will do whatever I can to help you bring down the Order, and Jack right along with it.”

“Theo…” Viola sharpened her voice in warning.

“You might have saved me once before, Viola, but aside from that one unfortunate incident, I’ve done rather well at taking care of myself—and Ruby, too, for that matter. In fact, with her gone this summer, I won’t have to constantly extricate her from problems of her own creation, and I would very much hate to find myself bored.” He gave a mock shudder.

Viola realized then that there would be no talking Theo out of this. He had no affinity, no way to protect himself from the Order’s magic or power. He had nothing at stake in this fight, but he was committed all the same.

“This is a terrible idea,” she