The Wages of Sin [The Mysterious] (15 page)

"What a god-awful sordid affair," said George at last. "On reflection, I don't put it past the old man to have done exactly as you say. Gentler times than Sir Henry's, but the blood will tell."

"You'll stay with us, Cook?" Elizabeth lowered her imperious voice, and a faint flavour of intimacy among women, secrets and hardships shared, tinted the room, shutting Charles and the other men out.

"I will, mum. But if that Mr. George Latham lays a hand on my Kitty, I promise you, mum, I'll geld him meself, with a kitchen knife."

Elizabeth laughed, startled, and smoothed down her skirts. "Should the occasion arise, you may apply to me for some soldiers of my husband's regiment, to hold him down."

The Thames slid away under afternoon sunshine. Burnt cornfields on either hand sent up a smoke of delicate blue and a scent of caramel. Reeds nodded by the water's side, rustling. Beneath the sun's thin warmth, an edge of winter's ice insinuated itself.

"So there's an end of it," said Charles, squashing the petals of a purple mallow into the mud beneath his shoe.
"Not quite." Jasper stood a little further up the bank, his head and shoulders level with the surrounding land, hand propped on a tree root. The blue organic light softened the angles of his face, idealized him. "There are still the funerals."

"You'll come?"
"To Margaret's, certainly. To the others… if I'm welcome."

Charles wondered if some of the dirt, a clot of the wall he had been forced to breathe in, had lodged within him. He could almost feel it, a solid lump somewhere at the base of his throat, and another in his belly. Swallowing did not dislodge them. "For my part you will always be welcome."

Smoke caught at his eyes, making them sting. He shook his head angrily and felt the tremor of the wet land beneath his feet as Jasper strode down towards him.

How could he possibly explain? The end had come. Jasper would return to St. Giles, he would return to his life of petty idleness, and all the glory of the world would burn up like the fields. Charred stalks and ashes, barren smoke from this day onward, this burst of death and beauty gone. Gone forever.

"Still nothing," he said, reaching out and lacing his fingers through the other man's. Jasper's face lit with his secret, uncomplicated smile. He pulled himself closer, until they were standing toe to toe.

"I feel nothing," Charles said. "It's over and I should grieve now, for my father, for Emma, and Mary, and Margaret, even for poor George, maimed as he is. Where is my grief? I don't feel anything unless you're here. You unfreeze me. You make me live."

Jasper freed his hands and cupped them around Charles' face. Charles felt the clear gaze fall warm as brandy on his lips, and closed his eyes, opening his mouth, in the hope of drinking it in.

Jasper insinuated his foot between Charles', one hand slid round to the back of Charles' head, cradling it, the other dropped to his waist and hugged tight. The kiss was slow and gentle, savouring his mouth. He slipped his arms inside Jasper's coat and clung to the warm and breathing firmness of his body. Comfort surrounded him, filled his mouth, slicked his damp and swollen lips. It smelled of ambergris and heat, Jasper's sweat, and caramel-scented smoke.

When he broke the kiss it was because he was crying too hard to breathe.
He set his face in the hollow of Jasper's shoulder and wept until the silk waistcoat was quite sodden, and the linen shirt beneath seemed ready to dissolve. He wept until his throbbing eyes rested, wrung out, against a sturdy collarbone, and he felt the pulse of their two hearts rock synchronized through them both. Jasper had drawn his coat close about them. They stood resting together as the light drained, and the waterbirds took off in a flight of whirring wings.
"I've been thinking," said Jasper at last, his voice threading over Charles' head, quiet, unembarrassed, "that we are good at this."
The arms and thick woollen coat about him were secure as a chrysalis. As Charles stepped away from them he felt quite new. "Bawling like infants?"
"Investigating. Hauntings, murders, both together. With my sight and your agile mind we could make a profession of it. Now that I'm no longer a priest, I need some other employment. I think you do too."
Sunset tinted the western sky with shades of amber. A wherry, and then a coal barge, slid into view around the curve of river, tall stained sails reflecting gold from the sun. Charles fought happiness, wishing with every fibre of his being that it would master and overwhelm him. "It would hardly be respectable."
"Perhaps not. But it would provide an excellent explanation for why we were always seen about together." Jasper inclined his head, looked down on Charles from his greater height, with a sweet, shy smile. "And we need that, don't we?"
Charles surrendered, and joy broke over him like a tide. As the ending reshaped itself around him into a beginning, he seized it with both hands, greedily. "Yes. Yes we do."
Together from now on!
“God yes! May the world never run out of ghosts, so long as we can hunt them together. Here’s to a long and successful partnership to us both!”

Born in Northern Ireland, raised in Cheshire, A
Lex
has lived all over the UK but nowhere else. She studied English and Philosophy at Manchester University, then read for an MPhil in The Cult of the Horse in Early Anglo-Saxon England. She worked in the Lord Chancellor’s Department in London, moved to Guildford to work in the Crown Court, and has hopefully finally settled near Cambridge with her husband and two children

Alex’s first m/m novel, Captain’s Surrender is an Age of Sail romance set in the 18th Century British Royal Navy of Hornblower fame. Her second novel, False Colors, on a similar theme, comes out in spring 2009 from New York press Perseus Books. Working with MLR has given her the chance to branch out of ‘pure’ historical into historical/paranormal with THE WAGES OF SIN.

THE TREVOR PROJECT
The Trevor Project operates the only nationwide, around-the clock crisis and suicide prevention helpline for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth. Every day, The Trevor Project saves lives though its free and confidential helpline, its website and its educational services. If you or a friend are feeling lost or alone call The Trevor Helpline. If you or a friend are feeling lost, alone, confused or in crisis, please call The Trevor Helpline. You’ll be able to speak confidentially with a trained counselor 24/7.

THE GAY MEN ’S DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT
Founded in 1994, The Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project is a grassroots, non-profit organization founded by a gay male survivor of domestic violence and developed through the strength, contributions and participation of the community. The Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project supports victims and survivors through education, advocacy and direct services. Understanding that the serious public health issue of domestic violence is not gender specific, we serve men in relationships with men, regardless of how they identify, and stand ready to assist them in navigating through abusive relationships. GMDVP Helpline: 800.832.1901
On the Web: http://gmdvp.org/

THE GAY & LESBIAN ALLIANCE AGAINST DEFAMATION/GLAAD EN ESPAÑOL

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (
GLAAD
) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
On the Web: http://www.glaad.org/
GLAAD
en español:

If you’re a GLBT and questioning student heading off to university, should know that there are resources on campus for you. Here’s just a sample:

US Local GLBT college campus organizations
http://dv-8.com/resources/us/local/campus.html
GLBT Scholarship Resources
http://tinyurl.com/6fx9v6
Syracuse University
http://lgbt.syr.edu/
Texas A&M
http://glbt.tamu.edu/
Tulane University
http://www.oma.tulane.edu/LGBT/Default.htm
University of Alaska
http://www.uaf.edu/agla/
University of California, Davis
http://lgbtrc.ucdavis.edu/
University of California, San Francisco
http://lgbt.ucsf.edu/
University of Colorado
http://www.colorado.edu/glbtrc/
University of Florida
http://www.dso.ufl.edu/multicultural/lgbt/
University of Hawaiÿi, Mnoa
http://manoa.hawaii.edu/lgbt/
University of Utah
http://www.sa.utah.edu/lgbt/
University of Virginia
http://www.virginia.edu/deanofstudents/lgbt/
Vanderbilt University
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lgbtqi/