Fifty-one

Andrew's expressions vary from one second to another, from disbelief to acceptance and then settles onto anger. A snarl curling up on his lips, fisting the book in his hands with such brute force that it begins to tremble.

" That bitch," He seethes, Mason hums impassively beside me, and I catch a glimpse of him, shrugging off his suit jacket.

Even when he drapes it over my shoulders, letting his warmth cling to my cold skin, I don't lose sight of Andrew, and the way his flinty eyes flit between Mason and I.

" What did she take?" Mason reiterates his question blandly, almost bored.

" A daiō, " He answers between clenched teeth, and I smother the urge to look at the book in my grasp. He must've been the one who left the book.

Mason hums once more, " A daiō submits himself. He is not owned. A daiō chooses its master. If your daiō chose Anika as its new master, then your anger is misplaced. No matter what you do he won't return to you, " Questions crowd my head one after another. Could be that he had something similar to Shay? Sarteri, Nareen had called Shay. Different cultures have different names. Maybe. That is a big maybe.

" That's not entirely true, and you know it," Andrew places the book back in the glass casing, anger rolling off him in waves.

" They can be corrupted with the right means. And Anika had the right means to corrupt Balthasar," The more I find about my mother, the less I recognise the woman I knew. When I hear of her from other people, feels like I've never known my mother. She sounds like an entirely different person. By the looks of it, I didn't know her at all. I've known a version of her, and now I'm getting a perspective of all the other facets I've never and never will come to know.

" Even so, your daiō would have returned to you after her death, and since he didn't. It is easy to deduct that she didn't need to use unscrupulous means of corruption, " Mason retorts pertinently, "Probably, just a good old scratch behind the ears, sufficed," Andrew flushes with anger at the insinuation.

" It was mine to care for, it was mine to break, it was mine to use it however I pleased. Mine," He keeps pointing at himself, red-faced, his voice rises with each word that comes out his mouth to the point that he is screaming.

Mason chuckles, unimpressed with Andrew, " Now, this is were I tell you that you are wrong. Not yours, they have a will and mind of their own. They might be unable to share their desires with us, but it doesn't make them any less than we are. I'm guessing that you didn't treat yours very well. A powerful gift, a misused one at that. I feel sorry for the poor creature to have been saddled with you, " I can hear the smirk in his voice as he finishes making his point. While Andrew glares, like a petulant child, with a slight pout on his lips.

" All that being said, if your goal was to find out where it is now. I'll save you the trouble, and answer that question for you. We don't know. We don't have it. Whatever Anika did with Balthasar, she has taken it to the grave with her when she died. I wish you the best of luck in finding it. And this is your first and final warning, do not approach Lily from here on out," Mason splays the palm of his hand on the small of my back, lightly pressing over his jacket. He wants to leave," As you pointed out earlier she is not Anika. She has me, and I will rip the heart out of your chest if so much you look at her the wrong way. Have a good night Baron, " Mason dips his head and turns us in tandem leaving Andrew and the threat to linger in the salty air behind us while he guides me towards the narrow set of stairs.

Clutching the book tightly, I take careful step after careful step on the slippery incline, focusing all my attention, and energy on keeping a steady gait.

The night has turned out to be overwhelming, and underwhelming at the same time. Whilst we have a better grasp of our past, the future seems more uncertain than ever before.

We reach the top of the stairs in record time. Our breaths billowing in front of us, shapeless puffs of steam mingling with the salty air clinging to my lungs, mouth and every exposed inch of skin.

" We should head back, " Mason says as he slides beside me. I throw one final look over my shoulder and begin to walk when he gently nudges me towards the exit.

" Aren't we going to say goodbye?" I dare ask, and then it dawns on me that Graham is nowhere in sight.

" No. I have nothing left to say. I've opened new channels for future lucrative business prospects, and that is all I need from this place right now. And you," He guides me down the steps to the awaiting carriage. The coachman jumps the moment he sees us descending the steps and opens the door.

" Where is Gra-," A shriek pierces through the air, muffled by the distance, but its echoes loud and clear from where we stand.

" I wouldn't worry about Graham. He is long gone," We both slip into the carriage with renewed urgency.

" He took that damn stone, didn't he?" I grumble under my breath as the coachman shuts the carriage door behind us, and climbs in his seat. The carriage wobbles under his weight, as he settles, and urges the horses to go.

Eventually, Mason hums at my side, his hand wrapping around mine, threading our fingers together.

" There was more than one thief in the building tonight," He smirks, tapping one finger against the hardcover of the book clasped in my other hand, safely tucked away, shrouded in a cloud of silk.

" Was there?" I feign surprise, " Do we know who it was?" I bite down the smile spreading on my loose lips as his gaze stays firmly glued to my face.

" I'm looking at her," He murmurs under his breath," Although, I'm not surprised. I knew you wouldn't leave this place empty-handed," He smirks, running a soothing thumb over my knuckles, " She will want it back," He draws a sharp breath between slightly parted lips, " But for the sake of appearances we will pretend that we didn't take it until we find out its content," Mason adds as an afterthought, his eyes measuring my expression with the precision of a metronome.