Garrick’s POV
***
The fire had been burning for three hours.
Garrick hadn’t moved from his chair for most of that time. He sat with one leg crossed over the other and a cup of wine he had barely touched, and looked at the fire the way he looked at everything like it owed him something and he was deciding whether to collect.
Thorne was by the window. He had been standing there since he arrived, which was how Thorne always positioned himself, close to the glass, close to the exit, with a view of both the room and the courtyard below. It was a habit Garrick had noticed the first time he used him and had decided to make him useful immediately. A man who always knew where the doors were was a man who understood how the world actually worked.
Thorne set down his cup. “The vial,” he said. “I
