19
The practice room was cold and silent the next morning. Thomas hadn’t expected anyone to be there, but had hoped for Henry at least. He waited a quarter hour, then began exercising alone, running and climbing the ropes and pulling up on the bars. He had finished three circuits of the room by the time Baron Goshawk and Lord John stepped in.
Thomas, already tired, ran another circuit of the room’s ladders, ropes and bars, then a fifth, just to show he could. Baron Goshawk joined Thomas for the two laps. Lord John picked a practice rapier and began going through cuts and parries in the air.
Thomas called a stop at the end of his fifth lap.
“I see Miss Eileen isn’t in this morning,” said Lord John, lightly emphasizing her new title.
Thomas felt a heat that had nothing to do with the ex
