Chapter 5Percy could not quite recall the short journey to Mayfair, but once there, he found comfort in his familiar, elegant surroundings. Shivering and suddenly chilled, he ordered a bath to be drawn and soon settled in the scented hot water, his arms tightly wrapped around his knees.
His secure and comfortable life seemed like sand slipping through his hands, and he felt as small and vulnerable as the bullied youngest brother he had been at home, or the put-upon shrimp of a boy packed away to boarding school.
He had spent most of his childhood either hiding or recovering from the attentions of bullies, including those to whom he was related. When he had gone up to university at fifteen, he had subsequently shot up in height and filled out from stick-thin to willowy. At this point, the
