Page 21 of The Housebreaker's Assistant
Penny humphed. “Nothing could have prepared me for this,” he said.
As soon as they reached the table, Valentine rushed forward with an extra cushion for Greer. He placed it between Brutus’s place and the end of the table. “If you’d like,” he said in his friendly voice, looking at Penny, “I could take you to our changing room so that you’ll be more comfortable serving your master.”
“Oy!” Penny barked, loud enough to startle the dancers and to break apart a couple at the far end of the table who had been kissing passionately. “I am my own master, thank you kindly.”
Greer snorted with laughter. “Thank you, Valentine,” he said, nodding to the amused young man. “Penny is my guest, not my boy.”
“Your boy?” Penny whipped to stare incredulously at Greer. “I am most definitely not your boy.”
“I beg your pardon,” Valentine said, backing away and bowing to Penny. “I meant no offence.”
“Offending Valentine is not a good way to begin your examination,” Titus told Penny, though he seemed to find the whole thing amusing, too.
“Examination?” Penny demanded, eyes going wide. “Oh, no. No one is examining me.”
He took a step back, seemingly frantic, and for a moment, Greer thought he might run.
“Please forgive us,” Brutus said, stepping forward with genuine concern. “We have all started on the wrong foot here. Allow us to explain more about our purpose here at the Den. I can assure you that nothing that has been said or done tonight was meant to ignite any unpleasant memories.”
Penny tensed even more, a hollow look of fear coming to his eyes. Greer frowned, curious about what Brutus knew that he did not.
Instead of taking a seat on the cushion Valentine quickly added next to the one intended for Greer, Penny balled his hands into fists and said, “Greer tells me you’ve singled me out for a housebreaking job in Cornwall. Why me?”
Greer sighed and walked around Penny so he could sit. He was beginning to think he should have made more of a point of asking that question, too, and he was eager to learn the answer. Listening to Brutus explain would be as entertaining as watching the dancers, who had fallen in a heap of pillows in the center of the room and were now engaged in sucking each other off.
“Please, sit,” Brutus offered. “Have food and drink.”
Penny wavered on his spot for a moment before moving to sit. “You have a boy we all thought was dead dressed in silks and having his guts rearranged by a man who looks like he has a title, you know something of my past, and you want to send me toCornwall to rescue, or perhaps kidnap, someone from a castle,” he said. “Your explanations had better be good.”
Titus frowned at Greer, as if he’d spilled information he shouldn’t have.
Brutus, as usual, took the whole thing in stride.
“This is The Zagreus Den,” he explained. “We are a gang like any of the sort you are used to in Whitechapel. We have a network of activity that stretches across London and the rest of England. We lie, we cheat, and we steal. Our central club, as you can see, is a den of pleasure and iniquity.”
“And this is supposed to sway me to your side?” Penny asked incredulously.
Greer had to cover the lower half of his face with one hand to stop himself from laughing.
“We also rescue young men from certain death on the streets,” Brutus explained. “We expand their natural inclinations, and if they choose, we provide them with an owner who will take care of them for life.”
Penny snorted and shook his head.
“We also educate them, sometimes in trade, so that they can create new and safer lives for themselves, should they not wish to continue on as a slave,” Titus said, clearly still uncertain about Penny. “We help them find placement back in the world, if that is what they wish.”
“How philanthropic,” Penny said, still unconvinced.
“The Zagreus Den operates throughout London,” Brutus picked up the explanation. “We run a highly profitable operation, but those profits go back to those who need it rather than into our own pockets. We have paid for buildings to be restored so that families can live in them, for doctors to treat the sick that London’s hospitals will not touch. We have provided food, fuel, and clothing to hundreds in East London in the dead of winter.”
Penny’s mouth twitched, and Greer thought he saw some of the tension slip away from his shoulders. “Name one thing you’ve done that I would know about,” Penny challenged him.
Brutus smiled. “We burned down The Eagle and Dove,” he said.
Greer blinked, no idea what that meant.
Penny, on the other hand, sucked in a deep breath, his eyes going wide. “That was you?” he asked in a suddenly small, tremulous voice.
“It was,” Brutus said with a simple nod.
