Page 61 of Infamous

‘Were they?’ Nash sighed and rubbed at his chin. ‘Yes. You’re probably right. Sorry.’

‘And Henry seemed rather upset with you.’

‘Hmmm. Henry is not one to go seeking ghosts. I think our wild ways shock him terribly. Very superstitious, these country folk.’

Eddie wasn’t entirely convinced by this, but there seemed to be nothing more to gain from prodding at it.

‘Did you and Liza quarrel?’

Nash snorted. ‘We are in a perpetual quarrel. It’s called marriage. It starts with prickling irritation, matures into a gentle seethe, and then before you know it you’ve fermented yourself an endless supply of unadulterated loathing.’

Eddie picked up the bottle of wine and took a sip. It was freezing – the glass and the alcohol – but it warmed her as it went down and induced a pleasant buzzing in her fingertips.

‘Valentine says that is all nonsense, and you love each other really.’

Nash snorted again. ‘Valentine is a romantic. Inevitable, with a name like that. Dreadful thing to be – I’d be ashamed to show my face in public.’

‘Nash. You’re apoet.’

‘Oh, don’t start. I will admit, under little duress, that I find romance in the glory of nature. A coaxing glimpse of a new moon. The turn of the leaves. Birds chirping, foxes screaming, the usual guff. But there is little romance to be found in the confines of marriage, Edith Miller. A marriage is a job – a contract with unfavourable terms and little recourse when the benefits begin to wane.’

‘I don’t understand why you got married in the first place, if you’re so against it.’

Nash winced. ‘I was tricked.’

‘By whom?’

‘You wouldn’t know him. Ruggedly handsome, very good with a pen. What he lacked in common sense, he made up for in gall and vigour.’

‘Ah. You are right, of course. I have certainly never met such a man.’

Nash’s laugh trailed off into a sigh.

‘Rose is avoiding me,’ Eddie said. ‘I have been trying to pretend that everything is all right between us, but I think perhaps I have .?.?. made a few too many mistakes.’

Nash had taken a pipe from his pocket and was frowning down at it by the light of the lamp. He lost a few dark flakes of tobacco, which drifted into the lake and disappeared.

‘Ah. Then we are both wifeless and adrift.’

‘She’s not my wife,’ Eddie said indignantly, before realising how ridiculous this sounded. Nash lit his pipe and took a deep drag, smoke wreathing his face like the breath of a dragon. ‘I think she likes this .?.?. Miss Cliffe. I think she might like her very much, in fact.’

‘Ah. I see.’ He put the pipe to Eddie’s lips, cupping it as if it were precious, one hand on Eddie’s shoulder. ‘Take some of this, for the pain. Go slowly. There’s more than just tobacco in there, and we don’t want to lose you overboard.’

Eddie did as she was told and inhaled gently. Nash kept his hand on her shoulder, his fingers spanning her collarbone, his thumb hooked into the dip of her throat.

‘That’s it, good girl. Try it again.’

She did. At first, she just felt strange, detached and slow, as if she were viewing the scene in front of her through a window – and then she felt a rush of pure euphoria that knocked all of the breath out of her, leaving her giddy and reeling.

‘Oh,God.’

‘I am very pleased to say that we are no longer under His jurisdiction.’

‘I think I’m going to .?.?. just .?.?. lie down for a minute.’

The rough wood on the dock felt cloud-soft and welcoming; it was almost as if she were actually floating on the surface of the lake, just Eddie and the water and the endless sky. She ran her hand along it and then felt resistance, a distant sting; she lifted her finger to be examined and found that there seemed to be a large splinter sticking out of it.

‘Ouch, I suppose,’ she said, chewing on her lower lip and realising that she couldn’t really feel that, either.