The Girl in the Clockwork Collar (Steampunk Chronicles #2)(87)

Finley stopped dead in her tracks as the scene before her suddenly came together in her mind. The horror of it brought a rush of bile to the back of her throat. And the noise. That horrible noise.

“Oh, my God.”

If there had been anything in his stomach to come back up, it would have. Tears filled Jasper’s eyes as his heart twisted in his chest and his stomach rolled in protest. He heard the others approach and whirled to face Griffin.

“Do something!” he cried.

Griffin and the others stopped and stared, just as Jasper had done when he raced down here and arrived on the scene.

Dalton had made it through the building but not quite into his vehicle. His hand was lodged inside the newly solid carriage door, and he whimpered in pain. But it was Mei …

Mei hadn’t gotten as far before Griffin shut the machine down. Mei hadn’t made it completely out of the building. Most of her upper body protruded from the brick and stone.

The rest was trapped in the wall, and she was screaming in pain.

Griffin held out his hands. There was a slight shift in reality—so subtle, like a blink—and Dalton fell to the ground by his carriage, clasping his ruined hand to his chest. Mei tumbled from the wall into Jasper’s arms. He caught her and slowly lowered her to the ground as her screams gave way to a guttural, gurgling sound.

“Mei,” he whispered. He thought his heart had broken when she’d betrayed him, but that hadn’t hurt nearly as much as this.

Wide dark eyes gazed up at him from her pale face. Blood stained her lips. Jasper turned his gaze to Emily. “Can you help her?”

Emily shook her head, her face a study in anguish and remorse. And Griffin … Griffin looked like hell.

“Send for an ambulance,” he shouted as Whip and his men came onto the scene. Jasper’s brother-in-law took one look at the carnage and nodded grimly, sending one of his men to do as Griffin commanded.

Little Hank tried to escape, but Sam grabbed him, and that was all the attention Jasper bothered to give the others. He turned back to Mei, knowing full well that there was nothing anyone could do to help her now.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, voice hoarse with the tears he fought to hold back. He brushed a stray lock of inky-black hair back from her face. “I’m so very, very sorry.”

She made a choking noise in the back of her throat. “Not … your … fault.” Her fingers clutched at those he held to her face. “For … give me.”

And then she was gone. Her eyes changed, and all the tension left her body, and that’s how he knew that she was dead.

He couldn’t hold the tears back any longer. A sob tore from his throat as he held her against his chest. He buried his face in her silky hair and, heedless of the crowd around him, wept as though his heart was breaking.

It was.





Chapter 19


“What are you doing?”

Griffin managed a small smile as the cold night air numbed his cheeks. He was on the narrow deck on the front of the airship, leaning against the rail. “Thinking.”

Finley came up beside him, the lights of the Helena casting golden highlights on her hair as the wind tried to rip it from the knot at the back of her head. “It’s not your fault,” she told him.

He nodded. He had heard similar sentiments over the past two days, but none of them—not even the one from Jasper— could ease the horrible feeling of guilt and responsibility that weighed heavy on his chest. “I know, but I still did it.”

Mei was dead because of him. It didn’t matter that it had been her own greed that had brought her there in the first place. He had killed her and—worse—he’d had to stand there and watch her die.

It made him want to vomit every time he thought about it—which was about a thousand times a day.

Jasper didn’t blame him. Jasper forgave him. He said he knew that Griffin would have done anything to save Mei. None of them knew it, but Griffin had even gone to Tesla on the wild hope that maybe the eccentric inventor had managed to construct a machine to travel back in time. But he was told that no one had yet perfected the art of time travel. Griffin would have gone back if he could. He would have even let Dalton get away if it meant that Mei might live.

But there was no going back, no matter how much he might wish for it. He hadn’t killed Mei on purpose, but he just hadn’t thought of timing. His only thought had been stopping them.

Well, he had certainly done that.

“Are you going to be all right?” Finley asked, a small frown pulling at her brows. “I’m worried about you.”

He took her hand in his own and brought her knuckles to his lips. “Thank you. I’ll be fine in time, I’m sure.” But that was a lie. He didn’t think he’d ever be “right” again.

Finley watched him closely, as though she could see through him. Maybe she could—she seemed to know what he was thinking at the most inconvenient times.

“How long did Jasper say he’d be in San Francisco?” she asked, turning her gaze back to the sky.

“A few weeks. He wants to spend time with his family.” He didn’t need to add that he was also going to make certain Mei had a decent funeral. He and Whip took her body with them, as well as Dalton and the other prisoners. Personally, he’d be surprised if Jasper returned to London afterward. If he was the cowboy, he wouldn’t want to stay under Griffin’s roof—but perhaps that was just his guilty conscience talking.