Playing With Fire by C.J. Archer Read Free Book Online Page A

discourage any answers he may be otherwise willing to give. "It was Miss Levine who contacted Mr. Langley," I said. "She and Violet wished to be rid of me."
    From the shocked look on his face it was clear he didn't know. "Why?" he muttered more to himself than anyone else.
    "That's what I'd like to discover."
    He leaned back into the deeply cushioned chair and did not meet my gaze for some time. When he did, there was a steeliness in his eyes that hadn't been there before. All shock had disappeared. "She must have thought you ready to leave."
    Only a fool would have missed his evasiveness, but I suspected he would not divulge anything to me. I let it slide. The answer to that question wasn't as important as others, and I wanted to save my battles for those.
    "Who were my parents?" I asked.
    He glanced at Langley. "He didn't tell you?"
    So Langley did know. I gave him a sharp glare that he accepted with an apologetic nod but no explanation. Sometimes I got the feeling I was an ingredient in a grand experiment that Langley was conducting.
    "A poor woman brought you to Langley and Tate's laboratory. She said her husband had worked in the factory next door, but died just before your birth. She was destitute and asked them to keep you until she could afford to feed you."
    "Why them? Why not a foundling hospital or church?"
    "She said her husband had noticed them often on his way to the factory and had told her how kind and generous they seemed. Apparently one of them had helped an elderly gentleman when he fell in the street, and another time, they'd donated money to the widow of a man who'd been run over by a coach outside their house. She thought they'd be as good to her baby as any organization. You must understand, those institutions don't have very good reputations."
    "So I've heard." Yet it still seemed an extraordinary thing for a mother to do. I doubt I could give up a baby to complete strangers, and men too. Then again, I wasn't a mother. "What happened to her?"
    "She died soon afterwards."
    I pressed a hand to my chest where a piercing pain was trying to burrow through it. I'd thought my parents were long dead, but a small hope had remained in the corner of my heart. Having that hope extinguished once and for all felt like a small part of me had been gouged out with a sharp knife. It hurt.
    Jack moved closer. My skin warmed, and I was grateful for the sad smile of sympathy he offered. Lord Wade seemed to notice him for the first time too. His gaze flicked between Jack and Langley, but when Langley offered no introduction, he looked to me again.
    "It soon became clear that Tate couldn't be trusted around you," Wade went on. "He wanted to test his experiments on you. As if you were an animal," he spat. "It was horrifying."
    "Is that how…I became this way?"
    "Yes. He injected you with a substance, and you became a fire maker. He had already injected himself."
    "But why?"
    He looked to Langley.
    "He wanted to be powerful," Langley said. "He isolated a compound that allowed humans to set fire to things at will. He wanted that power for himself, so he injected it into his body. Unfortunately it proved to be unreliable, but when he tried to remove the compound, he couldn't. He needed to create an antidote instead, but that required human experiments and he'd become averse to testing things on himself."
    "A little late for that," Wade muttered.
    "When you came along, Hannah, Reuben saw a way out of his problem. He injected the compound into you and would have tested his antidote on you too, but I discovered what he was doing by then and took you away."
    "Bloody hell," Jack muttered. "He's mad."
    My spine tingled. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. I was an experiment gone wrong. Oh. My. God.
    "Appalling," Wade said. "When Langley brought you to me and explained what you were capable of, I was shocked, but I was determined to keep you safe from Tate."
    "How noble of you." It came out harsh, but I was still reeling from all