I thought of Dede – not of her locked up in Bedlam, but as she had been when we were younger. She’d always been tiny, spritelike. Shiny and sweet and full of life. Our family, especially me, had been so protective of her, but even we couldn’t save her from herself. She’d fallen for Ainsley’s charm as though her bones were made of lead. I’d held her after she lost the baby, crying myself as she sobbed as if the world was ending. I suppose for her it had. I thought she was done with the bastard.

I turned on to Grosvenor Place. Checking the traffic, I saw something in the park to my right that made me put my foot down to stabilise the Butler and look again.

“Fang me,” I muttered. Why now, of all times? I had somewhere to be. I did not have time for betty-bashing.

I lifted my foot and whipped the machine between two cars – the space from the boot of one to the bonnet of the other was just large enough for my ride. I kicked the stand and jumped off. Skirt hitched, I raced along the pavement, wishing I’d worn my arsekicking boots instead of the pointy-toed, hourglass-heeled ones that matched my gown. Still, I was fast and quickly caught up with the people I was chasing.

There had to be at least a dozen of them. From their swagger and their cricket bats I pegged them as bubonic betties – humans who injected themselves with aristo hormones. Eight male and four female, dragging what appeared to be two unconscious people along the dimly lit path. Despite the dark I could see the two of them very well, see the blood on their faces and the jackedup state of their captors. And I could see their hair – the girl had blue and the bloke’s was purple. They were halvies, and they were in trouble.

“Oy!” I shouted as I approached. I didn’t even have a weapon in my hand. My ID I’d shoved inside my corset as soon as I jumped off the motorrad.

The men didn’t listen to me, of course. I hadn’t expected them to. The females at least glanced in my direction. I yelled again and picked up the pace, running past them to cut them off. “Let them go,” I said as I stood before them. I had no delusions of getting out of this unscathed, but defeat wasn’t an option.