10
Highgate Cemetery was gorgeous.They had taken two steps beyond its walls before Maggie was officially in love. The rolling, uneven ground was dotted by forlorn stones that had shifted over the years as the surrounding trees heaved them up.
Everything was so very green. Every surface seemed to be covered with vines as nature tried to retake the manmade structures. Even the stones themselves seemed to be tinged with the color of the moss that obscured the names of those who lay beneath.
Or who had lain beneath, rather. Most of them were probably dust or compost by this point. She’d never understood the mindset behind burying people in concrete vaults. Sure, it kept the waste out of the water table, but…she wrinkled a nose at the idea of what must happen to the coffins and the people after a long period of decomposition with nowhere for any of it to go. Ew. Squishy.
This cemetery felt more like a morbid park than a modern graveyard. It could just have been a sculpture gallery, with its desolate and weathered angels standing amongst the trees being nothing more than melancholy artwork.
Gideon was letting her lead, and many times she could hear him chuckling behind her as she took off in a random direction to peer closer at one monument or another. She didn’t recognize any of the names—she didn’t expect to—but she enjoyed reading each one. As if by doing so, she was paying them just a little bit of respect. She was a tourist standing on their graves; she could at the very least read their names and dates.
After about a half an hour of wandering through the rows and climbing up between the paths, she realized something.
She was having fun.
Honest-to-God fun.
Sure, she loved exploring. She loved graveyards. And she loved good food and drinks. But that wasn’t what chased away the dread and the anxiety that she had felt every second of every day. It was the man who was there beside her, smiling in contentment and amusement.
She knew he was a monster. She knew he had done terrible things to her that she couldn’t remember. That he was a creature she had run from countless times, and from whom she had begged for death just as many. But in the strangest and most nonsensical way, she felt safe around him. Like he was a big, scary, spooky, eldritch umbrella over her head.
She stopped to pet the head of a stone carving of a dog. It was smooth where her hand touched it, the moss and the weathering worn away from so many people having done the same thing.
“Pets are better than people.”
She glanced over at the necromancer where he stood in the path, watching her with an unreadable expression. “Is that why you raise so many of them?”
“Precisely. That, and I have a hard time parting with those I love. Especially when I have the ability to keep them around. If you could ensure your beloved pets never left your side, wouldn’t you?”
“As long as it wasn’t cruel to them, sure. Animals don’t fear death the same way we do. But I guess if they’re not suffering, and they wanted to stay, then…yeah. Who wouldn’t want immortal companions?” She petted the stone dog one more time before parting from it, jumping back down to the main path to keep walking.
Gideon fell in step beside her. “They certainly adapt to everlasting life better than humans. No existential nagging at the back of their minds, whispering to them that they’re unnatural. They don’t process the years that pass because they live far more in the moment than humans. And they certainly don’t go insane as easily.”
“Hey.” She shot him a look. “I resemble that remark.”
“Not what I meant. A different kind of insanity.”
“Mmhm. Sure.”
He chuckled. “Sorry.” When he reached for her hand, she let him take it. It was a simple gesture, but it was clear from the way the lines on his forehead smoothed that it meant the world to him. He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of her knuckles. “No offense meant.”
Her face went a little warm, and she glanced away. It wasn’t that she was shy—okay, maybe she was just a little—but she still felt the urge to hide the small smile that crept over her. He was such an odd and mysterious man. Dr. Gideon Raithe: Gentleman Necromancer. She laughed quietly.
“What?”
“Nothing.” She glanced up at the dark gray sky and the way the trees cut stark silhouettes against the mottled backdrop. It looked like it might rain, but she figured this was London, and it probably always looked like that. “Oh! Hey. I know what’ll be fun.” The sudden mischievous idea made her grin.
“Oh, no.”
The dread in his voice only made her laugh harder. “C’mon, you don’t even know what it is yet.”
“Yes, but you have a tone. I don’t believe I need the details.” He was struggling to keep a straight face, his lips twitching as he fought a smile. “But do tell. What devilry have you concocted for us this evening?”
“How about you do some necromancy?”
He blinked. “Pardon?”
“Y’know.” She wiggled her fingers in the air in front of her. “Necromancy. You’re a necromancer. Do some necromancy. I wanna see it in action.”