"Is that a challenge? I think I'm game if it means getting you to foxtrot or something around the hazards in the living room," he quips. Gabriel shifts closer, eyes bright.

This sort of thing would never be allowed where he came from. He didn't know clubs for people like him even existed, anywhere, even when he was getting ready to leave Derry. London was full of possibilities he didn't even have names for. Darrow has just as many and far fewer laws regarding his conduct in public or in private. The freedom of it still feels like waiting to take a breath, like any moment it'll be taken away.

But Christ, he'd rather be daring than terrified.