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father was. If my mother knew, she never said.”
    “I see. Is that why you made up a name and left home? Because you were illegitimate?”
    “Dorian, why do you want to know all of this? It has no bearing on the task set before us. I have agreed to do the research to learn how to close the gates. What more do you want from me?”
    The intensity of his gaze left her exposed beyond her near nudity. “I want to know you, Lilly, and it has nothing to do with demons or hunting or The Company.”
    “Why?”
    His lips formed a smile that made her heart beat even faster. “You know why.”
    “What interest could a marquis have in the illegitimate daughter of a tradeswoman?”
    “I do not care who your parents are, and my father gave up that title rather than lose his head to the guillotine.”
    “My story is not that interesting. It might be told by a dozen other girls of my station.”
    “How did you become a demon hunter?”
    “My mother was killed by demons. I was angry and Reece found me.”
    “Why where you not killed as well?”
    “I was not living at home.”
    “How old were you?”
    “Seventeen.”
    He sat up, crossed his legs, and watched her intently. “Tell me the whole story, Lilly.”
    The old anger welled up from the pit of her stomach. “And if I do, will you tell me why you dislike being called marquis so much?”
    “It is not a secret, Lilly. I will tell you anything you ask. Anything.”
    The last word, and the way he watched her, made her want to ask him everything. “When I was fifteen I caught the eye of the local nobleman, an earl. He bought me from my mother for two crown.”
    She expected to see disgust, but only anger flashed in his eyes. “He brought me to his manor, but of course his wife was not pleased, so he took me to a small holding on the far side of Sussex. I was not permitted to leave the property or see my mother. He kept me there for two years and used me at his will. Only Reece knows the rest.”
    He held his body rigid, hands fisted, but he caressed her hand. “You can trust me, Lilly.”
    She took a deep breath. “Every few weeks, a delivery of food and other goods came to the cottage. The young man who delivered it told me my mother had gone missing a few days before. Without thinking, I left the cottage and returned to my town to find my mother. She was gone and her house was in shambles. Someone had destroyed it trying to take her away.”
    “Did the earl come for you?”
    “He came. He beat me until I was unconscious, and during the thrashing told me he had sold my mother to men who threatened his land. He believed by selling an aging seamstress he could keep the blight from destroying his crops for the year.”
    Dorian’s voice hummed in the intimacy of the dimming light. “What did you do?”
    “I stabbed the man who had taken everything from me. I skewered him with his own blade, then stole his horse and rode until both the horse and I were close to death. Reece found me on the side of the road. He was heading to Scotland to train. He took care of me and convinced me to go with him to Scotland. I had stabbed an earl. Even if he survived, I was bound for prison or bedlam. Reece and The Company saved my life.”
    “How do you know your mother was killed by demons?”
    “Reece and I found her clothes, a shawl she always wore, near scorched ground. There had been a sacrifice. There were no bodies, but it is not likely my mother lived.”
    “And the earl? Did he live?”
    “He is dead now, but not by my hand. He ruined himself on absinth and fell off his horse a few years ago. Broke his neck.”
    “Too good a death for him.”
    He was right, but it didn’t matter anymore.
    “Why did you join the demon hunters? They would not have turned you in to the authorities. You could have started a new life in Scotland, and no one would have known about your past.”
    Another unwanted tear slid down her cheek. These memories had stopped making her cry years ago, so why