by Vella, Wendy
“’Ere, what are you doing down here?”
Squinting into the dark, Beth searched for the owner of that voice.
“These tunnels belong to Mr. Dodge. He won’t be pleased to find anyone else stealing from him.”
It was a boy’s voice, Beth was sure of it, but he stayed just far enough away that she could not see him, only his shadow.
“I am lost. Please help me get out.”
He made a scoffing sound. “People who speak like you don’t get lost in places like this. You’re not a Tosher, so what are you?”
“Tosher?”
“Scavenger hunters in the sewers,” he replied with impatience. “Who are you?”
“I was kidnapped and thrown down here. A man attempted to kill me, but I escaped.”
The boy was silent for long seconds, and Beth thought if he made a move to leave her, she’d dive at him and wrap her arms around his waist, begging him to take her with him. She crept forward and it was then she saw the three other boys behind him.
“That could be true.”
“It is, and I will pay you all handsomely if you return me to my family or just help me to find an exit.” Desperation rang loud and clear in her voice. “Please,” Beth begged. “Don’t leave me.”
More silence, and then the boy turned and talked in hushed whispers to the others.
“Come on.” They then began to walk away from her. Beth ran.
No one spoke again they just walked at a clip forcing her to hurry to keep up. Weaving their way up and down tunnels, she felt a sliver of hope that they may just be leading her out. But then they could also be leading her to her doom also.
“What are your names?” She wanted them to converse with her, then perhaps he would not leave her—or lure her to an even worse situation than her current one, if that was possible.
“Gil,” the boy she’d talked to grunted.
“Sam.”
“Tid.”
“Penn.”
“I’m Beth.”
They didn’t reply to that and her thoughts, which were already muddled, frozen, and incapable of rationality, led her to believe they were not impressed with her at all.
“I-I can pay you,” she said again.
“You said that,” the one called Gil said.
“Well, you didn’t seem impressed with it, so I thought to emphasize the point.” Beth shivered and pulled the edges of her coat tighter. It was damp, but still warmer than being without it.
She thought the boy, Gil, sighed, but she couldn’t be sure.
…
“Find her, Walter. Find Beth!”
The stench bit into the back of his throat, but he did not stop.
Nathan ran through the filthy sewer, knowing that finding Beth would not be easy. They worked with boys and men who foraged down here. Some died and were never found. This was a place someone like Beth could be lost and never seen again.
Unscrupulous, unsavory criminals operated out of these sewers. He had to find her.
He didn’t stop to listen; he knew his brothers would be following.
“Beth!” He roared her name as he followed the dog. His feet and legs were soon soaked in black sludge. His lungs began to heave, but he kept moving, following Walter’s lead.
Did the dog even know where he was going? It certainly seemed that way. Perhaps he’d lived down here in a previous life?
The woman he loved was down here somewhere and had been for some time. What had that man done to her? Was she alive?
“God, please be alive,” he whispered. “Beth!” He kept roaring her name. Walter veered left, and Nathan nearly overran the turn. Hurrying to keep up, he heard the sound of water running.
“You better be going somewhere, Walter!”
Continuing to call her name, he reached the end of the tunnel, then the dog stopped.
“Beth!”
He heard the sound of running feet up ahead.
“Beth!”
“Nathan!” He saw movement off to the right, then there she was standing before him in the tunnel. The relief had his knees buckling.
“Thank god.” His voice was hoarse as he ran to her. Pulling her into his arms, he held her tight. Possibly too tight, but right in that moment he couldn’t make himself release her.
“Nathan,” she sighed into his chest.
“I have you, sweetheart.”
“I want to go home, Nathan.”
“I know, love, and I’ll take you there.”
Easing her away from him he stripped off his cloak and wrapped her in it as she was wet and shivering.
“Oh, they’re gone,” Beth said looking behind her. Her voice sounded different. Raspy.
“Who has gone?”
“The boys who looked after me. Gil and the others. They were leading me out.”
Closing his eyes, he imagined her in the hands of anyone who was forced to make a living in these sewers.
“I wanted to give them money, Nathan.”
She sounded dazed, her words almost slurred.
“We can do that later, Beth,” he soothed her.
“Yes. Get me out of here, Nathan. I don’t like this place.”
Walter barked, clearly not happy being ignored.
“Walter led me to you, sweetheart, and he will lead us out, I promise.”
“I-I shall find the biggest b-bone I can for him,” she whispered. “Nathan?”
“Right here,” he said, trying to see if she was injured. The pitch black of the tunnel made it nearly impossible.
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m too cold to hurt,” she whispered pressing herself back into his body. “How did you know to find me down here?”
“The story is a long one, as yours is. For now, let me get you out.” Nathan took her hand. “Lead us out, Walter.”
“You don’t understand what I’ve done.” She squeezed his fingers.
“Your mother told me some of it, Beth.”
“I’m a thief, a traitor to my country. My father—”
“I read the papers you sent me, sweetheart. You did not do anything by choice but by coercion.”
“Justin Logan—”
“Will be dealt with,” Nathan said.
“Nathan!” Gabe’s roar reached him from up ahead.
“Here!”
Suddenly the tunnel was full of noise as his brothers ran to him.
“You were reckless and foolhardy to run off as you did! Had we not found you, you would have stayed down here forever!” Gabe roared.
“I found her,” Nathan said easing Beth forward. She is cold, and I suspect hurting. Get us out, Gabe.” He knew the eldest Deville’s rage came from worry.
Gabe moved closer and reached out a hand to touch Beth’s cheek.
“She is ice-cold.” Taking off his cloak, he wrapped that around her too. “It’s all right now, Beth, you are safe.”
She made a little sobbing sound.
“Lead on, Walter,” Nathan said, pulling her to his side.
The trek out was not undertaken at a run, so took longer. Beth stumbled several times, but Nathan held her upright. When she fell, he picked her up and carried her the remainder of the way to the exit. Nix and two other men were waiting for them when they reached the grate they’d entered through what felt like hours before.
“I was just about to go down and look for you myself.” He peered down at them.
“Of course you were,” Michael said, climbing out first. He then helped Beth out. Nathan followed. Gabe and Zach hefted Walter out both grunting.
“Call us a hackney, Nix.”
“At once, Lord Raine.” The man hurried off.
Nathan once again picked Beth up, and he and his brothers followed Nix along the street.
“Stop!”
“Beth—”
“Put me down, Nathan.”
He lowered her gently.
“D-Do you have some money I may briefly borrow?”
He saw the bruises and
swelling on her face and neck now they were out of the tunnel. Cold rage had his hands clenching.
“Please. Those boys are the ones who helped me, Nathan,” she lisped through her swollen lips.
Pulling out his money pouch, he took her hand and walked to where she’d seen the boys in the shadows.
“Thank you for looking after me.” She bent at the waist, and Nathan could only imagine how much that hurt her. “I would like to give you something.”
The boys looked up at him, then at Beth.
“We were taking you out but heard voices so left,” one of the boys said, nodding at Nathan. “We watched to ensure you weren’t hurting her.”
“Thank you for what you did for Miss Carlow,” Nathan said, opening the pouch and handing out money. “Should you need me, here is my card,” he added, holding it out. The one who had spoken took it.
“Take care of her,” he said gruffly, and then they were gone, merging back into the shadows.
“Nix has a hackney,” Gabe called. “Come.”
They climbed in, and Nathan pulled Beth onto his lap to accommodate them all. Walter sat on the floor, looking exhausted. The fear Nathan had felt when he’d known she was in the hands of Logan had not yet abated. Holding her was helping that.
After a brief struggle with her sense of propriety, she settled against him, her head resting on his chest.
“There are many things I must tell you.” The words were a whisper, but they all heard her. “But first you must know what I learned tonight.”
“Beth—”
“You must listen to me, Nathan.”
“All right.” He stroked a hand over her hair, the long locks tangled, having lost their restraints long ago.
“He said, Justin Logan, that tomorrow he assassinates the king. He said there will be rioting in the streets and that he has noblemen from the House of Lords at his side. Men who would betray their country as he has.”
His brothers watched her silently, no censure now in their eyes.
“But there is more. The book. The book!” She sat upright. “You must turn the carriage around at once and go back to the hotel.”
“We have the papers you sent me, Beth. I’m sure you copied those from Valentine’s book. There is little we can do to return the original now it is in Logan’s hands,” Nathan said.
“But it’s not! I did not give it to him. Don’t you see?” She placed a hand on his chest, looking at him through bloodshot eyes. “That’s why he had me thrown down there. I refused to give it to him.”
“What!” Nathan hadn’t meant to yell but it came out that way. “You’re telling me you could have delivered that book and returned home unscathed?”
“Nathan,” Zach cautioned from beside him. “There is no need to roar at Beth. She has been through quite enough this evening already.”
“Through her own making!”
“I had to at least try to get him to stop.” Her chin lifted. Bruised and swollen, she was still defiant, her spirit unbroken. “I could not simply give him that book. Not when it had information about you in it.”
“We read the book, Miss Carlow. And understand you know about Alexius,” Gabe said softly. “I would ask you to keep what you learned a secret.”
She nodded. “Of course. I will tell no one.” She looked at Nathan. “I couldn’t let him hurt you, Nathan. Not after what I’d already done to you.”
“Beth.” He sighed. “I would have you unharmed before myself.”
“And yet I feel differently.”
Nathan cupped her cheek softly, all his anger now gone in the face of her courage.
“So you let him hurt you instead of me.” He kissed her softly on the lips.
“I would have given it to him if he promised to release us though, Nathan,” she whispered. “But the truth is I don’t think he ever would have.”
“He will be punished,” Nathan said
“I hid the book in the hotel. It’s in the lining of the sofa in the hall outside his rooms.”
Gabe spoke to the hackney driver, and soon they were traveling back to the hotel. Once there, Zach got out. Pulling his hat low, he ran to the hotel and disappeared through the doors.
“Should he go alone?”
“He can look after himself, Miss Carlow,” Gabe said.
“Can he fight like you?” She looked up at Nathan.
“We can all fight like that.” Michael smiled gently at her. “And do many other things, so you are safe with us.”
“I am so very pleased about that.” She rested her cheek on Nathan’s chest again.
His eyes met his brothers’, and he knew what they saw. Rage, a deep smoldering anger that only revenge could soothe.
Zach returned minutes later, and the hackney started rolling down the street once more.
“I believe this is what you wanted?” He held up the blue book for Beth.
“Yes, that’s it. I think someone should speak with Mr. Valentine about his reckless regard for the secrets continued within those pages. He should leave it in a locked drawer from now on. Although perhaps not, as I did pick the lock in Lord Russell’s desk.”
“You can now pick locks? I’m not sure if I’m impressed or terrified,” Nathan attempted to smile, but it was just a baring of his teeth.
“Don’t worry, we will be having a conversation with Mr. Valentine,” Gabe said ominously.
Fairfax had clearly stationed himself in the hallway, and the door was opened before they stepped from the carriage as they arrived at the Deville townhouse.
Nathan heard the hiss of Beth’s breath as he helped her from the carriage. Each step to the house obviously caused her pain. Now she was safe and no longer fearing for her life, she was stiffening up. Someone would pay for her suffering, and it would be Nathan who meted out the justice.
Turning her to face him as they entered the house, he looked over every inch of her he could see, cataloging each bruise and cut. His finger brushed the finger marks on her neck. Dirt and the stench of the sewers covered her clothes. Her hair was damp, and she was shivering, no doubt a combination of the cold and shock after the night’s events.
“I’ll kill the man who did this to you.”
Chapter Thirty
“No, I don’t want that.” Beth cupped his cheek in her hand.
“And yet justice will be done.”
“Nathan—”
“You found her!” They turned to watch her mother hurry down the stairs, horror growing on her face with each step as she saw her daughter. “What did he do to you?”
“She is hurting, Lady Carlow. Be gentle,” Nathan said when her mother reached her.
“My darling,” her mother sobbed.
“I am well, Mother. I wish merely to bathe and put on clean clothes.”
“Bath, Fairfax, and have the fire lit in my sister’s old room,” Nathan said. “There are also some of her things still here, I believe?”
“At once, Mr. Deville.” Fairfax hurried away.
Nathan swept Beth up in his arms again and took the stairs up with her mother following. Walking into Abby’s old room, he lowered her gently to her feet.
“Bathe and rest, my sweet. There will be time to talk after.”
“But, Nathan, the assassination?”
“The king will be safe.” He kissed her lips softly. “Rest now. There is time for that.”
“I feel like I was in those sewers an entire week.” Beth sighed.
“It felt like a week to me also.” He kissed her again. “I will see you soon, love. I must speak with my brothers now.”
She watched him walk away, desperate to call him back, and then he was gone, and she felt small and vulnerable. Both feelings she hated.
“I’m so sorry,” her mother was sobbing as she helped peel Beth out of her clothes. “How you have suffered, my love, and all because of your father’s actions.”
Beth sighed. “It’s all right now.” Her mother unbuttoned the damp, filthy gown, and Beth thou
ght it bliss to step from it. “I fear I may never be clean again.”
“I doubt even Sally can save that,” her mother said, looking at the torn and ruined dress.
For some reason, the words made her giggle.
“But if all we lose is a dress this night then I am happy.”
“Very true,” Beth snorted.
She was wrapped in a thick, warm blanket that was blissful, and sat on the bed while staff came and went with a tub and pails of hot water to fill it. The fire was lit in the hearth, and soon the flames leaped and the wood crackled.
“Come now, into the bath with you.”
She let her mother strip the chemise from her body.
“My poor girl, your body is bruised, and your face.” She sniffed loudly.
“I’m all right, Mother. These marks will pass, and no lasting damage has been done.”
And yet when she lay there in that wonderful warmth, letting it finally take the chill from her bones, Beth wondered if she’d ever be the same again. Closing her eyes, she felt the dark, damp walls closing in on her. Remembered that man who had been intent on violating her.
“Let me wash your hair, Beth. Sit up now.”
She was washed thoroughly, and when the water cooled, she climbed out. Her arms ached as she reached for the drying sheet.
“You will be stiffening up now, my love. I have some salve here from the cook.”
She was slathered in the musty-smelling ointment. Her face and lips were also dabbed with something.
“I did not find a nightdress, but this will do.” Her mother held out a clean chemise, which she pulled over Beth’s head. She was then waved to the bed, and the covers pulled to her chin.
It felt wonderful to be clean and warm, and yet what of Gil and those young boys, how did they fare this night?
“Now, here is a tray. You are to eat everything and drink the tea.” Her mother continued to fuss around her until she’d eaten every morsel and drunk every drop.
By the time she’d finished, her eyes were drooping.
“Sleep now, Bethany.”
“Only for a short time, as there are things to do,” Beth whispered.
“Rest now. We are both safe here.” Her mother’s hand felt wonderful on her brow. “The rest can be sorted out later.”