by David Liss
Without waiting any longer, Lucy took her penknife and cut the pages from the book. She folded them and placed them within the hidden pouch in her gown, and then set the damaged book back in its pile. Now she had to decide if she should trust Byron or pretend to continue looking and convince him she must walk away disappointed.
She moved some more books about and then turned to Byron to see how he occupied himself, but as she did she saw two people standing behind him. One was an odd-looking man of middle years, wearing an out-of-fashion and rumpled tan suit. He had unruly hair that stuck up at strange angles, and unnaturally large eyes that appeared wild and gave the impression of being propped open against his will. His hands shook, and he bit his dry and peeling lips. He frightened Lucy, but not nearly so much as Lady Harriett Dyer, who stood near him, wearing her usual widow’s black. Her gray hair flowed about her shoulders. She stood with her arms folded across her bosom, and she gazed upon the scene with evident disgust.
“Can you really suppose that I would not have wards in my house to protect against something so trivial as a hand of glory?” said Lady Harriett. “Did you not know it is possible to keep another’s charms from working within your own walls? Miss Derrick, you clearly have no idea with whom you are dealing. And you, Byron”—she moved across the room, her stride swift and purposeful, and stood before the baron—“have you no wish to live that you would defy me like this? I was under the impression we understood each other.”
“Lady Harriett, this is a silly misunderstanding.” Lord Byron showed her his best smile.
He managed to proceed no further, however. Lady Harriett struck him across the face with the back of her hand. The blow was impossibly swift, and equally strong, for Byron was lifted off his feet and traveled his body length through the air, landing upon the hard floor with an alarmingly solid noise.
Lucy rushed over to Byron, but her eyes were on Lady Harriett, who was evidently far more than what she appeared.
26
BYRON HAD BEEN MOTIONLESS FOR A MOMENT, BUT THEN GROANED and with Lucy’s help managed to bring himself to the sofa, where he sat looking gloomy while his fingers repeatedly tested the tender skin of his face.
“Your beauty is bruised, not broken,” said Lady Harriett. “Reckon yourself lucky I did not snap your neck.”
Byron said nothing, only leaned against Lucy as if for support, though she could not imagine what sort of support a sitting man required. What was Lady Harriett that she had such strength? And what could Lucy do about it? She began to think of all the spells she knew, all the talismans she had memorized, all the tools she had hidden upon herself. There was one to induce weakness and vulnerability, but she had not brought it. She would certainly have one ready if she were ever to face Lady Harriett again. There was the failed summoning circle, which would kill the most arrogant person in the room, but Lucy could not be sure that person was Lady Harriett and not Byron himself. And then there was the matter of Lady Harriett’s wards. Lucy had read of wards, but knew little of them, and had never had the time or inclination to make inquiries into that branch of knowledge. Would anything she knew work here?
Lady Harriett paced the room, and the odd man remained still, standing near the fireplace, watching them, twitching and scraping dry skin off his lips with his teeth. Lucy told herself that she could find a way out of this disaster. Lady Harriett clearly possessed powers terrible and dangerous, but Lucy had three pages of the Mutus Liber hidden away, and she would escape with them. Emily depended upon it.
“I have yet to decide what to do with you,” said Lady Harriett. She turned to the man. “They come into my home, the home of my late husband, and violate it with their presence. Do you see, Mr. Bellingham? Do you not see what sort of enemies there are here? They have come to do you harm. They have come to keep you from receiving your money.”
“I want what’s mine!” This Mr. Bellingham shouted at them. It was like an eruption. He was quiet and twitching, then his mouth opened, his eyes expanded, and he shouted with incredible vehemence. Then back he shrank to his previous meekness.
“Of course you do,” said Lady Harriett. “And you shall have it if you do as I say. Now, get some sleep, Mr. Bellingham. I shall manage your enemies.”
“You are very good, Lady Harriett. Yes, quite good.” He shambled out of the room, bouncing upon the doorframe as he departed.
Lucy watched him depart, not knowing what to make of him, but understanding intuitively that Lady Harriett played upon his madness in order to get something from him. Lucy had always thought her vile and self-serving, but she had not imagined her capable of this sort of manipulation. She dared not wonder why Lady Harriett toyed with this Mr. Bellingham. There were bigger matters that concerned her—primarily, escaping with the pages in her possession.
No sooner was he gone than others began to drift into the room. They were undeniably corporeal beings, but they moved with the distracted, otherworldly indifference of ghosts. There were three men and two women, all of different ages, all well dressed, though every one of them had some sign of indifference in attire—a ribbon not tied properly, a loose cravat, buttons hanging by threads. They entered the room and stood looking at books or out the window. One picked up a marble bookend and held it up to the wall sconce to better examine the veins.
Lucy looked at Byron, who shrugged and put an exploratory finger to test the severity of the bruise upon his cheek.
“Lady Harriett,” Lucy began, but managed nothing further. The moment she spoke all five of Lady Harriett’s guests turned to her with a suddenness that verged on terrifying. The marble bookend fell to the rug below as the man who had been holding it took three sudden steps toward Lucy, stopping only a foot away. He bent forward, putting his face near hers, staring with great intensity.
Lucy could not help but notice that he had a rather nice face—beautiful even, if pale and slightly gaunt—but his eyes were wide, unusually colorless, and unfocused. His hair was thick and the gray of an overcast sky.
“She ought not to be here,” he said in a dreamy voice. He stood up straight again, and began to examine his thumbnail.
“I know that, Mr. Whitestone,” snapped Lady Harriett. “I shall deal with her.”
An old woman of perhaps forty, who had previously been staring out the window, leaned forward. “We are counting on you to do precisely that.”
“Yes,” answered Lady Harriett. “And now you must let me proceed as I see fit.”
“She intends to gather the leaves,” said the first man.
“I know that,” snapped Lady Harriett. “This girl will accomplish nothing.”
The other woman, a bit older than the first, remained at the window. “If we kill her, we need not think of her anymore. Is that not so?”
Lucy’s pulse thrummed in her neck. If Lady Harriett wished to kill her, Lucy did not believe she knew of anything that would prevent her.
“If that were true, then I would have killed her before now,” said Lady Harriett, her voice so cold that Lucy had no doubt that this assertion was true. “She has protected herself, so if we kill her, we shall be worse off than we are with her alive.”
“Perhaps we can keep her locked away,” said Mr. Whitestone. He put a finger to his cheek. “What?” he asked no one in particular.
“I know what needs doing,” said Lady Harriett, “and I shall do it. Now, off with all of you. I shall meet with you presently.”
The group appeared slightly surprised, but not offended. They exchanged looks. One of the men shrugged, and without further conversation, they drifted out of the room as curiously as they had drifted in.
Lady Harriett, Lucy, and Byron remained silent for some moments afterwards. Lucy wished Byron would speak, but when he did not, she took the burden upon herself, affecting the sort of bravado she wished she possessed. “I am sorry to have intruded upon your menagerie of madmen, but it is time we left.”
“I don’t know that you shall ever leave,” said Lady Harriet
t. “My late Sir Reginald would not have hesitated to execute justice by his own hand. Perhaps there can be no better way to honor his memory.”
“Come, Lady Harriett,” said Byron who had begun to recover himself. “Let us not make more of this than we ought.”
“You must think me a fool, Byron,” said Lady Harriett. “After all I have done for you, that you abuse me in this manner is unthinkable. I cannot say what I shall do with you or your little slut. For now, you shall have the run of the house, for you can do no harm, but do not think that you can walk out of the building.” She smiled at Lucy. “Perhaps you would care to try.”
Lucy attempted to rise from the sofa, but she could not. There was something clammy on her wrists, on her knees. It felt as though there were hands upon her, countless tiny hands touching her, feeling her flesh in places no one had ever touched her. She could almost see them from the corners of her eyes, the shadowy creatures from the mill, things of darkness and ambiguity. She could not look at them directly, but as she turned away, she saw dozens of wispy fingers tugging upon her skirts. These things, she realized, were Lady Harriett’s creatures, or at the least, hers to command. Fear and nausea shot through Lucy, and she understood at once that she was out of her depth.
“You are nothing, girl,” said Lady Harriett. And now she cried out, but not to Lucy. “Oh, stop it! Hands off the girl until I tell you otherwise or she attempts to escape.”
The shadowy creatures were suddenly gone. Relief washed over Lucy as she realized she could move once more. “Who are you,” said Lucy, “that you can command such things?”
Lady Harriett laughed. “I thought you worth my attention, but it seems you know nothing.”
“I know only of my sister and my niece,” said Lucy, “and what I must do for them.”
“There are millions of sisters and millions of nieces, and their fate is in the balance,” said Lady Harriett. “I care nothing for your family.”
“Though my sister be Mr. Buckles’s wife?” said Lucy.
“Buckles is useful because he is so eager to please. Now, I shall have one of my girls show you to your rooms—or you may share a room if you like. I care not if you play the whore with this man. In the meantime, I shall have to consider what to do with you.”
“If I am not back by tomorrow evening, I shall be missed,” said Lucy.
“Not my concern,” said Lady Harriett. “But you have no need to fear ruin, for I shall summon Mr. Olson. I’ll have Buckles officiate at your wedding, Miss Derrick. You and Mr. Olson shall, at last, be joined.”
Nothing that had happened that night filled Lucy with as much terror as this announcement. With a clergyman to officiate, and one loyal to Lady Harriett and who could be depended upon to swear whatever she demanded, the wedding would be valid.
“Mr. Olson no longer wishes to marry me,” protested Lucy.
“You know as well as I that his opinions may be managed,” said Lady Harriett. “Rejoice, for soon you will be a married woman. May you be as happy as my Sir Reginald made me.”
* * *
The servant showed Lucy to a massive room, painted gold, with a gold carpet and gold velvet curtains. The dangers of the evening, combined with the intensity of the color, began to make her head ache. Byron’s room was next to hers, as though Lady Harriett were daring them to behave shockingly, but Lucy had no capacity for mischief of that sort. She had hardly sat on her bed, preparing herself to think of her situation, shielding her eyes from the room’s unrelenting color, when there was a knock upon the door. Lucy rose, feeling like a somnambulist, and opened the door to find Byron standing there, appearing grave, one half of his face bright red.
“May I come in?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, her voice heavy with fatigue, “but you must leave the door open.”
He stepped in but closed the door behind him. “I do not know that I wish for anyone to hear what we have to say.”
“I see not what difference it makes.” And yet, Lucy did not rise to open the door again.
“I am sorry things have gone so badly,” he said.
Lucy shook her head, unable to find the words to express her despair.
Byron took a half step forward, but remained some five feet from her. “I swear I shan’t let that marriage take place. You are a resourceful young woman of remarkable ability, and I shall not have you abandon hope. We shall get you out of here, and if it is too late to return undiscovered, what of it? What they say of you means nothing. You decide what it means to be Lucy Derrick.”
“I cannot have this conversation once more,” said Lucy. “It means nothing to you because you have the luxury of it meaning nothing. I must live in the world as a woman, and if I am not returned before that spell expires the situation will be grave indeed.”
Byron’s hands on her shoulders felt hot. Lucy felt herself flush. The blood was now full in her face, and she felt a strange, delicious energy building inside her. She did not know what would happen next, and for the moment she did not care. Perhaps her life was all but ruined with nothing before her but shame and exile. Should she not find pleasure and comfort where she could?
“Should the worst happen,” he said, “and you fail to return on time, then you must burn in the scorn of the world and emerge from it anew, a phoenix reborn, to live by your own law.” He retreated a few steps. When Lucy raised her eyes to look at him, he met her gaze with a smile. “And yet, I do not believe it will come to that.”
She hated that he was so beautiful, that she could not look at him and talk to him without thinking, even for a second, that there was no man to match him. “What is she?” Lucy managed, attempting to master herself. “How can she do what she does? Who were all those strange people who listened to her as though she was their master?”
He shook his head. “It is you who must tell me.”
“I think you know her better than you allow,” she said in an intentionally stern tone. “She takes liberties with you that she would not with a stranger.”
He shrugged. “Lady Harriett acts as she wishes.” He encircled her fingers in his hand, his grip loose and warm.
Lucy pulled her hand away. “What if I cannot stand against her?”
Byron had no answer for this, so instead he kissed her. Their lips met, and she offered no resistance. His fingers gently clenched her shoulder. He pulled her closer until his broad chest pressed against her breasts and she felt the power of his thundering heart. His breath was hot and sweet, and she had never known anything so intoxicating. She wanted him, to possess him, to have him upon her and over her and for him to smother her entirely.
“Yes,” he said. “We shall comfort each other.”
Though it took all her will, Lucy pushed him away. With only a few inches between them, she looked into his beautiful, wild face and staggered back a few steps. “The world may yet choose to despise me, but I will not despise myself.”
“Lucy,” Byron began.
“I am tired,” she said. “I must be gone from here by noon tomorrow or I shall be married or ruined. I have few resources. You may have made a career out of sacrificing everything to your pleasures, Lord Byron, but I cannot.”
He reached out, stroking her face with the backs of his fingers. “Lucy, you are confused.”
“No!” she shouted, not caring who heard, not caring if Lady Harriett and all her servants were awakened. She walked away from him, toward the fire, as though its heat might burn away her shame and desire. “I am tired and I am frightened and I am desperate, but I am not confused.” She took a deep breath and ran a hand over her face. “Do not attempt to seduce me again, or I shall hate you. I must sleep and clear my mind, and in the morning, I shall escape this house. My niece, my flesh and blood, is held prisoner somewhere, and the monster that has taken her place sucks the very life out of my sister. I will not sacrifice them on the altar of gratification. I cannot fail my family again. Are you my ally or not?”
He bowed in response. “You m
ust never doubt that I am. I shall obey your wishes and meet any challenge you may present to me.”
“Will you obey me?” asked Lucy, thrilled by her anger and her sense of power and authority. She had neither lied nor deceived nor used vile magic, and he was still hers. Women were magic. “Will you do as I ask without question or hesitation?”
He bowed again.
She thought of the things she had yet upon her, the knowledge she yet possessed. She had three pages of the Mutus Liber, stolen from Lady Harriett’s library, and neither that witch nor Byron nor anyone else in the world knew she had them. Even now, those pages called to her, sought her attention, like an itch inside her mind. There was a puzzle, a riddle to solve, and she would solve it. She was more dangerous than anyone knew. Lady Harriett’s words meant nothing. She was mighty, she told herself, and she would not be stopped.
“These walls shan’t hold us,” Lucy pronounced, feeling her courage form into something material and adamantine. “Lady Harriett and her allies and her imps can do nothing against us.”
He turned to open the door. “Then I shall see you well rested in the morning, Lucy.”
“I wish you good night, Lord Byron.”
He began to walk out and then turned to her. “As a point of clarification, do you say that I must never try to seduce you ever, or not while we remain here?”
The thinnest smile, constrained but quivering, danced upon his lips, and Lucy could not help but laugh. “Here to be sure,” she said. “We shall see what comes later.”
The smile blossomed fully. He bowed one last time and closed the door behind him.
Sitting on her bed, Lucy listened to the ticking of the tall case clock outside her door, and she heard nothing else. Perhaps ten minutes passed. Perhaps twenty. When it seemed like enough time, she removed from the folds of her skirt the pages she had cut from Lady Harriett’s book. By the strong light of several tapers, she began to unravel their meaning, which came into sharp relief. Persuasion. She could not escape the word, just as with the first set of pages she could not escape the notion of sacrifice. But Mary was not there to tell her what it meant or how to apply it to her needs, so Lucy had no choice but to discover that for herself.