Marquess of Fortune: A Lords of Fate Novel

by K. J. Jackson

  And then she saw it.

  Brianna sitting in her robe, propped up against the outside wall by the door.

  She wasn’t moving. Her head fallen over. Limbs limp. Still. Snow collecting on top of her hair.

  Lily rushed to her, screaming, her hands grabbing Brianna’s face. Cold. Too cold. “No. No. No. What did you do to her, Sneedly?”

  “Extra laudanum. That is all.”

  Lily tore her eyes off of Brianna to look up to him, her jaw hanging. He stood in the doorway, his arms crossed, a satisfied sneer on his face.

  Her wide eyes dropped to Brianna.

  The world slowed, froze.

  Wind swirled, whipping snowflakes into her eyes.

  In the next breath, everything in Lily broke, anger consuming her body, setting the world around her on fire.

  “You damn bastard.” She lunged at Mr. Sneedly, barreling into him, fists swinging. It sent him flying backward, his backside crashing onto the entryway floor.

  “Sniveling, ugly little rat bastard. The devil himself, you are—the shaggiest, rotting rubbish of a sheep’s arse.” She continued the attack, fists beating at his body on the ground, one making hard contact on his cheek.

  Several more blows landed on his body before Mr. Sneedly gained space to shove her shoulder up.

  He kicked, his boot ramming brutally into her stomach. It sent her sprawling to the floor, seized in pain, gasping for breath that would not come.

  Rolling her, he kicked her ribcage, shoving her out over the threshold of the door once more. Lily dropped off the step to the gravel drive, still fighting for breath.

  She craned her neck upward, only to see a malicious sneer fill his face. It froze her, terror racing down her spine. He wiped his bloody cheek with the butt of his palm.

  “You are done here, Miss Silverton. You and your half-dead sister.”

  Lily snatched onto the slightest breath, forcing it from her throat into a shallow whisper. “But—possessions—my father’s—”

  “I do not give a damn about your possessions, bitch.” His hand went to the doorknob, starting to pull it closed. He paused. “Do not bother pounding at the door—begging. It will do you no good and will only interrupt my sleep. I will, frankly, be happy to send you to blackness if I have to look at you once more.”

  The door slammed shut.

  Lily’s head dropped, her temple crunching cold gravel. Minutes passed, and she could only lie there, fighting for air, gasping again and again for breath that refused to reach her lungs.

  The cold invaded her body before her breathing came back to her. Already, the freezing air had snaked around her arms, the cold seeping into her bones. Her simple black woolen dress held no defense against the cold.

  Lily tried to sit up, only half succeeding. She could finally force shallow air into her lungs, and it would have to suffice.

  Using her hands to turn around, her knees dragging along the gravel, her eyes found Brianna in the little light that shone from the window beside the front door. Lily’s eyes swept over her sister. Brianna’s body jerked.

  Thank the heavens.

  She was alive, breathing, but for how long?

  Lily dragged herself over to her sister. Thank goodness she had put boots on earlier to keep her feet warm in her father’s study. But on Bree’s feet—only slippers.

  Dammit. Dammit to hades and back again.

  How in the hell had this happened? And what in the hell was she going to do now?

  She didn’t have the slightest clue.

  Lily stared at her sister. The snowy wind whipped around Brianna’s head, snatching her hair and sending it flying around her face.

  What was she going to do? Brianna was going to die, freeze to death right in front of her if she didn’t do something.

  Lily searched her mind. What would Brianna do?

  She mentally kicked herself. Brianna wouldn’t have gotten booted from the only home they’d ever known in the first place. And she most certainly wouldn’t have attacked Mr. Sneedly, sealing their fate. No, Brianna would have stared Mr. Sneedly down and used irrefutable logic to make him bend to her will.

  Even at this juncture, Brianna would come up with something to save them—Lily knew she would. But what?

  A gasp, and cold air reached a little further into Lily’s chest. It surprised her. But it also gave her hope.

  Her look dropped to Brianna’s lap and she stared at her sister’s bare hands, the fingers half-curled, not moving. What would her sister do?

  Brianna would save both of them. That’s what she would do.

  Lily took another breath, forcing it further into her chest.

  Wedging her feet under her, she gained her footing and shoved herself upwards. Reaching under her skirt, she pulled free the one wool petticoat she had on.

  She dropped back down to her knees in front of Brianna and wrapped the petticoat around her sister’s feet. Dragging the extra fabric of it up, she tucked it around Brianna the best she could.

  Lily leaned forward, kissing Brianna’s forehead. Snowflakes melted on her lips. She set her mouth next to Brianna’s ear. “Do not dare to leave this earth on me, Bree. I will be gone for only a moment, and then I will be back for you.”

  Using the wall, Lily pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the shards of pain ripping into her body from too many places to count.

  Her steps unsteady, she started off, stumbling to the stables.

  { Chapter 7 }

  The pounding of a door echoed down the tiny hall, shaking the walls.

  “Garek. Garek.”

  A yell. Desperate. More pounding.

  Garek jolted upright, rubbing the deep sleep from his eyes with both palms. Had he just dreamt the bellowing?

  “Garek.” More banging.

  He jumped out of bed, racing to the door. He was behind the last of the four doors in the hallway above the sole tavern in Annadale, and he hoped the other residents were well enough inebriated to not wake. Not that it was likely with the ruckus.

  He flung the door open, poking his head into the hall.

  “Lily?”

  “Garek.” She almost collapsed in relief, stumbling to his door. “Thank heavens.”

  His eyes ran over her. Her black dress clung to her, molding around her legs as she moved. “Lily, you are soaking wet.”

  Her hand flew in the air, both cutting him off and dismissing the comment. “I need you, Garek. Why are you hiding?”

  “I am naked. I was sleeping. It is the middle of the night, Lily. How did you even find me?”

  “You said this was where you were sleeping. Get dressed. I need you. Fast.”

  Her hand grabbed the doorknob, frantic, and Garek had to hold it so she didn’t yank the door open.

  “What in blazes is going on?” His set his free hand over hers on the doorknob. “Your hand is frozen, Lily.”

  “Get dressed, get outside and help me.” The words were sharp, but then she took a breath, her eyes begging in the low light from a lantern at the far end of the hall. “Please. Bree is outside.”

  “In the snow? It is the middle of the night, Lily.”

  “I know.”

  Garek nodded, finally understanding her desperation. “Go down. I will be right behind.”

  Lily spun, running down the hall, and Garek fumbled in the darkness for his trousers, yanking them on as he followed Lily down the steep staircase.

  The bitter wind slapped him the second he stepped outside, lashing across his bare chest.

  “Garek, here.” Lily jumped up into a curricle, landing next to Brianna. Her sister was slumped awkwardly in the corner, eyes closed, not moving.

  Garek swore under his breath.

  Her arms wedging behind Brianna, Lily dragged her on the seat to the edge of the carriage just as Garek set his bare foot on the mounting step.

  “I had the stable boy help me drag her up into here, but I could not get her down—not without dropping her off the edge.”

 
Garek shoved Lily’s grip from her sister, and gained a solid hold on Brianna. Picking her up, he lifted her from the curricle as he stepped backward down to the ground. Fabric wrapped around Brianna’s feet caught on the mounting step, ripping when he stepped away from the carriage. His arms under Brianna’s back and legs, he stopped and shifted her as he looked up at Lily.

  “What in the hell happened, Lily?”

  Lily jumped from the curricle, untangling the cloth from the step and pushing him toward the building as she piled what looked like a petticoat onto Brianna’s stomach. “Not now—inside. Bree—she is the most important thing, Garek. You have to help her.”

  Garek moved to the rear door of the tavern, letting Lily run ahead to hold the door for him. Carrying Brianna into the tavern and up the stairs to his room, he set her on his bed, his hands searching for a heartbeat along her neck.

  “Lily, a light.” He pointed at the candlestick on the one small table in the room. “Light it from the hall lantern.”

  Brianna was frozen. But then he found it. A pulse. Slight. Slow. But there.

  Lily hurried into the room, her hand covering the flame of the sputtering tallow candle. She flipped the door closed with her foot.

  “Laudanum. He gave her laudanum.” Lily stood by the foot of the bed, holding the candle out for light. “I could not get her to wake up. Tell me she will be all right.”

  “She is near frozen, Lily. Why the hell did you move her—bring her here?”

  “He kicked us out of Weadly Hall, Garek. He dumped her on the ground outside—left her unconscious—and shoved me out after her.”

  Garek stopped, looking up to Lily. “Sneedly?”

  Lily nodded.

  He turned from her, looking to Brianna. Rage exploded in his chest—rage so thick it smothered every word, every blasphemy he wanted to utter.

  His head shaking, it took him a long moment to move again. He picked up the petticoat from Brianna’s belly, pulling it from her feet, and then pointed at the small fireplace by the door. “There should still be hot coals there. Rip this cloth and wrap two separate bundles of them. One for her feet and one for her chest. Then go down to the main room of the tavern—it should be empty, and bring up more coal, wood—whatever they are burning down there. We need a fire in here to stop her from sinking too deep into the cold.”

  “And her leg, Garek. I tore it when I was trying to get her into the carriage. It is bloody again.”

  Garek nodded, swearing to himself. A quick glance under Brianna’s robe told him at least two, maybe three of the gashes had split open again, bleeding. But the blood appeared to have already stalled, no doubt from the cold.

  Lily set the candlestick down, quickly making the warm bundles. She handed one to Garek and tucked the other around Brianna’s feet.

  Garek waited until Lily silently slipped from the room and then gently slapped Brianna’s cheeks, trying to rouse her. Nothing. His hands went to her shoulders, shaking her. Still nothing. He slapped her right cheek again, harder.

  A sudden moan, and her head moved.

  Good. He had no idea how much laudanum Sneedly had given Brianna, but he knew the laudanum would have killed her already if it had been too great a quantity. So now it was just the cold in her body to contend with, and whatever would be borne from that. And her bloody leg.

  He pulled free the lone blanket on the bed. Setting the hot bundle of coal on top of her ribcage, he layered the blanket heavily over her body.

  Lily came into the room, juggling several split logs as she clanked hot coals in a small tin brazier to the floor next to the fireplace. She dropped to her knees and set the wood in the fireplace, stoking the coal embers for a blaze.

  Garek checked Brianna’s fingers, rubbing the blue-tinged skin, trying to force blood back into the flesh.

  It wasn’t until the fire crackled bright that Garek noticed the sound. A low chattering.

  Teeth chattering.

  His head swiveled to the sound—to Lily. Huddled and facing the fire, Lily sat on her legs, her arms wrapped around her waist. Garek squinted at her back. She was shaking. She was trying to hold hard against it, but she was shaking.

  He tucked Brianna’s hand under the covers next to the warmth of the wrapped coal and went over to Lily.

  His feet stopping next to her black skirt puddling on the floor, he looked down at the top of her wet head. “Lily.”

  Her face snapped upward, her blue eyes reflecting the warm of the blaze. Her chin quaked, attempting to hold back the clatter of her teeth as she tried to speak. “What are you doing? Bree—”

  “Brianna needs to warm. It was not an overage of laudanum. As long as her body warms, she will survive. The coal is already working on that. The blood looks to have stopped on her leg, but I cannot deal with it until she is warm.”

  Lily nodded, her face sinking back to the fire.

  Garek bent, balancing on heels. He reached out, touching her upper arm, the cold dampness of her dress seeping into his palm. She flinched at the touch. Pain?

  “You are freezing wet, Lily.”

  She didn’t look to him. “I will dry.”

  “What the hell happened, Lily?”

  Her head shook. “I forced it—he threw me out, and when I saw Bree outside in the cold…I…I… He was drunk and I could have reasoned with him, but I attacked him. I could not help myself.”

  “You what? You attacked him?”

  “I did. I lost my mind, Garek. We will never be allowed at Weadly Hall again.”

  “But why did he do it—put Brianna outside?”

  “He saw us, Garek.” She looked to him, her eyes huge. “He saw us in the gardens. He thought I was his, Garek—his—I never said or did anything to make him think…” She shuddered. “And he saw us and he was scary—crazy.”

  Her arms wrapped tighter around body. “And I did not know what to do. Where to go. So I stole the curricle and a horse from the stables and came here. I knew you could save her.”

  “I did not do anything, Lily. You are the one that saved her. Much longer in the freezing air, and she would have died.”

  “Do not speak of her death, Garek.” Her head swung back and forth, voice vehement. “Sneedly said he had been waiting for her to die—to die, Garek. My sister…”

  His hand slid up from her arm to the back of her neck, squeezing. “She is alive, Lily. Do not think on it. You managed to get her here and she is alive and safe. You are alive and safe.”

  Her body twisted around as she looked from him to Brianna on the small bed.

  Garek stilled.

  He hadn’t seen this side of her face in the dark. But now the light of the fire clearly lit her.

  “Lils, your head.”

  She glanced back to him, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

  “Dammit, Lily, your temple.” Garek reached up, his fingertips gentle on the gash across her temple. He held up his bloody fingers in front of her.

  Confusion still crinkling her eyes, she touched her temple, feeling the cut. “I…I did not know…I could not breathe for so long—”

  He grabbed both of her shoulders, forcing her attention to him. “What do you mean you could not breathe?”

  “When I attacked him at the door. He kicked me, right here.” Her blood stained fingers ran across her belly, just below her ribcage. “I could not breathe. This is the first that I have taken a half normal breath.”

  Garek dropped his hold on Lily, shooting to his feet. With a growl, he flew across the room, his fist hitting the wall.

  Plaster shattered. It wasn’t enough.

  He punched the wall again.

  His fist busted through the outside wall, thrusting into the frozen night air.

  Loosening his fist, Garek withdrew it from the hole.

  Still not enough.

  His elbow drew back, cocking to punch a new hole when two hands clamped onto his high arm.

  He tried to shake her loose. She refused to let go.

 
“Garek. No.”

  He spun, ripping his arm from her grasp as he stomped to the chair. “I failed you, Lily. I failed you and your sister. I said I would keep you safe and I failed.” He uncurled his fists and grabbed his linen shirt from the chair. Jerking it over his head, he bent, tugging on his right boot before the fabric of the shirt fell around his waist.

  “Stop. Garek, stop. Where are you going?”

  “This. This was too vile, Lily.” He glanced up at her as he hopped onto his right foot to pull on his left boot. “Tossing you from the house was despicable, but that he dared to hit you. Kick you. He is a dead man.”

  “No. You cannot.” Her voice pitched into a yell.

  Garek stood straight, his fists digging into his thighs. “I am.”

  “No. I need you here.” She jumped in front of the door, blocking his path, her hands behind her, gripping the knob. Her voice notched louder. “I need you, Garek.”

  Garek stepped to her, stopping just before his body touched hers. He stared down at her. “Move, Lily. Sneedly needs to suffer.”

  “No. Sneedly needs to be forgotten.” Her glare up at him hardened. “Do you not think I want you to go to Weadly and crush him? Crush him for what he did to Brianna, to me. But now—right now—I need you here, dammit.”

  She pulled one hand from behind, wedging it up between them, her palm thumping onto her chest. Her voice lost its edge, faltering. “I need you. I need to curl up into you. That is what I need. I cannot stand more worry—Brianna has already taken all I can stand. I just need you, Garek. Your arms around me.”

  Her crystalline blue eyes begging, her hand flipped, going to his chest, her fingers curling into him. “Please. Please do not leave me, Garek. Not now.”

  Her eyes closed as a shiver ran through her.

  It halted him, the tremble of her body.

  He knew it—in that instant, it hit him. Every last drop of rage drained from Garek. This was what he needed to do to keep her safe. He had not failed her yet.

  But if he walked out that door, he would.

  He grabbed her, pulling her from the door and wrapping her in his arms. She tightened against him, her stance shifting, ready to physically fight him to stop him from leaving.