“It’s a letter, written to Mrs. Margaret Radcliffe,” Jack explained. “John Radcliffe’s wife. It was delivered a week ago.” He paused. “Written by Radcliffe’s daughter. It gives away the location of this manor.”
Radcliffe’s daughter?
We all whirled on Lucy, and her lips fell open in shock. She took a step backward. “No! I would never do that!”
“It has your signature,” Montgomery said, holding up the letter like an accusation.
“I did write a letter,” she said, looking pale. “That part is true. After that article Papa wrote in the newspaper about how sick with grief he and Mama were, I couldn’t bear to let her worry about me. I wrote a letter to her explaining that I was safe. I sent it from Quick, but I didn’t include a return address, I promise. I certainly didn’t say we were hiding in northern Scotland!”
Jack glanced at the old woman. “Genevieve posed as a wealthy dowager and was invited to their home. She was able to sneak away and found the letter in Mr. Radcliffe’s study. In it, Miss Radcliffe references an obscure type of heather that only grows near Quick. Radcliffe was able to use this information to locate Ballentyne in the tax records and draw a link to Elizabeth von Stein’s family.”
Lucy stifled a gasp. “Oh God, Juliet, you have to believe me. I was just telling Mama how pretty the moors were. I didn’t want her to worry about me. I would never have revealed our location, not in a million years.”
“I believe you,” I said quietly. “But it doesn’t change the fact that he knows.” I turned to Jack. “Where is he now?”
“When we left them, they were preparing to leave Inverness. I took the liberty of opening the levees between here and the village to flood the road behind us. That will slow them down, but not for long. The moors will drain in a few days, or they’ll find some way past the floodwaters. You haven’t much time, Miss Moreau. Where is Elizabeth von Stein?”
A silence fell over our small group.
“She died,” Montgomery answered at last. “Last night. There was a fire in the southern tower. Hensley is gone as well. Juliet’s the mistress now.”
No emotion showed on Jack’s face. He was as unflinching about death as Valentina had been on our first night here, telling me about the vagrants’ bodies in the cellar. Was he just used to death? Or was he one of that particular rare breed of person, like my father, who felt so little one wondered if they felt anything at all?
“I hope you have a plan, Miss Moreau,” Jack said. “Radcliffe is heavily armed, and he’s planning on storming Ballentyne and killing anyone who gets in his way.”
“All this effort, just in the name of retribution?” I asked in a faint voice.
“If it’s retribution, then he is determined to get it, and a bloody one at that. Either you can flee, or you can stay and make a stand. We shall help you in whichever course you choose. I advise you to give both options careful thought, but think quickly. He’ll be here day after tomorrow.”
THAT NIGHT, AFTER JACK and his men made camp in the lower fields, Lucy found me sitting on the manor’s cold front steps, huddled in a tartan blanket, staring at the deep puddles collecting in the courtyard since Jack had broken the levees. She sat beside me and pulled the corner of the tartan around her own shoulders, too.
“I can’t apologize enough,” she said. “I feel awful for writing that stupid letter. I didn’t think any harm would come of it.”
“I know, Lucy.”
“And now Papa’s on his way here. It feels like something out of a nightmare. I keep clinging to some desperate hope he’s just worried about me, but I know that you must be right. He probably put that article in the newspaper hoping I’d come across it and contact them. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s taken advantage of my affections for my mother.”
I wrapped an arm around the small of her back. If there was one thing I understood, it was manipulative fathers.
“What will we do?” she whispered. “Shall we stay here and take our chances, or flee?”
The night was too quiet, as though it also waited for my answer. My first impulse had been to flee. We could keep heading north, hoping the cold and desolation would dissuade Radcliffe, or we could try to find a new place to hide. But I had no other contacts in Scotland except for Elizabeth, and I dared not trust anyone else with our secrets. The possibilities had been eating away at me like a snake consuming its own tail, pointless and never-ending.
“We could flee,” I said, taking my time to think it through, “but that would only buy us a few more weeks at most. Without the safety of Ballentyne we’d be vulnerable on the road, with no place to go but inns and abandoned barns. It wouldn’t be long before someone recognized me from the poster, or else saw Balthazar and started asking questions. Besides, I fear what might happen to the servants if your father arrives and finds us missing. He might torture them to see where we’ve gone.”
She was very quiet. “So we stay?”
I took another deep breath. Staying went against everything that came naturally to me. On my father’s island, when I’d discovered the terrible crimes he was committing in his laboratory, I had run. After I’d maimed Dr. Hastings and the police had come after me, I’d run, too. It seemed no matter what danger I faced, my instinct was to flee, and yet fleeing hadn’t solved any of those problems. They’d all come back, one by one, to haunt me.
There was no escaping one’s fate.
“I don’t think we have much of a choice,” I said, tightening my fingers in the blanket, and with it my resolve. “I’ve been running for years—from the police and from my father and now from yours. If it’s ever going to end, then I think we must face it, and I think it must be here, where we at least have a fighting chance.” I pulled the tartan closer. “I’ll have to talk it through with Montgomery and McKenna to make certain they agree. I don’t know if the staff will trust me like they did Elizabeth. And I can’t imagine telling them tomorrow—just one day after her death—that an army is bearing down on us, and I expect them to stay and fight.” I shook my head. “I can’t ask that of them.”
“You saved them from the Beast. They’ll remember that.”
“I didn’t save them. Hensley stopped the Beast, and now we don’t even have him.” I sighed, burying my head in my hands. “As unpredictable as he was, Hensley would have been a great asset. Your father would never suspect a child of such unnatural strength.”
Lucy rubbed my back, pulling the tartan tighter around the both of us.
“Hensley wasn’t the only one with extraordinary strength,” she said softly, and our eyes met in the twilight. “I think it’s time we told everyone about Edward.”
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
..................................................................
THIRTY-FOUR
IT WASN’T YET DAWN when I went to the kitchen, after changing into one of Elizabeth’s tailored dresses. All my dresses were those of a young woman, with ruffles and lace, and I wasn’t that type of girl any longer.
I found a grieving McKenna already awake baking bread for breakfast. Her eyes were rimmed in red, though she pretended she hadn’t been crying. She jumped up when she saw me.
“Miss Juliet! I thought I’d seen a ghost with you in the mistress’s dress.” She motioned to the bread almost apologetically. “Just heating up the bits left over from yesterday’s feast for breakfast. Didn’t have the heart to cook a full meal, not after last night.” She turned away, fiddling with the oven so I wouldn’t see her tears. “You and I should sit down and discuss the running of the manor. I’ve kept meticulous ledgers over the years, just like my mother and grandmother. I’ll help get you on your feet, and the staff will be calling you ‘Mistress’ in no time.”
I touched her shoulder gently. “McKenna, I know everyone is mourning Elizabeth and Hensley, but there’s something else I must discuss with the staff. An incredibly pressing matter. Please wake Carlyle and the girls and meet me in
the library right away. Send someone to the lower field to fetch Jack Serra’s carnival troupe as well. They arrived late last night and are camped there.”
Her eyes went wide for an instant, but she nodded, drying her hands on her apron, and left. While she woke the girls and gathered them in the library, I went upstairs to the attic, where I found Lucy coming out the door. She closed it gently.
“Did you tell Edward that your father is on his way?” I said.
She nodded. “Yes, and about the deaths last night. He’s feeling much stronger. He can help us.”
“Be ready to bring him downstairs, but wait for my signal.”
When I returned to the library, I paused just outside the open doorway. I could hear the somber voices of a few girls inside, one of them still sobbing after last night. Pity twisted at my heart. They were my responsibility now. I had never wanted to be a mother, and yet now I had six young girls and Lily and Moira, all of them looking to me for guidance.
I leaned against the doorway, trying to steady my breath.
A gentle hand brushed my back.
Montgomery was dressed in the dark work trousers and faded shirt that he had worn so often on the island. My heart pounded to see him like this, so wild, looking just like he did when I’d first fallen in love with him.
“McKenna told me you’d gathered everyone,” he said. “I assume you’re going to tell them about Radcliffe. Have you decided what to do?”
I nodded. Part of me wanted to tell Montgomery about Edward in private, but I forced myself to wait. He might try to convince me not to tell the others, but we needed Edward too much. I couldn’t afford to have Montgomery contradict me.
I clutched his arm on impulse. “Whatever happens, please trust me,” I said. “If I’ve ever kept secrets from you, it’s because I had no choice. Marrying you yesterday was the best thing I’ve ever done.”
He leaned in and placed a kiss on the center of my forehead. “I would follow you to the ends of the earth if you asked. They will, too.”
We entered the library and all eyes turned to me. Lily and Moira sat on opposite sofas with a girl in each lap, and the rest of the girls sat cross-legged on the rug, corralled in by McKenna and Carlyle. Jack Serra and a handful of his troupe hung about in the back, blending into the shadows. The girls’ faces were splotchy from crying, but their round eyes found mine almost beseechingly, and I realized how desperate they were for a leader.
“Listen to Miss Juliet, girls,” McKenna prodded gently. “She’s your mistress now.”
“Is this about a funeral for the Mistress and Master Hensley?” Lily asked, hugging the girl in her lap.
“No,” I stammered, and then touched Jack’s charm beneath my dress, centering myself. “There will be a funeral, but not today. I encourage you all to find time to say your own prayers of farewell to them both; I know how much they meant to you, and when we are able to, we will commemorate this tragedy with all the respect they deserve.”
The little girls just stared with wide eyes, but Moira and Lily exchanged a troubled glance with McKenna.
I looked to Montgomery, and he gave me a slight nod of encouragement.
“I’m afraid Ballentyne is facing a new danger,” I said. “A gentleman by the name of John Radcliffe is on his way here from London, as we speak. I have reason to believe he intends my friends and me harm, as well as anyone we are associated with.” I motioned to the carnival troupe in the back. “Jack Serra and his men have been spying on him. They’ve reported that he has plans to attack this household. We believe he’s seeking retribution for the deaths of several of his associates. It’s true that we’re responsible for those deaths, but we didn’t have a choice. They intended to release deadly creatures in a public square that would have killed hundreds of people.” I paused long enough to take a deep breath. “Our best option is to fight him off. We’ll have to strengthen the defenses and gather as many weapons as we can. I won’t ask anyone to stay; I don’t want to put anyone in harm’s way, and we shall hide the younger girls in the barn just as we did with the Beast. Lucy shall stay with them. This man, Radcliffe, is her father. It will be better this way, so she won’t have to face him.”
An image flashed in my head. I pictured the red door to my own father’s island laboratory, the doorknob under my hand, Jaguar slinking along the shadows ready to tear him apart if I would only twist that knob.
Through the crowd, my eyes met Jack Serra’s. No, I would not force Lucy to make the same impossible choices I had.
“Just this one man, Mistress?” Moira said. “How can a single man harm Ballentyne?”
“He has two dozen men with him,” Jack answered from the rear of the room. “And horses and weaponry. It’s a small private army.”
The girls were quiet. One of them let out another sob and it pierced my heart, so soon after the tragedy of having lost Elizabeth.
“Two dozen men?” Carlyle grunted. “They’ll slaughter us.”
“Not if we’re strategic,” Montgomery countered. “If you chose to stay, we can station those of you who know how to fire a rifle on the higher floors to give you an advantage. You’ll be protected by the windowsills.”
“Assuming we’ll help,” Carlyle said, and McKenna shot him a look.
“I can only speak for myself,” she said. “I’m an old woman, and I’ve sworn my life to Ballentyne, as have most of us. I’ll stay and do what I can, but without the little girls that only leaves seven of us, counting Lily and Moira, and your friend Mr. Balthazar. Those aren’t well-matched numbers, Mistress.”
“Eight of us,” I said, shifting a nervous glance to Montgomery. “There are eight of us.”
His brow furrowed in confusion, and I went to the door.
“Lucy,” I called. “Bring him in.”
Two sets of footsteps sounded outside. She came in a bit shyly, dressed in a simple gown, and extended her hand toward the hallway.
“Come on,” she said softly.
Edward stepped into the library. His hair was freshly trimmed, the sallowness to his skin all but gone, and he was dressed in a charcoal suit that hid the slight bit of trouble he had walking.
“Hello,” he said quietly.
Montgomery leaped off the desk and drew his pistol, aiming at Edward’s head. The girls let out squeals of fear—the last they’d seen of him had been the Beast wearing Edward’s body like a disguise.
“Montgomery, stop!” I yelled, throwing myself between them. “I told you to trust me! That goes for all of you. I’m the mistress now, and I promise you this man is no danger. It looks like the monster that locked us in the cellar, but it isn’t. This man’s name is Edward Prince. He’s a good man. A friend of ours who was sick, but he’s better now. He died when Hensley killed the Beast, but we’ve brought him back just like Hensley. He’s strong, and he can’t be easily killed. He can help us defeat Radcliffe.”
I took a deep breath. Montgomery’s pistol was still aimed in Edward’s direction. Even standing between them, I knew he could make the shot if he wanted to. I grabbed the barrel of the pistol and pointed it toward the ground.
“Montgomery, it’s Edward.”
He stared incredulously, the pistol still clenched tightly. “I don’t believe it,” he murmured.
Lucy took Edward’s hand in hers as a sign of solidarity, holding it tight, and he leaned into her slightly. McKenna cleared her throat and took a step forward.
“Mistress Juliet, with all due respect to your friend, Hensley wasn’t right in the head. What happened last night only proved that. How can we be certain your friend won’t fly into a similar rage?”
“Hensley had a child’s mind,” I countered. “And it had deteriorated over four decades. Edward is as healthy as he was before he died, and he’s trustworthy. The Beast is gone.”
Montgomery slowly holstered his pistol, as if the shock had only just worn off of him. He gave me a hard look. “Juliet. We need to talk. In private.”
He grabbed my arm
and dragged me into the hall. Apprehension made my heart beat faster. This was the moment when I would find out which was stronger: the bonds of marriage, or the betrayal of having kept such a secret. He didn’t stop until we were in the alcove by the grand fireplace, far from prying ears. His blue eyes searched mine. “Have you gone mad?”
I pulled away, feeling guilty and stung all at once. “He isn’t dangerous anymore. We cured him by cutting out the diseased portion of his brain that manifested as the Beast. The conditions in the cellar kept his body in pristine condition, so there hasn’t been any deterioration. I’ve monitored him carefully. The Beast is gone.”
“But he’ll deteriorate over time.”
“Then we’ll worry about that in forty or fifty years. Not today.”
Montgomery paced back and forth in front of the hearth, a bead of sweat dripping down his face. “How did you convince Elizabeth to do such a thing?”
“I didn’t convince her. She never knew. I did the procedure, with Lucy’s help, and Balthazar’s.”
He stared at me in shock. After everything we’d been through, he still didn’t understand the level of skill—and determination—I had.
“You brought him back?” He shook his head. “That’s impossible. And I refuse to believe that Balthazar helped you. He’d never approve of that sort of work, and he’d have told me right away.”
“You know how he is with authority; he’ll obey if he thinks you’re the law. I convinced him I had more authority in this house than you did, and that he could never tell you. Be mad at me if you must, but not him. He made me promise to tell you the truth after the wedding. And now I am.”
He paced harder, dragging a hand through his loose hair. I feared he’d stomp back upstairs and put a bullet in Edward’s head at any moment.
“We need Edward,” I reasoned. “Hensley was nearly indestructible, and I’m almost certain it’s the same with Edward. I know you don’t like the science I used, but it might save the life of everyone in this manor.” An idea latched into my brain like a fever. It started as a small ache but it spread rapidly, an infection taking over my every thought, until I felt my mind was on fire. “We could even create more like him. There are a dozen bodies in the cellar and more in the monastery’s cemetery. We could bring them all back. An army of indestructible men fighting on our side. Radcliffe wouldn’t stand a chance.”
A Cold Legacy Page 23