Eventually he was able to put the past behind him and be grateful for the love his two dearest friends shared. He’d thought himself quite beyond being pained by it, but then Hattie began increasing. The evidence of a child growing inside her, a child he had always believed would be his, had opened up an old wound in his heart. It physically ached to look at her and remember all he’d once hoped.
“You cannot fool me, Ezra,” Hattie said from behind him. “I know you. You are never unaffected by death, and certainly not his.”
“Then you also know that I do not wish to discuss it.” He didn’t even want to think of it. Not Trowbridge, nor the future he would never have. What good did dwelling on things he couldn’t change do?
All was silent for several long moments as Hattie undoubtedly considered various strategies. Ezra spent the time focusing on the plants and flowers in front of him, wishing he had Lily’s affinity for them so he could pour his pique into something productive.
“Well, then we should find a new topic of discussion,” Hattie finally said, something about the tone of her voice making him tense up all over again. “I find I’m quite comfortable here, and you’re too surly to join the others. It will ruin the mood of my dinner party, and I won’t allow it.”
Ezra turned to face her once again, resigned to whatever words of wisdom she felt compelled to impart.
“I trust Lady Elizabeth’s living situation is working out to both of your satisfaction.”
Was it too late for him to change his mind? To simply walk out of the Orangery and back to the parlor?
“Lily has enjoyed her company.”
Hattie laughed as if he’d said something terribly clever. “Alright,” she conceded, although to what she was conceding was a mystery. “If that is the way you want this to go, very well. I can play along.”
“Play along with what exactly?”
A knowing smile and shake of her head was her only reply. Ezra tried to mask his frustration. He’d never been fond of Hattie’s games or the perverse pleasure she took in knowing what the future held but not sharing the information no matter how desperately someone pleaded.
“Thank you for thinking of the arrangement,” he continued on as if their last exchange hadn’t taken place, knowing it would irritate the duchess. “I would have not guessed my sister was so lonely, but she has come to life once again thanks to Lady Elizabeth and Alice.”
“I heard Lady Elizabeth constructed a chair for Lily. Something clockwork or steam powered.”
“She did, and it’s quite remarkable.” Although remarkable wasn’t nearly a strong enough word. Miraculous seemed more accurate, and he didn’t use that term lightly. “Lily was able to go out today. Roamed up the street a bit to the park. I don’t think I have ever seen her smile so wide.”
“And Lady Elizabeth has done nothing suspicious? Nothing to make you question her motives or lead you to believe she’s part of some nefarious anti-Touched club?”
Now it was Ezra’s turn to laugh. “Certainly not. Lady Elizabeth is the picture of kindness and grace. I doubt there being a deceitful bone in her body.”
Hattie tilted her head, watching her long, thin finger trace a pattern on the arm of the chaise. “So she is not our enemy?”
“No,” he said with the distinct feeling he was being led into a trap. “Of course not.”
“Then she’s an ally to the Touched.”
“An ally?”
“My father always said everyone was either an enemy or an ally. There is no in-between.”
“Your father was an army captain who hated peace almost as much as he hated me.”
“Oh, no,” Hattie smiled up at him. “He found peace boring, but he could tolerate it. He couldn’t bear your company in the least.”
It was true. The old man had a particularly strong dislike of Ezra. He couldn’t help but wonder if things would have played out differently if Hattie’s father had approved of their courtship.
“We could use a noble ally,” Hattie continued. “Something is on the horizon. Something big. I can’t focus in on what it is. I don’t think all the pieces are in place yet, but once they are…” She was seeing some far off future place. “We need her, Ezra.”
“I don’t think—”
Hattie’s eyes snapped into focus. A piece of her vision had fallen into place.
“Yes, it has to be her.” Those otherworldly eyes captured his. “We need her allegiance, Ezra. You must secure it.”
He would have laughed, but he had the distinctly unsettling feeling she wasn’t joking.
“You want me to secure Lady Elizabeth’s allegiance to the Touched?”
“You must. Our future depends on it.”
Ezra ran a hand over his face in an attempt to rub away the stress causing his eyes to twitch and jaws to ache.
“If her allegiance is that important, perhaps she should come to stay with you and Jack. Your diplomacy skills are far better than my own.”
“No, it has to be you,” Hattie said. “Certainly you don’t object to spending a bit of time with the lady. I realize she is rather…”
“Rather what?” Ezra promoted when she did not continue.
“Jack asked around about her at the clubs when he was in London last week. I believe the words most often used to describe her were odd and piggish.”
Ezra’s teeth clenched as a flash of anger, as unfamiliar as it was intense, pulsed through him. “The gentlemen of London are both blind and stupid.”
The slow spread of Hattie’s smile did nothing to ease the tension holding his weary body together. “You’ve grown fond of our dear Lady Elizabeth.”
What an incredibly obvious observation.
“Lady Elizabeth is thoughtful and kind. She has befriended Lily without ever remarking on the inequality of their stations or Lily’s disability. She gave my sister the ability to move about when I could not. She’s not the malleable wax doll Society wants ladies to be, but if those fools can’t see she is something so much more, then shame on them.”
“Ah, but this is Corrigan,” Hattie reminded him. “Kindness and ingenuity are prized here, but not so in London ballrooms where a lady like Elizabeth is expected to shine.” Hattie ran a hand over her stomach, as if caressing the child who grew inside. “Ladies are to smile demurely, laugh quietly when the moment calls for it, and do everything in their power to make a man feel as if he is the center of the world. They are to be everything fragile and delicate, never upsetting the balance of things, yet Lady Elizabeth manages to leave a wake of disaster wherever she goes. Do you know she once stepped on the Queen’s skirts?”
“And yet the Queen still lives and has plenty of skirts which have not been trod upon. I hardly count that as a disaster.”
“This is the ton we’re talking about. Of course it’s a disaster. Perhaps if she was beautiful such things could slip from notice, but with the way she looks, she receives very few invitations and accepts even fewer.”
He knew he was being goaded. This is what Hattie did. She pushed and pulled the conversation until people found themselves admitting to things she could exploit. No doubt she wanted him to say he found Bits attractive with her creamy complexion, blazing hair, and mismatched lips so she could press some other issue.
“If that is the situation, then how much good can she do us as an ally?” he asked instead, deftly stepping around whatever trap she had laid.
Hattie shot him an annoyed look, not bothering to pretend ignorance at his willful disregard for her ploy. “She’s still the sister to an earl and sister-in-law to a duke. We don’t require invitations to Society’s diversions. We need political clout, and Lady Elizabeth has it in spades.”
There was no arguing the fact. She was right. The support of Lady Elizabeth’s family could do wonders for the Touched, even without Hattie’s ominous vision of things to come.
Ezra’s shoulders dropped as his breath left him on a sigh. “What would you have me do?” Because with Hattie, there wa
s always a plan of action, a list of missions to accomplish. In this, she had always been her father’s daughter.
“Let her see who we truly are,” the Duchess said, bringing her feet around so that she could sit up properly. “Lily tells me she’s barely been out of your house. Take her around. Introduce her to people. Let her see we’re not the barbarians the Untouched think we are.”
He was shocked by the simplicity of what she asked. Introducing Lady Elizabeth to the people of Corrigan would not be a strain, and certainly wasn’t worthy of the buildup Hattie put into it, which is what made him suspicious.
“And if that doesn’t work? If she thinks we are course and unrefined, completely deserving of our reputation?”
Hattie lifted one perfectly sculpted shoulder. “Then at least we have made the effort.”
“And if it does work, what then? Her family thinks she is dead, and she’s to remain here for the rest of her days. What good does the high opinion of the sister of an earl and sister-in-law to a duke do if she’s never allowed to share it?”
Hattie’s gaze sailed past his shoulder and through the panes of glass beyond. Night had fallen completely, and clouds obscured the moon. There was nothing to see beyond the lamp-lit orangery, yet Hattie peered into the darkness all the same.
“There is coming a time when the walls of Corrigan will no longer be able to keep the world out, nor will they hold us in. We’re living in a house of cards, and the wind has begun to blow. Soon, it’s all going to come crashing down. And when it does, we’re going to need every ally we can gain if we have any hopes of survival.”
Chapter 16
The sun shone brightly over the hills of Corrigan, casting the land below in a beautiful tableau of light and shadow. It was the kind of day that caused Bits to tip her face to the sun, momentarily forgetting she did not enjoy being out of doors. The weather was so fine, in fact, she was able to forget a great many things, like how ladies should not hold their bonnets in their laps instead of wearing them upon their heads.
“This could be the loveliest day in all of history,” her companion said as the gig, several years past its prime, made its way over the bumpy country lane. “Thank you for spending it with me.”
Yes, the weather made her forget a great many things, but that she was sitting a mere nine inches from Ezra Nash as they traveled together without chaperone was not one of them.
“Thank you for inviting me,” she said, hoping he attributed the quake in her voice to the uneven road and poorly sprung carriage rather than the nerves his nearness brought. The day was still new, but they had already made two stops for the morning. One would think she would have gotten past the terrifying thrill of being in his presence by this point, but if anything she was more nervous alone with the Touched’s kind-hearted surgeon now than she had been when she first came to Corrigan. When he’d invited her to accompany him on his rounds today she’d almost refused, unsure she could handle being near him for so long. “It’s beautiful here.”
Ezra looked out across the hills and valleys as if noticing them for the first time. At this time of year the grass was a lush, dark green, and flowers blooming along the way perfumed the air.
“I daresay it may be the most beautiful bit of land in all of England,” he agreed. “I’m not sure exactly what sort of punishment the kings of old had in mind when they banished the Touched here all those years ago, but I am grateful.”
Corrigan and the surrounding mountainous terrain — noted as the Peak District on maps, but referred to as Fairyland by most of the civilized world — was located in Derbyshire, nestled between Manchester and Sheffield. Since no Untouched was allowed beyond the city gates into Corrigan, no one knew quite how much of the Touched reserve was enclosed within the city. Bits had been surprised when they passed through the second gate just a mile from the city’s center that morning. A great many of the Touched lived outside the protective wall. She supposed, however, there was nothing to fear since no Untouched would dare travel this close to the city’s southern border.
“Did you and Lily grow up here in the country, or have you always lived within the city’s walls?” she asked as casually as she could. It had been three days since they dined at Breena Manor, and she’d drawn up an impressive list of things she needed to learn about the good surgeon. Most of the time her curiosity put her on the trail of books and experiments. Interviewing people, getting them to divulge their story, was new and perilous. She was certain he would see through the forced nonchalance and realize how much his answer truly meant to her.
And then he would realize how much he truly meant to her.
And then he would send her away for creating an awkward and completely unwanted situation.
Was it too late to unask the question and unaccept the invitation to spend the day in his company?
“I spent a bit of time in the country, and a bit of time in Corrigan, but my childhood home was actually in London,” he said, surprising her.
“London?” It was not unheard of for the Touched to live outside of Corrigan. London’s streets were teaming with Touched, but almost all of them served a noble household. Ezra’s speech and manners were refined, possibly more so than her own, but she felt certain his childhood had not been spent running around the estate of an aristocrat.
“We had a set of rooms in Bloomsbury, but it was more of a place to regroup between various appointments than a real home. My mother was accomplished at herbs and plants. She served as a consultant to a great many households, which had us traveling a majority of the time.”
“That sounds exhausting.” Realizing what she had said, and how it was most certainly not the correct thing to say, Bits jerked up straighter in her seat and tried to rectify any damage she might have done. “What I meant to say was it sounds exciting. Traveling about. Living in different places. Quite the adventure.”
Ezra laughed a deep, quiet laugh that made her insides feel even warmer than the sun on her face. “It was both,” he conceded. “I got to see a great deal of the world as a young boy, and I certainly enjoyed staying with Jack’s family twice a year, but children aren’t made to wonder each day where they are going to sleep that night. I longed for stability the way other boys my age longed for grand adventures aboard a pirate ship.”
She could see the boy he was. Staring out a carriage window, watching the world roll by, as he dreamed of the kind of life he had now where he returned every night to eat supper at the same table and fall asleep in the same bed.
“Does your mother still travel?” she asked.
Ezra’s hands tightened on the reins. “My mother passed away when I was twelve.”
Bits’s heart ached. She knew the pain that came from losing someone so young. She hadn’t been but two years older when her own parents died.
“And your father?”
“I don’t have a father,” he said, his eyes never leaving the road. His tone was even and matter-of-fact, but she could see the bulge in his cheek as he clenched his jaw. “My mother was unwed.”
Bits tried to hide her surprise. It wasn’t as if bastard children didn’t exist in the world of the Untouched, and she knew from some overly candid discussions between Lily and Alice that the Touched were more free with their affections than the Untouched, but to hear Ezra openly admit as much was a bit of a shock.
“Did you know your father?”
Oh dear heavens, she was prying. Ladies weren’t supposed to pry, especially not about things quite so personal and scandalous. This was why she normally held her tongue when in the company of others. Once she let it loose, it was liable to ask all sorts of inappropriate questions. It didn’t matter that she desperately wanted to know their answer. Some things shouldn’t be asked in the first place. “I’m sorry. That was rather poorly done of me. You don’t have to answer.”
Ezra finally glanced at her. The remote hardness in his eyes faded to something kinder and more Ezra-like. “You know, Lady Elizabeth, I find it quite refreshing to
be with someone who does not hide behind pretense and is unafraid to ask questions.”
“You do?” If so, he would be the first.
“I do. I quite enjoy your company.”
She really should reply, either to offer her thanks for such a lovely statement or acknowledge she enjoyed his as well, but her tongue had become paralyzed.
“As for your question, no, I did not know my father.”
“Then the name Nash…?”
Well, he did say he enjoyed that she was unafraid to ask questions, didn’t he?
“My mother’s family,” he said, turning the gig off the main road and onto a small lane. “Or at least, the family name my mother used. She was an orphan, so there is no real way of knowing.”
And here she thought her story was a sad one. At least she had spent the majority of her childhood with both her parents and could trace her lineage back to King Henry VIII just by glancing through the portrait gallery of Braxton Hall.
“So there is no relation to the famous architect then?” she asked, hoping to pull the conversation to a more pleasing and less painful topic. Ezra didn’t appear pained in the least, but she had a dull ache in her chest and an irrational urge to reach out and hold onto his hand.
“Not that I am aware of,” he said, answering her question. “However, I think it’s safe to say if there was, he was sensible enough to distance himself from the fairy folk in his family tree before taking on projects for the Queen.”
She was thinking of a reply, desperately trying to channel her brother’s wit so she could say something clever, when an arrow embedded itself in the road in front of them. Without thinking, Bits reached over and yanked Ezra to the floor of the gig, shielding his body as she began to take inventory of the carriage’s metal parts. Without a driver pulling on the reins, the horses became spooked and ran amok, dragging the carriage behind them without thought to the safety of the people still inside. The entire conveyance took flight, and then swayed precariously. If they stayed attached to the horses, they would crash, and nothing good could come of that. Closing her eyes, Bits reached out…
A Dance Like Flame (Of Magic & Machine Book 1) Page 11