Lord of Legends

by Susan Krinard

  And she never heard a single voice in her head.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Cambridgeshire, 1885

  IT HAD BEEN no marriage at all.

  Mariah crossed the well-groomed park as she had done every day for the past few months, her walking boots leaving a damp trail in the grass. Tall trees stood alone or in small clusters, strewn about the park in a seemingly random pattern that belied the perfect organization of the estate.

  Donbridge. It was hers now. Or should have been.

  No one will ever know what happened that night.

  The maids had blushed and giggled behind their hands the next morning when she had descended from her room into the grim, dark hall with its mounted animal heads and pelts on display. She had run the gauntlet of glassy, staring eyes, letting nothing show on her face.

  They didn’t know. Neither did Vivian, the dowager Lady Donnington, for all her barely veiled barbs. Giles had left too soon…suspiciously soon. But no one would believe that the lord of Donbridge had failed to claim his husbandly rights.

  Was it me? Did he sense something wrong?

  She broke off the familiar thought and walked more quickly, lifting her skirts above the dew-soaked lawn. She was the Countess of Donnington, whether or not she had a right to be. And she would play the part. It was all she had, now that Mama was gone and Papa believed her safely disposed in a highly advantageous marriage.

  Lady Donnington. In name only.

  A bird called tentatively from a nearby tree. Mariah turned abruptly and set off toward the small mere, neatly oblong and graced by a spurting marble fountain. One of the several follies, vaguely Georgian in striking contrast to the Old English manor house, stood to one side of the mere. It had been built in the rotunda style, patterned after a Greek temple, with white fluted columns, a domed roof and an open portico, welcoming anyone who might chance by.

  A man stood near the folly…a shadowy, bent figure she could not remember ever having seen before. One of the groundskeepers, she thought.

  But there was something very odd about him, about the way he started when he saw her and went loping off like a three-legged dog. A poacher. A gypsy. Either way, someone who ought not to be on the estate.

  Mariah hesitated and then continued toward the folly. The man scuttled into the shrubbery and disappeared. Mariah paused beside the folly, considered her lack of defenses and thought better of further pursuit.

  As she debated returning to the manor, a large flock of birds flew up from the lakeshore in a swirl of wings. She shaded her eyes with one hand to watch them fly, though they didn’t go far. What seemed peculiar to her was that the birds were not all of one type, but a mixture of what the English called robins, blackbirds and thrushes.

  She noticed at once that the folly seemed to have attracted an unusual variety of wildlife. She caught sight of a pair of foxes, several rabbits and a doughty badger. The fact that the rabbits had apparently remained safe from the foxes was remarkable in itself, but that all should be congregating so near the folly aroused an interest in Mariah that she had not felt since Giles had left.

  Kneeling at the foot of the marble steps, she held out her hands. The rabbits came close enough to sniff her fingers. The badger snuffled and grunted, but didn’t run away. The foxes merely watched, half-hidden in the foliage. Mariah heard a faint sound and glanced up at the folly. The animals melted into the grass as she stood, shook out the hem of her walking skirt and mounted the steps.

  The sound did not come again, but Mariah felt something pulling her, tugging at her body, whispering in her soul. Not a voice, precisely, but—

  Her heart stopped, and so did her feet. You’re imagining things. That’s all it is.

  Perhaps it would be best to go back. At least she could find solace in the old favorite books she’d begun to read again, and the servants would leave her alone.

  But then she would have to endure her mother-in-law’s sour, suspicious glances. You drove him away, the dowager’s eyes accused. What is wrong with you?

  She dismissed the thought and continued up to the portico. There were no more unexpected animal visitors. The area was utterly silent. Even the birds across the mere seemed to stand still and watch her.

  The nape of her neck prickling, Mariah walked between the columns and listened. It wasn’t only her imagination; she could hear something. Something inside the small, round building, beyond the door that led to the interior.

  She tested the door. It wouldn’t budge. She walked completely around the rotunda, finding not a single window or additional door. Air, she supposed, must enter the building from the cupola above, but the place was so inaccessible that she might almost have guessed that it had been built to hide a secret…a secret somebody didn’t want anyone else to find.

  Perhaps this was where her prodigal husband stored the vast quantity of guns he must need to shoot the plethora of game he so proudly displayed on every available wall of the house.

  But why should he hide them? He was certainly not ashamed of his bloody pastime, of which she’d been so ignorant when she’d accompanied him to England.

  Defying the doubts that had haunted her since Giles’s departure, she searched the portico and then the general area around the folly. Impulse prompted her to look under several large, decoratively placed stones.

  The key was under the smallest of them. She flourished it with an all-too-fleeting sense of triumph, walked back up the stairs and slipped the key in the lock.

  The door opened with a groan. Directly inside was a small antechamber with a single chair and a second door. The room smelled of mice.

  That was what you heard, she thought to herself. But she also detected the scent of stale food. Someone had eaten in here, sitting on that rickety chair. Perhaps even that man she’d seen loitering about the place with such a suspicious air.

  But why?

  She stood facing the inner door, wondering if the key would fit that lock, as well.

  Leave well enough alone, she told herself. But she couldn’t. She walked slowly to the door and tried the key.

  It worked. Though the lock grated terribly and gave way only with the greatest effort on her part, the door opened.

  The smell rolled over her like the heavy wetness of a New York summer afternoon. A body left unwashed, the stale-food odor and something else she couldn’t quite define. She was already backing away when she saw the prisoner.

  He crouched at the back of the cell, behind the heavy bars that crossed the semicircular room from one wall to the other. The first thing Mariah noticed was his eyes…black, as black as her husband’s but twice as brilliant, like the darkest of diamonds. They were even more striking when contrasted with the prisoner’s pale hair, true silver without a trace of gray. And the face…

  It didn’t match the silver hair. Not in the least. In fact, it looked very much like Lord Donnington’s. Too much.

  She backed away another step. I’m seeing things. Just like Mama. I’m…

  With a movement too swift for her to follow, the prisoner leaped across the cell and crashed into the bars. His strong, white teeth were bared, his eyes crazed with rage and despair. He rattled his cage frantically, never taking his gaze from hers.

  Mariah retreated no farther. She was not imagining this. Whoever this man might be, he was being held captive in a cell so small that no matter how he had begun, he must surely have been driven insane. A violent captive who, should he escape, might strangle her on the spot.

  A madman.

  Her mouth too dry for speech, Mariah stood very still and forced herself to remain calm. The man’s body was all whipcord muscle; the tendons stood out on his neck as he clutched the bars, and his broad shoulders strained with tension. He wore only a scrap of cloth around his hips, barely covering a part of him that must have been quite impressively large. Papa, for all his talk of her “starting a family,” would have been shocked to learn that she knew about such matters, and had since she first visited Mama in
the asylum at the age of fourteen.

  The prisoner must have noticed the direction of her gaze, because his silent snarl turned into an expression she could only describe as “waiting.”

  “I beg your pardon,” she said, knowing how ridiculous the words sounded even as she spoke them. “May I ask…do you know who you are?”

  Anyone else might have laughed at so foolish a question. But Mariah knew the mad often had no idea of their own identities. She had seen many examples of severe amnesia and far worse afflictions at the asylum.

  The prisoner tossed back his wild, pale mane and closed his mouth. It was a fine mouth above a strong chin, identical to Donnington’s in almost every way. Only his hair and his pale skin distinguished him from the Earl of Donnington.

  Surely they are related. The prospect made the situation that much more horrible.

  “My name,” she said, summoning up her courage, “is Mariah.”

  He cocked his head as if he found something fascinating in her pronouncement. But when he opened his mouth as if to answer, only a faint moan escaped.

  It was all Mariah could do not to run. Perhaps he’s mute. Or worse.

  “It’s all right,” she said, feeling she was speaking more to a beast than a man. “No one will hurt you.”

  His face suggested that he might have laughed had he been able. Instead, he continued to stare at her, and her heart began to pound uncomfortably.

  “I want to help you,” she said, the words out of her mouth before she could stop them.

  The man’s expression lost any suggestion of mirth. He touched his lips and shook his head.

  He understands me, Mariah thought, relief rushing through her. He isn’t a half-wit. He understands.

  Self-consciousness froze her in place. He was looking at her with the same intent purpose as she had looked at him…studying her clothing, her face, her figure.

  She swallowed, walked back through the door, picked up the chair and carried it into the inner chamber. She placed it as far from the cage as she could and sat down. It creaked as she settled, only a little noisier than her heartbeat. The prisoner stood unmoving at the bars.

  “I suppose,” Mariah said, “that it won’t do any good to ask why you are here.”

  His lips curled again in a half snarl. He didn’t precisely growl, but it was far from a happy sound.

  “I understand,” she said, swallowing again. “I can leave, if you wish.”

  She almost hoped he would indicate just such a desire, but he shook his head in a perfectly comprehensible gesture. Ah, yes, he certainly understood her.

  The ideas racing through her mind were nearly beyond bearing. Who had put him here?

  There are too many similarities. He and Giles must be related. A lost brother. A cousin. A relative not once mentioned by anyone in the household.

  Insane thoughts. It was her dangerously vivid imagination at work again.

  And yet…

  This prisoner had obviously not been meant to be found. And with Donnington gone, she couldn’t ask for an explanation.

  Dark secrets. It didn’t surprise Mariah that Donbridge had its share.

  This man is not just a secret. He’s a human being who needs your help.

  She twisted her gloved hands in her lap. “I won’t leave,” she said softly. “Do you think you can answer a few simple questions by moving your head?”

  His black eyes narrowed. Indeed, why should he trust her? He was being treated like an animal, his conditions far worse than anything Mama had ever had to endure.

  She examined the cage. It was furnished with a single ragged blanket, a basin nearly empty of water and a bowl that presumably had once contained food.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked.

  He pushed away from the bars and began to pace, back and forth like a leopard at the zoo. She had an even clearer glimpse of his fine, lithe body: his graceful stride, the ripple of muscle in his thighs and shoulders, the breadth of his chest, the narrow lines of his hips and waist.

  Heat rushed into her face, and she lifted her eyes. He had stopped and was staring again. Reading her shameful thoughts. Thoughts she hadn’t entertained since that night two months ago when she’d lain in her bed, waiting for Donnington to make her his bride in every way.

  “Shall I bring you food?” she asked quickly. “A cut of beef? Or venison?”

  He shook his head violently, shuddering as if she’d offered him dirt and grass. But the leanness of his belly under his ribs told her she dared not give up.

  “Very well, then,” she said. “Fresh bread? Butter and jam?”

  His gaze leaped to hers.

  “Yes,” she said. “I’ll bring you bread. And fruit? I remember seeing strawberries in the conservatory.”

  Hope. That was what she saw in him now, though he moved no closer to the bars. Who saw to his needs? She had no way of knowing and had every reason to assume the worst.

  “You also require clothing,” she said. “I’ll bring you a shirt and trousers.” His eloquent face was dubious. “They should…they ought to fit you very well.”

  Because he and Donnington were as close to twins as any two men Mariah had ever seen.

  The Man in the Iron Mask had always been one of her favorite stories. The true king imprisoned, while the brother ruled in his stead…

  “Your feet must be sore,” she went on, her words tripping over themselves. “I can bring you shoes and stockings, and…undergarments, as well. Blankets, of course, and pillows. What else?” She pretended not to notice how ferociously focused he was on her person. “A comb. Shaving gear. Fresh water. Towels.”

  The prisoner listened, his head slightly cocked as if he didn’t entirely take her meaning. Had he been so long without such simple comforts? Yet his face lacked even the shadow of a beard, his hair was not unclean, and his body, though not precisely fragrant, was not as dirty as one might expect.

  Again she wondered who looked after him. Someone on the estate knew every detail of this man’s existence, and she intended to find the jailer.

  She resolved, in spite of her fears, to try a new and dangerous tack. “Do you…do you know Lord Donnington?”

  His reaction was terrifying. He flung himself against the bars and banged at them with his fists. Mariah started up from the chair, prepared to run, then stopped.

  This was more than mere madness, more than rage. This was pain, crouched in the shadows beneath his eyes, etched into the lines framing his mouth. He reached through the bars, fist clenched. Mariah held her ground. Gradually his hand relaxed, the fingers stretching toward her. Pleading. Begging her to overcome her natural fear.

  Drawn by forces beyond her control, Mariah took a step toward him. Inch by inch she crossed the five feet between them. By the tiniest increments she lifted her hand and touched his.

  His fingers closed around hers, tightly enough to hurt. His strength was such that he could have pulled her into the bars and strangled her in an instant. But he was shaking, perspiration standing out on his forehead beneath the pale shock of hair, his mouth opening and closing on low, guttural sounds she had no way of interpreting.

  Desperation. Yearning. A final effort to make someone listen to the words he couldn’t speak.

  “It will be all right,” she said. “I will help you.”

  His shaking began to subside, though he refused to let go of her hand. But now he was astonishingly gentle, running his thumb in a featherlight caress over her wrist. It was her turn to shiver, though she fought the overwhelming sensations that coursed through her body and pooled between her legs.

  Oh, God.

  “Please,” she whispered. “Let me go.”

  He did, but only with obvious reluctance. She took a steadying step back, but not so far that he would become upset again.

  Her feelings meant nothing. Not when he needed her so much—this stranger who had captured her mind and heart within a few vivid minutes.

  “I…” She struggled to find words
that wouldn’t alarm him. “I must go now. I’ll come back soon with the things you need. I promise.”

  He gazed at her as if he were trying to memorize everything about her. As if he didn’t believe her. As if he expected never to see her again.

  “I promise,” she repeated, and retreated toward the door. His broad shoulders sagged in defeat, and she knew there was no more she could say to him now; he would not trust her until she returned.

  Her stomach taut with foreboding, she picked up the chair, moved it back to its place in the antechamber and continued through the door. The prisoner made not a sound. She poked her head out the second door, saw no one, left the chamber and hastily locked the door.

  She leaned against it for a moment, breathing fast, until she was certain of her composure. Then she assured herself that there was no observer in the vicinity, replaced the key under the stone and set out for the house.

  He hates Donnington, she thought, sickened by the implications of the prisoner’s reaction. Why? And what if he knew that I am Lady Donnington?

  It didn’t bear thinking of. And it didn’t really matter. She would do exactly as she said. Help him, as she hadn’t been able to help Mama.

  Perhaps that would be enough to save her.

  DO YOU KNOW who you are?

  He had understood the question, but he had not been able to answer it, just as he had been unable to tell the female what he wanted above all else.

  Freedom. Memory. All the bright and beautiful things that had been stolen from him, though he had no recollection of what they had actually been.

  She had not known him, though he had seen her before. She had been present on that day of pain and turmoil, when he had tried to escape his captors. The female…

  Woman, he reminded himself, pronouncing the word inside his mind. The woman who had been with the man, his tormentor, in that time he couldn’t remember.

  She had been afraid then, as he had been afraid. She had fallen and grown quiet, so quiet that he had believed her dead. Then Donnington had taken her away, and he had been compelled to endure this numb emptiness of captivity.