Arcana (34 page)

“How did you get in here?” I demand finally.

He raises his eyebrows in mock surprise. “Why, the butler let me in, of course.”

I straighten my spine. “You must leave at once. You are not welcome here.”

“On the contrary, I have every right to be here.” He strides forward, and I move in front of my sister. With a mocking smile, he reclines in one of the chairs as if it is a throne.

I grab Lucy’s hand. “Then we have the right to return to our rooms. Let’s go, Luce.”

“Not so hasty, if you please. We have business to discuss. In fact, your grandmother will join us any moment.”

His comment stops us. Icy fear splashes inside my stomach. I think we are on the verge of discovering just what Grandmama has been up to, and it won’t be something pleasant.

“I thought it was understood you would no longer seek me out,” I say, still gripping Lucy’s hand tightly.

He smirks. “You are referring to Lord Thornewood’s barbaric threats, no doubt? Well, I believe we can all agree he no longer has an interest in your affairs. Not after the scandalous events of this weekend.”

I swallow down my questions. I desperately want to know what he has heard, but I refuse to give him the satisfaction. “I thought I made myself perfectly clear. Even without Lord Thornewood’s intervention.”

Lucy keeps looking back and forth between us, her eyes wide with fear.

“That was then,” he says. “Things have changed for you now. Without Lord Thornewood to hide behind, I’m free to press my suit. You see, I still want you for my wife.”

Lucy stiffens beside me. I try not to picture being married to him, but I’m overcome by an ill feeling anyway. I narrow my eyes. “Because of your insurmountable gaming debt?”

His loud bark of laughter jars me. “My what? Wherever did you hear that?”

“From a reputable source,” I say between gritted teeth. “Do you deny it?”

In answer, he laughs again. “Ask your grandmother,” he says, his eyes glittering with laughter . . . and something darker.

As if on cue, she joins us, a tight smile on her face. “Lord Blackburn,” she says without so much as a glance in my or Lucy’s direction, “how delightful to see you again.”

The lines on my grandmother’s face are more pronounced, especially by her mouth and eyes, as if she’s been under a lot of strain. Again, apprehension sneaks its fingers up my spine.

“Your granddaughter said the most amusing thing,” he says, his eyes humorless. “She accused
me
of being in debt. For gambling no less.”

She pales. “I cannot imagine where she’d hear such a thing.”

He shrugs. “Idle gossip, perhaps.”

“Perhaps,” Grandmama says warily.

“In any case, I’d just declared my intentions to Katherine. As my future wife, she has every right to inquire about my financial stability.”

“Grandmama, I will not marry him. There is no love between us, and you do not understand the sort of man he is.”

“I understand plenty. Unfortunately, the decision is not yours to make.”

Anger crackles over my skin. “Without a doubt it is. It’s my life.”

“It may be your life, but your father sent you here under my guidance. This is the best match for you.” She leans toward me. “The
only
match.”

I turn back to Lord Blackburn, my hands in fists at my side. “Why would you even want me as your wife? You said yourself you know of the events of this weekend.”

He smirks. “I know all about them, thanks to your grandmother. As a member of the Order of the Eternal Sun, however, a beautiful lady with abilities such as yourself is beyond desirable—even one who has publicly disgraced herself. You see, there is no one quite so rare as you. There have been others, of course, other members of your race our esteemed Order has uncovered . . .” he pauses as both Lucy and I share a look of reluctant surprise. “Oh yes, there are others, but they are so few and far between—the last we found living in India. None have been as powerful as you, though. In this, you are quite unique. And as you might remember from visiting my library, I’m an avid collector of the rare and exotic.”

Dark rage stirs in my stomach. “I am not some Egyptian sarcophagus you can put on display. Grandmama, you cannot expect me to accept such an offer. Though Society expects marriage from me, I’m no longer in good standing with Society anyway.”

Her expression is unmoved.

Desperate, I blurt out, “He tried to take advantage of me. In the garden. The night of Lady Drake’s ball.”

Her expression only turns to one of disgust. “I’m sure you did something to encourage such improper behavior. You may feel free to throw your life away, but I won’t let you drag your sister down with you.”

I tense, my anger giving way to true fear. She pinpointed the one thing I cannot argue against.

“It doesn’t matter,” Lucy says, her voice shaky. “You cannot bring me into this.” She turns to me with wide eyes. “You cannot marry him, Wren.”

“She is resisting our arrangement, Lucille,” Lord Blackburn. “Perhaps we should explain to her just how important it is she complies.”

Grandmama pales.

He chuckles. “Truly, I think you may find it almost comical. At the very least, you’ll find it ironic. You see, when you accused me of being the one in debt, you were close. Unfortunately, your information was skewed.”

He shifts his gaze from Lucy and me to Grandmama. Lucy lets out her breath in surprise. “Your grandmother is the one with a gambling problem. In fact, it seems to have reached the point of an addiction. Not unusual in our set, but what
is
unusual is what she likes to play for.”

I think of the game of high-stakes baccarat I found Grandmama engaged in, and of the missing barouche. My chest tightens.

He stands, moves much too close to me. Lucy shrinks back, but I force myself to stand unflinching before him. “Luck has always favored me, and your grandmother made the tremendous mistake of agreeing to play baccarat with me. She lost, of course.” He turns to Grandmama. “Tell her the stakes, Lucille.”

My grandmother stands ram-rod straight before us, her wan face and tightly pressed lips the only signs of distress. “We played for your hand in marriage.”

Lord Blackburn’s smirk disappears. “And I always collect on a debt.”

TWENTY-FIVE

T
HE
blood pounds in my ears, muffling Lucy’s anguished cry. Her hand tightens on my arm. “Grandmama, how
could
you?”

Suddenly, everything falls into place. The way Grandmama practically forced me to dance with him every dance, the argument with Lord Blackburn at his estate, the intensity of her anger when she believed me to be disagreeing with him. I think of the day after that terrible night Lord Blackburn attacked me, when I interrupted her writing a letter. Of course she wasn’t encouraging my relationship with Lord Thornewood, not when she’d promised me to Lord Blackburn.

“And why,” I say, my eyes narrowing as I stare at my grandmother, “should I agree to honor such an arrangement?”

A slow, humorless grin spreads across his face. “You are a rarity, Katherine, it’s true, but you are not the only one with arcana.” When his gaze falls on Lucy, my hands curl into fists.

“No,” I say, my tone low with warning.

“If you will not agree to marry me, then I will take your sister as payment instead.”

“I will tell our father the truth—you cannot force either one of us to marry you,” I say.

Lord Blackburn glances at Grandmama. “Your grandmother is prepared to spread a rumor that will be Lucy’s ruin if you refuse.”

Behind me, Lucy sucks in her breath in disbelief.

“Lucy will be blacklisted from every ball, every party,” he continues. “Even her dowry won’t be enough to tempt a suitor. With your own considerable scandal to shame the family name, Robert will have to search for a bride in the lower rungs of society, but even then, families of any worth will refuse to have him as a suitor. If you refuse to honor the agreement, Katherine, and if I cannot take Lucy as substitute payment, then all three of the Sinclair siblings’ lives will be ruined.”

Desperation builds in me, and like a trapped animal, I whirl on our grandmother. “You lost more to him than just my hand in marriage. What hold does he have over you?”

“Witnesses,” Lord Blackburn says with a self-congratulatory smile that begs to be smacked from his face. “I have witnesses to your grandmother not only participating in an illegal card game, but gambling away her granddaughter’s hand in marriage.”

“Men under his pay and control,” Grandmama says weakly.

“Can you imagine the scandal?” Lord Blackburn says.

I feel the way a moth must when it realizes it will never escape from the spider’s web. His words succeed in their goal. True fear claws at my insides, and for the first time in my life, I have no idea how to get myself out of the muddle I’m in. A horrified silence descends upon Lucy and me. I glance at my younger sister; I would do anything to keep her from this monster. “When are we to be married?”

“Wren,
no,
” Lucy says, dissolving into quiet sobs.

“No posh London wedding for you, I’m afraid,” Lord Blackburn says. “We will elope. No waiting days for the reading of the banns, no permission needed from protective fathers.” He walks over and cups my cheek in a mockery of a loving touch. “Do we have an understanding?”

I wrench my face away from his hand. “How long do I have?”

He smiles. “I’ll give you a full day to prepare.”

I pull Lucy with me as I leave the room, slamming the door behind us. I want to bring the house down on Grandmama and Lord Blackburn both, but I haven’t the strength.

She’s quiet until we’re safely behind my closed bedroom door. With panic in her voice, she grips my hands. “You cannot marry him. I won’t let you.” Her eyes plead with me. “Tell me you have a plan.”

My throat feels clogged with the need to cry—mostly out of frustration. I pull away gently and pace in front of my bed. If I don’t stay in motion, I know I will dissolve into frantic tears.

“Not a plan exactly—not yet,” I say. Her eyes fill with tears, and I have to look away so she won’t see the devastated expression on my face.

“What is it? What can we do?”

“I think we can safely assume Grandmama will intercept any note we write—to Papa, to Robert, or even to . . . Lord Thornewood.”

She nods sadly. “I think there’s very little she would not do.”

“Lord Blackburn said it himself: I no longer have Lord Thornewood to hide behind. He’s afraid of what the earl can do—socially, and . . .” I pause as I think of Lord Thornewood’s clearly uttered threat. “Physically.”

“Yes, of course,” Lucy says, hope renewing in her eyes. “Lord Thornewood will gladly come to your aid; I am so happy you finally see reason.”

I cannot bear to dampen her spirits, but the truth is Lord Thornewood is an honorable man who hates Lord Blackburn. He would come to anyone’s aid in this situation, and he seems to truly care for Lucy. We would be united in not wanting such a terrible fate to befall her. His social pull is such that one word could destroy Lord Blackburn, just as he threatened.

“Oh, but how will we send him word?” Lucy asks. “Grandmama will surely intercept any note.”

“We will write to Penelope in secret,” I say. I grab Mama’s journal on my nightstand and hand it to Lucy. “Mama thought of a way.”

Lucy runs her fingers over the front of the book, her brows furrowed. “How?”

“I’m going to attempt to copy her arcana,” I say, little quivers of nervousness fluttering through me. I’m not sure I can pull this off. But I have to.

Lucy gives me a skeptical look. “Do you know the way?”

“I have no choice. With this arcana, I can pen a frivolous note to Penelope, only to have it change to our real message once she opens it.”

A slow smile spreads across her face, and I return it. “That might actually work.”

“It has to,” I say. I stride to my vanity and pull out a piece of paper and pen. “Help me write it.”

She joins me at my vanity and leans over my shoulder. “Which one should go first?”

“The real message. With any luck, I’ll make it disappear and hide it with the other.”