His Lordship Possessed (15 page)

LYNN VIEHL

body dies, the iron traps ‘em inside it. Th ey’re dragged off with the departed spirit, and can’t ever come back.”

Th e blunt end of the rusty spike suggested that the

only place I’d be planting it would be the ground, but

to avoid more arguments I nodded. “I appreciate the

advice.” On impulse I walked to him and kissed his

whiskery cheek. “I’ll be all right, you know.”

He looked over my shoulder at the hatch before

he muttered, “Ye’d be all right shed of him, Miss Kit.

Harry’s naught but trouble and tragedy awaiting ye.”

“He’s my family.” Th ere, I’d said it. Out loud I’d

claimed Harry as my kin. It didn’t feel as terrible as I’d

thought it might. “Why are you so angry with him, Mr.

Hedgeworth?”

He shuffl ed his feet. “Ye won’t like knowing.”

“I don’t like
not
knowing,” I said.

Hedger heaved out a long breath. “Me family were

miners in Cornwall, cross the pond. Every man I knew

and called mate worked down in the shafts.” He shifted

on his feet as he scowled, but his expression appeared

more pained than angry. “One shift we hit a gas pocket,

the tunnel blows, and we’re trapped, fi fty of us. Air goes

thin, and we know we’re done for, so we make our peace

with it.”

“Fifty of you.” I felt horrifi ed. “But surely you were

rescued?”

“We were too deep, Miss Kit. Weren’t nothing could

be done for us.” Th e corners of his mouth turned down.

“All the others had blacked out, and I were a blink from

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it when I saw a bit of pretty speckled stone, all the colors of the rainbow, and picked it up for luck. Soon as it’s in

me hand, Harry shows up. Like some angel to save us.”

He started to say something, paused, and then shook his

head.

“You don’t have to tell me any more, Mr.

Hedgeworth,” I hurried to assure him. “I shouldn’t have

asked.”

“No. I can tell ye. I have to, I think.” He looked down

at his battered waders. “Harry led me out some back

tunnel none of us knew were there. He’d been digging

himself, ye see. But as soon as I’m topside, everything

goes black again. Harry, he were in spirit form. Took

me body over so he could use me to do sommat his spy

business for him.”

I winced. “But he did save your lives.”

“Aye. One.
Me
life.” He spat on the ground. “While

he was riding me about like a carri, the rest of me brothers and mates choked to death in that hole. Forty-nine men,

Miss Kit. After, when I was shed of him and came to, I

went back to me village. Seen all me brothers’ wives in

black, all the other widows, and then everyone crowded

round, wanting to know how I got out. How I could leave

‘em behind. When I told ‘em about Harry and what he

did, they thought I’d gone mad. Tried to send me to the

loony bin, afore I nipped out of there, signed on a cargo

ship, and came here. So yeah, Harry saved me life. It just

cost me home, me family, me mates, everything in the

world I cared for.”

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LYNN VIEHL

I knew exactly how that felt. “I’m so sorry, Mr.

Hedgeworth.”

“Ah, weren’t none of yer doing, lass.” He looked a

little embarrassed now. “I shouldna’ve scared ye with me

clubs. Ye’re a good gel. Only make the old bugger mind

ye, naught the other way round.”

“I’ll do my best.” I took out my father’s pocket watch.

“Harry’s been gone almost ten minutes.”

Hedger made a rude sound. “Ye still think he’s coming

back for ye?”

I couldn’t aff ord to wait and fi nd out. Since I couldn’t

drift through the hatch like Harry, I asked Hedger to

help me pry it open.

Just as I stepped inside, he touched my shoulder.

“He’ll never tell ye anything unless ye force it out of him, Miss Kit. If naught else, make him tell ye his name. His

true name, what he was born with, afore all the others.”

I frowned, but before I could ask him what he meant

the old tunneler scurried off , disappearing behind the

snarl of tubes.

I turned and started down the old line. Th e rounded

walls remained coated with a layer of dried, caked-on

mold, and the lingering stench was equally alluring. But

there was enough room for me to walk upright, and I

didn’t encounter any living vermin along the way.

I knew I was getting close to the tinnery when I picked

up the scents of old fi sh, brackish water, damp rope, and

tar. Although Rumsen’s fi sh market had relocated to the

north side of the docks, where the fi sh merchants had

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built their new canning factories, the old tinnery was still used by anyone who needed inside space to work, mostly

hull menders, trap builders, and net makers.

When I came to the end of the line I encountered

the rotting wood of the planks nailed over the sea outlet,

and carefully climbed up the rickety ladder to the topside

hatch. I emerged in an empty alley just behind the

tinnery, and stopped only to brush from my head and

shoulders the snow that I’d dislodged coming up.

Harry’s form took shape beside me, but almost

immediately he moved several feet away. “Archibald gave

you iron.”

“A nice, big rail spike.” I patted my pocket. “Can I try

it out on you, see if it works like he said it would?”

“Th ere’s a more pressing matter.” He pointed out to

sea. “Th e Reaper ships are beginning to appear on the

horizon. Once their army is in place, all Zarath will

have to do is cast a spell, wake the dreamstone, and take

whatever he likes.”

“Dreamstone, icestone, spirit stone,” I taunted. “Why

can’t you mages do anything without these bloody rocks?”

“Th ey’re all that’s left of Aramantha,” Harry told me.

“Th e rest of it the ocean swallowed long ago, after the fi rst mage war. Th at is how old and powerful we are, Charm.

You can’t fi ght my sort or kil them. You can never defeat

them. Get away from here while you still can.”

I looked at the cluster of vessels coming in with the

tide. Th ey were large, military galleons fl ying Talian

colors. “If I kill Dredmore before Zarath’s army arrives,

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LYNN VIEHL

and I keep Zarath from possessing any other body, what

happens then?”

“Without a physical form to channel and project his

power, Zarath will be unable to use it. None of the other

mages in his service have his gift for marshalling armies.

If the men choose to fi ght, they’ll have to battle like

ordinary men.” Harry glared at me. “Th ese immortals

aren’t fools. You’ll never get close enough. Even if you

could kill Dredmore, Zarath will jump from him to the

next warm body.” As a fl icker of daylight came over the

horizon, he began to fade. “For all that is holy, Charm,

please. When the fi ghting begins I have to retreat to the

netherside.”

“Why?” When he didn’t answer I stamped my foot.

“Harry, you can’t be neutral anymore. You have to choose

a side.”

He shook his head. “Run, gel. Run for your life.”

I had no burning desire to be Rumsen’s savior. Since

I’d come here, the city had shown no particular aff ection

for me. Nor did I want to kill Dredmore, who despite

being an arrogant ass had cared for me in his own

fashion. I even understood why Harry didn’t wish to

get involved; this business between the Reapers and the

Tillers was none of mine.

But there were the women of the city, the women who

were so often treated like so many nameless cattle, who

would not know to run away. Carina, and Bridget, the

cartlass round the corner from my building, they had no

one to defend them. Even Lady Diana Walsh, snob that

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she was, would be left helpless before Zarath—and from

what I had seen in his bloody eyes, the women would be

made to suff er unthinkable horrors.

I waited until my grandfather had almost faded from

sight before I said, “I’m staying, Harry, and I’m fi ghting.”

“So like my Connie,” he replied, but he was still

shaking his head when he vanished.

Once Harry had gone my courage wanted to accompany

him. To keep from changing my mind I crept along

the back of the tinnery and peeked round the corner at

the docks, which stood empty. Zarath and his men had

either not arrived, or had taken refuge in one of the cargo

houses to wait for the ships.

As I put together a plan, the wind off the sea made

Tommy’s coat fl ap. I cinched it tight and pulled the

long brim down before I darted across to one of the

scale shacks where fi sh were brought to be weighed. I

opened the door to the stench of death, and the sight of

a woman’s mangled corpse.

“I’ll be.” Something batted the long brim from my

head. “If it isn’t Dredmore’s little tart.” A hard hand spun me round, and Montrose leered at me. “Nipped away

from the beaters? You should have stayed in jail.”

“Cousin Monty. How delightful to see you again.”

I looked round for Zarath and the others, but Walsh’s

son appeared to be alone. “Where are your Talian mates,

then?”

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LYNN VIEHL

“Waiting in the cargo house with the master.” He

gestured toward the largest of them. “Zarath sent me to

see if you’d crawled out the rubbish yet. Don’t know how

he knew you’d show yourself, but he did.”

My heart sank a little. “How could he know I was

here?”

“Felt you like an itch he couldn’t scratch. Seems the

spirit-eater fancies the taste of cheap trollop. Meant to

come back to the hotel to collect you for him once we’d

fi nished some business.” He smirked as he nodded at the

dead woman. “Likes to play with them a bit fi rst. Not

especially careful, either.”

“But I’d much rather be your plaything, Monty.” I

sidled up to him. “You wanted your da to give me to you,

didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” He reached down and pinched my buttock

through my skirts. “So you fancy it with me, then?”

“Oh, I would, if you still had something to use. Too

bad all you can do now is talk. And drip.” I rammed my

knee into his groin, delighting in the shrill squeak he

uttered as he sank to the deck. I shoved him inside the

scale shack atop the dead woman, mentally apologizing

to her spirit as I did for the indignity. Even with his

stones bruised Montrose could come after me when he

recovered, which I didn’t need, so I used Hedger’s spike

to jam the door latch.

I wouldn’t need the spike for my plan to work; all I

needed was to get close enough to Zarath while making

him believe he’d already enchanted and enslaved me. I

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didn’t expect it would be diffi cult. Spirit that he was, the warlord was still a male, and he had been
very
interested in my body. Finally I could make useful the ridiculous

ways in which men regarded my sex.

I straightened my skirts and smoothed my hair before

I hurried to the cargo house. I made no eff ort to be

stealthy or silent as I hurried inside, putting on my best

loon face as I looked about. “Lucien? Lucien, where are

you?”

Celestino showed himself fi rst, and held a pistol that

he pointed at my chest. “Do not take another step, miss.”

“Where is Lucien?” I demanded, striding toward him

as if I didn’t see the gun. “I have escaped those who tried

to keep us apart, milord.” I raised my voice and called

out his name several times, wringing my hands as I did.

“Please, Lucien, I need to see you so desperately.”

Dredmore stepped out of the shadows, his head tilted

back as he surveyed me.

“How did you evade the authorities?” Celestino

demanded.

“Lucien.” I ran to Zarath as if he were a great pile of

prezzies on Christmas morn and threw myself at him.

“Th ank heavens you’re safe.”

Th e warlord held me at arm’s length. “Th e last time

you saw me, you called me a monster.”

“I
didn’t
understand, Lucien. Th at awful inspector person had me
terribly
confused.” I smiled up at him.

“I’ve been
so
lost and frightened. Finding you is
such
a relief.”

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LYNN VIEHL

He didn’t look convinced. “So happy you tried to put

a blade in me.”

“I was wrong to do that, and I don’t know why I did.

I’ve been in such a muddle—or at least I was, until I

found this.” I ducked my head, searching through my