Her Dark Curiosity (The Madman's Daughter 2)

There was a tenderness to my voice I hadn’t intended, and it made Montgomery stop his prowling. “How is that? As a friend?” His eyes drifted to the bare skin of my shoulder. “Or as something more?”

My jaw clenched. “Don’t you dare throw accusations.”

But jealousy had gotten its fingers deep within him, and he wasn’t about to stop. “Did he tell you lies about how he loves you, how he’d do anything for you? Did he kiss you? Did you kiss him back?”

Instinct brought my hand toward his face to slap him, never mind that he was dangerously close to the truth. But he caught my wrist before it made contact. His breath was coming fast; mine was faster.

I said in a rush, “You were right. Edward did try to kiss me, and I let him. I let him do more than that too, because he came back for me. He truly loves me.”

Montgomery’s eyes went wide. I’d gone too far, I realized. He’d hurt me, and so I had hurt him. But love wasn’t about swapping wounds, tearing each other apart. We weren’t animals. I bit my lip, wishing I could take those words back. Wishing they’d been a lie, instead of the truth.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “You were gone. I thought I’d never seen you again.”

I reached toward him, but he jerked away. “You think I don’t truly love you?” he said, and then muttered something under his breath and stormed toward the door.

“Where are you going?” I demanded.

“To find Edward and put a bullet in his head.” He vanished through the door, letting it fall closed behind him. I heard the stairs groan and the front door slam as he disappeared somewhere out in the cold night.

I threw on my coat and slippers and opened the door to run after him, but tripped over a gigantic mass asleep a few feet outside my bedroom door. I would have landed against the hard wood loud enough to wake the entire household if Balthazar’s sleeping bulk hadn’t broken my fall.

“Balthazar,” I whispered, scrambling to sit up as his hand found my arm. “What are you doing out here?”

But he didn’t take his hands off me. He pushed to his feet and lifted me up with him, then dusted off my coat, gently picked me up, and set me back down in my bedroom.

“Montgomery says to keep you here. To make sure you don’t leave.”

I glared at him, but he didn’t flinch. Balthazar was nothing if not loyal. If Montgomery told him to eat a pint of arsenic, he’d do it without question.

Balthazar smiled as he closed the door in my face. “Sweet dreams, miss.”

Sweet dreams indeed, I thought to myself, as I raced to the window and fumbled to get the lock open. It would be waking nightmares, not dreams, if I didn’t get to Edward before Montgomery did.

TWENTY-FIVE

I HADN’T TAKEN THE time to change out of my nightdress, but by the time I ran all the way to Shoreditch, sweat was pooling beneath my heavy coat. I paused outside my lodging house. A lantern was on in the attic chamber, flickering calm and bright.

The Beast, with his animal eyes, wouldn’t need a lantern. Edward had to be up there.

Just the same, I was cautious going up the stairs. I held the knife in my hand, ready to strike if needed. I reached the landing and pressed my ear to the door. I could hear the old building settling and creaking, then a gentle clink of glass from within, and the scrape of chair legs on the floorboards as someone stood.

I adjusted my grip on the knife before quietly twisting the knob just enough to peer within. There was a shadow of movement on the wall, looking inhumanly large before I realized it was just the lantern casting too-long shadows, and that the figure was just a young man bent over a tin can of ham, scooping it into an old china dish for the little black dog who wagged his tail impatiently.

A floorboard creaked under my foot, and Edward looked up. He stood when he saw me, the spoon and tin can clattering to the floor. Sharkey nosed through them, oblivious to the tension between Edward and me.

“Juliet,” Edward said. He still wore his clothes from the masquerade, though they hung looser on him without the Beast’s swollen muscles. The suit jacket was tossed on the bed, and he was only in shirt and suspenders, the gold chain of the pocket watch dangling from his vest pocket.

He shook his head, coming forward. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“This is my flat.”

“It’s too dangerous. I’m too dangerous.”

“You said the Beast can’t last more than two hours, and the party ended long ago.” I came in and closed the door behind me. He didn’t look happy about it, but he didn’t protest. He stooped down to finish feeding Sharkey.

“That was true a week ago, but I’ve been so worried about you that he’s taking advantage of my distracted mind. He can last three, four hours now. He could have still had control over me.”

“Well, he didn’t,” I said, standing in the center of the room, hoping I sounded bolder than I felt. I stared at the tips of my slippers. “Do you remember what happened at the party tonight?”

Edward paused. “I have a few memories, but they’re foggy. I remember mistletoe and red ribbon.” He dropped his voice. “I remember your face.”

It’s my lips you want to feel, isn’t it?

I paced in front of the window, pulling at the itchy lace of my nightdress. “The Beast attacked Mrs. Radcliffe.”

He nodded. “I remember that, too, slightly. The smell of blood . . . well, it’s very evocative.”

“Why her?”

“The Beast is very protective of you,” he said. “Lucy mentioned to me once how her mother snubbed you after your family lost their fortune, and the Beast must have kept it in mind.” He paused. “It’s my fault he was even able to emerge. I thought I had him under control, until I saw you with Montgomery in the garden. I’d gone to the party to apologize for what happened here the other day. But seeing you with him made me jealous, and it gave the Beast the weakness he was looking for.”

His words stirred all manner of feelings within me. My chest felt tight with warring emotions, to see him here so handsome among the roses, and pity for Mrs. Radcliffe, and among it all, though I would certainly be damned for even thinking it, the faintest twinges of flattery that the Beast would go to such lengths for me.

I cleared my throat. “I came to tell you that Montgomery is hunting you tonight, but he doesn’t know about this place. I didn’t tell him.”

He nodded. “Thank you.”