Her Dark Curiosity (The Madman's Daughter 2)

“You aren’t thinking through this. We still have a few days; there’s still time to work on a cure. There must be ways to synthetically replicate the effects of malaria in the bloodstream. Elizabeth will have medical supplies at her estate.” I squeezed his hand. “Don’t give up on him, not after what we’ve learned.”

It was as much for Montgomery’s soul that I pleaded. If Montgomery did this—killed the closest thing he had to a brother, after killing all the island’s beast-men—that kind little boy I’d once known might be gone for good.

“I don’t know what else to do.” His voice broke. He had just stitched up his best friend, and now we were debating the fate of a young man who shared his own blood.

I eased my grip.

“We can give him the rest of the valerian all in one dose,” I said. “And sedate him if the Beast starts to emerge. We’ll bind his hands as a precaution. The professor had an old set of shackles in the closet upstairs.”

He sighed, and I knew I had won him over.

When we told the others our plan, Elizabeth looked apprehensive, but she didn’t argue. Lucy wrung her hands in relief.

Montgomery rubbed his forehead as he turned to me. “Balthazar won’t be able to drive the carriage the entire time, not with his wounds. I’ll need to be up front some of the time. When I am, you must keep a pistol aimed at Edward every second of the trip.”

I nodded. My head was racing with the thoughts of draughts, serums, elixirs I would try. What I felt for Edward wasn’t love, not like with Montgomery. But in a way Edward was even dearer to me, because he and I weren’t so different at heart.

“I’m coming too,” Lucy said.

My head jerked to her. “You can’t. You’ve a life here.”

“A life? My father was one of those men. He knew what they were doing, and he supported it. You wouldn’t go home after that, so you can’t tell me I should.” She was standing very close to the cellar door, throwing it little glances, and I had a feeling her decision had as much to do with the boy in the cellar as anything else.

I turned to Montgomery for help, but to my surprise he just wiped his tired face with a cloth. “You know better than anyone what it is to have an immoral father,” he said to me. “Let her come.”

The room still felt unnaturally cold, or maybe it was the chill in my blood. I looked at each of them, settling last on Montgomery. My heart clenched. Even if I turned out to be a terrible wife, he would still love me, always forgive me, always be the boy who had pushed a sullen little girl around in a wheelbarrow to make her smile. There was good in each of them, good still in this harsh world, and it blew a small bit of warmth into my limbs.

“Tonight, then,” I said. “All of us.”

FORTY-FIVE

MONTGOMERY GAVE THE HORSES fresh feed and water before the journey, work that was second nature to him. Lucy packed as many extra blankets and coats as she could find. Had she always had this practical side to her, and I’d never noticed? It wasn’t until everything was packed, the horses’ harnesses checked one last time, that I slipped down the basement steps to the cellar with shackles in hand.

Edward was awake, in his human state, though his muscles twitched under his skin like eels beneath water. He fingered his pocket watch anxiously, running his nails along the seam as though he would open it, but he never did. He wouldn’t meet my gaze.

“We’re leaving, Edward.” His gave no indication of having heard, and I felt for the syringe of valerian in my pocket. “You don’t have to worry about the King’s Club any longer. We made certain that the entire city will know what they’ve done, once the police . . .” I cleared my throat. “Once the police find the bodies.”

His head jerked up at this. “What did you do?” he asked.

I hesitated. “It doesn’t matter, but the police might trace it to us, so we’re headed north to Elizabeth’s estate. We’re taking you with us.”

He laughed, cold and harsh. “Ah, Juliet, you’d best leave me here.”

My hands curled against the bars. “You wouldn’t have abandoned me, and I’m not going to abandon you.”

He didn’t answer, and I unchained the door and cracked it open. He’d used all his strength to fight against the Beast these final few days, and it showed in the sag of his limbs and the lines of his face. I didn’t dare step closer, not yet.

He shook his head. “It will be over for me soon. The Beast will take me over completely, and he’ll do terrible things. You’d do better to kill me now.”

“Don’t give up, Edward, please.” I stepped forward hesitantly and reached out a hand to touch his shoulder, but his eyes went to my silver ring. For a painfully silent moment, the ring was the loudest thing in the room.

“Lucy told me about the engagement,” he said at last, bitterly. “I suppose congratulations are in order.”

“You always knew I loved him. I never lied about that.”

“Yes, but it isn’t you he loves in return. It’s the idea of you. A fantasy.”

“How is that any different with you? You claim to have fallen in love with me from a photograph. But I’m not a fantasy, Edward—I can be heartless and cold and stubborn, just like my father. Montgomery will come to accept that, in time.” I swallowed, covering the ring with my other hand. “Lucy adores you. She knows what you are and still loves you. If you’d only spare a thought for her . . .”

“Has Montgomery told you the truth yet?”

The secrets. In all the chaos, it had been easy to disregard what Edward told me about Montgomery keeping secrets. With the engagement, I had assumed everything was right between him and me, or at least would be once we were out of London. But now a thorn of doubt dug itself into my palm.

Edward coughed a humorless laugh. “He hasn’t. I didn’t think so, or else you wouldn’t be so quick to marry him.” He leaned closer, jaw set hard. “Ask him about when he left the island.”

I felt caught between desperate curiosity and fear. “If you know something,” I started, “then you must tell me—”

“Juliet?” Elizabeth’s worried voice, coming from the top of the stairs, interrupted me. “Are you down there alone with him?”

My fist tightened over the shackles. I leaned out of the cellar door and called up to her, “There’s no cause for alarm. He has control of himself for the moment.”