The Duchess (Montgomery/Taggert 16)

“No,” Trevelyan said from inside the carriage, then banged on the roof with his cane.

The carriage didn’t move and Claire climbed inside. “I’m going with you and that’s final. You can’t stop me without raising a great fuss and waking people up and letting them know you’re here.”

“Half of the household knows where I am. Thanks to all the people who troop in and out of my rooms there’s no possibility of keeping my presence a secret.”

Claire settled herself on the seat across from him, noting that for once he was dressed, rather surprisingly, in perfectly cut, fashionable attire. “Then that’s more of a reason for me to go with you. I can protect you.”

At that Trevelyan gave a derisive laugh. “You protect me? You can’t even protect yourself from one crippled old woman.”

His barb hurt, and Claire looked away from him.

Trevelyan was silent for a moment. “All right, maybe no one can protect himself from her. But you won’t need to protect me from Jack Powell. He wasn’t the one who tried to kill me.”

“Then who was?” As she said this Claire stuck her head out the carriage window and told Oman to drive. When the carriage started, Claire leaned back in the seat and smiled at Trevelyan.

Trevelyan watched her for a moment. It was quite dark in the carriage, the only light coming from the lanterns on the outside. “You’re not going for me, you’re going because you’re bored.”

“I am not bored. Well, maybe just a little. With Harry gone I—”

“With Harry gone you’re free. You can slip out of the house and no one else will notice. Actually, even if Harry were here he probably wouldn’t notice where you were. I hear you’re getting shotguns for a wedding present.”

“I’d prefer not to talk about me and I’d definitely rather we didn’t talk about Harry and me. Why don’t you tell me about finding the Pearl of the Moon? Is it a very large pearl?”

“The Pearl of the Moon isn’t a thing, it’s a person. To be specific, it’s a she. She’s the head of the Peshan religion.”

“You mean a sort of priestess?”

Trevelyan gave a one-sided grin. “Rather more like a princess. Or possibly a goddess, from the way she’s treated.”

Claire blinked at him.

Trevelyan smiled. “You want me to get Oman to stop the coach? Let you out? You don’t look as though you like the idea of rescuing a woman. Would you rather it was the largest pearl in the world? I wouldn’t risk my neck for a pearl of any size.”

Claire was trying to absorb what he was s

aying. It certainly made no difference to her that they were going to rescue a woman rather than a rare jewel. “She must be very venerable. Did you bring her out of Pesha to prove to the world you had been there?”

“No. Nyssa came of her own accord. She left the city with me because she wanted to. Nyssa does whatever she wants.”

“I see. I guess she’s earned that right. She must have been a priestess for a long time.”

Trevelyan didn’t answer.

“Why is she called the Pearl of the Moon? Pearly hair, maybe?”

Trevelyan smiled at her in the darkness. “She’s called that because it’s believed she’s the most beautiful woman in the world.”

“Oh” was all Claire could say. “Oh.” She looked out at the dark scenery they were passing. “Has she been a priestess for long?”

When Trevelyan didn’t answer she looked back at him. He was smiling at her in a knowing way. “All right,” Claire said, disgust in her voice. “You can stop laughing at me. I want to know all of it. I want to know the whole story from the beginning. How did you get this perfect beauty and why are we traveling in the middle of the night to go get her?”

“You can get out at any time.” He laughed when she gave him a look of obstinacy. “All right, I’ll tell you. It’s a Peshan ritual and it’s been going on for centuries. Every fifty years the Peshan priests leave their walled city and go out into the surrounding countryside and search for the most beautiful young woman in the world. They try to find girls who’re about fourteen or fifteen, then they take them all back to Pesha and the people choose the prettiest to become the priestess.”

“Oh, I see. And she’s the priestess for her lifetime, then they choose someone else.”

“Not exactly. They allow her to be the priestess for five years, then they kill her. Forty-five years later they begin looking for someone else.”

“They what?”