Page 40 of The Love Potion
“What?”
“Mama thinks it would be best if you stayed out of sight today.”
Kynthea watched as Zoe looked everywhere but at her.
“If I am not in the drawing room for visitors, people will assume your mother blames me.”
Zoe bit her lip. “I know.”
“They’ll get louder as they denounce me. Everyone will say I’m… I’m…”
“They already are,” Zoe said. Then she stuck her hand into the pocket of her gown and pulled out a folded sheet of newspaper. It had been ripped out of the main paper, and she handed it over with a heavy sigh. “I tore this out of Papa’s paper. I didn’t want him to read it, but I couldn’t stop Mama.”
It was Mr. Pickleherring’s column. He’d devoted himself lately to exposing gentlemen who were hiding a stark reversal in fortune. He’d also had a few dry comments about an audience that paid to attend the theater only to talk over the actors. Today’s column followed the same pattern except for the last paragraph.
Miss Petrelli once again showed her desperation as she faked a stumble on the dance floor. The duke was gallant enough to pretend he was at fault, but since she’d bared herself for all to see, his gallantry fools no one. How long will the Earl of Satheath allow this Jezebel to poison his daughter? She should be hung for what she has done to poor Lady Zoe.
Kynthea’s hands shook as she read the words, which was an odd thing because she couldn’t feel the tremble. She stared at the words wondering how this had happened. She was well and truly ruined now. Good God, she should be hung? For stepping on a duke’s broken spat?
“I didn’t,” she murmured. “I wouldn’t.”
Zoe pulled the page out of her hand, crumpled it, and threw it into the grate. “I despise that Pickleherring.”
“I should be hung for what I’ve done to you?” Kynthea echoed. Had she truly harmed the girl? And why did thetonneed a villain anyway? Didn’t they have enough to gossip about without picking on her?
“It’s ridiculous,” the girl said. “They think you’ve taught me lustful things, destroying my chances for a decent marriage.”
“No,” Kynthea whispered.
“If anything, I explained it to you. Remember how shocked I was that you’d never seen horses mate?”
Kynthea choked back a sob. What was she going to do? And what if it was true? Had she truly made things worse for Zoe? The girl wasn’t truly tarnished by association. Right?
She wasn’t being completely virtuous in her thoughts. If her aunt and uncle threw her out, her only hope was that Zoe married well and brought her along as nanny or companion or something.
“I admit that the situation is dire,” Zoe said as she patted Kynthea’s hands.
Dire? It was catastrophic. “How angry is your mother?” she whispered. The woman had only ever accepted Kynthea out of duty to her husband’s family. Though she was kind enough, their bond had never been one of love. Her gaze went to Zoe. “She’s going to sack me, isn’t she?” she asked, doing her best to appear strong before her cousin. “I knew it last night.”
Zoe jaw firmed. “Not yet, she isn’t.”
“What? Why not?”
“Because I put laudanum in her tea.”
“What?”
The girl waved away Kynthea’s shock. “Her joints are paining her after last night. She was going to take a little anyway, butI put in extra. Given how upset she was by that column, I was helping to settle her nerves.”
“You lied to your mother,” Kynthea said. “And dosed her!” She moaned. “I have been a terrible influence on you.”
Zoe snorted. “As if this was the first time. I knew the uses of laudanum by the time I was eight.”
That was not a comforting thought.
Meanwhile, the girl gripped Kynthea’s hands. “Now listen. I have a plan.”
It had better be one that got her a position well outside of society. Perhaps with an elderly woman who never left Yorkshire. Though the idea of moldering away in Yorkshire horrified her, it was better than being hung for whatever mysterious thing she’d done to Zoe.
