Page 61 of Claws and Contrivances
Outside, the sound of galloping hoofbeats approached.
Fists clenched, Sir Gareth swung towards Rose. “This is your fault. I’ll—”
“I don’t think you truly wish to threaten my fiancé,” said Mr Aubrey mildly. He shifted to stand before her.
Sir Gareth snorted harshly. “You think you can stop me?”
“I think we all could, together.” Mr Aubrey indicated Rose’s gathered family with a respectful tilt of his head. “However, speaking logically, this is your final chance to escape. I know your intellect has never been your most powerful attribute ... but do you truly wish to waste this opportunity?”
Sudden banging sounded on doors all around the big house. “Open up in the name of the King!”
Another yell sounded from deeper within the house. “Sir Gareth ... at the doors ... they’re coming in!”
“Damnation!” Sir Gareth spat the curse. “Fine. Amelia can take the house. Take the dragons, too! Then she can face the wrath of the excise officers who find them. Enjoy being mistress of this house, foolish chit. It’ll all be ripped away from you as well!”
He lunged for the window and fell through it a moment later. His curses sounded through it as he raced into the night.
Miss Thomas straightened her shoulders, nodded to the footman who had joined them earlier, and then walked steadily across the room to close and lock the window behind him. “Thank you, Dafydd. You did your part beautifully.”
“You’re welcome, Miss.” He bowed respectfully. “My mam had it from Carys at the Parry’s that you were the true mistress of this house, and may I say, all of us were more than glad to learn the truth of it.”
“Why ... thank you.” Her face softened as she gave him a quick, surprised smile.
“And you were glorious as well, Amina!” Georgie strode towards her across the room, beaming. “We were listening from the moment we followed my coz inside. No one ever would have guessed that you knew it all already and had been a full part of the planning!”
“Then I suppose I should be grateful that you are so very charming, after all.” Miss Thomas gave Georgie a sidelong glance beneath her lashes as her lips tucked into a firmly withheld smile. “Only imagine if it had taken you longer than a day to persuade me to meet with you privately again, to decide all of those details together!”
“Why don’t you let in those ‘excise men’ now, Dafydd,” said Aunt Parry, as Georgie leaned over to whisper a reply in Miss Thomas’s ears that made their hostess flush and bite her lip. “Please do give them all the comforts of the house. Let them know that they all have our personal gratitude, and we will be joining them shortly. And do give our compliments to Mr Chalmers for his direction of all their theatrics!”
“Yes, ma’am.” Smiling cheerfully, Dafydd strode out from the room to gather up all the friends and neighbours who had joined together to play the necessary roles – not only now, at the doors, but earlier, too, when they had played out the scene before the inn for Griff to reproduce later.
Fortunately, they had all had plenty of practise over the years in learning to recite lines with dramatic passion at Aunt Parry’s community readings ... and Beth had worked with her mother to draft the scripts for Griff’s scenes, her anxious imagination channelled for the first time in a useful direction as she noted and dealt with everything that might go wrong.
Another knock sounded at the front door.
“Someone must be running a trifle late,” Uncle Parry murmured. “I’ll let them know that they’ve missed the entertainment, shall I?”
As he left the room, Rose turned to Mr Aubrey and restrained herself, with a great effort of willpower, from collapsing against his tall figure. “Thank you,” she murmured. “I know I said you didn’t have to come, but I couldn’t have made it through all of that without your support.”
“Oh, I’m quite certain that you could have. Still, I preferred to be at your side for it.” Keeping his gaze on hers, Mr Aubrey reached into an inner pocket of his coat. “I know how much effort you put into organising all of this across the past few days. I didn’t wish to distract you from that urgent endeavour at the time, but I do have something I’ve been carrying for you for over a week now.”
“I beg your pardon?” Blinking, Rose accepted the letter from his hands without looking away from him. “Why would you write a letter to me in the first place? We’ve been living in the same house—”
“It’s not from me,” said Mr Aubrey. “It’s from your sister Elinor.”
Rose’s mouth dropped open. Her gaze finally lowered to the envelope in her hands ... where she saw, in her older sister’s familiar, beloved script, the address: Miss Tregarth, Gogodd Abbey ...
“My sister wrote to me ... through you? But—how—?”
“I did say, did I not, that my oldest friend was soon to marry one of your sisters?”
“But ... but I thought ...” Hadn’t that been an untruth spoken purely in her defence?
“I met her at my last house visit, where I was delayed, and where I first learned of the astonishing powers of some dragons.”
“Those golden streaks you talked about,” Rose breathed. “But, wait. That vision Griff showed me – I saw Elinor travelling with a blue dragon who had golden streaks on its face.”
“That is correct.” Mr Aubrey nodded. “A remarkable power that particular dragon had, but only for a finite amount of time. That was why my initial scientific theory—”
