Page 43 of The Secret of the Three Fates
My heart leapt in my chest. “I told you Hari could work miracles.” I quickly scanned the missive. Short and to the point. Hari was never one to mince words—a trait I valued above all else in a friend.
Ruby, I regret to inform you I have no conclusive news at this point. I traced your acquaintance until 1917 when he disappeared entirely from the record. Prior to his disappearance he’d embarked upon an ill-advised business venture with one C. S. Something to do with manufacturing during the war. The business was a front. Though I have not been able to determine what for.
C. S. My blood ran cold. That meant Elijah had been working with Christopher years after I left New York. I bit hard on the inside of my mouth, willing myself to read on.
There was a messy affair in the summer of ’17 where it appears that your acquaintance was utterly ruined. His reputation in tatters, some believe he took his own life, though no grave or death record has been found. He simply disappears along with approximately two hundred thousand American dollars. C. S. however escaped scandal-free and is currently rumored to be considering running for governor of the state of New York. I will continue to investigate. Would you like me to look into the business dealings of Mr. S.?
Your faithful friend (and occasional solicitor)
Hari
Good God. Could it be that Elijah ran off with the money and has hidden himself away here in Scotland? The timeline matches, but a great deal could have occurred between 1917 and 1922.
Ruan touched the scar on my brow with his thumb gently. “Is that the news you hoped to hear?”
“I don’t know what I hoped to hear—but it helps to know it’s plausible.”And that I’m not going mad.I took a half step back toward the door, where it was safer and a girl could gather her thoughts. “I talked to Hecate this morning.”
Ruan’s eyes widened at my use of the White Witch’s name.
So you know her true name too.
He nodded again, resting his hip on the windowsill. “She thinks that she can help me, teach me how to control it.”
It.The breath left my lungs as my brain started to trip along through all the things I knew about him and the strange power he could not control. He had saved me with his abilities in Cornwall, and yet he had no idea how it was done. “Do you know why she’s here?”
He shook his head. “I have suspicions. The old ones do as they will. Hecate is no different. She comes and goes as she pleases. Her kind do not follow the same laws as we do. She called on me once… back in Lothlel Green not long after you left the village.”
My eyes widened, though I had no right to be surprised that he had dealings with the White Witch. “And you didn’t think to tell me?”
He whipped around on his heels, green eyes flashing almost silver. “I didn’t plan to see you again. To be close to you like this—having you invade every bloody sense I possess!” He raked his hand through his short hair before growling. “Gods, it’s enough to drive a mortal mad if he isn’t there already.”
My jaw dropped, an unpleasant sensation settling in my throat.
His voice cracked as he took a step closer. “You terrify me. I do not know what lives between us. I have seen more things in this world than I care to admit but I cannot explain what this is.” He reached for my cheek, his tone tender enough to break a girl’s heart. “You are everywhere and everything to me, flooding my senses and I cannot understand it. Not one bit. I have read every book I can get my hands on. Scoured every source looking for areasonfor this inexplicable thread between us and for this power you hold over me—” His breath hitched. “I don’t know if…”
“Don’t know what…?” My voice trembled as his thumb trailed its way down my jaw to the hollow of my throat and forhalf a moment I thought he might kiss me, but the moment passed.
He closed his eyes. “I simply don’t know. Go, Ruby. I’ll come to you and we can talk about whatever it was you came for. I just need a moment…”
My limbs grew weak. But I nodded and cowardly ran away.
CHAPTERSEVENTEENA Necessary Sacrifice
Ileft Ruan’s room and headed straight for the library, the one place in this castle where I might be able to clear my thoughts and make sense of what I knew without interruption. The halls were empty, which was just as well as I hadn’t the stomach to talk to anyone, and I slipped into the darkened room.
It’s never good when the old ones are afraid.That’s what he’d said. Well, it’s certainly not good when the Pellar is frightened either. I blew out a breath and made a circle of the library, running my fingers over the books, simply trying to regain my footing. A great deal had happened in only a handful of days. Ghosts of my own past and Mr. Owen’s were threatening to strangle us both. Hari’s note gave credence to my suspicions that Matthew Sharpe was indeed Elijah Keene. I’d have to write Hari and ask him to continue to investigate, howeverIcouldn’t do such a thing without raising suspicion. Once Ruan had gotten beyond whatever unpleasant emotions were currently plaguing him, he’d need to see to the task. This was precisely why I avoided feelings. They got in the way of more pressing matters.
I paused before the shelf bearing all five million copies ofDebrett’s. Oh fine, there weren’t that many, but there might as well have been.
A duke, a countess, and a viscount. Surely it was unusual to havethismany peers at a séance, even if Mr. Owen was pretendingnotto be one when we arrived.
Perhaps that was the link I’d missed?
I pulled out the current volume of the paean of the privileged from the shelf and flipped through, not certain what I was looking for but paused as I came across the page for Mr. Owen. Or rather, the page thatoughtto have been for him. It had been torn out of the book entirely.
Dread climbed up my spine as I laid that one down on the table behind me and grabbed another. I went back through the years, grabbing an edition from the time before Mariah disappeared, and pulled it from the shelf. The exact same thing had happened. There was nothing there. The page—excised from the book. Volume after volume, I searched, fingers flying through the pages, however, each one had the entry for the Viscount of Hawick carefully removed. After going through a dozen different editions I blew out my breath and leaned against the table, the desecrated books stacked high behind me.
“What are you doing?” Lady Amelia asked.
