Page 85 of The Secret of the Three Fates
“In whose pocket? Who ishe?What proof?”My voice grew increasingly panicked with each question. I needed names and needed them now.
Her chains rattled as she tugged against them, the rough fabric of her coat stretching with the movement. “My father will kill you.”
Her father.
If Mariah was her mother then who was her father? My stomach knotted. No. Mr. Owen would not harm anyone. My treacherousgaze drifted down to Elijah’s beaten body.No.He certainly wouldn’t do that. Couldn’t. The man I knew was incapable of such brutality. He was kind and gentle and…
The earth shifted under my feet as my knees threatened to give out. “Who is your father?”
Genevieve’s face grew pale as she looked past me, over my shoulder to that same damned opening she’d kept searching the entire time I’d been there. Straightening my spine, I turned to see what she’d been awaiting.
The duke.
He stood in the doorway to the croft, his feet shoulder-width apart, and he held a hunting rifle in his hands. His tweed cap sat low on his brow as the rain spluttered down.
“I’m surprised you hadn’t pieced it together yet, Miss Vaughn. Hawick told me you were a clever little thing. But it seems he was wrong about you too.”
A short-lived wave of relief surged over me at the realization that Mr. Owen was not a killer, followed by growing panic as the duke was aiming his rifle directly at my chest.
“Youkilled them.” The last piece of the puzzle finally snapped into place. The duke had also been at that initial séance. Mariah had told us as much.He’s here.
“Tell her, Duke.” Genevieve snarled, tugging against her binds. “Tell her what you did to my mother.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. I have told you all this before but you did not listen. Going on with your baseless accusations against me. Mariah would come to Rivenly to photograph seabirds. That is all.”
“Seabirds didn’t leave her with a baby in her belly,” Genevieve snapped, showing far more backbone than I was feeling in our present circumstance. I searched for something—anything—to protect myself with before spying a rusty pair of shears on a table a few feet to my left.
“What happened to Mariah…” I asked quickly, drawing his attention back to me and away from his two captives.
The duke shrugged, facing me with that casual grace I’d noted several days before. “Hawick was too busy. Spending all his time in London. She would grow wan and listless when he was away. Women are feeling beings, not thinking ones—surely you recognize that truth about your own sex. I saw no harm, at the time, in letting her come to the island to take her photographs.”
Bile rose in my throat.Not thinking,indeed. My fingers tightened into a fist. Useless against a rifle. I needed to get to the shears without catching his attention, but even those gave me little advantage over him.
“If she later chose to join me in my bed, it was no one’s business but ours. Things simply got a little out of hand.”
Out of hand?My pulse rioted in my veins.
“She did not choose your bed,” Genevieve shouted. I winced, willing her to lower her voice—it would not help either of us to draw attention. The last thing I needed was to have one of the duke’s men join us here. “My mother never chose you. She told me what you did to her!”
The duke’s eyes flashed as the monster behind the man revealed himself and he turned to her. I sent up a silent thanks to Genevieve for catching his attention, and quickly grabbed the shears, burying them in the filthy folds of my skirt.
He prowled closer, the gun no longer aimed at me. “Mariah never said no. I don’t know what twisted lies she told you but she came to Rivenly of her own accord. Why else would she have come if she was not willing?”
Poor Mariah. I could take no more. I’d known far too many men like him. Manipulating and cajoling for their own aims, then denying the truth when it was right there before them. My fingers tightened on the cold metal of the shears. “Not saying no does not mean yes.” Rage surged through me like a hot tide.
“It’s lies. All lies…” the duke protested with a wave of his hand. But the truth was written all over his face. This was a man intoxicated upon his own privilege. His own power. “I cared for her… I did. Mariah was a lonely woman, as I told you. Hawick was always too busy in London. Besides, what woman wouldn’t prefer a duke?”
I am going to kill him.That is, if he doesn’t kill me first.
Genevieve tugged against the chains again. “You insinuated yourself into her confidence, preying upon her insecurities… you are a monster. And a monster’s blood runs through my veins—but I will fix it. I will expose you and I vow to you—”
The duke smacked Genevieve hard across the face with the back of his hand. “Silence, you little bitch. It’s only for your mother’s sake you still live.”
Genevieve did not make a sound, not giving him the pleasure of her pain. My palm grew damp around the shears as I edged closer to the wall, glancing out the open window to make certain Ruan had taken Andrew to the skiff before the duke arrived.
My chest loosened as I saw only grass where they had once been. While I might not survive this, they’d at least have a chance.
The clouds overhead broke, the rain letting up at last. I had to keep his attention focused on me.
