Page 90 of The Secret of the Three Fates
“Conspiring?” Lady Morton asked with a raised brow. “I have a daughter, Miss Vaughn. I must do what I can to protect her and others like her in this world from men like that.”
“But… how…?” I furrowed my brow, struggling to make sense of what they were telling me.
Lady Morton took the duchess’s hand in her own. “The world sees what it wishes, Miss Vaughn, though it never has the whole of us. An overbearing mother foisting her daughter upon society. A nervous wife who spends more and more time in Bath.” She paused and raised her brows knowingly. “Even perhaps a scandalous heiress?”
I let out a startled sound, looking at the two women in disbelief. I too had seen only what they wanted me to—the superficial masks they wore. Not so very different from my own. Lady Morton and the duchess quickly filled me in on the rest of the sordid tale. Of the girls who disappeared after coming to Rivenly. Usually serving girls who came seeking summer work or to make a delivery and were never seen again. Suspicious, yes, but never enough evidence against the might of the Duke of Biddlesford. The duchess had begun to suspect not long after her husband brought her to Rivenly, and at long last she wrote to her oldest friend—Lady Morton—to seek assistance.
Between the negatives that Lady Morton had stolen and the fact that the duke had shot Andrew Lennox, it was more than enough to clear my name.
Self-defense.
SEVERAL HOURS LATER, I sat on the dock in Anstruther staring across the Firth of Forth in the direction of the Isle of May. I could not see the island, but it was just as well. I hoped to never lay eyes upon it again. My legs swung aimlessly off the edge as I threw a bit of bread to the greedy seabirds. Ruan had brought Andrew and Elijah back to the mainland earlier and settled them into a nearby inn to rest.
Genevieve, Mr. Owen, and I came several hours later aboard the constabulary’s vessel. Mr. Owen and Genevieve had gone off for a walk as soon as we docked, but I was not fit company for anyone but the birds. In the distance, I could barely make out the shape of Mr. Owen and Genevieve ambling along the shore, slowly getting to know one another. She was so like Andrew it was surprising that no one realized it sooner. It must have been why both Ruan and Andrew thought they recognized her.
I heard the door of the ferryman’s hut close behind me as Ruan lowered himself down to the dock alongside me. His long thigh pressed against my own.
“He commended you on your mastery of his boat. Though I think he was a bit disappointed we returned it in one piece.” He held out his hand, dropping my locket into my palm by the chain. The warmth of his skin transferred to mine as he cupped the necklace there between our palms.
This was the second time he’d returned it to me, though this time was more portentous than the last. Ruan withdrew his hand and raked it through his tangled dark hair. The silver strands caught in the sun that stubbornly broke through the clouds. A greedy gull hopped closer, nudging at my skirt and I handed him the piece of bread which he gobbled up with gusto.
“You shouldn’t feed them, they’ll get spoiled.”
I shrugged, staring down at the metal locket in my palm before affixing it to my neck and resting my hand over the compass.
Ruan cleared his throat. “I hear you.”
I looked up at him, not understanding his words—those pale green eyes of his full of emotion.
“Ever since that night of the second séance… I thought I heard you when I was on the ramparts. Then on the skiff as we were crossing the firth it grew louder. Ruby, it was the strangest thing. I heard a second voice. I heard a woman who was speaking to you.”
My skin pricked. “You heardwhat?”
He furrowed his brow then turned back out toward the water, taking a bit of my bread and throwing a chunk to the birds. “I don’t know what it was. It wasn’t you—but she sounded the same. Whowasshe?”
My mouth grew dry as his words sank in. “It was my mother.”
His breath hitched. “That’s not possible. You said she wasdead. I barely hear the living that loud—I can assure you the dead have never been that clear.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “I do not know what it means. But I need to go. I cannot breathe here. I cannot think.” I scrambled to my feet, not wanting to think of her—of him—of what had happened across the firth, but Ruan wouldn’t let me go.
He stood and took me by the hand, his fingers twining with mine and for a moment I almost gave in and closed my hand around his, allowing him to lead me anywhere. God knew I’d go with him.
But coward that I was, I snatched my hand away and started to walk back to the inn.
“Ruby, wait. We don’t have to speak on it. We don’t have toeverspeak on what happened on that boat. It’s only—” He hesitated and I unconsciously took a step closer to him.
“It’s only what…” I gritted out.
He raked his hand again through his hair, tugging on the ends. The man was as unmoored as I. “Come with me, Ruby. Come with me to Cornwall—it’s quiet there. Peaceful and I don’t know how we’ll manage, but I am worried for you. I—”
I put my fingers to his lips, cutting him off, and shook my head. “Please don’t ask it of me.”
A wounded look crossed his face. “I’m not asking you to give up your life in Exeter or the bookshop. I’m not even asking you to care for me—I’m asking you to let me take care of you. For a few days, for a week… for as long as you like… It does not haveto be more than that. Sleep and read and bring your bloody cat and the old man. I do not care as long as you are happy and safe. You’re not well—”
I winced at his words. He was right. I wasn’t well, and there was nothing more that I longed for than the peaceful salt air of the Cornish coast, but I was afraid. Afraid of him. Of my feelings. Of whatever it was that lived between us.
The man had heard mymother.
