Chapter 9 #2
‘Besides, Hubert owed this Devil a large sum of money and that debt now falls to me. I will not live my life beholden to anyone else. I will clear my financial obligation with Damien Sinclair and determine if he killed Hubert.’
Helena could almost see the beat of her racing pulse under the delicate skin.
‘You’ll get that pretty neck caught in a trap is what you’ll do.
And with so few truly elegant specimens, it would be tragic to ruin yours.
’ She hadn’t meant to say that aloud, but she did enjoy how Cynthia’s lashes fluttered and her mouth parted.
‘I don’t know what you’re playing at, Helena Blair.
I suppose you mean to distract me with such patently false flattery.
But it won’t work. I’m going through this door.
I’m going to find Damien Sinclair, clear my debts, and make him tell me whatever secrets he knows about Hubert and who might have killed him. ’
Helena understood the power of a determined woman. But she hadn’t encountered the stubborn tenacity of a lady who had long been denied autonomy and was finally making her own choices. Even if they were terrible, awful, incredibly stupid decisions, Cynthia deserved the chance to make them.
And if I want to see the woman live long enough to realise she should have listened to me in the first place, I suppose I must go with her.
‘Not alone. If I let you go in there without my protection, you’ll get yourself killed and Uncle Lachlan will blame me.
Your brother will blame me. Your silly choices will end up being my problem.
Ask your questions. Whatever answers he refuses to give, I will take from him.
And then we are leaving.’ She couldn’t dissuade Cynthia from her mission. But she could help her escape intact.
Uncle Lachlan kept Helena away from Sinclair because he feared the man, but that was a mistake.
Monsters like Sinclair fed on fear. It only made them stronger.
Cynthia waltzing into his den with her proper posture and perfect diction might just throw him off enough to reveal something.
And Helena would be there to steal his thoughts before he could shield them.
Ensuring Cynthia’s safety was completely secondary to solving the case.
Helena’s gift was a formidable weapon. She would wield it against Sinclair if necessary. Because she wouldn’t let him hurt her lady.
Not my lady. Just a lady.
Regardless, her decision was already made.
‘Why would you come with me?’
‘Because you can’t do this alone.’
Cynthia swallowed, and Helena pushed down the urge to brush her fingers over the hollow of Cynthia’s throat.
‘You don’t know what I’m capable of. I’m used to being alone. I’m not frightened.’
‘Maybe I’m frightened for you.’ Helena’s voice had grown husky.
Cynthia’s chest expanded as her eyes shone with an emotion Helena couldn’t name. ‘Truly?’
She cleared her throat and forced a casual shrug. ‘Absolutely. I’m terrified you’ll make a hash of it if you go in there alone.’
Cynthia’s expression hardened. ‘I recall Clio telling me you don’t have many friends. Shocking.’
‘That was rude, Lady Burrows. I thought gently bred marchionesses deployed decorum in every situation. What would your society chums say at such a breach of etiquette?’
The right corner of Cynthia’s lip curled in a wicked smile. ‘Lucky for me, I don’t have many friends either. Not real ones. It’s likely the only thing we have in common.’
Helena leaned closer, her heart beating wildly.
Cynthia raised a chestnut eyebrow. ‘And I couldn’t give a fig what those gossiping ninnies say about me.
I’ve recently discovered that maintaining the standards of a proper lady hardly fits the life of a widow.
I’m tired of letting other people’s opinions control my choices.
And that includes you, Helena Blair. Think of me what you will.
I’m not your problem to solve or your pawn to control. ’
Cynthia’s scent caught on a breeze blowing down the alley and surrounded Helena.
She wanted to count Cynthia’s freckles. Her pupils blew wide and Helena could see her reflection in their depths.
Black skirts tangled with blue as she put her hand on Cynthia’s waist. ‘I could never hope to control someone as wild as you. It would be like caging the wind.’
Tension tightened between them. Cynthia’s warm breath heated Helena’s lips. ‘Have you put a hex on me? Is that why I feel this way?’
Helena slowly shook her head. ‘I don’t deal in hexes.’ An unwelcome memory of her mother flitted through her mind. She shoved it back into the darkness.
Cynthia lifted her chin, her lips nearly brushing Helena’s.
‘You make me want things I should not want. Feel things I’ve never felt.
Like I’m drunk on some magical elixir.’ Her fingers shook as she gently traced them along Helena’s cheek.
‘I don’t know what this is. I’m quite sure it is madness.
But for the first time in my life, I feel alive. ’
‘Cynthia…’ It was the second time she’d said her name aloud. Helena tasted the syllables, sweet and seductive like honey on her tongue.
The door behind them opened, and light flooded onto the dark street. Both women stepped away from each other, like conspirators caught in treasonous acts.
Stringed music escaped on a cloud of cheroot smoke and perfume. Cynthia stepped in front of Helena, her bustle pushing against Helena’s belly as they both faced a man dressed much like Cynthia’s butler.
‘Your presence is requested in Mr Sinclair’s private office, Lady Burrows.’ His gaze flicked to Helena. ‘Miss Blair, you may join the marchioness, if you like.’
Helena could feel Cynthia stiffen as both women tried to hide their surprise. How the bloody blazes did Sinclair know who they were, and that they were at his club? And what was he playing at, inviting them upstairs to his personal office?
Ellie’s description of her vision echoed through Helena’s mind. If Sinclair’s office was decorated in crimson velvet or black lace, so help her, Helena would blast him with a spear of seawater powerful enough to flood his precious club and drown his patrons before she would let him touch Cynthia.
Mine.
The primitive instinct resonated in her bones.
She blinked hard.
What madness is this?
She was water in a glassy pool.
But not now. Need coalesced with anger, rising like a wave mighty enough to crash upon the shore and destroy her enemies. It was chaos and power and glory.
She would reclaim her calm later.
This night, she would ride the crest of her magic into the heart of a devil’s lair.