Chapter 22
“You are fools, the lot of you.” Seraphina stared at the two men standing across from her with fury flashing through her veins like a lightning strike.
If she had been honest with herself, at any point in this journey, she would have admitted that she had known it would come to this in the end.
Who was she, to latch on to such a foolhardy scheme with the likes of Crewe and Drake?
It was mortifying to consider what the public would say if they ever found out her role in all this.
Would she still be welcome at the dinners, the balls, the afternoon teas? It was a moot point, for she was going to make certain nobody ever found out.
“I wash my hands of your scheme,” she said to the gentlemen, turning and gesturing to her maid, the girl who had given her the intelligence about Thornefield Hall’s little school in the first place.
The maid was packing her bags in a frenzy, head down.
“I and Miss Miller are leaving here before morning light.”
“You would abandon us with the mess you created?” Drake said, his eyes flashing and angry. “You know that he will not like that.”
“Let me handle him,” Seraphina said, with more bravado than she felt.
In truth, she did not want to even think about Stanley.
He and his calm parlor threats were the reason she was here in the first place.
Perhaps if she disappeared for a time—maybe a trip to the continent where he could not reach her?
“It is you two that have failed him, not I. I did everything we planned—everything in my power.”
“No,” Drake said coldly. “We planned for you to woo the man and turn his attentions from Thornefield entirely. I thought you said he was devoted to you. If I recall correctly, you said that he would crawl back to you in reckless abandon the moment he knew you were in the county.” He turned and looked at Edmund Crewe, who was staring at the rug and would not meet his eye. “Is that not what she said, Crewe?”
Edmund mumbled something indiscernible in response. Drake shrugged and turned back to Seraphina.
“I did not see any crawling. Did you, dear Mrs. Vane?”
“You are mocking me, and I shall not endure it.” Seraphina felt the anger again, but this time it was coupled with shame.
In truth, she had been startled beyond belief to find Adrian unwilling to accept her attentions.
She had known the power she had over him back when they were betrothed.
He would have moved heaven and earth for her then.
She had not had much of a decision when Mr. Vane showed up with a request for her hand and his thousands of pounds—after all, she had always known that she would marry well.
She was not the sort of woman to walk around without money or title, even if the gentleman offering marriage was as dashing as Adrian.
Still, she had been sad to lose the power she had over that man.
She knew how the other women envied her when he was on her arm, and nobody envied her the pudgy devotion of Mr. Vane.
In her mind’s eye, she was to return to Marwood and find him awestruck at her reappearance, her beauty, and her presence.
That was how the London ton had reacted to her.
That was even how young Miss Thorne had reacted when Seraphina first saw her—certainly, she had attempted to put up a casual front, but Seraphina had not missed the glint of intimidation in her eyes.
But not Adrian. He had resisted her at every turn, and when she had made her plea at last he had turned her down without a second thought. It wounded her pride more deeply than she cared to admit, especially to two gentlemen such as these.
“And Mr. Crewe?” she said, turning the spotlight from her own failings before hurling a hat into a nearby chest. “What of your promises? You were meant to discredit Miss Thorne, and I practically placed the weapon of choice in your hands. There was no reason why she should not have been discredited.”
“Do not worry about Mr. Crewe,” Drake said quietly, with a deadly calm that unsettled Seraphina. When Drake was heated she could manage him, but when he grew calm he reminded her of his boss, Stanley.
That was not a comparison she enjoyed. “His failing is well-known to him, and I will manage it in my own way. I cannot do anything about Lord Marwood’s feelings, but I may just be able to manage Miss Thorne yet.”
“How?” Serphaina scoffed. “She has been fully justified in the eyes of the law. The school remains secretive—how they managed it, I have no idea—and even if it did come to light I am uncertain whether the negative effect would overpower the support she has received from everyone—”
“—even the curate,” Edmund said tentatively.
“Even the curate!” Seraphina scoffed. “So how do you intend to manage her? You cannot just make her disappear and claim the title for yourself.”
Drake smiled a slow, eerie smile that did not reach his eyes. The cold feeling of uncertainty returned to Seraphina’s stomach, and suddenly her bluster felt out of place. This was a dangerous man. She was seized with a desire to get as far from him as she could.
“Or…” she said hesitantly, “…can you make her disappear?” She turned to Edmund. “This is a plan you are sanctioning, Mr. Crewe? She is your sister, after all—of a sort.”
Edmund looked up with a conflicted darkness in his eyes, but before he could answer Drake inserted himself yet again.
“Mr. Crewe is no longer in a position to sanction anything, Mrs. Vane. He does what I say, when I say it.”
As if in confirmation of this fact, Edmund’s shoulders slumped a little more, and his eyes seemed to bore a hole into the carpet at his feet. Seraphina took a shaking breath.
“Well, I shall have no part of it.” She shivered. “I am going to get out of this musty cottage before it steals my last ounce of dignity.”
“I believe Lord Marwood’s refusals already did away with any dignity you had left,” Drake sneered.
“But take your leave—by all means. We have no need of you for what comes next. I would think twice before leaving the country, however. Mr. Stanley will want to speak with you further on these matters.”
Seraphina forced a smile to hide her fear. “Of course. He knows where to find me.”
But she would not be there to be found. She would make certain of that. Drake’s mysterious comments, vague but threatening, left her little doubt what would happen to Miss Thorne in the days to come. She would do well to be on her way as soon as possible, lest she meet the same fate.