Chapter 34
In which a terrible bargain is struck
Memories can be full of guile. Yet, without memory, we have no truth.
— from Lady Avely’s Guide to Guile and Peril
The lieutenant escorted her to the top of the stairs.
When Judith pushed the Tower Room door open, the familiar comfort washed over her, the jewelled colours of the tapestries and rugs bright and beautiful.
But there was no comfort to be found this time—except for a slim skerrick of hope.
Ltn Greene had promised to bring Robert to her.
A chance still remained, she told herself.
Together, they might overpower Greene, or confound him somehow, with Illusion or argument. She had to believe that.
She went to stand by the window, staring out over the ocean. The blue expanse of earlier was now grey-green, white-tipped, and choppy. Clouds had crept in to smother the sun, and wind harried the waves.
“So,” said Ltn Greene from the door, “I will fetch the manacled Robert, and you will drink the Lethe together. Only then will I remove the wristbreakers. I believe you will have the satisfaction of seeing him free, before you forget him.” He let out a little chuckle, as if this was amusing.
She swung round to face him. “What is to stop you murdering us, once we’ve lost our memories?”
He took the key out of the inside lock and waved it casually. “Oh, I don’t want to kill you. Much too messy. Where would I dispose of the bodies? I am a Healor, recall: I don’t like murdering people.”
Again Judith could tell that he was telling the truth. Still, she frowned, distrustful. “You might not like it, but you could easily arrange it, especially when my mind is emptied.”
“If you know nothing, why would I want you dead?” he protested.
“If you die, Drumpellier will have run of the castle again. This is much better: you’ll still be able to fulfil your function—you just won’t remember anything to do with me.
Miss Onslow will be a great support to you.
Drumpellier will be enraged, but he will most likely blame the duke or even suspect that you took the dose yourself as a precaution against accusation. ”
Judith’s lips twisted. She imagined the captain would be all too keen to believe the worst of her. “He will be watching the place like a hawk.”
“Let him. He doesn’t know about the underground causeway yet, and I don’t intend him to discover it.
I will be able to come and go as I please.
In fact, Drumpellier will send me here often, which suits me well enough.
I’m sure we will become wonderful acquaintances, just as we were before.
You will rely upon my cheerful presence. ”
Judith clenched her hands tightly together. “You’re a guileful, snivelling dog.”
“That may be, but I’ll be back soon with your boy.” He touched the chain at his lapel once more. “Don’t try anything when I return. He will still be shackled, so if you attack me with a teapot, I shall know what to do.”
The door shut behind him. She heard the click of the iron lock, and she sank down on the windowsill, her hands coming up to cover her face.
She would have to follow his instructions.
Trying to overpower him was too risky. She could not bear to not wrench the chain from his lapel and hear Robert scream in pain.
She looked around for some sort of other weapon, but the circular, cosy room seemed particularly unhelpful now, with its charming waves of soothing Diplomacy.
And she had given Dacian’s ring back to him.
She must resign herself to losing her mind.
It might only be for three days, she told herself. But in heart she feared it would be much longer. Why would Ltn Greene ever let her recover, when she knew so much?
Tipping her head back against the glass, she allowed herself to think of Dacian. He still waited innocently below, in his secret room. Perhaps, by now, he even remembered her: brief snatches, or whole years. He would be impatient to see her.
Her mind drifted to when she had first met him, in his arrogant youth: powerful, virile, and all too conscious of his charms. Yet despite his station, he had courted her, a mere rector’s daughter, charming her with his stories and relentless flirtation.
His warm eyes and teasing smile. The kiss he stole, and the slow realisation that he was her own personal lodestone, impossible to resist.
Then she had believed the worst of him, and thus she had lost him.
And now they would both be adrift, their minds untrammelled, their hearts untethered. She didn’t know if she could bear the thought of it, except that Robert needed her to do it. She had already betrayed Robert once, and she could not do it again. And so, she would drink her own undoing.
The window felt cool behind her, her back stiff.
She stayed still for a long moment, until she heard the approach on the stairs.
The footsteps were hurried, impatient, and singular.
And somehow familiar. Her eyes blinked open.
Surely the lieutenant should have Robert with him? Was this someone else?
Then she heard the unexpected, familiar voice through the door.
“Mother!” Perry rattled at the knob. “Are you in there?”
She sat up, scarcely believing her ears. “Perry! Is that you?”
“I came back for some afternoon tea, hoping to nab some cream,” he confessed through the door jamb. “But I find that everyone is locked up! What’s going on? Mrs Ulrich spoke to me through the wall and told me to look for you. Where’s the key?”
Her heart thudded with sudden hope, and she strode over to the door. “The lieutenant took it. He is a villain, and he has Robert in wristbreakers. Quick, you must fetch the duke.”
“What about you?” Perry rattled the knob again. “I can snatch you out of there. I’m pretty certain I can Travel into a room sight unseen, if I imagine you before me.”
“Thank you, my dear, but I must not abandon Robert, and he will be here any moment. You must fetch his grace and tell him to use his power to pin down Lieutenant Greene. Then we can disengage the wristbreakers.”
Perry let out a low whistle. “Where is his grace?”
Judith hesitated. It would be difficult to explain the location of the secret sitting room, tucked away as it was, and deliberately well hidden. “If you free Mrs Ulrich first, she can show you. Quickly.”
“But how? She is locked in the cellars.” There was a pause, then an indrawn breath that Judith heard through the door. “I’ll use the shatterstone!”
She grimaced. “If you must.”
“Where is it?”
“Still on the Blue Drawing Room mantelpiece, behind the clock, unless someone has taken it.”
“I’ll pop over there at once.” Satisfaction warmed his voice. “So: fetch the stone, smash open the cellars, free Mrs U, release the duke, then back to you. Anything else?”
“Yes, be careful! Listen outside the door before you all burst in. And hurry!”
“Righto.”
“And Perry—”
“Yes?”
“You’re a good son.”
“Yes, Mother.” His voice dipped into uncertainty. “Will you be all right?”
“I might have to drink some Lethe and forget you for a moment. But I’ll be fine.”
There was another indrawn breath, then silence from beyond the door. As the quiet extended, she realised Perry had gone, vanishing hastily into thin air. Very faintly, footsteps echoed further below.
This time, there were two pairs, and one was limping.
She backed away from the door, gnawing on her lip. Quickly, she sat by the window as before, arranging her features into an expression of despair, instead of the hope that pulsed under her skin.
Eventually, the key slid into the lock, and the handle turned.
Robert came through the door first. His hands were bound in front in the heavily wrought metal, and his chestnut hair fell across his face. He looked over to her. His blue eyes were frightened, his face pale. Behind him came Ltn Greene, cheerful in his red uniform.
“Release him,” said Judith shakily. “At once, do you hear me?”
“Never fear, I will do so.” Ltn Greene escorted Robert over to a chair, then rather forcefully pushed him into it. “You know my terms.”
Robert twisted so that he fell sideways into the armchair. Judith rushed over to his side and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. She squeezed it twice, quickly, trying to convey that all was not lost. If only Perry would hurry, and Dacian could grasp the situation quickly.
“What terms?” said Robert, his voice rasping.
“You both drink deeply of this.” Ltn Greene pulled out the small, ominous bottle from his jacket. “You both forget, and then you both live. A rather good deal, I would say.”
Robert’s head reared back in aversion. “No!”
“You’d rather die?” Ltn Greene raised his brows. “With broken wrists?”
Robert did not flinch this time. “You will kill us anyway.”
“So untrusting!” Ltn Greene shook his head mournfully. “I swear I won’t. It doesn’t suit my character. Ask your mother here: she knows I speak the truth.”
“She’s not my mother,” said Robert, then he flushed a painful red. He looked over to Judith. “Is he speaking the truth?”
She nodded slowly. “For now.” She squeezed his shoulder again, then paced away from him, biding for time. “I suspect we must do as he says. As much as we abhor it.”
“A sensible woman.” Ltn Greene held out the bottle. “Ladies first.”
She eyed it. “At least let me use a proper receptacle.” She went over to the tea tray, the one from earlier, which Mrs Ulrich had not yet had a chance to remove. It bore two cream cups, one a quarter full of tea. “We can mix it with tea, can we not? It will make it more palatable.”
Ltn Greene shrugged. “If you wish. But do not dawdle.”
Robert was watching her, a tiny frown on his brow. With her back to the lieutenant, she allowed herself the ghost of wink. Robert’s frown only deepened.