Chapter 21 #2
“They did,” he said savagely, a growl erupting as Melissande snorted—though her knuckles were white on the chair’s arms. “A week before you disappeared. I thought it a grand lark at first. I had no idea what was happening. Who wouldn’t want six women panting over them?
But they were planning other entertainments.
I heard them whispering about it. Saw the looks.
Read the journals, later, much later, their planned entertainments for the both of us.
As soon as you left, things changed. I didn’t understand why, but suddenly it wasn’t just a weekend’s lark.
I was in their clutches. Couldn’t escape.
Drained of my vitality. And you left me there, Gabriel. ”
“I’m sorry, John,” I whispered. “I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t even write to let me know you were safe.”
I swallowed at the sudden swing. “I was hiding in Lower Gildon. The network protected me until I rose to the head. Until I had more than enough power to deal with the likes of them.”
John stepped forward. A friendly step instead of a threatening one. But he was still holding the household spells. “It was magnificent of you, of course. I was ever so proud when I discovered your actions.”
Sincerity. He meant it.
“Gabriel is always magnificent. You never quite measured up.”
Her arm twisted, extending forward almost grotesquely. A page ripped from her journal and bound her hand to the desk. She reached for the house’s spells, but her grasp slipped over them.
She grabbed a hairpin. Unsurprisingly. Melissande had always relied on other means. Other toys.
The seam of parchment pulled tight, the spell threading through the fibers.
She sliced it free, only for it to reform as well as another page binding her other wrist. A cloud of rose and bergamot burst from the floral cluster on the pin’s head.
John waved the poison away. “Boring, High Lady. Too used to boys to battle men. Now, about those veins.”
The tip of the letter opener became the blade as it slid smoothly into John’s hand.
I could have happily planted it between her ribs myself, but I stepped in his path. “John.”
He stopped, cocked his head, and the blade retreated to tip from his sleeve once again. “Fingers readying to grab the house spells? I should have known that was bait, should have anticipated you’d be here.”
“She did change the spells. Looking after a household is just not her forte.”
“I also do better when I am the lead—not the one being led on a chase.”
The last piece. “You sent Frostwood to Marietta.”
John banged his free hand against the back of the guest chair. “There you go! Took you long enough, Gabriel.”
“You wanted me to know.”
John perched on the arm of the chair. With his view of Melissande blocked, he seemed almost relaxed.
“You have incredibly good resources and a knack for choosing the right options. Emotion blinded you for much of this investigation, but even with that handicap I hoped you would figure it out. That you would join me.”
“Join you?” I sent a pulse through the vow marks to Marietta. Be ready to run. But to look away from John would be folly.
“You have as much a right to revenge as I do. We will have to get rid of that sycophant Worley, of course, as well as any of the other deviants. I had quite hoped you would do away with Worley a week past.”
“How?”
“How what? How could you have killed Worley? Oh, any number of ways.” He lifted a brow. “I suppose that having Marietta there would have been a bit of a damper, but a clean push from the roof would have put Worley to rights.”
“No, how could you kill them? And in that manner?”
“Very, very easily. And with no small amount of vigor and satisfaction.” His eyes gleamed as they looked over my shoulder. “Who do you think has the control now, High Lady of Steelcrest and Nightshade?”
That she didn’t answer was all the answer needed.
“You could have taken your revenge in a different manner, John. Or moved on.”
“Moved on?” He laughed. “As you did? Burying yourself case after case, helping those in need? You took your revenge too, Gabriel. I helped you with a few of those favors against them, though you had no idea I knew.”
“When did you find out about me?”
John snorted. “They chattered about you ad nauseum. Their journals were full of you. It was hardly a challenge. I had such high hopes. Especially when you started upon your path of destruction. When you shut down the club, I was thrilled. I loved you the most then. Walking a path to rid the world of them.” His eyes grew anguished.
“When you stopped at ruining them, socially and monetarily, I could have killed you myself.”
The hate shone in his eyes. As did the adoration. I didn’t know which scared me more. “Why didn’t you?”
“I found myself unwilling. There was still a chance, after all. I had time. Time to plan and scheme. Time to change your mind.”
“Why did you think you would change my mind, John?”
“Been missing your investigator?”
“Yes. You paid him off?” Or worse.
“Cost me a pretty penny too. But it is better for you this way. Better not to have someone disloyal on your payroll. Besides, I needed you to remain unaware, for the thought of completion to build. I knew you wouldn’t go along with the first murder.
But given some time for the idea to sink in, for you to think your own brother the killer—with me feeding Lucian just enough information about the case for him to act guilty around you, for all the wrong reasons, of course… Yes, then things might look different.”
Anger choked me. “Different?”
“More acceptable. Enticing. Righteous. Do not lie. You wouldn’t have turned Lucian over to the magistrates.”
“I would have handled it. Quietly. My way.”
“Your punishment. Your justice. But you would not have allowed him to be tried in the courts and hanged.”
“I would try to do the same for you, John,” I said softly.
The vow marks pulsed back. Trust. Holding. Here.
“We could kill her now, Gabriel.” The eager, pleading look was so strange on his face that I had to force myself not to take a step away. “Together.”
My gaze brushed his sleeve. “You believe I will do it. That I will help you finish it.”
“I hope.” The blade fully materialized. “It’s a funny thing, to have hope. I easily have revenge. Justice. Friendship. But hope is a precious thing.”
He stroked the grip. “I left it to fate. Whether you would stay ignorant, join me, or be my downfall.” His eyes completely focused on me, his gaze piercing. “Are you my brother or my enemy, Gabriel?”
“I am your brother in life, John.” My stomach hurt. My throat hurt. My heart hurt. “But I am your enemy in this.”
His teeth clenched, his lips trying to form expression and failing, pushing together into a straight line instead. “I see. This is rather an awkward moment, in that case. Will you at least step aside?”
He glanced to Marietta, as if suddenly realizing that she was still in the room.
A true gift. “Your brother will be released. I meant for it to happen with Octavia’s death.
There is no real reason they can hold him.
And we can give them Worley, if it comes to that.
I’ve been helping Worley evade Gabriel this week, just to keep things interesting. To keep on track. To get the journals.”
“Alcroft,” she whispered.
“Come, Marietta, you know it to be true.”
“John, leave her alone.” Steel this time. Not even encased in satin.
John smiled faintly. “She is good for you, Gabriel. I won’t harm her.” He looked across the desk. “However, I do ask that you not stand in my way.”
“John, I can’t—”
“No, Gabriel! Do not disappoint me.”
I positioned myself to intercept him, his eyes gone wild, his mouth tight—his body lines pitched for battle.
The door slammed open. The household spells wrenched free of John’s grip, stifling and absolute, as High Lord Steelcrest stepped into the room, cloak snapping, my father and Lucian behind him. Listening in secret this whole time, no doubt.
My fingers curled into fists as Arthur Dresden sauntered in behind.
John stepped back, the nightmare blade dropping to his side. “High Lord Steelcrest.”
“Lord Alcroft. I am very disappointed in you.”
“I am as well, Lord Alcroft,” Melissande said, smoothing her hands over her dress and rising. Six dark glares focused on her. Dresden’s expression was unreadable. “One would think after all we did, taking you in—”
“Silence, woman.” Steelcrest’s voice was flat. “I will deal with you later.”
She jerked back, bumping into a display case. “I can explain—”
“Silence,” he roared.
The High Lady of Steelcrest and Nightshade visibly shrank, her eyes wide, a thin band of excitement in their depths. I curled my lip.
“High lord,” John said. “I beg you to understand—”
“As much as I am…displeased…with what I’ve heard, and with my wife, Alcroft, I cannot allow you to harm her.”
She smiled, a smug little smile.
“I, however, can do with her as I please.” Unemotional eyes looked to her. “And I find myself inclined for once to do just that.”
Her smile dropped.
“You have brought calamity on this household, high lady. Your previous petty plays mere appetizers, in retrospect. When Master Crane asked to leave, I knew you were somehow responsible for his sudden want of retirement. I allowed it, handicapping myself in the process. I should have watched you more closely, I see.”
“You should have watched me at all,” she snapped bitterly.
Marietta’s hand slipped into mine and I squeezed it.
“I suppose I should have done just that.” The rest of the room’s inhabitants were silent bystanders. “Pity you should disgrace the name Steelcrest so.”
She laughed, a wild, fierce sound. “It didn’t take much. And I enjoyed it.” Her eyes swept me then John. “Every second.”
Steelcrest’s face remained impassive, but his hand fisted around the back of a chintz chair. “You will pay for this, high lady.”
“My name is Melissande.”