It was the knowledge that, for all that she hurt now, it would hurt that much worse if she had to do this after—what? Weeks? Months? Evenyearsat his side? There was no other ending, no matter what he professed. There was nothing but tragedy ahead.
She tried to clean up the mess of her face a bit when the carriage pulled up in front of her rooms, but this stupid bloody lady’s dress didn’t have proper pockets, becauserealladies carried fancy reticules. Letty had borrowed one from Persephone, but she had left it behind in Ezra’s bedchamber. He would have to see to getting it returned himself. She was just lucky that she had a few coins tucked away in the pocket of her cloak.
She paid the driver, who looked as though he was trying very hardnotto notice her disarray. Small mercies, she supposed. She thanked him with only a slightly audible sniffle in her voice, then let herself up the narrow staircase to her chambers.
When she opened the door, she paused. The fire was burning—not banked, but properly burning—yet she had been gone for hours. Had the landlady come in to start a fire? That would have been extraordinarily strange; she only ever came in to clean once a week, and she was unlikely to risk burning down her business by leaving a fire unattended for so long.
Letty was trying to decide if it was worth it to go downstairs and ask, or if her half-dressed state, not to mention the late hour, was likely to get her summarily evicted for lack of character when she heard it.
“Hello, my darling,” purred a voice she had hoped never to hear again.
Every inch of her froze. She could not even breathe. She could not even blink. Maybe her heart itself stopped.
Peter Dugley, the man who had haunted her every nightmare these past years, stepped into the circle of firelight, wearing a self-satisfied smirk that made Letitia’s stomach churn.
“Wh-what are you doing here?” she managed. She stumbled half a step back. She was closer to the door. She could make it. She could get free.
Peter pulled a pistol from his pocket.
“Now, now, my pet,” he crooned, as if they were sweethearts, and not at all as though he was brandishing a weapon in her direction. “Is that any way to greet me after all this time? I must say, I was very put out when you didn’t respond to my letter. I know you received it. But maybe you thought I was bluffing. Maybe you thought I didn’t mean it when I told you that you would never escape me.”
Letitia’s eyes kept darting between Peter’s face and the bright silver of the pistol in his hand. She wanted to believe that he wouldn’t use it, or that he was a wretched shot, but she had worked in the household for too long to let that falsehood stand. He was far too comfortable with firearms for her to dare to try to outrun him.
“I... I am sorry,” she stammered. “I didn’t?—”
“You’resorry,” he mocked, speaking over her. “Yes, I am quite sure that you are sorrynow.” He shook his head at her. “But I am afraid that you aren’t nearly as sorry as you are going to be. You have been very naughty, my girl. I tried to be patient, you know. I was pleased when I heard that the family you were working for—that little rebellion of yours—were coming to Belgium."
Letty shivered at this indication that he had been watching her for so long. Just as horrifying was this idea that he had built up a whole story about them in his head, that he’d really believed that she was just having a missish tizzy before ultimately andinevitably returning to him. Like this was a romantic novel where the maiden played coy to make the hero prove his love.
“But then,” he went on, frowning scoldingly, “you declined to come with them. You declined to come back tome.As if I would have let you stay working for those people for long. I would have provided for you, dearest, you know that. But you threw my generosity in my face. And behavior like that simply cannot go unpunished. But it is for your own good. You will see that. Eventually.”
“Please,” she tried, because what else was there to do in the face of that weapon. “Please.”
“Hush now,” he said. “It’s time for you to come with me. To comehomeat last. And my darling?”
His smile bloomed like a poisonous flower.
“If you try to scream, I promise that you will regret it.”
CHAPTER 23
Ezra had to practically prop his head in his hand as he watched Iris and Hermes race around the garden. They had been doing this for the past half an hour at least, with no signs of either of them growing fatigued.
He wished he could borrow just a little bit of that energy. He felt as weary as he had ever been.
It had been a week since Letitia left him. A week of silence. A week during which he had scarcely slept a wink, as if she had taken something fundamental of his with her when she left, and he was slowly realizing he could not survive without it.
But no doubt, such maudlin thoughts were just because he was so blastedtired. Once he managed to get a good night’s sleep, it would all be fine.
He had been telling himself that for days. It did not get more convincing with time.
“Uncle Ezra!” Iris called, spinning around for no reason anyone over the age of four could understand, then rushing toward him with her loyal hound following close behind.
“Yes, sweetheart?” he asked. Iris was the only person who could bring out a genuine smile these past few days.
“I just had asplendididea,” she said, clasping her hands under her chin. She had recently learned the wordsplendid, and now used it to describe everything even remotely pleasing.
He wished Letty were here. She would have been as charmed by it as he was.
