Page 44 of Mistress of Misfortune

A terrible calm came over Meredith’s face.

“It was you, all these years. Admit it to me.” She threw the medal at his head and shouted, “Tell me the truth.”

“I have made some mistakes in the past, Cousin.” He wiped at his bloody nose. “Only when we were nippers. As I grew older, I saw the error of my ways. I joined the military.”

“That is why I had no mishaps while you were gone,” Meredith said dully. “You were not here to cause them. You were too far away to hurt me.”

“Did someone discover what you were doing to your cousin?” Thorne asked. “Your mother, perhaps? Did she insist you take that commission, not only to send you away, but to protect Meredith from you?” When Percival blustered, he added, “Do you think Lavinia will lie for you again, Starling?”

“That is why Aunt does not want you to marry me.” Meredith looked sick. “She knew what you had done. What you would keep doing.”

“Meredith, please.” Percival reached out to her. “Thorne can never understand how much affection we have for each other. Did I not offer you my heart? How could I ask you to be my wife if I–” Percival's head rocked back as her hand slapped his cheek.

“Do you have any notion of what you have done?” As he gaped at her, she slapped him again. “You have torn my flesh and burned my limbs and broken my bones, over and over. You have terrified me and scarred me and filled my life with pain and despair.” She almost hit him a third time, but she could not bear to touch him again.

“You don’t understand.” Tears filled Percival's eyes as his lower lip trembled. “I am a Starling.”

“You are a monster,” Lucetta said softly.

“We will let the magistrate decide what to do with him.” Thorne put his arm around Meredith’s shoulders. “Come away now. We have much to discuss.”

The loud crack of gunfire made him whirl, and he saw Lucetta stiffen and look down at the spreading, wet red stain on her gown. As she sank to the floor, Harshad shouted and rushed to her, and then was flung backward as Percival shot him. With a cry Meredith dropped down beside the housekeeper, gathering handfuls of her skirt and pressing it against the wound.

Thorne rushed at Percival, stopping short as the lieutenant produced another double-barreled flintlock and aimed it at Meredith.

“I told you, she is mine,” Percival said, smiling. “And if I cannot marry her, well, then, no one will.”

The door opened behind him, and Lord and Lady Starling came to stand beside their nephew.

“Well, my dear,” Meredith’s mother said. “It is a good thing that you brought two pistols.”

As Percival’s gaze shifted Thorne lunged at him, shoving him into the Starlings and sending the three of them sprawling. He then seized Meredith by the arm and dragged her to her feet. “Run.”

* * *

Meredith draggedher skirts up with both hands as she ran with Thorne into the sitting room and through the second ballroom into a small storage room. That led to the arch to the staircase tower opposite the one that had been sealed off for repairs. There he ducked under the stairs to try the door that led outside, only to find it locked.

“Up,” he said to her.

As they climbed Meredith heard Percival shouting for her, his voice growing closer. “Leave me behind, and hide,” she told him, tugging at his arm. “They won’t hurt me.”

“I am never leaving you again,” Thorne told her, and led her up another flight until they reached the third floor. There he led her through the arch and out toward the servants’ quarters. He stopped by a table filled with the carpenter’s hand tools and some bricks they had removed from one of the hearths. “We’ll lure them up here, then return to the first floor and take Lucetta and Harshad into the hidden library.”

Meredith was almost sure her cousin and the steward were dying, if not dead. Percival likely knew every hiding spot in the hall. She looked down at the blood on her hands, and then at the landing in front of the staircase tower. She knew of only one way to end this feud forever and picked up a brick.

Could she do this, to save Alistair? They were her family. He was the man she loved.

“I love you,” she said as she put her arms around him.

Thorne kissed her. “We will survive this night, I promise you.”

She nodded, and then hit him with the brick. He gave her a single, stunned look before he fell to the floor.

Moving Thorne took all of her strength, but she managed to drag him over and prop him against the wall by the landing. She knelt down, smearing his brow and face with Lucetta’s blood before she did the same to one of the carpenter’s hammers. She then stepped carefully to one side of Thorne, keeping to the part of the flooring that had already been replaced.

Percival and her parents emerged from opposite the staircase tower. Her cousin pointed his pistol at her as they approached, lowering it when he saw how she was standing over Thorne. “Meredith?”

“He was so angry. He said he was going to have all of you put in prison,” she told him, letting the tears spill down her face. “I couldn’t let him do that, so I hit him. I think I’ve killed him, Papa.”