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A small pot rested on the floor.
“Balthazar?” I called again, trying to keep my voice from shaking.
I felt a presence behind me. Heard the scuff of a boot. Startled, I tried to turn, but strong hands were on me too fast, tearing the rifle out of my arms. The smell of woodsmoke and meat clogged my throat.
“Hello, my love.”
The hands turned me around, and I was looking at Edward, but it wasn’t Edward at all. The features were the same, his body hadn’t swelled in size, and yet every part of me knew it was the Beast.
“Did you miss me?” he said with a curling smile.
EIGHTEEN
“DON’T LOOK QUITE THE same, do I?” he added at my shocked silence. “We’ve finally melded, Edward and I. He won physically, but I won mentally. My mind in his body—a bit of a sacrifice, but nothing I can’t work with.”
A thousand fears flowed into my chest. Somehow, the Beast had defeated Edward. He’d won possession of Edward’s body and broken free of his chains, and for all I knew had slaughtered Lucy and the rest of the household. Sweat broke out on my forehead. I knew I should fear him, and I did—but I also felt a terrible kinship.
You and I, the Beast had once said, are more alike than you want to believe.
“How did you break the chains?” I whispered, taking a step back, but the kitchen table prevented me from going any further.
His yellow eyes reflected in the low light—the only part of him that hadn’t belonged to Edward. “I didn’t have to. Lucy unlocked them. She was convinced Edward was still in here, but I had long ago won the battle. It was easy to pose as him, delirious and weak. She planned to slit his throat, reassuring him the entire time it would be only temporary and the mistress of this house would bring him back to life. A neat trick, I must say. But she couldn’t bring herself to kill him. Such a naïve soul.” He took a step closer. “That’s when I dropped the pretense and made myself known.”
Fury flooded my veins. “What did you do with her?”
He clutched the rifle so casually. “It’s sweet how much you care about your friend.”
He was taunting me now, and it made my blood boil. “Where is she, and Elizabeth, and Balthazar?”
“That lumbering puppy should have smelled me a mile away. I suppose he was too distracted by his master bleeding out on the front porch.” He leaned toward me, bracing either arm on the table at my side. “Oh yes, I’ve a keen nose, too.”
“Where are they?” I seethed.
He was only inches away now, close enough to feel the heat coming from his skin. I had always expected the Beast to be cold, but he was burning up with fury, just like I was.
“Don’t worry about them, my love.”
“Stop calling me that! You aren’t even a true person. Edward told us that you’re a manifestation of a disease, a strain of rabies and malaria and damaged animal organs. You’re a virus attacking a host. You can’t live on your own because you were never real!”
His yellow eyes flashed like I’d slapped him.
“Disease?” he whispered. “Yes, it’s true. Perhaps I am born of disease, but what are you born of, Juliet? My perverse nature may be physical, whereas yours is psychological—but no less potent. At least my identity is based in the flesh. Yours is nothing more than ideas your father put in your mind.” He cocked his head. “Has Montgomery told you the secret he’s been keeping from you all these years?”
I clenched my jaw, trying to withhold my fury.
“Ah, he hasn’t. I didn’t think you’d be standing here if he had.”
“If you know it, just tell me,” I snapped. “Stop toying with me.”
“But that’s what I do, my love. Cat and mouse. Predator and prey.” He straightened, the rifle still in one hand. “Unfortunately, I’m growing tired of games. They are childish things, and we are both adults, are we not?” He leaned in, his lips only a breath away from my jaw, and fear knifed in my stomach.
“I saw Montgomery in your father’s laboratory,” he whispered in my ear. “He didn’t know I was watching. He burned an entire file along with a letter. I only saw the first line. To my daughter, it said. It’s time for you to know the truth.”
I drew in a sharp breath. Montgomery had burned a letter that my father had written to me? What had it said, and what were in those files? I’d never felt so confused.
“You’re lying,” I seethed. “Just like you always are. Tell me where Lucy and Elizabeth are.”
“I could take you to them, but I’m not sure you would like it. Did you know there’s a cellar here filled with corpses? Makes me wonder what exactly the mistress has been getting up to—she might be a woman after my own heart. In any case, there was plenty of room for more bodies.”
For a moment, the world seemed to stop. I blinked, replaying his words back through my head, refusing to believe them. Had he killed them?
“No!” I hurled myself at him, clawing his face, but he caught my wrists and laughed low in his throat.
“Don’t act so surprised.” He fought me off easily, then took my hands in his, pulling me into a waltz around the room. “Remember when we kissed beneath the mistletoe at the ball in London? How badly I wanted to dance with you then. Now we can forever. This house can be ours, our private escape from the world.”
“You’re mad!” I yelled. “I’ll kill you if you’ve hurt them!”
“You can certainly try.”
My heart was pounding, telling me to get away from him, but he was too strong. I balled my fists, ready to tear him apart with whatever I could get my hands on in McKenna’s kitchen. The iron skillet. A rolling pin. I just had to get close enough to the cabinets.
A gunshot blasted through the kitchen.
The Beast went stiff. I screamed in shock and pushed away from him as his dark blood splattered onto my dress. The floor was already slick with drops of blood. He lunged for me but I ducked his hand.
“Juliet!” Montgomery slumped in the doorway, one arm bandaged while the other held the rifle. “This way—run!”
I shoved at the Beast, who clawed his fingernails at me. With a growl, I dug my fingers into the mess of his shoulder where the shotgun blast had hit. He roared, and I was able to shove him to the ground, tripping over him in my heavy skirts, and raced toward the door.
“Outside,” I said. “We can lose him in the gardens.”
