“Mina,” Letty said, her voice suddenly breaking as fresh tears filled her eyes.
“What’s this now, love?” Mina came around the bed to take Letty into her arms.
“I am to be married in two days,” she said.
“Married? What? To whom?” her maid asked, stunned.
“To Lord Morrey.” Letty sniffed, feeling the damnable tears coming.
“Oh, my poor dear. Let’s sit, and you can tell me all about it.”
Letty and Mina sat at the foot of her bed, and she told the maid all that had transpired at the ball and afterward, even the part about Morrey being a spy.
“But you must keep it all a secret, Mina, please.”Letty knew she shouldn’t be telling servants something like this, but she had to talk with someone about it, someone aside from James and Gillian.
“I have never once betrayed you, my lady, and I won’t start now.” The maid gave her a gentle nudge. “Let’s get you undressed. Shall I bring you a glass of milk and a few biscuits, perhaps one of Cook’s tarts if there is one left?”
“Only if it’s not too much trouble.” The hour was late, and she had heard the clock chime in the corridor. She didn’t want to keep her maid up very late.
“For you? Nothing is ever too much trouble.” Mina clucked her tongue in a motherly way and worked at the laces on the back of Letty’s gown. Once Letty wore only her nightgown, she pulled on the robedechambre, leaving the floral-patterned robe open, not bothering to do up the tiny pearl buttons. She eased into her bed, the sheets a little cold, but she would soon warm up with the steady fire burning in the hearth across the room. Mina returned with aglass of warm milk, along with a few biscuits and a raspberry tart served on a blue china dish.
“Now, tuck in and rest. We’ll have much to plan for on the morrow.” Mina kissed her forehead, much like she had done when Letty was a child. She hadn’t done that in a very long time. It made Letty want to cry. She’d been a grown woman far earlier than other girls her age, having to care for a mother whose memory had faded until it was no more. And now—now she felt like a very small girl who was facing the world far too soon.
“Good night, Mina,” Letty said softly.
Now left alone with her thoughts, Letty replayed the events of the night over and over, trying to puzzle out her reactions, especially to Lord Morrey. When the man held a knife at her throat, and later when she was nearly shot, she ought to have been terrified. And while shehad been afraid, the reason she’d trembled as Lord Morrey held her in his arms was because of something else. It was another sort of fear entirely,which made no sense at all.
Letty finished her milk, licked the sugar from her fingers, and set the plate and glass on the nightstand. She got up and cleaned her teeth before climbing back into bed and blowing out the candle. She watched the smoke coil in the moonlight from the windows. The light and smoke seemed to merge, forming a mist that enthralled her. It made her think of Morrey. He was like mist, smoke, and moonlight, a mysterious dream.
Could a woman marry a man like that and be happy?
A feminine figure dressed in a deep-blue silk gown with a black velvet cape wrapped about her walked down the narrow mews behind Twinings tea shop. She held her breath against the stench that lingered in the still night air around her. The stagnant smells brought back memories of home, far across the English Channel.
She moved quickly through the shadows, careful to keep out of sight. Dangerous men prowled the streets like wild dogs, and while this woman could take care of herself, she was loath to tangle with anyone tonight. Her fingers gripped the hilt of a pistol, ready just in case.
Soon she reached a private room at a certain coaching inn that belonged to the man she’d come to see. She knocked on the door and listened for the command to enter. Only then did she step inside and pull the hood back to show her face.
“My beautiful Camille,” a deep voice purred in delight. “How did you fare in your task this evening?”
Her master, the man she knew only as the Lord of Shadows, sat in a chair by the fire.
“Bonsoir,monsieur.” She curtsied deeply, her eyes cast to the ground.
“That wasn’t an answer.”
“The English lady spy is still alive. I could not get her alone to force the message from her lips. But I did find out her name. It is as you suspected, Lady Edwards.” Camille waited for her master’s wrath. She had failed him as his left hand and would most likely be punished.
“Tell me what happened.”
She took a seat by the fire and told of how she’d gained entry to Lady Allerton’s ball. She explained locating the woman she’d been sent to torture for the message and then dispose of when no one was around.
“You know how these English ladies are—they are never alone. They always travel in flocks like twittering little birds. Lady Edwards left the ballroom with another woman. I followed them, but a man came between me and my target.”
“How?”
“I do not know, monsieur. I had memorized all the faces in the ballroom, of course, butI did not recognize him.He seemed to materialize out of the shadows.” Camille was proud of her uncanny memory. She could recall any picture or diagram and could even remember every word ever spoken to her. She’d once been a lowly stage actress in Paris, barely surviving on the coins tossed at her feet after each performance.
But this man had been sitting in the front row at her last performance. He had not tossed a coin. He had, with quiet intensity, met her gaze as he left a letter, sealed with wax, at her feet. She had retrieved it and opened it later that night. It had given her instructions, told her how to find him, and he had closed it with the following words: Someone with your talents can be a master of her own fate.
She had been afraid to go at first, but she had no future, and in the end, natural curiosity and hope had driven her into this man’s arms and his bed. But she had not regretted it. The master was a wonderful lover, and he did indeed see her talents for what they were. He gave her power, a future with money and niceclothes, and a life beyond anything she’d ever imagined. All she had to do was obey him whenever he gave her a mission.
“Tell me more of this man.” The Lord of Shadows had risen from his chair by the fire and began to pace.
“He was tall, as tall as you, dark-haired, eyes the color of the sky before a winter storm.” Camille thought the man beautiful, perhaps even more beautiful than her master, but she would never admit that.
“You like his eyes?” the monsieur inquired curiously.
“Yes. They are intense, a mixture of violence and gentleness. They confuse me, monsieur.”
“Did you notice anything else about this man?”
“He wore fine clothes, and yet until he came between me and my target, I had not seen him at all at the ball. Someone of his appearance should have stood out to me.”
“What happened when you went after Lady Edwards?” Her master drew her back to her narration of the events.
“He reached the retiring room first. He attacked the woman who had accompanied Lady Edwards. I think perhaps he thought that second woman was me, but then he released her and spoke to them both in hushed tones. The two ladies seemed to be well acquainted. I believe Lady Edwards’s companion may also know the message. They were speaking to each other, and they were there when the man joined them, all of them whispering. I believe Lady Edwards shared the message with them. This other lady must be greatly important.”