Arcana (40 page)

Despite my depleted energy, I call every drop of power left inside me to stop the pistol from discharging. A sharp cramp nearly doubles me over as a blast of white light shoots from my palm. The weapon and Lord Blackburn’s hand are frozen in place.

Lord Thornewood lunges forward. His fist hits Lord Blackburn square on the jaw, knocking his head back. Before Lord Blackburn can react, he hits him again—an uppercut just under his chin. Lord Blackburn swings back, and his movement frees him from my weak hold on the pistol. Tavi circles them, searching for an opening. Before he can act, Lord Thornewood barrels into Lord Blackburn. They crash to the ground, and a scream bursts from my mouth as they wrestle for control of the weapon.

A dark desperation burns within me. I will not stand aside weakly, hoping for a favorable outcome. I force my uncooperative limbs forward.

The fox, forgotten until now, appears at my side. Its clear eyes stare up at me, waiting.

“Help me,” I say, my voice so twisted with anguish I barely recognize it.

It steps forward and bows its head. As if I have done it a thousand times before, I touch my hand to its soft forehead.

A surge of pure energy fills me, and a blinding light emanates from my skin, noticeable now even to my own eyes. I think of my grandmother, the queen, shining as brightly as the sun. This power makes me feel as though I can bend even the elements to my will. I move as though gravity has no hold over me; flashing to the wrestling men’s sides. My entire being is focused on stopping Lord Blackburn.

I thrust myself between the two of them and grab hold of Lord Blackburn’s arms with such force that he loses his grip on the pistol. Lord Thornewood and Tavi race to retrieve it, but my attention shifts to the hateful ring on Lord Blackburn’s finger. I wrench it free and use some of the power pulsing through me to crush it in my fist.

“Katherine—” Lord Blackburn cuts himself off shakily. He cannot even look at me, but shields his eyes as though he gazes up at the sun.

Every threat, every moment of fear he inflicted upon me tears through my mind. No amount of blackmail will keep this man from looming in the background, continuing his threats against my family until we are forced to constantly look over our shoulders, waiting for the day when the Order of the Eternal Sun finds us and opens the portal to the other realm—or worse.

I think of Lucy and Robert, my father, of myself and Lord Thornewood. I think of the destruction this one man could reap in our lives—has
already
brought upon us.

My fingers encircle Lord Blackburn’s wrists, squeezing until he grits his teeth. “Katherine,
please.”

I feel his own power just under the surface of his skin, racing like an erratic pulse. It buffets against my own energy, testing the invisible walls this immense power has erected around itself. The power within me is like a hurricane compared to the tame breeze contained within Lord Blackburn. And then I realize what I must do.

I close my eyes.

The energy surges within me, desperate for release, and I let it.

Lord Blackburn smiles in surprise and triumph as his innate ability greedily sucks up my released energy. But his expression rapidly turns to panic as his body fills with more raw power than it could ever contain.

For a moment, he shines as brightly as my grandmother did in the Sylvani hall.

I let go as he falls to the ground in convulsions as though he is being electrocuted, crying out for help in a strangled voice.

I watch unblinking as he gasps his last breath. The cruel darkness leaves his eyes until they are as lifeless as glass.

A warm hand touches my shoulder, and I turn reluctantly toward Lord Thornewood. If he didn’t revile me before, then what must he think after I used my power to take a life before him? But his face holds no hint of censure, only relief.

He pulls me into his arms. “Katherine,” he says, his voice rumbling beneath my ear, “he left you with little choice, and if you had not killed him—” he tilts my chin up to meet his eyes, “I would have.”

I glance down at the body at our feet, nausea churning inside me. I shiver as if in shock. I cannot believe Lord Blackburn is dead. I cannot believe that I—

“It’s over,” he says. “I haven’t the faintest idea how you did what you did, but it was necessary.’”

“I used his own power against him,” I say quietly. “I filled him with so much energy it stopped his heart.”

Lord Thornewood looks down at Lord Blackburn’s still form grimly. “He would have never stopped coming after you or your sister. What happened here was nothing other than self-defense, Katherine. His actions sealed his fate long before you entered the fray.” He turns to Tavi, waiting silently nearby. Despite his exotic coloring, he has the ability to disappear from notice, and yet, when he so chooses, he can be rather intimidating. “Tavi, would you be so good as to fetch the innkeeper? Tell him we witnessed Lord Blackburn collapse with convulsions.”

Tavi bows. “Right away, my lord.”

I watch him go. “He can be trusted? He won’t . . . tell anyone what he has really seen?”

“And tell them . . . what exactly? You touched Lord Blackburn and he fell to the ground with convulsions? It sounds as if the man had a terrible medical condition.” When I fail to appear relieved, Lord Thornewood says, “Tavi is my most trusted and loyal servant. I employ his entire family. He would never betray me.”

“I believe you.”

He offers me his arm. “Come, there is no reason we should continue to stand here, agonizing over what has already happened. Tavi will fetch the innkeeper, who will in turn contact the proper authorities.”

“Yes, you’re right,” I say, but something calls my attention back to the portal. It shimmers like mist in between the rocks, just a hint of the world that lays beyond visible.

The fox appears again, hovering near the rocks.

The gateway will close,
his voice whispers in my mind.

I glance up at Lord Thornewood, but though he faces the fox, he makes no sign of awareness. In spite of the terrible memory I witnessed in Sylvania, there is still the part of me that longs for the beauty of that realm, for those who are like me.

Lord Thornewood touches my hand upon his arm, his own hand warm and strong. And I know. I can never leave now; I’m as bound to him as my mother was bound to my father.

The fox bows his head and disappears through the portal. A sense of loss threatens to rise up and engulf me, but I stamp it back down.

Lord Thornewood glances down at me as though sensing my hesitation. “Are you ready to go home?” he asks, his voice quiet.

“Where is home, my lord?” Not to my grandmother’s, surely.

“I swore to your father I’d bring you home to Bransfield,” he says, and I can hear the smile in his voice. “It was the condition he set when I refused to let him accompany me.”

“I can go home?” I ask, wistfully. I’m still in shock I won’t have to leave this world behind.

He laughs softly. “You may.” He tips my chin up to meet his stare. “To one of your homes, at least.”

I draw in a breath as I remember my sister. “Oh, but what of Lucy? We cannot leave her at Grandmama’s. We must go back to London immediately.”

“Your sister is safe. She and your brother are on their way to Bransfield as we speak.”

My head drops in relief. “I cannot thank you enough, my lord. For everything. But how in the world was Tavi able to find me?”

A muscle in his jaw twitches, his face tormented. “We received word that he had eloped with you just yesterday, and we knew he would avoid the trains. The Great North Road was his only option, and Tavi and I rode all night until we came across the destroyed carriage. It wasn’t long after that we discovered you by the road.”

Mama.
Logic told me to go, to give up on this world entirely, but just as her last journal entry said, instinct led me to the hillside—where Lord Thornewood found me. “And I cannot tell you how happy I am you did.”

He smiles and gives a gentle squeeze of my hand. “Come, we have a long carriage ride ahead of us. I am glad Tavi had the forethought to order my coach sent to the inn to await us.”

I walk beside him, a dark cloud eclipsing some of the happiness. “Is it wrong to feel relieved over the death of someone?”

“Not when it’s over a man who would have never stopped trying to hurt you or the ones you love.”

I glance back at the field where Lord Blackburn still lay. “Still, I fear this guilt will only grow in time.”

Lord Thornewood stops and turns to me. “Katherine, you did what you had to do, what I would have done in your position. Let him not continue to have a hold over you, else what you did will be for nothing. Lord Blackburn would have killed either one of us given the chance. Perhaps I should feel regret for the end of his miserable existence, but I find I cannot.” He touches my cheek. “I would never be able to live with myself if anything happened to you.”

I lean into his hand, blinking back tears.

“So please,” he says, his face serious, “tell me, has he told any others in the Order about you? About your family?”

“He assured me he never alerted them to the truth about me. I believe him—if only because he wanted me, and access to my mother’s realm, all to himself.” I deliberately omit the fact there may be others who suspect. I cannot bring myself to burden Lord Thornewood—not yet. Not after he has done so much for me already.

Some of the tension leaves his face, and he continues toward the inn again. “It’s a relief to hear I won’t have to keep you under lock and key,” he says with a teasing grin.

I scoff, a small smile playing across my lips. “As if you could.”

He only smiles and leads me toward a black coach with the Thornewood crest emblazoned on the side parked a short distance away. His hand is warm on the small of my back as he helps me in, and it lingers there for a moment longer than necessary. Suddenly, I feel much too warm.

He boosts himself up and takes the seat across from me, lounging comfortably so his legs touch mine. With a word from him, the carriage takes off—much more smoothly than Lord Blackburn’s.

“You have questions,” he says, a relaxed half-grin on his face.

“I have a plethora of questions, my lord,” I say with a smile. Though, with his leg touching mine, and the closeness of the carriage, I have difficulty thinking of a single one.

We stare at each other for a moment or two. “Perhaps you will allow me to ask a single question?” he says.

I wave my hand in a vague “go ahead” gesture.

His easy smile disappears. “Why did you leave Thornewood?”

I glance down at my lap. “I thought it rather obvious.”

“Not to me,” he says. “Were you unhappy with your care?”

“No, of course—”

“Were you unhappy with me?”

My eyebrows draw low over my eyes. “That’s more than one question.”

“Well, what was I supposed to think, Katherine? I declare myself to you, promise to ask for your hand in marriage, watch you nearly die, and then as soon as you are better, you leave without a word?”

I stare at him, rather dumbfounded. I never thought of it in such a way. “I did not think—”

“You’re absolutely right. You did not think. And if we are to have a successful marriage, we must both get in the habit of thinking of the other person.”

“We might also have a better marriage if you would kindly stop interrupting me,” I snap.

He grins. “God, you’re a handful.”

“And you’re incorrigible.”

He tilts his head. “So I’ve been told.”

Memories of the past few days, of the anguish I felt not knowing if I would ever see him again, pushed aside all happy thoughts of our reunion. “I must know something,” I say, my voice tight.

He nods seriously. “Anything.”

“Where were you?” I ask, my voice breaking. Tears fill my eyes against my will. “Where were you when I was forced back to London with my grandmother? When I couldn’t leave her house? When Lord Blackburn blackmailed me into eloping?”

A rustle of movement, and then the seat sinks as he sits beside me. “It seems we both have been operating under misunderstandings. I never wanted to leave you, Katherine. You must believe me.” He moves his hand down to my lap to grip mine. “But I could not let Eliza destroy your reputation—your family’s reputation. More importantly, as soon as I discovered the truth about your abilities, I was certain that was the reason Lord Blackburn had been singling you out.”

My lips part in surprise. “You knew the truth about the Order when I was there at Thornewood?”

“Only just. Tavi arrived with confirmation that Lord Blackburn was a member of such a nefarious brotherhood the morning of your accident.”

Suddenly, Lord Thornewood’s apparent anxiety at the arrival of his man of business all those days ago made sense. “And you knew Eliza would do everything she could to make sure all of Society knew the truth about me,” I say, finally piecing everything together. I think back to what Lucy said when I’d first woken up. That Lord Thornewood lied for me and insisted Eliza was confused.

“It did seem to be her goal,” Lord Thornewood says, “but I was also terrified it would confirm the truth about you to Lord Blackburn. You needn’t concern yourself over Eliza, though.” He retrieves
The Examiner
from the seat across from me and turns to the gossip section. “Read it,” he says with a nod when I look at him questioningly.