The Forest Lord (52 page)

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All four of Hartley's feet touched the earth, and she tried to dismount from the great height of his back. He knelt to let her down. His sides worked like bellows, but he scrambled back up and swung his head toward Hartsmere.

Only the park lay between them and the house. "Donal?" she asked.

Hartley snorted and tossed his head. She did not question but set off across the park at a run. Snow flew from her feet, numbing them a little more with every step. When she paused to catch her breath, she discovered that Hartley was not with her.

He was no fool. She prayed that he used his magic to find Donal more quickly than she could, and make him safe. She picked up her skirts and ran to the porch as if she herself wore Faerie wings.

Claudia stepped out of the door, black clad as if in deepest mourning. Donal was not with her.

"
Eden?" she said, unable to disguise her consternation. She searched the drive for a carriage and stared at
Eden's wet-hemmed gown and sodden slippers. "What are you doing here? How is it—" She stopped, and her expression grew alien and remote. "Did my brother send for you?"

Eden
knew then that her worst conjectures fell far short of the truth. Claudia's face was gaunt, with deep hollows under her eyes and cheekbones. She had clearly not been sleeping. But there was a frightening air about her, a look in her eyes that spoke of triumph.

If
Eden's father was here, he had succeeded in finding Claudia. But something was very wrong.

"Where is Donal?" she demanded. "What have you done with him?"

Real pain was briefly visible in Claudia's face before she controlled it. "He is well. No harm has come to him." She sighed. "You should not have come here,
Eden. You should have stayed in
London with Rushborough."

"You drugged me. You lied. You took my son from me and brought him back to Hartsmere. I do not know what you intend, but it ends now. Take me to Donal at once."

Claudia's features relaxed. "You are so ignorant,
Eden—ignorant and innocent. I had hoped to spare you what I have suffered. But since it is no longer possible—" She gestured toward the door. "Come inside before you take a chill."

Incredulous at her aunt's calm,
Eden remained where she was. "All I want is Donal. I will take him away, and you need never see either one of us again."

"As simple as that?
You have no desire, no curiosity to know why I lied to you, as you say, and drugged you, and sent you from Hartsmere without your son?"

The cold penetrating
Eden's gown was as nothing to the chill brought by Claudia's words. "Aunt, you are ill. I can see that you have not slept. If you will only take me to Donal, we can talk about anything you wish."

"I am mad. Is that not what you mean?" She smiled sadly. "But I am not. I have been waiting for this a very long time." She gestured again toward the door. "You need have no fear of Hartsmere now, my dear. The monster is dead. I killed him. And if you wish to see your son again, you will hear what I must tell you."

Eden
said a quick, silent prayer. She recognized that she would have to use deception to get Donal back, for there was no reasoning with Claudia. The only way she might gain the advantage was through understanding her aunt's motives, and making contact with Mrs. Byrne and others in the house. She would be cooperative for as long as necessary. And while she kept Claudia occupied, Hartley was free to act.

"Hartley is dead?" she whispered, feigning horror.

"You will come to understand why it was necessary," Claudia said, almost gently. "Come." She held out her hand.

Eden
could not bring herself to take it. She stared at the open door, letting the whole gamut of her emotions reflect on her face. "I will hear what you have to say," she said. "And then you will let me see my son."

Claudia did not answer. She led the way into the formal drawing room.

"Where are all the servants?"
Eden asked.

"They are otherwise engaged." Claudia sat and poured a cup of tea. She offered it to
Eden, shrugging at her niece's refusal.

"There is so much to tell you," she said, gazing at
Eden without a trace of shame or unease. "Let us speak of the past—both near and far away. Let us converse about love, and how it can destroy all our hopes."

"Love cannot destroy,"
Eden said. "Not a love that is real."

"Do you speak from experience?" Claudia sipped at her tea, but the cup rattled the saucer when she set it down. "You did not love Spencer. Or will you tell me now that you loved the monster?" She sighed. "I see that he succeeded in bewitching you after all. I am sorry for your pain, my dear niece."

The urge to shout a denial was overwhelming.
Find our son
, she wished Hartley. "You still have not told me why," she said. "I was right before, was I not, when I guessed that you had personal reasons for your actions? You hated Hartley enough to kill him, and it was not out of concern for me."

"It was, and is. But you have no conception of my reasons." She reached for the cup again and paused. Her hand trembled. "I shall explain, and perhaps it will make it easier for you to comply with my wishes. I would hope that you would do so willingly."

"Do what?"

Claudia felt as if she were drifting back to that terrible time, so many years ago, when the dreams of her young life had died with her husband. He must be dead, by now… foxes lived less than a decade, if that. For Lord Michael Raines, death would have been a blessing.

"Once upon a time," she said, "a man came to terrible grief when he trespassed upon the realm of the monster who fathered your son—before your father's mistake, before your own birth. But no one ever knew the truth of what became of my husband—until now."

"
Your
… husband?"

Eden
's puzzlement only increased Claudia's pain. "We were both young and very much in love. We visited Hartsmere in the autumn, while Lord Bradwell was away shooting at one of his other estates. Hartsmere seemed peaceful and very private for a newlywed couple, and Raines was eager to try his hand at bagging a few grouse near the wood." She reached again for the cup and released her breath when she managed to pick it up without spilling the tea. "I knew nothing of the local legends or prohibitions against hunting on Hartsmere land, except the vaguest of stories that I naturally ignored. Raines had only his gun, not even so much as a dog, so it all seemed a lark. We took a picnic up the fell to the edge of the forest."

Eden
's face was as pale as the morning mist. She guessed what was to come.

"Raines was an active man. Naturally his wanderings took him into the wood, so ancient and beguiling. When he had been gone some time, I followed him. And I arrived…" After all this time, it was still difficult to speak it aloud. "I arrived in time to see the monster cry the forest's wrath upon my love, and turn him into a fox—a creature to be hunted as he had hunted them. I never saw him again. Everyone believed the story I told… that he had fallen from a cliff. His body was not found."

Eden
looked very much as if she wished to sink deep into her chair and disappear. She straightened instead, and reached out her hand.

"Aunt—Claudia—I am sorry.
More sorry than I can express.
I… grieve for your loss."

"Then you will understand why, when I learned Cornelius Fleming's true identity—when your father told me of his bargain—I could think only of revenge and protecting you from him so that you should not suffer as I had."

"Why… why did you not tell me what you knew, if you wished to stop the marriage?"

"How could I expect you, or any sane person, to believe me? And by the time I was able to act, you had eloped with him." She caught her breath. "After Raines's destruction, I learned all I could of the monster's nature. I consulted scholars and listened to the tales of country folk and madmen. When your father told me of your elopement and that he intended to follow and stop the evil marriage, I encouraged him. I gave him the iron filings I had prepared, and told him to put them in a drink for Cornelius Fleming."

Eden
blanched. "I saw," she said. "I saw the cup on the floor—"

"Yes. He sensed the poison before he drank. Just as he avoided the traps laid by the American hunter I employed. But he did not survive the iron ball I had specially made for my pistol."

Eden
bowed her head. Claudia wanted very badly to comfort the girl, but it would do no good. Not yet.

"When I realized that he had revealed himself to you at Caldwick, I knew that you would flee—and he would follow, to take back his offspring. I expected him to expose himself, sooner or later. And he did so. His death set us both free."

Eden
stared at her. "And what… what has my son to do with this? What did you plan for him?"

"He is not human,
Eden. He is the monster's child. Surely you see that he cannot remain with you in normal society." She closed her eyes. "I was prepared to do anything, commit any act, in my desire to protect you—
lie
, scheme, employ blackmail… Yes, I forced
Nancy to give you the laudanum daily, so that you could not interfere. I regretted the need for such acts. I had, at one time, even come to believe myself capable of harming your son. But I could not."

"You harmed him enough when you sent him to live with cruel strangers in
Ireland,"
Eden accused bitterly. "You hid his very existence from me, not caring how much he suffered—"

"I did not know he had been mistreated, not until he arrived at Hartsmere. You see, Spencer was my tutor in blackmail. He discovered a letter I had written to the Irish family who were supposed to raise the boy and keep his origins secret. He was much amused to take revenge upon both of us by telling you as he expired. But the folk to whom I sent Donal were decent people, and I paid them well. My last inquiry revealed that they had died and left the boy to others, who resented the burden. By the time I had that information, Donal was at Hartsmere."

Eden
worked her hands open and closed, open and closed. "And now you will send him away once more?
As you did five years ago?"

"Yes, I sent him away. I misled your father into believing the child was dead and filled the coffin with the baby's swaddling cloths and a few strands of hair to deceive the monster. You have no doubt observed that his senses are very keen. Even so, I could not be sure that he wouldn't find the lad." She couldn't conceal her pity. "Donal, like his father, can bring only destruction upon you. I do this for—"

"No!"
Eden shot up from her chair, her expression so violent that Claudia prepared for an assault. "He is
my son
—"

"And mine."

Claudia forgot the response she was about to make. She turned. Hartley Shaw stood in the doorway, very much alive, his eyes blazing with emerald fire. Something half visible flickered near his face and then disappeared.

"
Eden," Hartley said softly. Claudia was sickened to see the tenderness in his eyes. "Are you well?"

She rushed toward him. "Where is Donal?"

"There is a stranger here, a man," he said. "He has the boy somewhere on the grounds. I go now to find them."

Claudia pushed aside her shock and stood.
"How pleasant to see you again, Mr. Shaw.
Not only alive, but still in control of my niece."
She gestured about the room. "Won't you join us?"

Hartley's gaze shifted to Claudia. "I heard something of what you told Eden, Lady Claudia. I did not see you that day in the forest, long ago. I thought the trespasser was alone. I acted rashly and without mercy. I am sorry."

Claudia laughed. "Sorry. How touching. You have learned human emotions from
Eden, have you?
Pity and compassion, as well as mercy?"

"I have tried."

"But not love." She looked at
Eden. "He has not told you he loves you, has he? But he has used every other means to keep you under his spell, just as I warned you."

Before
Eden could respond, an intruder burst through the door. Breathing hard, Lord Bradwell looked about him, passing over Hartley without recognition. His gaze settled on
Eden.

"I am sorry,
Eden," he said. "I followed them here, but—"

"How did you get free, Cyrus?"
Claudia demanded. "The American—"