Manners and Monsters, #1 by Tilly Wallace

Author:Tilly Wallace [Wallace, Tilly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ribbonwood Press

13

Hannah burst through the door and draped the staircase newel post with her bonnet and shawl. Then she made a beeline for the small, discreet door in the wooden panelling that led down to her father’s laboratory.

The temperature dropped as the darkened stairs took her down into the earth. Her mother had had the rooms dug deep into the ground not to store wine or preserves, but to take advantage of the cooler temperature for Sir Hugh’s work. The solid stone walls had no windows and this far below the house, there was little fear of anything escaping and going on a rampage in London.

Her father had three rooms down here. One was the autopsy or examination room, dominated by the large stone table. Another was the workspace that ran the width of the house, with its long benches and rows of shelves with their specimens. The third room was Sir Hugh’s private study and his consultation room.

The stairs ended in a short, wide corridor that was large enough to manoeuvre a body on a hand cart. Hannah chose the door to the workroom and found her father seated at the long bench, peering at a specimen under his microscope.

“We need to study the type of brains,” she burst out. Like a kettle letting off steam, she was relieved to finally unburden herself of the ideas building in her head.

Her father peered at her over the rims of his spectacles. “We did—mouse, cow, pig, and sheep. None worked, except they made the ladies less aware of the damage done to them.”

Hannah waved her hands. “No. Types of human brains—aftermages or ordinary. Lord Wycliff asked whether ingesting the brain of an aftermage made any difference to the French curse. I believe we must answer that question at once.”

Her father’s grey eyebrows jumped and he let out a low exclamation. He took off his spectacles and placed them on the bench. “I say, what an idea. We haven’t looked at it from that angle.”

“I know.” Hannah grabbed her apron off the hook by the door and dropped it over her head. She tied a bow in the ends behind her back as she approached the workbench. “Imagine if consuming the brain of an aftermage somehow counteracted the French magic and alleviated the symptoms.”

Sir Hugh rubbed his chin as his mind turned over the possibilities. “Conversely, magic added to magic might magnify the curse and speed the decay. Sera’s power did not stop the curse’s spread through her limbs.”

“Oh, I hadn’t considered that.” Some of Hannah’s excitement deflated. She wouldn’t want to make the Afflicted women worse.

Sir Hugh patted her hand. “What do I always say, Hannah?”

“Hypothesise, then strategise.” She needed the reminder of her father’s motto. They wouldn’t know what effect, if any, the difference might make until they conducted a study and analysed the results. Then they could determine whether they needed to change the way they treated the Afflicted. She didn’t want to think about the possible long-term effect of sparking a surge in demand for a particular type of brain.

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