Monstrous Heart by Claire McKenna

Author:Claire McKenna
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2020-03-06T17:00:00+00:00

18

Half an hour I waited in this freezing cold

‘Half an hour I waited in this freezing cold,’ the buggyman grumbled. ‘Was told ten o’clock. Specifically ten o’clock. I could have had other passengers.’

He huffed and tutted at the two bodies who had climbed in his little coach, expecting them to give him the same drunken noise as his previous customers, perhaps offer him a penny or two extra with a slap on the back and a chortle about needing to attend a bed post-haste.

Instead, a pall of deep disquiet bound them.

The pale Fictish man had the fine, raw bearing that would have garnered the attention of any lady, but the guildswoman barely gave him an inch of her attention. She had the cast of severe and purposeful breeding about her, from her diluted features, jet eyes and indifferent curls pinned upon her head. She wore a krakenskin coat, something he’d only seen the wealthiest office-holders wear. She must be a woman of some standing indeed. She couldn’t have been unattractive to her companion, but he sat stiffly in his preoccupation, arms folded, head turned to the coach glass.

Fair enough, the buggyman thought. This night brought quarrels too. He did not continue to debate the mysteries of his passengers long, and tsked the horses down the pebbled curve of the driveway and out upon the crushed-rock road.

A deep, uncomfortable silence filled the coach. A boundary had been crossed in their relationship. An irrevocable binding between two strangers with nothing in common.

Mr Riven spoke first.

‘She lied back there,’ Mr Riven said, as they left the gates of the Manse. The lantern swung shadows into the cabin. ‘The Dowager.’

‘About sanguinity being sinful? Of course, it’s just the sherry and the drugs speaking.’

‘No. About Bellis being prettier than you.’

Surprised, Arden snorted a short laugh. A quick, wretched feeling akin to embarrassment came over her. She didn’t need mollifying with faint praise. She knew Bellis had been extraordinary.

‘Anyone can appreciate beauty. It is the most common of denominators.’

‘So, Mr Justinian is your lover. I think he suits.’

‘Heavens, does everybody conspire for me to have relations with this man? I have no interest in Mr Justinian. I have no interest in anyone! The only thing I need to do is navigate the terrible hand tonight has dealt. The Lyonne Order has me in their employ now, body and blood!’

Mr Riven sat like a wraith in the dark seat, with the look of a cur-dog kicked to the gutter. By the way his arms wrapped about his stomach, the bruise about his midsection troubled him. She breathed and tempered her words. He’d proven himself a gentleman.

‘Still, thank you for coming to my rescue, false as it was,’ she added ruefully.

‘So. Tell me why we are here, together like this.’

‘I—’ she started, and he interrupted her again.

‘If you intend to lie to me, say nothing. Look out the window and hold your tongue. I am not interested in a story.’

She looked into the darkness, not knowing what she should reveal, and what she should keep.

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