I turned to Montgomery for help, but to my surprise he just wiped his tired face with a cloth. “You know better than anyone what it is to have an immoral father,” he said to me. “Let her come.”
The room still felt unnaturally cold, or maybe it was the chill in my blood. I looked at each of them, settling last on Montgomery. My heart clenched. Even if I turned out to be a terrible wife, he would still love me, always forgive me, always be the boy who had pushed a sullen little girl around in a wheelbarrow to make her smile. There was good in each of them, good still in this harsh world, and it blew a small bit of warmth into my limbs.
“Tonight, then,” I said. “All of us.”
FORTY-FIVE
MONTGOMERY GAVE THE HORSES fresh feed and water before the journey, work that was second nature to him. Lucy packed as many extra blankets and coats as she could find. Had she always had this practical side to her, and I’d never noticed? It wasn’t until everything was packed, the horses’ harnesses checked one last time, that I slipped down the basement steps to the cellar with shackles in hand.
Edward was awake, in his human state, though his muscles twitched under his skin like eels beneath water. He fingered his pocket watch anxiously, running his nails along the seam as though he would open it, but he never did. He wouldn’t meet my gaze.
“We’re leaving, Edward.” His gave no indication of having heard, and I felt for the syringe of valerian in my pocket. “You don’t have to worry about the King’s Club any longer. We made certain that the entire city will know what they’ve done, once the police . . .” I cleared my throat. “Once the police find the bodies.”
His head jerked up at this. “What did you do?” he asked.
I hesitated. “It doesn’t matter, but the police might trace it to us, so we’re headed north to Elizabeth’s estate. We’re taking you with us.”
He laughed, cold and harsh. “Ah, Juliet, you’d best leave me here.”
My hands curled against the bars. “You wouldn’t have abandoned me, and I’m not going to abandon you.”
He didn’t answer, and I unchained the door and cracked it open. He’d used all his strength to fight against the Beast these final few days, and it showed in the sag of his limbs and the lines of his face. I didn’t dare step closer, not yet.
He shook his head. “It will be over for me soon. The Beast will take me over completely, and he’ll do terrible things. You’d do better to kill me now.”
“Don’t give up, Edward, please.” I stepped forward hesitantly and reached out a hand to touch his shoulder, but his eyes went to my silver ring. For a painfully silent moment, the ring was the loudest thing in the room.
“Lucy told me about the engagement,” he said at last, bitterly. “I suppose congratulations are in order.”
“You always knew I loved him. I never lied about that.”
“Yes, but it isn’t you he loves in return. It’s the idea of you. A fantasy.”
“How is that any different with you? You claim to have fallen in love with me from a photograph. But I’m not a fantasy, Edward—I can be heartless and cold and stubborn, just like my father. Montgomery will come to accept that, in time.” I swallowed, covering the ring with my other hand. “Lucy adores you. She knows what you are and still loves you. If you’d only spare a thought for her . . .”
“Has Montgomery told you the truth yet?”
The secrets. In all the chaos, it had been easy to disregard what Edward told me about Montgomery keeping secrets. With the engagement, I had assumed everything was right between him and me, or at least would be once we were out of London. But now a thorn of doubt dug itself into my palm.
Edward coughed a humorless laugh. “He hasn’t. I didn’t think so, or else you wouldn’t be so quick to marry him.” He leaned closer, jaw set hard. “Ask him about when he left the island.”
I felt caught between desperate curiosity and fear. “If you know something,” I started, “then you must tell me—”
“Juliet?” Elizabeth’s worried voice, coming from the top of the stairs, interrupted me. “Are you down there alone with him?”
My fist tightened over the shackles. I leaned out of the cellar door and called up to her, “There’s no cause for alarm. He has control of himself for the moment.”
Elizabeth stood at the top of the stairs, musket in hand, silhouetted by the kitchen light. “I have something for you.” She started down the stairs and I climbed up to meet her halfway, where she extended me a sealed letter. “Since I’m only going with you tonight as far as Derby, I’ve written you a letter of introduction to Mrs. McKittrick, the housekeeper, and explained I’ll be joining you in a few weeks. I should warn you, it’s a large manor, quite remote. There’s a village five miles away, but it can be difficult to reach when the moors flood. The servants are all a bit out of practice with polite society. You’ll find some of them rather strange, I think.”
“I’ll be quite at home then.” I tucked the sealed letter into my bodice. “I’ll bring Edward up in a few moments.”
She nodded, and I returned to the cellar. Edward was being strangely quiet. A small metal object gleamed on the ground next to his hand.
I crouched down to pick up the pocket watch he was always fiddling with, open now, only where the clockwork should have been was only empty space.
“There’s no clock—” I started.