Devoncourt stilled. "Ah, so that's your game. You think if you encourage me, then you'll bring him to heel."
Adele gave a careless shrug. It seemed everyone thought her a heartless flirt who flitted from one man to the other. She might as well use the reputation. "I want a child. Malloryn's indifference concerns me. I find myself in a somewhat precarious position. You wouldn't understand. You're a man. I have a role to fulfill and my husband makes that role rather difficult. I cannot risk him setting me aside just because he won't…."
She bit her lip.
Devoncourt's suspicion softened. "I could give you a child. He'd never know."
"Unfortunately, he would," she replied, with a wry smile. "He's never touched me. I need him to believe the child is his."
"Ah." Devoncourt brushed his knuckles against her lips. "So you use my attentions to prick at his jealousy. You are a clever girl."
"It's not like that." Leaning into his touch, she closed her eyes and let him stroke her cheek. "I do enjoy your flirtation. It's just…, one step too far and I cross a dangerous line. You were the one who said he might lock me away. You understand?"
"Perfectly."
Adele turned her face into his palm and pressed a kiss there, her heart beating rapidly. "If I can seduce my husband, then perhaps…. Perhaps I could enjoy your flirtations more."
"Only then?"
"I couldn't risk it."
Someone cleared their throat.
"Ah." Devoncourt backed away from her. "I'd like you to meet a friend of mine."
Adele turned in a swirl of skirts, determined to do her part. This was where she would be approached and asked to do something by one of the other members of the Rising Sons. Hopefully, the mastermind behind them.
The woman who stepped out of the greenery wore a long black velvet frock coat, with a cravat tied at her throat. Her silvery hair had been bound back into an elegant chignon, and she carried a gold-handled cane.
Adele's heart started beating faster.
Whoever she was, she was a blue blood.
No human woman had skin as pale as that, or hair without a hint of color to it.
To recover her shock, she fell back on the manners that had been drilled into her as a young woman. "How do you do?"
"As of right now? Excellent." The woman smiled, capturing Adele's gloved hand and lifting it to her lips, her voice dropping into a purr. "I have been waiting to meet you for a very long time, Your Grace."
"This is the Lady Dido," Devoncourt said, gesturing to the stranger. "You did say you wanted to meet the Horsemen. Well, she is Death, and she rules here in Angel's Fall. She rules us all."
"This is the Lady Dido…."
Malloryn froze. He leaned closer to the detachable phonograph as Devoncourt's voice came through the speaking tube.
"Is that—?"
Malloryn held a hand up, quelling Byrnes's question instantly.
"What are we going to do?" Ava asked, looking pale as Dido laughed gently at something Adele said.
Indecision flooded through him.
He'd never hesitated to make tough calls in the past.
The rest of them stared at him.
"If we go in there," Kincaid warned, "we risk ruining this entire venture."
"You can't go alone. The place is filled with dozens of blue bloods," Ingrid pointed out.
"We could lose this lead on Balfour," Byrnes said.
"Fuck Balfour," Malloryn snapped. He'd promised Adele she wouldn't come to any harm.
His first instinct was to extract her immediately, but how was he going to do that when Dido was standing right in front of her? Dido would slit Adele's throat the second she saw him.
"We wait," he said quietly, his heartbeat pounding. "Dido may not know Adele is working for us. Byrnes, I want a visual on Adele. She said she's in some sort of orangery at the back of the building, with glass walls."
"On it." Byrnes vanished.
"Herbert, do we have confirmation of where Clara is at the moment?"
The butler frowned and pressed his fingers to the earpiece he wore. "Still dancing, I believe. She was trying to extricate herself, but the gentleman would not take no for an answer."
"He'll regret that."
Herbert nodded. "He will."
If Adele kept her head….
She could do this. She thought swiftly on her feet. And she was intelligent enough to see the trap yawning around her.
Malloryn had to keep telling himself that.
"Devoncourt, could you fetch us both another glass of champagne?" Dido asked. "I thought I could have a little chat with the duchess, woman to woman."
"Thank you," Adele said politely, though he heard the tension in her voice.
"Devoncourt tells me you're interested in escaping the yoke of the Duke of Malloryn?"
"I don't know if I would dare, my lady."
Good. Nice and noncommittal. A breath eased out of him.
"It's a woman's lot, is it not? To suffer under a man's control."
"This is the world we were born into."
"But you are here to discover if you can find some way of escaping him. Poor little soul. Love hurts," Dido mused. "A woman is better off without it."
"I've never expected such emotions to afflict me, to be honest. I never expected anything more than to make a thrall contract."
"And marriage to a duke was beyond your expectations." Dido sounded almost motherly. "Besides, one would need a heart to be at risk of losing it."
One would need a heart....
Their previous argument leapt to mind, and everything within Malloryn locked down cold. This was a taunt. Somehow Dido knew exactly what had been discussed in the dining room at Hardcastle Lane.
They'd searched the entire house after someone left a letter on his desk, but there must be listening devices planted somewhere.
"She knows." The words sounded hollow and distant. "We need to get her out of there. Now. Herbert, get Clara into position."
"I would, Your Grace, but there's nothing but static coming through that line."Damn it. What was going on in there? "Ingrid?"
"Byrnes can see her," Ingrid replied, "He says they're only talking."
"Devoncourt said you wished me to assist you in some endeavor?"
Right to the point.