A Cold Legacy

 

ELIZABETH GRABBED HENSLEY, FRANTICALLY whispering reassurances in his ear. With a single swift tug Carlyle pulled the tree branch through Hensley’s body, and they carried him to the manor while the rest of us stood dumbstruck.

 

“Did you see that?” Lucy whispered, lips turning blue. She started to slump, and Balthazar caught her before she passed out.

 

“Take her to the manor,” I said, a hand on my head to steady my own dizziness. “Stay with her, Balthazar, in case she wakes up.”

 

He nodded, seemingly the only one not upset that we’d witnessed the impossible, and carried her in the direction of the house. Around the bonfire, the music had stopped. The fire crackled, but no one moved. I could tell by the servants’ faces that they already knew about Hensley’s condition. As did the villagers of Quick, even the carnival troupe. We were the only ones not included in the secret.

 

What in God’s name was going on?

 

Across the fire, Valentina smoked calmly on her cigarette. This must have been what she’d alluded to with regard to Elizabeth’s medical achievements—that Elizabeth had gone beyond mere science and lied about losing her ancestor’s research. As if sensing my thoughts, Valentina’s eyes met mine and she smirked.

 

She hates me. I could feel it in my bones. She hates that I’m Elizabeth’s heir and she’s not. That isn’t something one can get over easily.

 

Montgomery grabbed my wrist and started to drag me across the field toward the house.

 

“Slow down!” I yelled. “What are you doing?”

 

“We’re leaving this place. I knew there was something wrong from the first night.”

 

“Leave? We can’t leave! What about Edward?”

 

His pace didn’t slow as we approached the lights of the manor. A light shone in a high room of the south tower, which was always locked. It had to be a laboratory. Elizabeth was probably up there now operating on Hensley.

 

Montgomery paused at the front door, one hand on the iron knob. “You saw that child. He wasn’t human, at least not anymore.”

 

“We need to give Elizabeth a chance to explain.”

 

“Explain what? She lied to us. Victor Frankenstein’s science was never lost. She must have been practicing it in secret. On a child, no less.”

 

Footsteps came from the gravel courtyard behind us, where Valentina and the younger girls were also headed toward the manor. I grabbed his shirt collar. “We should talk about this in private. Come on.”

 

We hurried into the house and up the stairs to the privacy of my bedroom. The vision of Hensley’s one white eye reflected in the space behind my eyelids. Had he died as a boy, and Elizabeth brought him back? Was he stitched together like Valentina’s hands? No wonder he wasn’t suitable to be her heir.

 

I took a deep breath. Elizabeth wasn’t mad, not like my father. She wasn’t ambitious like him. So why had she done it?

 

“It all makes sense now.” Montgomery paced in front of my bedroom windows. “The little girl’s limp. Carlyle’s missing ear. Do you know what happened that day you went to Quick with Lucy?”

 

After I nearly died in the bog, the reason Montgomery had wanted me out of the house had been the last thing on my mind, but now my curiosity flickered back to life. “You investigated, didn’t you? What did you find?”

 

“Nothing, and not for lack of trying. Valentina was my shadow all day. She wouldn’t let me out of her sight for fear of what I’d find hidden away. The servants must be practically prisoners here, or else they’re all mad, letting Elizabeth experiment on them. We should leave before they decide we’ve seen too much and stop us. We can take Edward in the carriage. Lucy shouldn’t be hard to convince as long as Edward’s with us, and Balthazar will go where I go.”

 

“Where would we go? The police are all over the country looking for us. Every road, every port, every train station, just waiting to drag us back to London.”

 

“We’ll hide out until this is all over. I know how to live in the wild.”

 

“The wild? It’s wintertime. Can you imagine Lucy in the forest, living off berries?”

 

He rubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t care how dangerous it is out there, it’s safer than within these walls.”

 

I shook my head. “No. Elizabeth would never hurt us. She risked her life to keep us safe from the police. Do you really think she’d suddenly turn into a villain because we learned her secret? She knows our secrets, too, Montgomery, and they’re just as scandalous.”

 

He stopped pacing, his blond hair lose and wild in his face. “All we did was perform surgery on animals. We didn’t bring anyone back from the dead. That goes against nature, Juliet. It’s playing God.”

 

“Playing God is exactly what Father did!”

 

Megan Shepherd's books