Simon started toward Grace, but the shrouded man came up to her shoulder in a threatening posture. Wary of a fight when he had no idea what he was facing, Simon stepped back. “Ma’am, you may know then that I’m a scribe, like Pendragon. I can study his spells and find another way to break them. There’s no need for Barnes’s lunacy. There’s no need for further blood.”
She gave him a smug smile. “Please, Mr. Archer. It would take years for you even to comprehend Pendragon’s magic, and another lifetime to overcome it, if you ever could. I know you are a carver. You tattoo your body with runic spells so you can engage in physical combat. Pendragon would never have stooped to such vulgar magic. He was elegant and his power was incomparable. No, Mr. Archer, Gaios is at our doorstep. We don’t have time for you to grow up.”
Simon breathed through clenched teeth. His eyes darted around the cottage, catching a glimpse of something before focusing again on Grace North. He stared at her, letting his silence testify to the degree of cooperation she could expect.
Grace North’s voice was growing ragged and strained as if she was inexplicably fatigued. “We can make you a very rich man.”
“I’m already a rich man.”
“Well, there’s rich, and there’s acceptable. There’s that troubling element of your parentage, isn’t there? You may be wealthy and one of the popular faces about town, but that’s all very transitory. Wealth can be lost. Popularity fades. But class transcends. We can make you a man of consequence. Would you care for a baronetcy? Sir Simon Archer. Higher? Viscount Archer. Higher still? Lord Warden. There is little we couldn’t give you. Surely your mother would be proud to see their family brought into the House of Lords. And when Gaios is dealt with, there will be a place for a talented scribe in the new order.”
Simon could hear Kate breathing, and watching him. The fire crackled low.
Grace pursed her lips at his silence. “No? Then what about power? True power. I have connections that could provide you with knowledge of mystic arts beyond what you can discover on your own. Whatever your goal may be, I can arrange for you to become more than you ever imagined.”
Her shadowy footman nodded in agreement.
“No,” Simon replied quickly.
“Mr. Archer, you cannot survive this contest.”
Simon took Kate’s arm. “Come, there’s no more to hear. Mrs. North, thank you for your time.” Simon pulled open the door and bowed back out of the cottage. Then he slammed the door shut and virtually dragged the nonplussed Kate through the brush to the carriage.
Malcolm came around, pistol ready, with a look of confusion at the hasty exit.
“Let’s be on our way,” Simon said in a quiet tone that betrayed great urgency. “Hartley Hall is closer than London.” He and Kate were barely settled inside when the coach started off over rough ground.
They rode on for a long time in tense silence, watching through the windows, expecting an attack. They cleared the heavy forest and returned to the road. The carriage clipped on at a fast pace toward the northwest and Hartley Hall.
Finally Kate said, “Care to tell me why we left so quickly?”
He wiped beads of sweat from his brow and whispered a word that triggered a runic tattoo. The pain subsided. “I had a terrible sense in that cottage. I noticed runes inscribed along the beams.”
“I didn’t see them.”
“They were well hidden but I recognized them. They were written by Byron Pendragon.” Simon glanced out the window, relieved that the little cottage was now out of sight and they were trundling recklessly through the surrounding forest. “I’m tired of fighting battles on ground of the enemy’s choosing.”
“What next then?” Kate asked.
Simon tapped his walking stick, deep in thought. “That’s what we need to determine. We’ll go to Hartley Hall. Imogen and Charlotte have both been too long out of our view. I don’t mind telling you, I’m worried. Did you see Grace North? She was almost entranced when she spoke of Rowan Barnes. If the man has the influence to turn Grace North into his messenger, how far up does his influence go? Prime Minister North? The Crown itself?”
Kate looked out at the forest. “What if she’s correct about Barnes’s purpose? Or about the women being willing sacrifices? Simon, if four sacrifices will save millions from the wrath of Gaios, do we have the right to stop him?”
“She’s talking rot. She’s a Red Orchid acolyte. We know nothing about Gaios setting off a volcano in the East Indies. She’d say anything for Barnes. We don’t just have the right to stop his ritual; we have the obligation.”
The carriage suddenly keeled hard over with a jaw-snapping crack.
Chapter 18
Simon slid into the door, with Kate careening against him. Malcolm cursed over the sound of the whip and the team of horses screeching in alarm. The vehicle nearly toppled over on the other side before smashing down on all four wheels again and rolling to a stop.
With cane in hand, Simon was out the door, hissing at the pain in his chest but summoning runic strength. He turned in every direction, seeking some enemy but all he saw was a disheveled Malcolm tying off the reins.