The wintry smile appeared. ‘Not at all.’
He walked to the sofa and sat, placing the parcel and letters next to the writing slant on the table between them. Helen glimpsed the wax fastening on one of the packets. A Royal seal. She had seen one before, on the letter from her long-dead mother that the Queen had held and delivered — Helen counted back to the Sunday when Sir Desmond had placed the letter in her hands — forty-seven days ago. Forty-seven days since her world had been torn apart. Yet the pain still felt as sharp as if it had arrived yesterday.
Mr Stokes remained standing. He had the same ready quality as Lord Carlston, although not quite as much presence.
‘Lady Helen, I am here to swear you in to the Dark Days Club,’ Pike announced. ‘Am I correct in thinking that you have not yet taken your oath?’
‘No, not yet. But Lord Carlston —’
‘It is well overdue. We will do it now.’
‘But his lordship is not here,’ Mr Hammond said, finishing Helen’s protest.
She nodded. It did not seem right to take the oath without him.
‘Lord Carlston does not need to be present,’ Pike said. ‘All that is needed are three members of the Dark Days Club to stand witness. Myself, Stokes here,’ he nodded at the Reclaimer who politely bowed again, ‘and you, Mr Hammond. I presume you will do so?’
‘Of course, but —’
‘Then let us begin.’
Pike held Mr Hammond’s gaze in some kind of challenge or warning — it was not clear to Helen which — but it silenced the younger man. Pike picked up the cloth parcel and unwrapped it, bringing out a Bible with a cross tooled into its worn red leather cover.
‘This was Mr Henry Fielding’s. When he founded the Dark Days Club, he used it to swear in the first Reclaimer, and now it has become somewhat of a tradition to use it for all Reclaimers.’
Mr Stokes nodded, confirming that his own oath had been sanctified upon it.
‘I have no objection, however, if you would prefer to use your own Bible,’ Pike added.
‘Mr Fielding’s?’ Helen took the holy book Pike held out to her and cradled it in both hands. Perhaps the famous author and magistrate had held it in exactly the same manner; her fingers could be resting where his had lain too. ‘I will be glad to swear upon it.’
Pike fastidiously folded the cloth into three and placed it back on the table. ‘Before you do so, it is my duty to inquire if you have any questions or are unsure of what you are undertaking. I assume you have been given a copy of the oath and the regulations?’
‘Yes, I have.’
A week ago, Lord Carlston had supplied the documents to both her and Darby along with the instruction to think carefully upon them. A solicitor had obviously written the regulations for they were unnecessarily long and almost impenetrable, but Helen had managed to skim through most of them. The oath, on the other hand, was barely a page long and she had quickly realised that beneath the elegant language was a solemn pledge to kill. A troubling discovery that had led to an even more troubling question: did an oath written by men override one of God’s own sacred laws, Thou shalt not kill?
‘By taking this oath, you will be dedicating your life to the Dark Days Club and its mission to ensure the safety of mankind,’ Pike said. ‘You will be swearing it to God, King and country and breaking it would be treason. Do you understand?’ He fixed her with a hard stare as if he could peel back her skin and expose any weakness or doubt. ‘Treason carries the death penalty.’
He was trying to make her baulk; some kind of test. Well, she would not be cowed by an ill-mannered official.
‘I am fully aware of the gravity of this oath, Mr Pike,’ she said, pasting on a smile as cold as his own. ‘I remind you that I have stepped away from my family and from the normal expectations of a woman of my rank to take on this duty. My decision has not been without due consideration.’
A fine statement, Helen thought, but in all truth the decision had been made in a split second on the night of her ball. She had chosen her path the moment she had saved Lord Carlston and lost the Colligat to Philip. A large part of that choice had come from her sense of duty and her rather shameful allegiance to Lord Carlston, but she had to admit now that another part had been self-preservation. She was a Reclaimer, and as such, a target for those renegade creatures that would choose to break the peace pact between human and Deceiver. She could not afford to be without the training and support of the Dark Days Club.
Pike gave a nod and rose from his seat. ‘Then place your hand upon the Bible.’
With the precious book in hand, Helen stood and pressed her palm against the soft leather. Although she had stated her commitment only seconds before, the magnitude of the moment caught her in her chest. She closed her eyes for a heartbeat and steadied her breath.
Pike motioned the other two men closer. ‘Mr Hammond, Mr Stokes, stand as witness with me.’
They both stepped forward. Mr Hammond met her eyes: appropriately solemn, but with a lingering tension around his mouth. He was still uneasy about the absence of Lord Carlston. She had to agree it did feel wrong.
Pike handed her a piece of parchment. ‘When you are ready, Lady Helen.’
She cleared her throat and read: ‘I, Helen Catherine Wrexhall, of my own voluntary will, do declare and swear to God Almighty and to my King and my country that from this day onwards I am a serving member of the secret order known as the Dark Days Club attached to the Home Office of His Majesty’s government. I acknowledge that I am subject to its rule, that I serve at the King’s pleasure, and that I will never, by deed or word, place the Dark Days Club in jeopardy. As a Reclaimer, I swear to uphold and police the Compact that stands between mankind and those creatures known as Deceivers, and in the event of that Compact being broken I will protect mankind with my life and put out of the world any renegade creature. I take upon myself the duty to save the souls of Deceivers’ offspring and reclaim them back to humanity when possible, and when it is not, to save them from a life of torment. I swear this in the presence of three witnesses, and under the penalty of death with my name and character forever held in abhorrence.’ She raised her eyes to say the final vow and found Pike intent upon her face, an unsettling avidity in his expression. ‘So help me God.’
‘Amen,’ all three men said in unison.
Helen eased her grip on the Bible, her thumb pad ridged from the edge of the tooled cross. It was done now, sworn in the presence of God and on her honour. An unbreakable oath.
‘Well done, Lady Helen,’ Mr Stokes said. ‘You are truly one of us now.’