“I’ve heard that name,” Mena said.
“Everyone has. Abrams was Blackheart. The thief who stole from the king? Though he actually didn’t, but nonetheless, Creed has a sister.”
“Why wouldn’t he tell me?” Mena asked. She’d have enjoyed knowing more of his family.
“His sister is working with the men to see to Creed’s ruin.”
Mena frowned. “His own sister believes—”
Nora shook her head. “No, you’re not listening to me. His sister knows who he really is. It is only you who does not.” Nora moved close and sat by Mena. “And I understand why you believe him. I was just like you when it came to the man I was working for. He was kind to me. He made promises, and I was blind to the truth. What I did for him was always innocent, meeting people, passing notes.”
“Creed doesn’t make me pass anyone a note.”
“Has he ever introduced you to anyone or even arranged for you to meet someone?”
Mena was ready to say no, yet she recalled meeting the Prince of Hanover… and now she was to meet the princess. She knew Creed liked Prince George very much but not the princess. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
“And it won’t until it’s too late.” Nora’s eyes were filling with tears, and she shook her head. “I fear, Mena, that one day you will do something terrible and you won’t even be aware that it was you who did it until it is too late. That is how these men work.” She took Mena’s hands as she went on. “You sit every day in the carriage that belongs to the future queen. If someone had recognized it, Mena, you would have hanged.”
Fear laced her blood like cool fingers, spreading over her body, and there was nothing she could do to stop Nora from speaking.
“And be aware that it is not him who rides in it. By giving you that carriage, Creed proves that he cares nothing for you. He’d let you die for a crime he committed.”
“No,” Mena whispered. “No one could be so cruel.”
“When you meet with him, does he allow that carriage anywhere near where he lives?”
Mena slowly shook her head. Whenever she visited Creed, she climbed into one of his carriages and then changed into yet another. Never did her own go to his house. And while she could explain that for safety reasons, she had never been allowed to ride her carriage to his house at all.
Nora gave her no time to think as she said her last words. “If the stolen carriage is not sign enough for you that there is something wrong with the man you trust, at least something you should question, then I fear there is nothing left to say… and it will be you who suffers in the end. Not Creed.”
Mena didn’t like those words or the suspicious feeling that sunk into her belly. “What happened to the man who betrayed you?”
Nora looked away but then pinned with Mena with a hard gaze before she said, “The last Warren, Lucas, and I saw of him, he was kneeling in front of Creed, begging for his life. He’s been missing ever since.”
Mena pulled away, and Nora let her go before returning to the canvas.
“You may lay down if you wish,” Nora said. “I’ll finish this at my house. It will take me awhile to get it perfect and even still, I’m certain Morgan will want at least a few.”
Mena nodded and escaped the room. When she reached the hallway, she saw that Ralph was there, sitting on a bench. He looked at her as she approached.
“I’m going to my room until the funeral,” she told him. “Truly.”
He no longer looked upset with her but said nothing as he gave her a nod.
Mena fled up the stairs, quickly changed herself, since Allie had been dismissed for the day, put her dagger away, and slipped into her bed.
As she lay there, she thought about all that Nora had said and didn’t know what to believe. If what she’d said about Creed was true, then what should Mena do? Should she apologize to Morgan? Did Morgan even want her anymore? Or should she have more faith in the person she’d known longer? A man who’d never shown her his anger.
Maybe there was something to that as well. She’d known him for years, yet even though many of those years had been spent away, in all her occasions in London, she’d never seen Creed’s anger. Frustration, yes, but never anger. Was that strange? Morgan had shown his anger plenty and had never hurt her. Nora and Marianne had even shown theirs. She’d even seen Ralph’s. Morgan had been confronted with her own. It was natural to get angry.
So, why hadn’t see seen Creed’s, especially considering his living arrangements?
She thought on this as she closed her eyes and when she tried to imagine just what an angry Creed would look like, she didn’t like the image that came to mind.
* * *
29
CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE
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“There’s a reason you’re all here” …
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Mena had received Morgan’s note days ago and though she’d read it more times than she could count, she did so again as she sat in a chair in her room.
Morgan’s letter was short. He’d gone to the country and planned to return as soon as possible. He’d also informed her that he’d taken the carriage and would see it safely returned, which had been a heavy weight lifted from her shoulders. He didn’t tell her why he was going, but her heart had felt hollow at the knowledge that if things had been different, if she’d had more faith in him before, she’d already have been his wife.
Yet instead, he was gone. He’d left without her, or maybe because of her. She didn’t know. She didn’t even know if he’d return. Was this his way of calling off their wedding, by simply avoiding Society altogether?
The only reason she’d clung to the letter at all and any hope that when he returned, it would be to her, was how he’d signed it.
Yours Faithfully, Morgan.
Yours Faithfully? What did he mean to say such a thing? There was nothing else personal in the note. There was no sign of love anywhere but in that signature, which only made her more curious why he’d used his given name instead of his title. Not ‘Lord Durham’. Not even ‘Durham’, but Morgan, as he’d wished for her to call him.
The entire letter was impersonal. She could have read it aloud to the household.
Except for how he’d ended it and almost a week later, it still left her perplexed.
Allie entered the room.
“Are you ready, my lady?”
Nervousness went rampant in the pit of her belly. She was not ready, and after the week she’d had, she was sure she’d never be ready to meet Princess Victoria, but the time had come nonetheless. Without contact from Creed, she’d had no way to rescind her invitation to tea… or to speak to him about the carriage. She’d only left home once in the last week, yet during the time when her friends didn’t call, she read over the rags once more and studied the scandals that involved her uncle.