Page 76 of Black Widow

Finally, they were gettingsomewhere.

“What sort of plans?” Amelia asked. Her voice was mild, but her grip on his hand wastight.

Mrs. Spencer looked down. “It varied. In the beginning, he wanted information for his investments. It was not the sort of thing I was accustomed to providing for my clients—oh, I might have insinuated things about windfalls and the like, but no one can tell the future. Before when a client was dissatisfied, I would use a confusion spell on them and send them on their way. It always worked before Sir Clarence. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. When that didn’t work, he offered me hundreds ofpounds.

“It was more money than I’d ever seen in my life. I tried to muddle along, however, what he asked wasn’t possible. I couldn’t pull the information he wanted out of thin air. I needed to move in his circles, to find and question the relevant parties. Eventually, I came clean about my limitations, thinking it would be the end ofit.”

“But it wasn’t, was it? Sir Clarence had found a witch and he wasn’t ready to give youup.”

Mrs. Spencer nodded. “He was angry when he realized I needed to move in society as he did. Nevertheless, he was sufficiently motivated to provide me with the education and wardrobe I would need… The speech and accent were not difficult. My mother was the result a liaison between a chambermaid and Clyde Burgess, the son of a prominent family inSomerset.

She seemed to be waiting for something. “I’ve heard of the family,” Gideon acknowledged with anod.

Mrs. Spencer appeared satisfied. “My grandfather provided for my mother’s education, but by the time I came around, he had passed on and there was no more money. But I had enough knowledge to accurately emulate a genteel lady with a littleguidance.

“And Sir Clarence provided that guidance?” There was a tiny pucker between Amelia’s brows as if she was surprised he would exert himself to such adegree.

“He hired a companion and told her I was a long-lost relative that needed be polished for the season. It didn’t take me long to capture her mannerisms—all those unconscious little movements the ladies of the upper class are taught from birth. Sir Clarence took me to country parties and we began to work together on his businessschemes.”

“More confusion spells?” he asked, remembering the strange disorientation he and Amelia hadexperienced.

Another nod. “When it seemed expedient. I could hypnotize some of his business partners or other investors. But when information was not enough, then he would ask me to intimidatethem.”

“And you didn’t have an issue with that?” Amelia’s voice was hard. Gideon gave her hand a warning squeeze. He didn’t want Mrs. Spencer to stopspeaking.

Mrs. Spencer picked at her skirts. She wouldn’t look them in the face. “Honestly, I didn’t think too much about what I was doing. My abilities had never been challenged before. Now they were. I was learning more and more and being rewarded for it. And…by then Sir Clarence and I had become intimate. He promised me if I continued to make myself useful, we wouldmarry.”

Her eyes swung up to Amelia with an almost accusatory expression. “But then you and his son camehome.”

She blinked and looked up at the ceiling, face hard. “I didn’t understand Sir Clarence’s obsession at first. It seemed quite natural for him to gripe about the two of you settling so far from his home in Northumberland. When you chose to stay in Kent instead of partaking of the season in London, he wanted me to do something about it. But I had heard his valet talking to the coachman one day. The two implied his son would do well to keep his young bride out of Sir Clarence’s grasp. I understood then there was more to his complaints than a desire to be close to his son. So…I read hisjournal.”

Her face twisted, and she said nomore.

“You read about his plan to sire his son’s heir.” Gideon said it as matter-of-factly as he could, but inside, his stomachroiled.

Mrs. Spencer sniffed and glanced at Lord Worthing out of the corner of her eye, making Gideon wonder if Sir Clarence had written about his son’s lover. “I was angry with Clarence. Despite all I did for him, he had stopped speaking of marriage. Instead, he carped about finding some way to bring his son toheel.

“I knew about golems from my time as a fortune-teller. One of my clients was a wealthy Jew who liked to tell stories. I had traded him my services for some texts on the subject, but they were written in Hebrew and I couldn’t use them—not until I had access to the libraries of the ton. Rich scholars commission translations. I found other texts in English that detailed rituals on various mystical rites, including how to raise a golem for labor. I had been experimenting on how to alter the ritual when Sir Clarence stormed in and demanded I do something to make his son obey him. It was the first time he’d mentioned Amelia, Mrs. Montgomery, byname.”

The witch’s chin firmed mulishly. “I could practically see him salivating. He wrote down fantasies he had about her while she was living in his home when she was younger. He wanted her in easy reach again, seemingly certain that he would be the one to claim her innocence—as if she hadn’t taken lovers abroad while her Sodomite of a husband amusedhimself.”

The tension in the room heightened with those bitter words, but they didn’t say anything as Mrs. Spencer attempted to catch hold of her temper. “I vowed then and there that Sir Clarence would never accomplish thisgoal.”

Gideon finally lost his temper. “How did killing Martin with the golem help? Without him to protect her, Amelia was even more vulnerable to Sir Clarence’sschemes.”

“That was anaccident,” Mrs. Spencer cried, bursting into tears. “I had just succeeded in raising the golem but was disappointed to learn how stupid it was. It was incapable of following anything but the simplest of commands. But I found a way to overcome that. With the right incantations and a small sacrifice, I could put my mind inside it, see what it saw and touch what ittouched.”

Gideon stiffened. A flash of the golem stroking his wife’s nearly naked body rose ran through his mind. He wanted to jump up and shake the woman. Amelia sensed that. Her grip on his hand altered, pressing down to effectively keep him in hisseat.

After a few deep bracing breaths, he calmed down. Mrs. Spencer was continuing of her own volition, the words spilling out almost as if she had been waiting to confess all hersins.

“I was only trying to scare Mr. Montgomery into leaving England again, but it all went wrong.” Her hand shook as she raised her arms and then snapped them back to wring her hands in her lap instead. “My control of the creature was tenuous at best so early on. I could not judge the dimensions properly. I did not mean to kill him, but he simply flew over thatrailing.”

Amelia was stone-faced, staring at the woman in disbelief. “Martin never harmed a living thing in his entire life. He was the sweetest, kindest man that ever walked thisearth.”

Mrs. Spencer said nothing, her eyes on herskirts.

“Sir Clarence took over the golem later, didn’t he?” Gideon asked before the woman decided to stop speakingaltogether.

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