Page 77 of Black Widow

After a time, she continued. “Because of his preoccupation with Mrs. Montgomery—the countess I mean—Sir Clarence had stopped coming to my bed. We also stopped planning schemes together. He left me to my own devices for a while, but unbeknownst to me, he would periodically go through my papers. It was there he learned about my experiments with the golem. He was thrilled. He demanded I summon one he couldcontrol.”

“And you did,” Amelia suppliedtonelessly.

“Yes,” Mrs. Spencer said, exhaling sharply. “Over time he became quite adept at managing it. When the countess began to move in society again he wasready.”

“By this time, I knew he would never marry me. I had begun to look for another protector…but I was still angry.” She looked at Amelia. “I hated you and Clarenceboth.”

“So you plagued with Sir Clarence’s blessing and didn’t care how it affected her,” Viscount Worthingsaid.

Mrs. Spencer grew red in the face. She fixed her attention on the darkened window and didn’tanswer.

“How did it go wrong?” Gideonasked.

“It was abouther,of course,” she said, gesturing at Amelia. “He wanted finer control over the creature, and over larger distances. One had to be quite close to manipulate it. By then, you had made your intentions clear. You were going to make Amelia your countess. But Sir Clarence intended to stopyou.”

She broke off and shrugged. “I don’t know if he planned to kill you with the golem or simply carry Amelia away. We quarreled over his plans. I reminded him of his promises to wed and hespaton me. He told me he’d never marry Amelia, a cit’s daughter, so why would he wed gutter trash likeme?”

Her eyes were blazing, hurt fueling her words. “In a rage, I raised the golem and I strangled him withit.”

Gideon glanced at Amelia, but her face was impassive. He knew Mrs. Spencer was leaving some details out. He’d seen the body and Sir Clarence hadn’t been merelystrangled.

“But he’s a part of it now, isn’t he?” Gideonasked.

The words hung in the air, unacknowledged, but he knew he was right. Some part of Clarence lived in the beast now. The way it reacted to Amelia in the woods—the way it had touched her wasproof.

The witch opened her mouth. “I didn’t know that could happen. I still don’t know how…except…”

“Except what?” His temper strained, making the wordsclipped.

“Part of the ritual giving Clarence control over the golem involved using his blood. We used it to write the words that fuel it, a mixture of the holy and the profane. His name is also part of the script we placed in the creature’s mouth.” She shook her head. “Consequently, the creature possessed a bit of hisanima. That is how he controlledit.”

“And when you used it to kill him, it took more of thisanima?” That would explain the creature’sbehavior.

If it absorbed even a fraction of Sir Clarence’s twisted desire for Amelia… Gideon’s jaw clenched tight as he suppressed ashudder.

Her shrug was infuriating, but he fought hard not to let it show. “I believe so. It stopped responding to my commands then and there. It’s wild now. I don’t know how to stopit.”

Those last words cast a pall over the others in the room. They had come here hoping for answers and a way to put an end to the menace once and for all. Answers they now had, but not asolution.

Everything Mrs. Spencer had told them confirmed his worst fears—there was a monster out there, and it wanted hiswife.

“What about the sacred words? Can’t we simply remove them?” Ameliaasked.

Mrs. Spencer’s eyes flared. “I tried. It wouldn’t let me near itsmouth.”

Gideon stood and began to pace. “No. If there are some of Clarence’s memories in there—and it appears there are—then it would guard against that.” He stopped and removed the rough pottery finger from the pocket of his waistcoat and held itup.

“What about this? I shot this off with a pistol. Can it regrow fingers orlimbs?”

Mrs. Spencer frowned. “I don’t think there are enough pistols in the world…but no, it can’t regrow itself. But if it remembers what Sir Clarence remembers, then perhaps it could try to repairitself.”

Gideon held up a hand. “But what if it had a big enough shock and was shattered all atonce?”

“If the blows destroyed the head as well, then yes, but I have to believe that it would fight back.” Mrs. Spencer raised her arm and drew her sleeve up, revealing a string of deep blackbruises.

His mind went to the fingerprint marks Sir Clarence had left on Amelia’s arms all those months ago. These were bigger, more misshapen, but the similarity wasthere.

Hell was too good for hisuncle.

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