Page 43 of Bride of the Fae Duke

‘I would like to confront my husband first,’ she interrupted, trying to keep the frantic pounding of her heart out of her voice. ‘With the city guards present, perhaps. And you, of course. Doesn’t that seem a much better idea to you, to make sure he pays for his crimes?’

‘I— Good gracious, Lady Locke.’ A joyless laugh escaped him. ‘Of course he should pay for his crimes, but that’s hardly a job for a lady, is it? You and Anne ought to come with me to safety, and thenIwill make sure—’

‘No,’ she said.

He stared at her, breath quickening. ‘What?’

‘I said no.’ Her smile could not have been any more brittle. ‘I will stay here and see to the matter myself, Mr. Walford. No need to argue. My decision has been made.’

For a heartbeat and a half, he stood frozen.

Only his expression shifted, and it was then that she knew she’d been right – because that was no longer concern or confusion in his eyes but rather …

Panic.

The look of a cornered animal with only one last means to survive.

‘That is extremely unfortunate, Lady Locke,’ he said, and his high voice cracked a little. ‘I’m afraid I can’t allow any such thing to happen.’

‘No,’ she admitted. ‘I expected you’d say that.’

‘I’m just looking out for your safety, you see,’ he hurriedly added, shuddering hand pointing at the closed door behind him. ‘If you don’t know what’s good for you, I—’

‘And that’s all?’ Nellie interrupted. Her mouth was dry as ashes. ‘You’re not worried, for example, that a confrontation with Othrys may lead to the inevitable conclusion that he is not a murderer after all?’

Walford stiffened.

He stared at her, then slowly lowered his hand and said, shakily, ‘Ah.’

‘He has no idea, does he?’ It felt like taunting a rabid dog, but she had to be sure. Shehadto be sure. ‘That you’re the son of Percival Locke?’

His involuntary twitch forward did not escape her – as if his first reflex had been to grab her by the throat. ‘I don’t know where you got this ridiculous—’

‘Oh, but it all makes sense,’ Nellie reassured him, forcing herself not to back away. ‘Your mother was one of his many mistresses, I suppose? So he couldn’t tell his wife. He couldn’t acknowledge you. But he named you after his father anyway – Peregrine Locke, Peregrine Walford – and as soon as you were old enough, he had you trained as his steward. Pretty decent of him, really, to make sure you’d be provided for.’

A high laugh escaped the man before her. ‘You little—’

‘And I’m guessing,’ Nellie continued, unfazed, ‘that he made arrangements to acknowledge you after he died. Created official documentation, at least, that you were his son. Which of course you’d know, having access to his files. Was that when yourealised you’d have a shot at all of the Locke fortune if you played your cards well?’

‘You should stop there,’ he bit out, jutting a finger at her. ‘I was trying to save yourlife, Eleanor. I was trying to—’

‘From yourself, yes.’ She couldn’t suppress a joyless chuckle. ‘How gallant.’

He jerked a step forward, breath heaving. ‘If you had the faintest idea of what I’vesuffered…’

‘Oh, I suppose it’s been a tense couple of years for you,’ she said with a scoff. ‘Very unhelpful situation. You couldn’t just kill Othrys and then act surprised as the news of your parentage surfaced, could you? Because Ambrose is still alive, and you’ve had no chance of killinghimsince he’s off on his faraway travels. So I assume that instead you resolved to bide your time, wait for Ambrose to die before you did away with Othrys, and most importantly, make sureno other heirs would be born in the meantime.’

The steward was shaking from head to toe now, his face a ghastly white beneath his freckles. ‘I was never planning to kill so many of them! If the stubborn bastard had just stopped marrying, like any sensible man would …’

A confession.

Through her raging fear, she barely felt the triumph.

‘You helped take care of Isaure’s wound, I take it?’ she added. ‘Deliberately bandaged her finger with infected cloth? Pushing Colette down the stairs must have been easy. And youtoldme you were there when Jeanne drowned – they had to drag you out of the marshes too, not because you were trying to help her but because you were the one who held her head under …’

‘I didn’t want to!’ Walford screeched. ‘Ilikedthem! I swear I did! But it’s my right – it’s mylegacy—’

‘And so it never even occurred to you to stop, seeing all the harm you were doing?’ She was spitting out words now. ‘You justhadto bash in Alis’s head in the stables and make it look like a horse kick? You really had nochoicebut to poison Blanche while the whole household was down with food poisoning?’

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