Page 30 of The Demon's Discovery
I simply stared back, and he paled before scurrying off to locate her. They returned several minutes later, Lara clearly having rushed to put on a fresh dress and maybe even some cosmetics. The cloying scent of her perfume made me wrinkle my nose.
“Mr. Feland! What a pleasure to see you again.”
I closed the book with a satisfyingly loudthunk. “Greta arrived at d’Arcan in quite a state during her last visit,” I said without preamble. I kept my tone neutral, but the words had the impact I’d hoped for. I flicked my eyes from Lara to Henrik, waiting to see if they’d make an admission on their own. I’d hated that Greta was forced to come back here, to work for these people even a moment longer, but I had to ensure I had everything set up properly before taking her with me.
“I’m sorry she presented herself poorly—” Lara started. As expected, she shifted the blame from herself to Greta.
“It was not how she presented herself that was the problem, Duchess Belette.”
“What, ah, seems to be the problem, then?” Henrik got even shiftier than usual then, as though realizing they’d made an error.
“She informed me she’s to be wed?”
“Ah, yes!” Lara softened and clapped her hands together as though her smile fixed everything. “A joyous occasion, to be sure. She’s been well matched, isn’t that right, darling?”
“Yes, we received a very respectable offer from a man to make her his wife.”
“Is that so? What are brides going for these days?” My skin tingled with the disgust I felt at such a notion. Common practice or not, I found it abhorrent.
“Not that it’s your business, but Mr. Feiser bid an amount sufficient to keep us in the lifestyle we prefer, this manor included, not to mention allowing me to maintain my title,” Henrik said vaguely. “It seemed wise to accept.”
“Did it?” I raised my eyebrows, toying with an empty whiskey glass with my fingers as the joy slowly leaked from their faces. I braced myself to say the words that had already left a bitter coating in my mouth. Greta was not an object to be owned, but I knew these people saw her as such. “You dare to offer her out from under me when I had already made my claim? When we already had an agreement for her to come to d’Arcan at my whim, Henrik?”
He stumbled over several failed attempts at coherent words. “I’m afraid I wasn’t aware there was an agreement involving Greta, Mr. Feland.”
“After her first visit, you were given a message from me, were you not?”
“Yes, I believe I recall a message,” he said, tentatively. His eyes darted to the fireplace and back, leaving me sure he’d burned the note.
“It outlined terms of an agreement where Greta is concerned. Clear ones, that your lack of response—as per the note’s specifics—implied your agreement to. You going around me to match her with some merchant is a very clear violation of those terms.”
Henrik puffed his chest out, cheeks bright red. “I’m afraid I can’t speak to that, Mr. Feland. The note is, unfortunately, long gone. The timing of my agreement with Lord Feiser supersedes my arrangements with you. Besides, you were hired to find our necklace, not make our staff?—”
I flung the necklace I’d had commissioned from Callihan’s onto the table. I’d paid dearly for it, the speed required from the jeweler close to unheard of, but I was more than satisfied with the product. It matched every specification I’d requested and even the smallest details from the sketch.
The pair stared at it for a moment before Lara snatched it up, examining it closely with greedy eyes.
“I also have your signature here”—I slid a piece of parchment out from under the book, my copy of our original agreement—“stating that any violation of our original contract or addenda thereof, which that note”—I pulled out a second piece of parchment, one crafted much like the note I’d sent with Greta. Henrik paled even further, and I knew I’d hit my marks well and true. I wondered if he’d even read past my request to allow her to come to our following meeting—“was. Any violation as such renders all agreements between us null and void.”
“Now, Mr. Feland, I must?—”
“Quiet.” They both clammed up, the necklace gripped firmly in Lara’s palm as though she were afraid I might reach out and take back the useless trinket. “I have fulfilled my end of our deal, despite your transgression. I have provided you a necklace. I will be leaving here with my book, as agreed, as well as Greta.”
“You’d take a sickly, lazy maid—one who is already spoken for, besides—to practice chemistry at your prestigious school, but not honor my daughter with consideration as a wife?” Lara was incensed by my proposition. The more I got to know them, the more I despised them both.
“As I told you previously,Duchess,” I said smoothly, refusing to rise to her baiting words while also giving her the honor of her ill-begotten title, “your daughter is lovely. From what I’ve seen, she surpasses you in wit as well as beauty, which I’m sure is to your great pride as her mother.” She stiffened, unsure whether to react to the insult or the compliment, I was sure. “But I have no inclination to become her husband. I’m here to obtain a chemist for my brother’s school.” Speaking so degradingly of Greta made my teeth grind, but I knew better than to show these greedy people I found such value in her.
Henrik made a flourishing show of calming his wife.
“Mr. Feland,” Lara begged, chuckling nervously and batting her eyes. I could see right through her act. She was something far different than the power-hungry schemer I knew her to be. “I’m sure this was all a misunderstanding. Mr. Feiser offered us a substantial sum to wed Greta, and we have agreed. I’m sure you understand what a delicate position we now find ourselves in.”
“I empathize,” I said, even though I did nothing of the sort. I didn’t give a single damn what position they found themselves in. “But I feel I must remind you that Henrik was aware of the terms when he signed his name on the original contract.”
“Perhaps we can come to a new agreement?” he rushed to say, just as I’d known he would. He’d clearly not shared all the details with his wife. I could understand him trying to keep the fact that he’d made a deal with an actual demon to himself, however.
“What are you proposing?” I sat back in the seat, prepared to be entertained as they floundered, and I still left with everything I wanted.
“You can, of course, take your book, as well as Greta. Though perhaps as a gesture of goodwill?—”
