Page 19 of A Honeymoon of Grave Consequence (The Unexpected Adventures of Lady and Lord Riven #2)

“Don’t be absurd!” The baroness snorted contemptuously.

“My mother had thoroughly researched my fiancé’s family.

For all that his own fortune was pitiful, his family held the ancient titles to all the land around here for fifty miles.

They’d only been too apathetic to do anything with it in centuries.

He promised, when he was courting me, that he would do everything in his power to make me happy—so the moment we were wed, I told him it was the perfect moment to take up that family claim once more, chop down the encroaching forest, and finally seize the power we were always meant to wield!

“But he didn’t keep his promises .”

“It...is important to keep one’s promises,” Margaret said weakly. Curse it, why were so many curtains in the house pulled tightly shut? And why did they all look the same color from this angle? It was impossible to know what was happening inside...or even which room held her husband.

The baroness certainly seemed to have used up almost all of her money on that failed venture in the woods—she hadn’t had a spare footman for the carriage or even a butler at the door—but she must have at least one strong manservant to help her transport Lord Riven from the inn to her carriage in the first place, and who knew how many other servants were still lurking inside the house? If any of the others made a mistake...

“That’s what he claimed.” The baroness’s face twisted in disgust. “All because of a pitiful old agreement his ancestors had made with the nixen—I told him such agreements couldn’t possibly stand in a court of law when they were made with creatures who aren’t human.

No one who mattered would ever privilege their wishes over ours! ”

“We both married honorable men,” Margaret said tightly. It might be the wrong response, but with every minute that passed without any movement in the windows, her nerves were being stretched to unbearable tautness.

It had been so many years since she’d fully trusted anyone except for her husband. Now, when his life was at stake, it felt like agony to leave so much of the most essential work to others.

But for him, she would make herself do it— and she would keep this hideous conversation from coming to an end, despite every driving instinct in her body.

“He was a fool ,” the baroness snarled. “His whole family was a disaster. Where do you think I found that glass coffin? He’d had an aunt who liked to playact at being a vampire , of all things, and lie about in it for her own idle entertainment!”

“Oh, no, that is absurd.” Margaret cringed at the horrific inaccuracy. “Outside of foolish stories and legends, no vampire has ever been documented as choosing to sleep in a coffin! Beds are far more comfortable and practical.”

“That is hardly the point.” The baroness glared at her.

“What I am telling you is that they were all far too weak and sympathetic to the monsters. I had to wait until he finally had the decency to pass on— long after my own family had been lost and deprived of all the glory I should have brought them—before I could finally make my own attempt. The law was on my side, as I’d always told him.

The local judge agreed. That land is mine! ”

“Only if you disregard the rights of anyone who isn’t human.”

“Pah.” The baroness huffed out a breath. “I am a lady . Why should any of them matter to me ?”

It was too much, too close to too many lectures from Margaret’s aunt. Her frayed patience snapped, taking the final shreds of her veneer of calm along with it. “Lady or not, apparently you have nothing better to do than sneak and spy on them in mirrors and?—”

“Oh, you have no idea how much I’ve learned.

” The baroness’s lips curved, and Margaret knew, with sinking certainty, that she’d lost control of this conversation.

“I may have been buried here for decades, far from high society, but ever since I seized that mirror, it’s shown me everything .

..and as soon as you arrived at that inn, it showed me exactly what I’d been waiting for all along. ”

Reaching into her old-fashioned, stiffly-boned bodice, the baroness drew out what appeared to be a plain, rounded and fist-sized river-stone...until she turned it over in her palm.

Margaret sucked in her breath.

Reflection’s Heart was only the second major supernatural artifact she’d witnessed in close proximity, but the power that rose from its shimmering surface to pulse thickly through the air was unmistakable.

“Look with me now, Lady Riven,” the baroness murmured and Margaret’s feet drew her closer without a second thought.

The face of Reflection’s Heart was flat, and yet it held impossible depth. It reflected both of their faces as if they were surrounded by mist...

And then the baroness began to whisper, her fingers caressing the sides of the stone with avaricious care. “Image be clear, image be bright, show me a tool I can use to douse my enemies’ light.”

Yes! Margaret had known that was the right formula. Even now, she couldn’t quite hold back a surge of professional satisfaction...

And then the mist swept across the mirror to shroud their reflections before clearing once more to show something else entirely:

Margaret herself, busily scribbling notes in front of the mirror in her room.

Margaret laughing and talking to what appeared to be empty air through that mirror’s reflection, her face alight with happiness.

Margaret, held taut by an invisible force before that mirror with her head tipped back in pleasure so intense it looked like pain.

“ Me ?” Margaret shook her head in instinctive refusal. “I would never ? — ”

“ You ,” spat the baroness, “the notorious Lady Riven. Even here, I read the newspapers from the city. I’ve seen your image drawn at least half a dozen times, and I know what made you famous.

You didn’t only marry one of the monsters who are allowed to lead society in your backwards country.

You made yourself an acknowledged expert on them—and this morning, another monster walked beside you in the woods as if she were your friend!

“They’ve accepted you , alone among humans, into their most secret havens.

Today, I saw you reflected in the Diamantensee itself!

The nixen wouldn’t take my poisoned apple, but they took every one of yours, although they trust no other humans anymore.

When I saw that, I knew exactly what the mirror had intended by choosing you for me. ”

“Ah...” Even in the grip of fear, Margaret couldn’t let such a blatant inaccuracy pass. “When it comes to the mirror and what it shows you, the point you need to understand?—”

“Pfft. I don’t need anything or anyone else!

I used to curse those weaklings who fled instead of fighting when those vicious creatures refused to accept my authority—but now, I no longer need any more soldiers for my cause.

I have an agent who can walk untouched among them to plant my poison directly in their waters and suppress their insolence for good. ”

Margaret yanked her gaze from the shimmering stone to fix on the baroness’s exalted expression.

“Are you mad? You can’t poison the Diamantensee.

That would kill every creature who relies on it, supernatural or not!

Even if the nixen fled the lake, they could never survive without its water.

No other stream or river would support them. ”

“Then they’ll never threaten me or stand in the way of my family legacy again.

Oh, but does that distress you?” The baroness’s voice took on a sickly condescension.

“Do remember, you’re still quite a young woman, Lady Riven.

It’s no wonder your heart is still so dangerously soft.

You may leave it to my wisdom and experience to make the difficult, necessary decisions. ”

Oh, no. Had Margaret sounded even half as arrogant when she’d said such horribly similar words to Leonie earlier that day? She cringed at the awful thought...

But of course, the other woman paid no attention.

“Unlike me, you don’t actually live here.

You’ll never need to worry about the results—and within a year or two, you’ll have entirely forgotten them.

As soon as you’ve done me this single favor, you may free your own husband from his coffin and leave all of this behind forever.

If it helps to salve your conscience, I’ll even offer you as reward this legendary artifact. ”

The baroness smirked. “I’ve seen you in my mirror, remember.

I know exactly which two things you care for most: your husband and your all-consuming work.

You’re desperate to make a name for yourself, aren’t you, and to cement your reputation?

Don’t pretend you wouldn’t do almost anything to study Reflection’s Heart and present it to the world! ”

“Of course I would,” said Margaret impatiently, “but?—”

“Then it is a perfectly simple decision.” The baroness held out her palm, and Margaret’s own past reflection moved above it, in the depths of Reflection’s Heart, with unflinching accuracy.

“Rescue your husband and solidify your professional acclaim—or heartlessly bring about his death only to save a group of creatures with whom you’ll never truly belong. ”

Moistening her lips, Margaret stared at the stone and its reflections. “Those are really the only two choices you see?”

The baroness gave her a pitying smile. “What others could there be? I possess Reflection’s Heart and your husband’s helpless body. I hold all of the cards in this situation.”

“Well.” Margaret sighed, her shoulders slumping.

“This is the trouble with not doing thorough research. Your parents may have taught you about your family legacy, but they did you a true disservice in not giving you any further education. If you’d read all that I have regarding Reflection’s Heart, you would know that the mirror never truly shows you everything! ”