Page 37 of Blackwicket (Dark Hall #1)
“The good Inspector likes to rough people up, put everyone on edge. Ultimately, he’s a weak threat.
The Authority’s too curious to discover what comes of all of my hard work to put a stop to it.
” As he spoke, he shifted his weight, revealing his annoyance by the way he dug his cane into the rocky drive.
“But admittedly, the man’s been pulling on his leash lately. ”
I stared at him, searching for any signs of the William I’d known.
The young man who fell in love with my sister, even though her family had been involved in the loss of his precious brother.
He’d walked the cliffs with us, explored the beaches, stolen kisses from Fiona on the porch.
And when he brought flowers, he’d always taken some aside for me.
He’d once understood our isolation and loneliness, and had commiserated with us over the villainy of his father.
“You used to talk of becoming a better man than Grigori, of taking care of people,” I said, examining his face, looking for any signs that the old William was still there. “You promised Fiona you’d make her life better.”
“I did all of those things.”
“You did none of them.”
This hit a nerve, the hidden underbelly of William’s ego. His anger was immediate, but not violent—it didn’t distort his features or raise color to his face. Instead, it turned his words hard as the broadside of a steel blade, the sneer implied.
“And what have you done, little girl? Run away from home. Hidden like a mouse in the dirty corners of cities, pretending you’re safe while you scrounge for the scraps of a life, forgoing true pleasure and peace, letting yourself be rutted by weak men, betrayed by unloyal friends.
All the while collecting curses, never healing them, never using them, just abandoning them to languish in a dark box that you’ve filled with your useless guilt.
Until at last you did the glorious thing you were created for only to send a man to his death. ”
William’s cadence of speech had altered, his words so coarse and unpleasant that if I hadn’t been looking at him, I’d have been convinced a different man was talking. My mouth twisted into a disgusted snarl.
“You don’t know anything.”
“No secrets among friends, Eleanora.” His tone remained serrated, antagonizing, “I know you better than you think. We’ve been keeping track of you for quite a while. Whose idea do you expect it was to have Darren fetch you to Nightglass?”
If he’d backhanded me, it would have hurt less than this revelation did. Of course, my father had ulterior motives. He’d never come to retrieve me out of sentiment, grief, or guilt. He’d been there on an errand, to act as a courier, whisking me back to this hellhole for a price.
“How long?” The words were razors in my mouth.
“Long enough to know you’d jump at the chance to help that poor Rosley woman if we positioned her right.”
The bracelet. Still tucked with the other cursed items in my unpacked bags inside Blackwicket House.
Some good friends gave it to me. The jewels... one for each of my children.
“She and her husband were fairly well known by the Brom in Devin for being some of our neediest clients. Always looking for more magic. Always willing to pay the highest price. Her poor children, being exposed to all of that cursed magic.”
He shook his head, but the sympathy was too polished to be honest.
“In the end, her loss was our gain.”
“You killed her.”
“I believe you did, Ellie.” His use of my childhood nickname nauseated me, and my rage finally became action.
Giving in to an inescapable urge, I kicked his cane out from under him.
I’d intended for him to fall, to tumble to the ground and give me room to run to the house, but although the tip slipped across the frozen dirt, he remained upright, steady on his feet.
A laugh preceded the rage, which broke across his visage like a storm crashing to shore.
He brought the tip of his cane down between my ankles and, in a single smooth motion, twisted it so it caught my left heel.
With a solid shove of the hard wood against my thigh, he knocked my feet from beneath me, and I hit the ground on my hip.
William pinned the layers of my skirt to the frozen earth between my calves, forcing me to remain in an awkward sprawl. To free myself, I’d have to roll onto my stomach and crawl away. A thing I would never do for William.
He towered above me, the monster Thea and Mr. Farvem were afraid of, the one Fiona had eventually seen and recoiled from.
“Now there’s a pretty view,” he intoned, the edges of his voice regaining their charming, harmless shape. “I won’t make you apologize this time, but let’s remain civil in the future.”
He crouched close, running his gaze purposefully along the curve of my hip. Had I not been twisted in such an awkward position, I would have leaned in to bite the nose off his face.
“This is all so unnecessary,” he said. “I’ll tell you everything, Eleanora. You just have to cooperate with me. Let me show you what power tastes like. No more fear, no more running. Do what I ask of you, and I’ll be at your mercy. You’ll be the most powerful woman ever to walk this earth.”
“Is that what you promised my sister?” I growled, then spat in his face.
He barely flinched. I expected him to raise his hand, to further attempt to degrade me, but he only wiped the spit from his cheek, a smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth.
“What can I say? A Nightglass man can’t resist a Blackwicket,” he replied, even and jovial, rising to his feet.
He released my skirt, and I adjusted myself, hastily standing, soaked with snowmelt, as he watched on.
I rejected the urge to throw a punch. William was more than he seemed, and I was already in plenty of danger.
“Leave,” I commanded, and my voice quavered, frightened and brittle.
“Of course.” He pressed a hand to his chest, offering a slight bow, a gentleman again. “Thank you for accommodating my request to bid farewell to Fiona. I’m sure you have things to tend to.”
He began his trek to the waiting car, and I watched him go, clutching the collar of my coat closed just to have something to hold onto, shivering from more than the cold.
“I’ll be in touch, Eleanora,” he called back. “And we’ll continue this chat. Perhaps at the next High Tide.”