Page 2 of The Lady and the Lion (Victorian Outcasts #9)

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V ivienne couldn’t take her gaze off Lion Boy.

His leonine mane of dark-blond hair and bushy beard hid his face, except for his amber-coloured eyes. He bared his teeth and threw himself against the bars with uncanny speed. She gasped and stepped away, hitting someone with her back.

“Careful.” The smoky voice behind her belonged to Captain Jackson. The smell of tobacco and whisky gave him away as well. He gently steadied her, giving her space.

Should she thank him? Mother would be furious.

Vivienne searched the frenzied crowd, but her mother had to be still outside.

“Why isn’t the lion roaring?” a man asked. “Where’s his roar?” He stepped closer to the cage. “I bet he isn’t even dangerous.”

Lion Boy reached through the bars of the cage and grabbed the man by the jacket, dragging him towards him. Shouts erupted. Vivienne was again shoved right and left. The man in the clutches of Lion Boy cried out, and the sounds of his head hitting the bars horrified her.

“Enough!” Cade reached through the bars and hit Lion Boy repeatedly with his baton until he let the man go and withdrew to a corner.

A vicious, cat-like hiss came out of him.

Someone pushed her back, and Captain Jackson steadied her again. She was too shocked to tell him not to touch her.

“Goodness.” She clamped a hand over her mouth. “The young man is truly a lion.”

Captain Jackson huffed. “Lion Boy my arse.”

She turned towards him at his crass word. “Excuse me, what do you know about him?”

“If he was raised by lions, then I was raised by the bloody fairies.” He puffed out a cloud of smoke. “My guess is that he can’t talk, and I could bet my left bollock he’s drugged.”

“Drugged?”

“Cocaine to make him violent to start with. Hashish to make him strong. Hercules reeked of hashish. Mark my words. See Lion Boy’s eyes?

The pupils are fully dilated. His skin is wrinkly, a sign of dehydration.

He looks thirsty and sweaty. Likely, he’s so confused he doesn’t understand what’s happening.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Cade starved him before the show as well. ”

Cade kept hitting the young man with the tip of his baton. “Lion Boy would kill everyone in this tent if he were out of the cage.”

“Not likely,” Captain Jackson muttered. “In a few minutes, Lion Boy will run out of energy and collapse. Then Cade will give him another shot of cocaine before he performs again.”

Vivienne believed he knew what he was talking about, despite what her mother thought of him, and her chest tightened with sympathy for the poor young man. Her gaze locked with his, and she saw his fear and desperation.

She’d seen that desperate gaze in some of the injured animals she’d rescued before Mother forbade her to touch any wild creature.

The spectators laughed and mocked Lion Boy, calling him names.

He cowered and hugged his bent knees, shivering so hard his teeth chattered.

“See how he shivers? That’s the cocaine wearing off,” the captain said.

“But if he’s drugged and speechless, he shouldn’t be here, treated like a strange creature for people’s entertainment. That’s incredibly cruel.”

He blew out more smoke. “I shouldn’t be treated like a strange creature either, yet it happens.”

He walked away, but she followed him, her stomach churning at the pitiful noises coming from the cage and the people still mocking Lion Boy.

“Shouldn’t we do something to help him?” She tugged at the sleeve of the captain’s jacket.

He gave her a glance charged with disgust. “The rich, lucky lady, who knows nothing of the world, wants to help an unfortunate, poor chap. How touching.” He resumed his walk.

“But seriously. We must talk to the police and tell them the man needs help. Obviously, the circus owner exploits him. Lion Boy can’t have a normal life in that cage.”

“Save your breath to cool your tea.” He moved on to the next stage, but Vivienne wasn’t interested in seeing any more curiosities.

She was rather sick with them now.

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “If the police cared, Cade would be out of a job. I’ve seen at least three police officers in the crowd.”

“He’s a frightened young man,” she insisted.

“Exactly.” He scowled. “He isn’t one of those street dogs you saved from starvation. His situation is more complicated than you can imagine, and what makes you think he isn’t happy to do this?”

“Captain, he can’t be happy. He’s suffering, and you’re a doctor?—”

“Leave me alone, Lady Vivienne.”

She meant to follow him, but she spotted Mother’s velvet hat coming through the crowd and heading towards her.

She hid behind a flap between two canvas walls and waited for the spectators to walk away. Footsteps thudded. She held her breath and kept an eye on the passageway through a narrow opening as Mother walked past without spotting her.

“Vivienne?” Mother called, craning her neck right and left. “Can you see her?”

“She must be in front of us,” Dobkins said. “Maybe she’s at the other end.”

More people walked past.

When there was a moment of calm before the next wave of people arrived, she came out of her hiding place and checked that no one was close before approaching the cage.

Her legs trembled, and her palms became clammy, but she wouldn’t do anything too dangerous. She only wanted to understand if Lion Boy wanted to be there.

Lion Boy sat with his head hanging over his chest, his shoulders shaking lightly. Tears streamed down his cheeks, leaving strips of clean skin under the dirt. Bruises covered his arms and legs. He looked exhausted.

“Can you understand me?” she said.

He raised his head, and once again, she was struck by his deep amber eyes.

Eyes that showed too much pain. The pupils weren’t as dilated as before.

Guessing his age was difficult, but if she looked past the dirt and the beard, she would say he was a couple of years older than she was, nineteen maybe.

“Do you understand me?”

He launched himself at the bars, grabbing them with both hands.

She cried out, jumping back out of reach.

She stared at him, her heart beating in her throat.

He stared back through the curtains of his long, dirty hair.

He stretched out an arm, inch by inch, towards her. His lips moved, but no sound came out.

“Do you understand me?” she asked again.

He nodded, withdrawing his arm.

She licked her dry lips and searched the passageway. No one was in sight for now. “Were you raised by lions?”

He shook his head.

“Can you talk?”

Another no.

Captain Jackson was right.

“Do you want to leave this place?” She stepped closer.

He nodded.

“You don’t want to be here.”

No.

“They beat you and starve you.”

Yes.

“Do they give you drugs?”

Yes.

The promise to help him burned on the tip of her tongue. But the captain was right again. Taking home a stray dog was one thing. Helping a young man escape a circus was another. Still, how could she leave him without giving him a ray of hope?

“I’ll do everything I can?—”

“Vivienne!” Mother grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the cage. “What were you thinking? Getting close to this beast.”

Dobkins gasped, her eyes widening.

“He isn’t dangerous.” Vivienne actually wasn’t sure about that. “We must help him. He can’t talk and doesn’t want to be in a cage. And he’s drugged.”

Mother touched Vivienne’s face as if searching for injuries. “He can’t talk because he wasn’t raised by humans. And he’s filthy. You’ll catch a disease.”

“No, really. We must call the police. He’s frightened and needs our help.”

Dobkins shifted her gaze from her to Lion Boy.

“I’m telling the truth,” Vivienne said. “He can understand me. I asked him questions, and he’s in pain.”

“It’s not your responsibility.”

“I want to help him.”

“We’ve been here for too long.” Mother took her hand and dragged her away.

She glanced back at Lion Boy one last time before Mother turned a corner and the cage disappeared from view.

The boy’s desperate face kept flashing across Vivienne’s mind as she sat in front of her vanity that night. Her skin smelt of kerosene, no matter how much rose cream she applied. She hadn’t protested about the smelly bath, not to enrage Mother further, and she was too worried to care anyway.

Dobkins brushed her hair, gently untangling the long dark tresses. “You’re quiet, my lady.”

“I can’t stop thinking about that poor young man, locked up in a cage, beaten, and drugged. And for what? So that Cade can show him to the world and make money. It makes me ill.”

“How do you know he’s drugged?”

“Captain Jackson said?—”

“Did you talk to him?” Dobkins walked around the stool to stare at her.

“I didn’t mean to. I bumped into him when we were in front of Lion Boy, and he told me the young man had been drugged and likely couldn’t talk. I want to help Lion Boy.”

“I understand, but let’s say Captain Jackson is correct. How do you think you’re going to help Lion Boy? There’s nothing you can do for him, and I’m sure it’s all a show. When the circus is closed, the young man will have a laugh and leave the cage. He’s probably making a lot of money as well.”

“It didn’t seem like that. You should have seen his eyes. He was crying. He was frightened and couldn’t voice his protest. It’s awful.” A sob shook her. “No one cares.”

“You care too much.” Dobkins finished braiding Vivienne’s hair.

“I want to go back to the circus when it’s closed and see for myself if I’m right.”

“Absolutely not! You aren’t going anywhere. It’s dangerous. And not because of the germs.”

“I need to see him again before the circus moves out of London. I need to make sure he’s all right. Will you come with me?” She squeezed Dobkins’s hand. “Please.”

“When you brought that injured fox home in the country, I supported you. Then there was the kingfisher, the frog, and countless dogs and cats, and I’ve always been by your side, even when your mother started to worry about what sort of diseases those wild animals might carry.

I understand you always want to help the unfortunate ones, but this is different. ”

“Exactly! He’s a young man. We can’t leave him alone. He needs help. No one understands how much he’s suffering. No one actually sees him.”

Dobkins shook her head and prepared the bed. “To bed. It’s late.”

“I’ll go with or without you.”

“I’ll tell your father.”

“Please. I only need to see him for a moment and talk to him. If he’s happy as you say, I’ll leave.”

Dobkins shook her head. “Madness.”

“I’ll be quick, and I don’t care if Father punishes me. Will you come?”

Dobkins exhaled. “Only if you promise to stop talking about rescuing Lion Boy afterwards.”