Chapter 41: Lyke-Wake
***TRIGGER WARNING: The last part of this chapter depicts scenes of a possible graphic nature, including assault and murder. This is a warning to those who are sensitive to the topics of assault and suicide.***
Lanfore, Hertfordshire
Robert Quincy was readying himself for bed when a knock sounded on the main doors. The footmen were readying for bed as well, yet still one came rushing to open it. As Robert fixed on a robe, the door was opened and a smartly dressed man strode in, a look of some urgency on his face.
"I need to speak with Robert Quincy," he was telling the footman.
"What do you wish to say to me at this late hour?" Robert asked apprehensively, quickly descending the steps.
The man looked up and hurried forward. "You're Lucy Quincy's uncle, right?"
"Yes, I am," Robert said, frowning. "What of it? Who are you?"
"Apologies, apologies," the man quickly bowed. "My name is Sebastian Lucas. I am a good friend to James Boatwright."
"Of course you are," Robert rested his hand on the railing of the stairs and paused on the second to last step. "Is he dead or something?"
"No, no," Sebastian shook his head. "But I suspect something about your family that the Magistrate will use against you if he finds out about it."
Robert crossed his arms over his chest. "It seems there is a lot of suspicion about my family going about. I had a woman come here not a few days ago, singing the same songs to me about secrets the Magistrate knew about Abigail."
"Yes, yes! I know that woman," Sebastian nodded. "Sir, that's Bertha Denning. She's a servant in the Magistrate's home. What she said is true, but you cannot trust her anymore. She's on the Magistrate's side now."
"Oh? But then why should I trust your word?" Robert asked, slightly bored. "You're a stranger who all but invaded my home late at night. I've half a mind to have you thrown out."
"You won't when I tell you everything I know, everything the Magistrate knows and will know!"
Robert considered it for a moment, then sighed and shrugged. "Well I am awake and you have my attention. But that may not last, so come," he gestured for Sebastian to follow him. "Tell me everything you know."
The relief on Sebastian's face caused Robert to worry. If the man was so desperate to tell him something either he was intent on deception or he was telling the truth.
Either way, Robert knew the only way to find out for sure was to hear him out.
XXX
"If you're going to do this," Bertha said, standing behind the Magistrate as he sat at his desk, head in his hands, "you have to know whom you will make your enemy."
"I am not afraid of Robert Quincy," the Magistrate whispered. "I've dealt with elites worse than him. Men that think they can walk over officers of justice simply because they have the money to buy their way out of their crimes. The Quincy family does not deserve the pomp and circumstance it has, and I want to see them fall."
"Even so," Bertha placed a hand on his shoulder, "be careful with this. Robert Quincy is not the only enemy you will be making if you reveal this secret. There is a reason I only intended for Lucy to know the truth of her mother's infidelity."
"So what do you want me to do?"
"Find the one person you want to hurt the most, and make them suffer the brunt of another's crimes," Bertha smiled. "Trust me, the feeling that comes from knowing you have power over the powerful is nothing shy of magical, but do not let it consume you. The only way people like us win is when we know exactly how to play the game they designed for us to lose."
"You and I are not the same," the Magistrate reminded her, his voice low and threatening. "If I want the world to know this, then I will do anything in my power to make that happen."
Bertha gently stroked his back. "You were desperate enough to get into bed with me, Magistrate. I think you are far more capable of doing this the right way than you realize. School yourself to patience," she picked up a blank sheet and placed it in front of him, "think of the person you hate the most and destroy them. Watch their world burn."
"And if I cannot decide?"
"List them, then one by one watch them drop like flies."
Even Bertha did not know whom the Magistrate would choose so, when he started writing, she felt her heart sing. His enemies were her enemies, and they were going to destroy them together.
The first name on the list needed no explanation, and Bertha finally saw the plan she had started will finally coming to light.
John Quincy
XXX
"Firstly," Robert tried to school away his anger and remain calm, but it proved a difficult task, "how do you any of this?"
Sebastian looked petrified, but he held himself impressively. "James told me. The rest I found out for myself."
"And how did James know?"
"Bertha Denning told him."
"And how did she know?"
"She's Arthur Denning's sister, she knows everything, weren't you listening?!"
Robert shook his head. "I find it difficult to trust you, Mr. Lucas. After all, you are trying so hard to turn me against the Magistrate, and yet here you sit, to be engaged to his daughter."
Sebastian groaned and closed his eyes. "That was meant to be my consolidation for helping James in the first place. I was in need of a wife and saw the opportunity. There is no alliance with me and the Magistrate whatsoever!"
"And yet you feel the need to tell me that not only was Abigail unfaithful and sired my beloved niece illegitimately, but that my own brother did so as well with a maid?" Robert was baffled. "The first I can try to understand, but still I would be wary to believe that the niece I have loved all these years is not even my own blood. The latter, I am not so inclined to believe as well; my brother was an honorable man, he never stepped a foot out of line. He was the example I followed."
Sebastian sat forward, looking at Robert intently. "Then how do you explain the maid falling pregnant after she left your home?"
"Perhaps a servant here impregnated her, or did you forget that handsome footmen do, in fact, exist?"
"But then why did your brother go out of his way to bring her here?" Sebastian pressed on. "Why not have her protected in her own home? Dawn-Bridge would have been safer, no? He insisted that she come here, from what Mrs. Boatwright told me. There must have been a reason for that."
Robert knew that Sebastian was making sense, but still he couldn't believe it. His niece a bastard? His brother an adulterer? More than one illegitimate Quincy child running around in the world? And all these years, he thought he would be the one to accomplish such a feat! Robert wasn't sure if he should believe such a fantastic story, but if Sebastian had endeavored to lie, he would have chosen something less extravagant. It was something John always told him; those who wanted to lie the smart way always chose the story that was not so easy to disprove. This one was.
So what was Robert to think?
"I do not mean to spread word of this to anyone," Sebastian pressed on. "But the Magistrate will if you don't do something."
"Please, no one would believe him if he did."
"Are you sure?" Sebastian asked. "Those murders that happened all those years ago caused a lot of doubts towards your brother's ability. Something like this might just break that thin line, it doesn't matter who tells it."
Robert cursed and shook his head. "It would be easier to call you a liar and send you out of here. My niece is no illegitimate."
"But she is," Sebastian pressed. "She's Arthur Denning's daughter, and she knows it too. That is why she isn't here."
"Then where is she?"
"James went off to a place called Belmoran to find her," Sebastian said. "She went there with a Captain Ross Beauchamp after she found out the truth via a note Bertha Denning had slipped to her, a note that Abigail Quincy wrote to Arthur Denning while he was in prison, explaining everything."
"And Lucy has this note now? So there's no way to prove this!" Robert cursed again, then frowned. "Did you say Belmoran?"
"Yes, what of it?"
Robert thought about it for a moment, and then nodded to himself. "Fredrick Doyle is an associate of mine, a good and important friend. We both have shared business dealings at great length in the past. His brother, Phillip, is passing through Belmoran, if I am not mistaken, at least that was what Fredrick told me last time we spoke. If Lucy really is in Belmoran and so is Phillip, perhaps I can find a way to have word sent to him about her presence. Perhaps he can convince her to come home before this all falls apart."
"If you believe me, why do you care if your niece is helped or not?" Sebastian asked. "She is not your blood."
"That is my concern, not yours," Robert growled. "And whether it is true or not, Lucy has been my niece all her life, and will remain so. With Lucy and Lydia's father gone, I am now the one who will secure their lives, their dowries, and their marriages. That is a responsibility I do not take lightly. Abigail's mistakes will not shape Lucy's future, she still has much potential."
"Potential as in she can still marry into a status that will benefit you, so long as no one knows about her mother and her father's adulteries."
Robert slammed his fist on the table. "I don't know what you're accusing me of, but I will have you know that you are in one this game too, Mr. Lucas. If you mean to accuse me of having an ulterior motive, I suggest you look to your own actions first."
"Lucy and Lydia are nothing but pawns to you, aren't they?" Sebastian laughed derisively. "That was why you were so keen on writing that note of consent for James to marry Lucy. He is a rich man who is besotted with her and does not care about her status; it was the perfect opportunity for you to move up the ranks. And now that that does not seem to be working out, you will now turn to this other associate of yours, wouldn't you? You mean to marry her off the moment she comes back here, both her and her sister. You're going to send them off to families of your choosing, and you will be the one to reap the benefits of an elevated status!"
Robert clenched his jaw and his fists.
"I would call you a genius if I didn't think you sick."
"I love my nieces."
"You love wealth even more," Sebastian stood. "I was a fool to think you would help. But now you know the truth of your family. You know that Lucy is illegitimate. Word about it will spread, sir, and good luck marrying her off to the crown prince of Austria then."
With that, Sebastian turned and walked out of the study, leaving Robert sitting in there, fuming. The man was not wrong, but Robert hated that he had to say it out loud. It made it sound more horrible than it actually was.
As those thoughts crossed his mind, he reached for a fresh sheet and a pen. He was going to write to Phillip Doyle and his brother, Fredrick, in an attempt to clean up this mess. Both men were unmarried; it was the prefect opportunity to secure his nieces good, wealthy husbands before the falling of the ax. Even if Lucy was illegitimate, that would not matter once she was married, she could disprove it easily while Robert worked behind the scenes to rid the Magistrate of any proof. That was something he was very good at, but he needed time and money, and his nieces needed the security.
Damn you, John, Robert thought bitterly. Damn you and your bloody wife for doing this to our family!
XXX
Belmoran Island
Samuel Worthington paced his study, muttering a slew of foul curses under his breath. The gall of that low level financier, John Brandon Quincy, to come into his home and make such demands! The mere thought of him marrying his sister angered Samuel to no end. Of course, it would never happen. There was no force on this earth that was strong enough to stop Samuel from keeping them apart forever.
Even at the cost of your sister's happiness?
He said it himself; happiness had no place in the world of the elites. Eliza would thank him when he secured for her a good and proper marriage. She would understand why John Brandon Quincy was not an option. Their family name and reputation was far more important than her little dalliance with the financier. She would thank him, her brother who loved her dearly, when she continued to live the life of luxury she loved so much.
Who are you trying to convince, Sam? Eliza is no one's pawn.
"Samuel."
Samuel skidded to a halt to see Leila standing there, a frown on her face. God, she was a beauty. But that frown on her face had no place there.
"Leila, I did not hear you come," he awkwardly tried to settle himself. "Did the footman let you in?"
"He did," she looked troubled.
Samuel was at a loss at what to say. "I don't... Do you need something?"
"Yes," she nodded. "An engagement."
That shocked him to silence. "So soon?"
"Gregory has taken off with a barmaid and no one knows where he is!" She snapped suddenly, her eyes watering and her hands shaking. "There is already talk that my sister and I are doomed. No one will marry us, they are saying, and though the thought of never marrying does, in fact, appeal to me, I have to be realistic. I need a husband now more than ever, because my brother is gone and my sister and I are entirely vulnerable. I need an engagement to shut everyone up and to keep us from the streets! Can you give one to me or not, Samuel?" She looked impatient. "We do not need to have a happy marriage or anything romantic. I just need to be married before my brother's humiliation leaves all of us destitute."
Despite the shock of her revelation, Samuel couldn't have been happier. He could almost thank Gregory Rutherford for being an humiliating fool. Leila needed him, how could he refuse her? Samuel had loved Leila for as long as he could remember. She needed him, that was all that mattered.
So, he beckoned Leila forward and knelt down to one knee, taking her hands in his. His heart was racing, despite the lack of romance in the moment. She looked desperate and out of options. Samuel had not pictured proposing to Leila in such a fashion, but he had to count his blessings.
"I have a ring," he said, which he did. He had saved it for her for a long time, hoping that she would see him as a prospect one day.
"That's very well," the look of urgency on her face ushered him on.
"Will you marry me, then?" He asked, knowing that it words were the farthest thing from romantic. He sounded like he was in the middle of a dull business transaction as opposed to proposing to the woman he loved.
"Yes, yes," she took her hand away and stepped back. "Thank you, Samuel, you can give me the ring later."
She quickly kissed him on the cheek and then swept out of his study, leaving him standing there, dumbstruck. Had that just happened? Or was he so exhausted from the dramatics of everyone else that he had hallucinated one of his own?
Reaching into his pocket, Samuel pulled out his mother's old engagement ring and smiled slowly. Engaged to Leila Rutherford. He had waited all his life for such a thing to happen, and fate was in his favor.
Now, he just had to stop John Brandon Quincy from pursuing his sister, and all would be well with the world.
XXX
Leila broke down in tears the moment she stepped into the carriage. She was only surprised she had held it all back while having to face Samuel Worthington and beg him for an engagement. She knew the man was besotted with her and would do just about anything to see her happy. Leila needed safety and security now more than ever. A marriage such as this would mean that her family had a fighting chance.
Still, tears streamed down her cheeks and she struggled to breathe. So many years she had prided herself with writing her own destiny, and now she found it being written for her. She was to spend the rest of her life with a man she did not love, share a bed and make babies with a man she didn't love. She was doing this for her family, she knew it, but the fact that it fell upon her shoulders to do so made her sick.
Everything that had happened and was going to happen frightened her, and it was all she could do not to throw herself out of the carriage and into the raging sea below.
But she wouldn't, she was stronger than that. Leila would see this through, she had to.
She was a woman, unprotected and alone. She had no choice anymore.
XXX
John and Eliza sat on a bench overlooking the sea. It was quiet, and the moon shone right overhead, beautiful like a perfect pearl in the sky, and the stars were diamonds. This moment itself was perfect, and John didn't want it to end.
"Samuel will never agree to this," Eliza said, her head resting on his shoulder. "We can fight and beg all we want, but he will never agree. It is not in his nature."
"We can try to convince him," John said optimistically. "He is your brother and he loves you."
"You don't know him, John, I do," Eliza looked up at him. "Samuel would have me married off to an old crone if it meant keeping the family wealthy and of proper rank. If I marry you, he will withhold my dowry and probably use it to buy a summer home for Leila. We will be left with nothing, and my reputation and name will be tarnished forever. He knows this, and that is why he will not let us marry."
John blinked and nodded slowly, unsure of what to do now. "I do not care about a dowry, Eliza. But if it means that much to you, then I certainly won't try and stand in the way of—"
"John, do you not understand what I am telling you?" Eliza looked impatient. "All of those things matter to Sam, but not to me, not with you. I don't care about my dowry, I don't care about my reputation, and I certainly don't care what he will think of me. All my life, those things have mattered, and it's tiring. Why should I whittle my destiny down to the hands of a foolish brother when I can seize it for myself and be with the man I love? John," she took his hand in hers. "I say we leave. Tonight, tomorrow morning, whenever! Let's go to Charlestown; let's be married there. Let's start a life!"
John was struck dumb and rendered speechless. All of that was far too much to take in. Eliza wanted to leave Belmoran? Leave everything behind for him? Her family? Friends? Wealth? Titles? Everything? John didn't understand that. He could have been a raving mad man, or a habitual gambler for all she knew! How could she trust him so easily? He loved her, that was undoubted. Was that enough?
"Well?" She pressed.
"There are no fancy balls that I attend in Charlestown."
"I don't care."
"My house is not your mansion, it does not have a fancy name."
"Good, makes it easier to remember!"
"You don't understand Eliza, I live near the ports, my house smells of fish all year round! Heck, I smell of it, working down on the docks!"
"John, I live on a bloody island, look around!" She laughed. "I'm surprised I don't smell of fish!"
"But your things?"
Eliza smiled. "I'll have them packed and we will leave as soon as we can. The two of us, together!"
"Your brother won't let you."
"Samuel knows he can't stop me, so all he will do is cut me off... And I don't care," Eliza leaned forward and kissed John deeply. "I love you," she whispered against his lips, leaning back to look him in the eyes. "I love you so much, John Brandon Quincy. I want to be with you forever."
John didn't think when he pressed his lips to hers. The feel of Eliza in his arms was all he needed to know that, even though this plan was mad and riddled with mistakes and errors, he was ready to see it through. He would do anything for this woman, and he knew it. He would walk through fire if he had to.
But first, he had to see to his sister. When Lucy was well, then he would feel safe going.
"Soon," he promised Eliza, stroking her face. "Be ready for when I come for you."
Eliza's smile stole his breath away. "I will always be ready for you."
XXX
The night offered a convenient setting for the scene unfolding before Lucy. The vision, no, the ghost of the man standing in front of her made the chill of the wind feel like shards of ice cutting into her flesh like knifes. She couldn't breathe without feeling her entire body shake. All this he did to her, all the healing she had gone through and fought for was diminished in the breath of a second.
"James..." Lucy backed away slowly, feeling her whole body shake violently. "Please, don't do this."
He looked confused. "Do what? I've come to take you home!"
"This is my home," Lucy said, surprised at how forceful her voice sounded. "I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Lucy, enough," James's casual tone caused her to stiffen with irritation. Was this a game to him? "Your uncle wrote me a note of consent. We are going to be married, and we can put this behind us for good."
Uncle Robert wrote his consent for her to marry this madman? What was he thinking? God, of course, the man was a greedy goat. He frothed at the mouth at the thought of marrying his nieces to a man with a purse heavier than his vices. Lucy now wished she was back home, if only to punch her uncle right in the face.
For once, she was happy there was no blood relation there.
"You might as well tear that note right up and leave," Lucy said, her tone heavy. "I will not go with you, James."
"If you think that your farce of an engagement to Ross Beauchamp is going to stop me, then you're wrong."
"It is not a farce, Ross and I are engaged!"
"Then where is your ring?"
Lucy clenched her fists and backed away. "I will scream, people will hear!"
"Who?" James asked, raising an eyebrow. "Perhaps a few drunkards and whores will, and they do not concern me. I will have you before they can come, and you will see sense. We are made for each other, Lucy. I love you!"
Those words sent chills up her spine, and all she could think was the impossible: Ross coming to rescue her. The love of her life, her knight in shining armor, the man she had pledged her soul to, coming out the darkness to take her away from this lunatic.
But Ross was in Shorewind, far from here. He would not hear her scream. There was no night in shining armor here, just Lucy, the damsel, left to face her demons alone.
"Come," James held out a hand to her. "Let's go home."
"No!" Lucy shouted before picking up her skirts and turning to run. But doing so in a dress was near impossible. Still, she tried to make some headway and picked up her pace as much as she could. She felt her hair come out of its bun as she flew through the night, in the direction of where she knew Shorewind to be. Perhaps she wouldn't make it there, perhaps she would, but she would be dammed if she didn't try.
But as her pace quickened, Lucy felt an aura of hope. She was going to make it! She was going to make it! She was going to escape James and be free of him! Yes, this was going to happen, she was going to do the impossible and outrun him! She—
Lucy almost didn't feel James push her down on the ground, but she certainly felt the wind being knocked out of her. She felt her body skid and her palms burn. The metallic taste of blood in her mouth caused her to cough, and she lifted her hands to see her palms ripped to shreds.
Lucy was too weak to turn over, but still she tried. And when she had a view of the man himself, the evil look in his eyes made her blood run cold. How was this her childhood friend? That sweet, portly boy that she had played with? The boy she used to learn the violin with? The smiling man who had greeted her upon her return to Lanfore?
How was this evil, wicked man her former, dear, beloved friend?
"You try my patience," James growled, advancing on her. "I will have you, Lucy, even if I have to take you by force."
The meaning of his words was not lost on Lucy, and she felt her fear spike to new heights. The fighting spirit in her kicked in and the pain went away in a flash of adrenaline.
James struggled to hold her down. Lucy kicked and bit and scratched and screamed. He was taller than her by far, and stronger. But she was determined to keep him away from her, to stay un-violated. She thought of Ross, the man she loved, the man who she would always love. She thought of her friends, of her brother, of everyone who had treated her kindly since arriving here. They gave her strength to fight James off. She gave herself the strength, or tried.
Finally, with one swift surge of strength, Lucy managed to shove James off of her. She tried to crawl away, but he held her down again. She felt her strength leaving her.
But she would never submit to this man, this monster.
"I do not love you," she spat in his eye. "I will never love you, you wretched monster! I love Ross Beauchamp. I love him with all my heart, and you are a dead man!"
James's laugh angered her even more. "You will not be saying that when I am finished with you."
She heard the click of his belt buckle and she screamed when he lifted her skirts. She fought and fought and fought. Managing just barely to get out of his grasp. When she did, she punched him square in the face and pushed him away. He grabbed hold of her and brought her down with them.
"Let me go!" She screamed. "Let me go! Help! Help! He—"
"LUCY!!"
The sound of a pistol firing silenced everything. And the last thing Lucy saw was the stain of crimson blood all over her hands. It ran through her fingers, stained her dress, and drenched the tips of her hair.
Trembling, she looked up.
"Ross?"
The man she loved stood there, eyes wild with fury. The pistol was smoking, and he was struggling to catch his breath.
Lucy looked down at the blood on her hands... What was it doing there?
The sound of Ross calling her name did nothing now. Like an unbearable void, Lucy's world went black.
XXX
To be continued...
_____________________
Author's note: Yes, that is a wrap on book two!!!
We hope you enjoyed. Writing this was an amazing, exhilarating experience for us, as we tested our boundaries with our skill and pushed the envelope farther than we did with book 1. We cannot thank you guys enough for your love, support, constant comments and votes, and your loyalty! We are excited to continue this journey with you into book 3! :)
Thank you for reading, we hope you enjoyed! Be sure to leave a vote and comment, let us know how you liked it! We are over the moon excited to post book 3, we cannot wait for you guys to read it! We hope you enjoy it, hopefully, as much as you enjoyed book 2! Since we are still intensively editing this book, we will post book 3, when we are finished! We do not know for certain when that will be, but we will keep all of you posted!
Any comments and speculations until then? Let us know! :)
Love you all bunches!
-M&M