Broken Veil (Harbinger #5)(51)

Please, heed me! Sera thought. Go. Leave. You must.

“Aren’t you going to come in?” Joanna asked, a little smile lighting up her face.

The young man was clearly racked with indecision. Did he hear her, or was he merely reacting to the social prohibition that prevented women and men from being alone together.

His cheeks were still aflame with color. Was it embarrassment or some other reaction? Sera couldn’t tell, but she willed him to step back into the corridor.

“I’ll be back later, miss,” he said, then retreated into the hall where Sera no longer could see him. “I think you should dress first, miss. And I’ll bring my officer with me. Sorry to disturb your sleep.”

Sera exhaled her pent-up breath, nearly sobbing in relief. Joanna stood at the precipice, and Sera could see she was wrestling with what to do next.

“Lieutenant!” the young man shouted out in the hall. “Lieutenant, can you come here, please?”

“Allow me to change,” Joanna said, then shut and locked the door. Once she’d done so, she lit a lamp and set it on the table. Lady Corinne reappeared, a dark look on her face.

“He wouldn’t come in,” Joanna said, shaking her head. “Foolish boy,” she added with derision.

Wise boy, Sera countered in her mind.

Joanna looked around in frustration. “This is Rand’s room. I need a dress.”

Lady Corinne cocked her head. “We’re running out of time. They’re coming.”

“Who?” Joanna asked.

“Mrs. Pullman just told me that the Fitzroy tempest has landed in the yard.” She paused, her head still inclined. “It’s Stephen Fitzroy. And she has come too.”

“Really?” Joanna asked in excitement.

Who did they mean? Anna? Lady Maren?

“It’s time to leave,” Lady Corinne said. “Get your bag.”

Not again, Sera thought in despair. Her rescuers were practically standing outside the door. She was grateful the young man had retreated, but she wished he would return with more soldiers. With his lieutenant and Stephen and enough men and women to defeat her captors.

Corinne opened the closet door, and she and Joanna grabbed Sera’s arms and hauled her to her feet. With her ankles tied together, she wobbled, her knees weakened by the strain of her position on the floor.

“Where are we going?” Joanna asked.

“Somewhere they won’t search. Somewhere they can’t search. We need to bide our time and arrange for the right leverage. But first, we must cut off a stray thread.”

“Who? Mrs. Pullman?”

Lady Corinne nodded. “I’ve wanted to see her die for years. Ever since . . .” She stopped herself, perhaps seeing Joanna’s hungry look, and swallowed the secret. Sera wondered at the crack in composure. Corinne had lost the self-control she’d shown at Pavenham Sky. Her secrets were starting to spill out now after having been bottled up so long.

Why did Corinne hate Mrs. Pullman? It was an unintentional slip, but Sera had caught it and clung to it.

“What are you going to do?” Joanna asked.

“Let Gimmerton Sough fall,” Lady Corinne said with malice in her voice.

Joanna’s eyed widened with awe and respect. “How?”

“I own the deed of this place,” she said. “The keeper works for me. Her mind is so wrapped up in knots, she’ll want to die. She knows she’d be tried for murder anyway. Why not die now, on her terms, destroying her enemy as well?”

Her enemy. Who was Mrs. Pullman’s enemy? Cettie? Could she be the woman who’d arrived with Stephen?

Did that mean her friend was still faithful to her? Hope flickered to life in her heart but was quickly doused by the realization that Cettie and Stephen and all the soldiers in the manor might be about to die. She wished more than anything to buck and fight, but it would do no good. If she truly hoped to defeat them, she would wait for her opening.

“Here, on the bed,” Lady Corinne said. The two wrestled Sera to the edge, keeping their tight, punishing grip on her arms as they made her sit. Lady Corinne drew the Tay al-Ard from a pocket in her skirts. Joanna eyed it hungrily. There was competition between the two women, she realized. Yes, they worked for the same ends. For now. But Sera could sense a deeper rivalry. Lady Corinne’s fame and power had waned while Joanna Patchett’s had risen. No one wanted to give up power or influence, even if it was simply part of a cover.

Sera waited, wishing she didn’t have the gag in her mouth. She heard voices beyond the door. Were the soldiers conferring with each other? They were waiting for Miss Patchett to dress. How long would they wait before they knocked again?

How much time passed, Sera didn’t know. Minutes? A quarter hour? More? But then light began to flicker beneath the door. Lady Corinne glanced at Joanna with a secret smile.

Sera’s stomach lurched as Gimmerton Sough began to plummet. Cries of worry and alarm filled the air. Bodies thumped against the door, then the wall. Joanna’s eyes glowed with silver light. The manor was rushing down, ready to shatter on the plain below. Sera feared for her friends, she feared that the landing would cause another earthquake for her people. The damage wrought by Pavenham Sky’s fall was still felt, a year later.

Joanna’s grip on Sera’s arm tightened. And then the Tay al-Ard yanked them away, adding to the delirium of confusion. They were gone.