Something Strange and Deadly (Something Strange and Deadly #1)(45)

“But he helped me,” I argued wearily. “Why would the gossip be anything but grateful?”

Mama clucked, a sound filled with condescension. “Naive little girl. Working-class men have one intention and one intention only. They want you for this.” She waved to my body and raised a single eyebrow.

“That’s not true.” I heaved myself back up. As if any man would want me for that. Even if I were a beauty like Allison, I still knew Daniel wouldn’t want me in that way (and for some reason that rankled me). He would never treat me as if I were... as if I were a camel.

“How can you think that, Mama? You don’t even know the boy.”

She paused midstride. “Do you know him?” Her voice was low, and her eyes gleamed with predatory awareness.

I flicked my gaze right and stared at the stripes on my wallpaper. “No, of course not.”

Mama didn’t reply, and I wondered if she suspected. But then she sniffed, and I knew my secret was safe.

“So... this young man,” I said, trying to sound casual. “How did you repay him?”

Mama flicked her wrist. “Jeremy dealt with him. I could not invite him into the house.”

“What?” My breath quickened, a combination of shame and anger growing in my chest. “You were rude to the man who rescued me, and I’m forbidden to attend the Exhibition?”

“Exactly.” She gave me a withering glare.

“I promised to work there,” I said through grinding teeth. A tense fire had begun to burn in my shoulders.

Her mouth tightened. “Are you arguing with me, Eleanor? This is most unlike you.”

I clenched the moist cotton of my nightgown. I could conjure a thousand reasons to argue, but none I could speak to Mama. Breathe, Eleanor, breathe. Raising her suspicions would not serve me well.

I heaved my breath out in a single, long exhale. All my fury shot out with it, and I deflated back onto the bed.

Mama’s lips twitched with satisfaction, and she resumed her pacing. “Now, about Mr. Wilcox. Tomorrow when you play croquet with him, you must do your best to hold his attention.” She droned on, but I stopped listening. I traced my fingers on the worn fabric of my linens. I was hot, and thirst raged in my throat. Mama could prattle all she liked about marriage, money, and men, but it would stay far from my mind.

The necromancer and his pawns were still intact, a spirit wanted to kill me, and all I knew was that there was something special at the Exhibition—something the necromancer and the spirit had not yet found.

“Are you listening?” Mama stomped to my side. “I said you are lucky to have Clarence’s affection.”

“I don’t have his affection.”

“You most certainly do, and stop mumbling. You are luckier than you can imagine. A handsome man like that could have any woman he desires, and you are hardly the sort of woman for whom most men pine.”

I stopped tracing the sheet and glowered up at her. “I don’t have his affection, Mama.”

She slapped my hands. It was a stinging reminder of who ruled this house. “Enough of this, Eleanor. He has clearly shown an interest in you. And if you continue to enchant him, an engagement—”

“Engagement?” I asked. “Mama, I’m only sixteen!”

“And we are out of money, Eleanor.” She hunched over me, an urgency in the hard lines of her face. “He may not be interested in you forever, and our fortune has shrunk to the point of poverty. Soon there will be nothing left. We will be on the streets! Everything depends on you— including me.”

I shrank back, frightened by the intensity on her face and in her words. She was desperate.

“Yes,” I whispered. “I-I’ll try.”

The wrinkles on her face relaxed. “Good,” she crooned. “For now, you need your beauty rest. I’ll take this”—she bent and lifted a frilly white parasol—“and dispose of it.”

My jaw dropped. “What’s that?”

“That man grabbed someone else’s, I daresay.”

“No,” I murmured, my eyes fixed on the parasol’s white lace.

She snorted. “Yes. This parasol is certainly not yours. It is cheap.”

“Give it to me.” I lurched forward and ripped it from Mama’s hands. Her eyebrows flew up, and I swallowed. “Er, I-I’ll just see if there’s a name inside. Perhaps I can return it and get mine back.”

She peered at me, disbelief clear in her eyes. “All right.” She gave me one final glare and then strode from the room.

Once I heard the bedroom door shut, I eagerly examined the parasol. I was certain it was meant for me. I stroked the white lace and flounce. It was not something I would select, and Mama was right that the quality of it was lower than what she would ever buy.

But I didn’t care. It was lovely, and I popped it open. A slip of paper fluttered out from the folds of lace.

Sorry you lost yours.

Daniel

A thrill of pleasure ran down my body, and I couldn’t stop the grin dancing on my lips. For all that Daniel hated me, maybe he liked me a little too.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Despite the leafy richness of East Fairmount Park, its flower-lined paths and sunny slopes, I could not cheer up. I simply did not want to be here playing croquet.

Allison, Clarence, and I were with the mustached McClure twins and the Virtue Sisters. The twins showed little interest in anything but flirting with Allison. Meanwhile, the Virtue Sisters showed no mercy to poor Clarence, and they were clearly trying his patience with their incessant chatter. The end result was that I was left to myself. I didn’t mind in the least, for my humor was, to put it politely, foul.