The Raven Prince (Princes #1)(67)

“Please stop that, Cynthia,” Felicity said. “M’man has a headache.”

“I’m so sorry, M’man,” Christine replied, not sounding sorry at all. “We’ll leave as soon as we get your permission.” She smiled coyly.

“M’man’s permission! M’man’s permission!” Cynthia chanted.

“Yes!” Felicity said. “Yes, you have my permission.”

“Huzzah! Huzzah!” Cynthia ran from the room, her red hair streaming behind her.

The sight made her frown. Cynthia’s red hair was the bane of Felicity’s life.

“Thank you, M’man.” Christine closed the door primly.

Felicity groaned and rang for more toilet water. If only she hadn’t written that incriminating note in a fit of sentimentality. And what had Peter been thinking to save that locket? Men truly were idiots.

She pressed her fingertips over the cloth on her forehead. Perhaps Lord Swartingham really hadn’t known what she was talking about. He’d seemed confused when she had said they both knew the identity of the lady he’d met at Aphrodite’s Grotto. And if, in fact, he did not know her…

Felicity sat up, the cloth falling unheeded to the floor. If he did not know the woman’s identity, then she’d been trying to blackmail the wrong person.

ANNA KNELT IN her little garden in back of the cottage the next morning. She hadn’t the heart to tell Mother Wren she’d lost her employment. It had been late when she’d arrived home the night before, and this morning she hadn’t wanted to talk about it. Not yet, anyway, when the subject would only bring up questions she couldn’t answer. Eventually, she’d have to work up the courage to apologize to Edward. But that could wait, too, while she licked her wounds. Which was why she worked in the garden today. The mundane tasks of caring for vegetables and the smell of the freshly dug earth provided a kind of solace to her soul.

She was digging up horseradish roots to replant when she heard a shout from the front of the cottage. She frowned and lay down the shovel. Surely nothing was wrong with Rebecca’s baby? She lifted her skirts to trot around the cottage. The sound of a carriage and horses receded. A clearly feminine voice shouted again as she rounded the corner.

Pearl stood on the front step, holding another woman against her. At her approach, they both turned and Anna gasped. The other woman had two black eyes, and her nose looked as if it might be broken. It took Anna a couple of seconds to recognize her.

It was Coral.

“Oh, Lord!” Anna gasped.

The front door opened.

Anna rushed to take Coral’s other arm. “Fanny, hold the door for us, please.”

Fanny, wide-eyed, obeyed as they awkwardly maneuvered Coral in.

“Told Pearl,” Coral whispered, “not to come here.” Her lips were so swollen, the words were indistinct.

“Thank goodness she didn’t listen to you,” Anna said.

She judged the narrow stairs to the upper floor. They’d never make it up the steps with Coral leaning so heavily on them. “Let’s bring her into the sitting room.”

Pearl nodded.

They gently lowered Coral to the settee. Anna sent Fanny up the stairs for a blanket. Coral’s eyes had closed, and Anna wondered if she’d fainted. The other woman was breathing sonorously through her mouth, her nose too misshapen and swollen to let in air.

Anna pulled Pearl to the side. “What happened to her?”

The other woman darted an anxious glance at Coral. “It was that marquis. He came home last night falling-down drunk; only, he wasn’t so drunk he couldn’t do that to her.”

“But why?”

“He didn’t have a reason as I could see.” Pearl’s lips trembled. At Anna’s shocked stare, she grimaced. “Oh, he mumbled something ’bout her seeing other men, but that was a crock. Coral thinks of bed sport as business. She wouldn’t be doing it with someone else while she had a protector. He just enjoyed putting his fists into her face.”

Pearl wiped away an angry tear. “If I hadn’t gotten her out when he went to piss, he probably would’ve killed her.”

Anna put an arm around her shoulder. “We must thank the Lord that you were able to save her.”

“I didn’t know where else to bring her, ma’am,” Pearl said. “I’m sorry to bother you after how kind you were before. If we can stay a night or two, just until Coral can get back on her feet.”

“You’re welcome to stay however long it takes for Coral to become well again. But I fear it’ll be more than a night or two.” Anna looked worriedly over at her battered guest. “I must send Fanny for Dr. Billings right away.”

“Oh, no.” Pearl’s voice rose in panic. “Don’t do that!”

“But she needs to be seen to.”

“It’d be better if no one knows we’re here ’sides Fanny and the other Mrs. Wren,” Pearl said. “He might try looking for her.”

Anna slowly nodded. Coral was obviously still in danger. “But what about her wounds?”

“I can take care of them. There aren’t any broken bones. I already checked, and I can straighten her nose again.”

“You can fix a broken nose?” Anna looked at Pearl strangely.