Lord Sebastian's Secret (The Duke's Sons #3)(80)

Sitting at her mother’s desk, Georgina opened the bottom drawer and took out a great iron ring of keys. It held duplicates for all the modern rooms of the castle, and the older ones if they weren’t lost, in case a key went missing. Papa called it a chatelaine, and he’d suggested, years ago, that Mama wear it at her belt, like the lady of an ancient manor. Mama had snorted at the idea that she would go about with a clanking bunch of metal weighing her down. She’d put it in the drawer and never looked at it unless asked to help open a door. She wouldn’t notice its absence unless Georgina was very unlucky. If she was, she’d find some excuse.

Georgina wrapped the ring in a shawl she’d brought to keep it from making a noise and slipped out of the room and back along the corridors to her own chamber. She now had a key to Joanna’s bedchamber. The trouble was, she had a great many other keys as well. No matter how long Sebastian kept Joanna occupied, she couldn’t stand in the hallway outside her former governess’s room trying a whole ring of keys. Someone was bound to catch her. Georgina carried the chair from her dressing table over to her own door, sat down, and began to experiment. The key for Joanna’s room was likely to be similar to the one that opened her own. Surely she could narrow down the choices. She picked out a key and tried it. It wouldn’t turn. She chose another.

An hour later, drooping a little in the chair and fighting repeated yawns, Georgina had done her best. She’d found the key that fit in her lock and compared it to all the others on the ring. She’d singled out ten to try and was almost certain one of them would work. As she got into bed at last, she began to manufacture reasons she might be hanging about in the corridor near Joanna’s room. None of them seemed very convincing, but that was a problem for another day.

Sebastian entered the breakfast room far too early the next morning, while the servants were still setting out the food. He knew it was too soon, but with a mission before him, he hadn’t been able to lie about in bed. He hadn’t even summoned Sykes, but had dressed himself and come down. Now here he was with a good deal of time to kill. The thing was, he hadn’t been certain when Joanna Byngham would appear.

He piled a plate and ate. He requested a pot of tea that he didn’t want. He talked to Georgina’s father and then to Randolph when he appeared. He endured his brother’s speculations on the nature of the coming ritual and refused his invitation to take a brisk walk. He almost had to push Randolph from the room in the end.

Deciding that his lurking was beginning to look peculiar, and realizing that he didn’t wish to meet Emma and Hilda, Sebastian went out into the corridor. A nonchalant scout of the surrounding area yielded an empty parlor. With the door open a crack, he could observe the entry to the breakfast room and be ready to pounce, while also avoiding irrelevant personnel.

Upstairs, Georgina lingered in the schoolroom, which was just down the hall from Joanna’s bedchamber. As far as she could see, it had fallen completely out of use since Joanna’s revelations. There were no signs of lessons being done or projects under way. Hilda must be delighted. Still, the abandonment was fortunate for Georgina. She could keep watch from here, spotting Joanna as soon as she rose.

When a housemaid came in to dust and asked if she needed anything, Georgina said that she was looking for a particular book. She had to stand at the shelves pretending to search, straining her ears for sounds from the corridor, until the girl was finished. This earned her a few curious glances.

Returning to her post, Georgina watched the corridor. It appeared that Joanna was sleeping later than usual, perhaps recruiting her strength for tonight. Or perhaps she was busily composing more ritual behind her closed door. Mama was going to have to speak to her eventually, Georgina thought. Everyone would probably be happier if Mama made other arrangements for Hilda’s education. Joanna could… What would she do? She was so changed. She seemed totally unlike the woman Georgina had admired as a young girl. She couldn’t expect to stay on as a…resident priestess. They would have to find her some congenial place. Georgina tried to think of one that might suit her, and failed.

At last, the door down the hall opened and Joanna emerged, her trailing sleeves brushing the floor as she walked. Georgina craned her neck, but she couldn’t see the key Joanna used to lock up. She waited a few minutes to be sure Joanna wasn’t coming right back and then hurried out to begin trying her keys.

Sebastian spotted Miss Byngham as she came down the corridor toward the breakfast room. Thinking strategically, he didn’t accost her then. She’d be occupied with her meal for a while, and waiting until she finished would stretch out the time. Hilda was in there; no telling how long they might talk. He checked his pocket watch to begin tracking Georgina’s hour. He hoped to give her more than that.

Georgina tried three keys without success. A maid came along carrying a pile of laundry—thankfully, not the same one who’d been dusting—and she had to pretend she was going into the schoolroom. Once the coast was clear, she managed three more attempts before she had to duck in there again. Her pulse had started to speed up. None of the keys had shown any sign of working. If she had to try more than ten, she might run out of time.

*

Miss Byngham came out of the breakfast room a mere twenty minutes after she’d entered—a quick eater, seemingly. Sebastian stepped out of the parlor and into her path. “Good morning,” he said heartily. “I wondered if I might speak to you.”