They spent most of their hour together talking about Penny’s new job, her hopes for coming into enough coin to get her mother out of Coldbath Fields for good, and what they would do together when fortune finally shone down on the Smith women.
The guard seemed to come far too soon to usher Penny away. The women clung to each other, Penny pressing a kiss against her mother’s papery-thin skin.
‘I’ll be back soon. I promise.’
Harriet’s smile almost tore the heart from Penny’s chest. Pride glistened in her mother’s eyes, and a few tears, but Penny didn’t deserve any of it. ‘I know you will, darling. I’ll be thinking of you till the next time.’
As the guard raised his lantern to light the narrow path, he huffed out a breath. ‘You’re wasting your blunt coming ’ere to see ’er. Ain’t no way a girl like you’ll ever afford to get ’er out. Not unless you’re willing to give up more than the pittance you makepolishing some toff’s wood.’ He leered at Penny, leaning close enough for her to smell the rot from his broken teeth. ‘I got a nob you can polish, luv.’
Penny reached into the pocket of her cloak, her fingers sliding into the brass knuckles – a gift from Constable Sweet and something she was never without on the streets of London. She clenched her fist, taking comfort in the bite of metal against her fingers. ‘No, thank you.’
‘You fink you’re too good for the likes of me? Maybe I should take meself to yer mother. She won’t turn me down. No one listens to the screams of prisoners in ’ere anyways. You might wanna fink about that.’
Bile rose up Penny’s throat as a cold rage washed through her.
How dare this filthy brute threaten my mother?
She pulled her hand free of her pocket, the brass feeling warm and powerful against her knuckles.
‘You’ve got the stink of this place on you, but don’t worry. I’ll get it off.’ He reached out to grope her breast, but before he could make contact, Penny struck hard and fast, her fist slamming into the guard’s throat.
He snatched back his hand, grasping his fat neck as he gasped for air. Before he could recover, she held both his shoulders and slammed her knee between his legs.
‘Ooooffff.’ He almost pinned her to the wall with his girth as he fell forward, but Penny was ready. She sidestepped him and let his heavy body splat onto the filthy stone floor. In a fluid movement, she kicked his face, his nose exploding in a spray of red.
Thank goodness my skirt is black. The blood spatter won’t show.
How quickly she reverted to the wild animal of her youth. She bent forward and grabbed the discarded lantern beforecrouching next to the writhing guard. Tucking the brass knuckles back in her pocket, Penny reached up and pulled out the hat pin holding her battered straw bonnet in place. Gripping the man’s greasy hair in her fist, she pressed the sharp end of the pin just under his eye. ‘Stay away from my mother or next time I visit, I’ll take out your eyes before you feel the edge of my blade slicing your throat, understand?’ She didn’t have a blade, but he didn’t need to know that.
The guard whimpered. She slammed his head against the ground.
‘Understand?’ Her voice was calm. Controlled. Completely contrasting the riot of fear, anger, and disgust filling her chest. At the guard. At herself. At the system making all of this necessary.
A high-pitched, pathetic squeak caused blood bubbles to froth from his shattered nose.
‘Good.’ Penny dropped his head, replaced the pin in her bonnet, and wiped her hands on her coat. She pushed the revulsion down deep.
I accuse Liam of being a monster, but what about me?
The darkness lurking inside her, ready to claw and bite and thrash its way to the surface would be a fitting mate for Lord Renquist’s beast, a creature of sins and shadows. But even in this, they were fated enemies. The wild vengeance haunting her bones was created because of Liam and men like him. Lofty, powerful members of the peerage writing laws to control those deemed lesser.
It didn’t matter how his gaze lit her skin on fire. How his lips brushed against her, petal-soft and wickedly sweet. How his regard made her feel seen. Special. Precious.
It was all a lie. He was a liar. And she would force his confession. Sell his black truth for the price of her mother’sfreedom. No matter how the man’s actions contradicted the evidence she found.
I will do what I must to save the ones I love.
Penny knew what to do. She would continue searching for the bloody seal. That and the letters would be enough. Ithadto be enough to condemn the Marquess of Stoneway. His smouldering stare, sinful lips, and searing touch meant nothing to her. He must mean nothing to her.
‘I’ve bigger bastards to battle than you.’ Penny stepped over the fallen guard. Without glancing back, she quickly retraced her path through the maze of hallways until she reached the exit gate.
‘One of your guards fell ill while leading me out. I would check on him.’ Penny informed the gatekeeper as she walked through the stone portico leading her onto Baynes Row. She glanced up at a sky darkening with clouds as the iron gate screeched closed behind her. The streets would be a muddy mess when the rain came, but Penny welcomed the cold drops that would soon fall on her upturned face, cleansing her. She took a deep breath of the fresh air and wished her mother was beside her.
‘Soon, Mother. I’ll get you out soon. I promise.’
8
Charles needed to leave before Drake or Killian spoke to him. The fool of a man was just as likely to blab precious secrets Liam needed to keep in the shadows as he was to infect them all with whatever disease crawled through his system.
