Dr. Carter sniffed. “How rude.”
***
When Kendra regained consciousness, she was lying on a table. Stale air tickled her nostrils. She forced her eyes to open a fraction and the world spun dizzily. And the pain . . . God, it felt like someone was thrusting a white-hot poker into her side.
Don’t think about it. Focus on something else besides the excruciating throbbing.
“We don’t want her to die yet.” Sir Preston’s voice sounded far away.
Yet. That one word confirmed the fate that Kendra knew awaited her.
Breathing shallowly and keeping her eyes veiled with her lashes, she scanned the room. Rough stone walls, revealed by dozens of lanterns. Metal and glass gleamed on a long wooden counter. Microscopes, beakers, jars with objects floating in murky fluid, and surgical tools—scalpels, needles, forceps, surgical saws and shears.
She heard the drip, drip, drip of water.
“Damnation, why did you bring herhere?” Kendra recognized the voice.Dandridge. “Why didn’t you just finish the job?”
“That’s the problem with you young people.” Sir Preston’s tone was light. “You never think anything through. Her blood is too precious to waste.”
“She doesn’t have the pox.”
“That doesn’t mean we can’t experiment with new techniques. You need to patch her up, though. We don’t want her to bleed out.”
“What about Dawes? If she told anyone—”
“She didn’t. Still, we can’t afford any more mistakes. If Carter tells Lord Sutcliffe, he could go after Andrew. I don’t believe Andrew would ever betray us, but it’s best to be safe. I’ve sent Ned to get him, and we will ship the lad to France. Pray tell, does your cousin need an apprentice?”
Kendra opened her eyes a little more, turning her head slightly. Now she could see what looked like a culvert cut into a rough-hewn wall. The water splashed into a shallow creek that extended the length of the room before gurgling into another conduit. An underground portion of the River Fleet, she guessed.
Her heart leapt into her throat when her eyes focused on the two narrow tables next to her, with chains and leather restraints bolted to each side. A table nearby held a large wooden box. Inside the box was glass jars and coiled metal wires.
It was bad. But not as bad as the cages, Kendra decided, when her gaze slid farther down the chamber. There were three. Large enough to hold a Saint Bernard or a mastiff.
Or a woman.
Kendra’s mouth was as dry as she met the terrified eyes of the girl crouched in the middle cage.Edwina.
Then she nearly screamed when a face moved suddenly into her line of vision. Sir Preston smiled down at her. “Ah, good. You’re awake,” he said. “You’re lucky, my lady. The most skilled surgeon in London is on hand to patch you up.”
Kendra wasn’t surprised when Dandridge stepped up, and she looked into his soulless eyes. “You murdered Lady Westford.”
He didn’t bother to reply.
Sir Preston was still smiling when he wrapped his hand around the silver cane handle. “I’m afraid this is going to hurt.”
She screamed when he wrenched the blade out of her belly, and her vision blurred again. The last thing she saw before darkness swamped her was Dandridge approaching with a needle and thread.
Chapter 44
Alec brought the curricle to an abrupt stop, his horses’ front hooves scraping the air.
“God’s teeth,” Sam muttered, ashen from the fastest drive Alec had ever done across the city. Fish, crammed in the middle, was grinning, his eyes gleaming in a boyish excitement at having almost crashed at least ten times before arriving at their destination.
Leaping to the ground, Alec tossed the reins to a surprised man loitering on the street outside Goldsten’s clinic. “You’ll get a guinea if my vehicle is here when I get back,” he called before hurtling up the steps. He couldn’t explain the sense of urgency he felt as he threw open the clinic’s doors. He barely registered the broken and bleeding bodies around the lobby.
Bursting into the operating theater, he saw Dawes on the far side of the room, in deep conversation with a blond-haired man.
“It’s ’im!” Fish cried as he skidded into the room. “That’s the bastard that took Edie!”
