Then
Miss Arabella, I’m sending this note with Ms Bernhardt’s messenger. I hope it reaches you in time. I need to tell you that Lucien Vega has returned to the theatre these last two nights in the company of two large, threatening men who were most anxious that I notice their silver-inlaid swords. He was MOST displeased when I said you weren’t here. I’ve told them they’re not to return to the theatre again, but I’m afraid if they do, I will not be able to stop them.
There have also been more bloody flowers left backstage, and a little songbird beheaded in your dressing-room.
Perhaps it is best if you remain away at this time.
Yours, Jacques
ISTARE AT THE LETTERon the bedside table while Arabella sleeps. IknewLucien would read into my disappearance, but I can’t leave Arabella’s side.
I swallow down my fear. I don’t like the implication of the bloody flowers and beheaded songbird.
I hope he hasn’t hurt Jacob.
He wants the necklace. Bring him the necklace and all of this will be over.
Jacob will be free. My business with Lucien Vega will be concluded. And Arabella will no longer be under threat from him.
But if I take the necklace, Arabella will know it was me. She’ll never speak to me again. She’ll send Jacques to break my kneecaps.
A dark voice inside me whispers,Not if she’s asleep.
It could work. I’d pretend someone broke in, or one of Sarah’s staff did it while my back was turned.
I curse myself for not taking the necklace from her when she passed out in the balloon. I could have pocketed it and told her it fell over the side. Truthfully, I’d been so worried about her that it never crossed my mind. Now that she’s awake and has felt the jewels still intact, I missed my chance.
I have to try.
Around her neck rests the key to saving her, the key to freeing my stupid brother and meandher from Lucien Vega. All I have to do is avoid getting bitten by the snake and…
I reach for her slumbering figure. Cleo II is coiled into a ball in the crook of her arm. The cobra raises her head, her tongue flicking. I freeze. Cleo II lowers her head.
Heart pounding, I reach for Arabella’s neck. My fingers brush the stones. They’re as cool as her skin. I wonder if it’s the necklace that keeps Arabella so cold, if these glittering jewels are a noose around her throat, draining her of life.
My fingers trail over the place where the jewels meet her skin. The tips of my fingers vibrate as if the stones themselves contain an energy.
Is the magicreal?
I remember that flash of tooth she gave me when I knelt for her, and I could’ve sworn she hadfangs. And this mysterious illness that blistered her skin but then healed over so completely I cannot tell she was hurt at all.
Something strange is going on, and it centres around the jewels.
Is Lucien after their value, or their magic?
What will a man like that do if he has infinite good luck?
And can I really take that away from Arabella?
Yes.
I don’t care about magic. To save her life, to put her out of Lucien’s path, I will do it in a heartbeat.
She has me now. She doesn’t need luck.
I lay aside her thick hair, exposing the back of her neck. Three heavy gold clasps fasten the collar against her ebony skin. I lean in close, kissing the delicate skin behind her ear as I slide my fingers beneath the first clasp and—
She jerks away, her hands flying to the jewels at her neck. I quickly retract my hand, leaning in to graze my lips across her cheek as if that’s what I intended to do all along.
