He was out the door, Robert and Barber at his heels, but as he raced down the hall, he had the worst feeling. That he was going to be too late. And then nothing else would matter.
Selina’s feet hurt as she staggered through the brush in the darkness of the night. Vale hadn’t allowed her to put on shoes. Of course, that was a method to control her, to keep her from being able to easily mount an escape.
Not that the gun in her back didn’t do the same.
“Why are you doing this?” Selina said. “I’ll protect you, Vale. I’vealwaysprotected you.”
“Always used me,” Vale corrected, nudging her forward without regard for her physical wellbeing. “The Faceless Fox was all for you, Selina. I was just a cog in the machine.”
“You are…weremy friend. My partner. We helped each other. And I shared the wealth, didn’t I?”
“When you harvested it. But you were always so much more worried about your damned code of honor. Picking and choosing your marks, as if every person in the Upper Ten Thousand didn’t deserve to be maimed. You ignored prizes worth ten times the ones you chose and you patted yourself on the back for doing the ‘right’ thing. I knew you’d go soft eventually. I saw it happening last year, and I knew I had to act.”
Selina tripped over a rock, pain jolting up her body from where she’d stubbed her toe. Vale shoved her forward, ignoring her staggering and swearing as she pushed them forward, through the darkness.
“What do you mean, last year?” Selina asked, trying to keep her former friend talking both to uncover her motives and to develop some kind of response.
“When Morgan went with Roseford,” Vale said, rolling her eyes. “Waste of a handsome man that he married some spoiled toff’s sister. But you were…jealous. I saw how jealous you were that he’d gotten dearRobert’sfavor.”
“I wasn’t jealous!” Selina cried. “I knew he needed help and I was happy Robert could offer it. I’m pleased for Morgan. He loves his wife.”
Vale shrugged. “Love is for children. Fools. It makes you weak. And that’s what you were becoming: weak. You slowed your schemes, you started spending more family time with Gillingham, and when Roseford came back to Town, with those titled ninnies, I saw you were going to break. You were going too respectable. The entire house of cards was coming down so I had to control it.”
“How?” Selina asked, stunned by her words.
“Little trails I left, the ones that led to you.”
“The glove,” Selina whispered.
“Yes, that damned glove. Meant to make the investigators suspect you. Your family, too. But that was alaststep. How do you think Huntington and Barber knew you would be hunting at your brother’s estate?”
Selina gasped. “You?”
“I gave information. I didn’t expect them to be so good at their jobs, though. I figured them for fools and I underestimated you would be so soft as to fall in love with one of them.” Vale rolled her eyes. “But I did what we always do. I adjusted my timeline. Decided to finish it now rather than a month from now.”
Selina could hardly breathe from the shock that was hitting her in waves. Trust had always been a hard-won thing for her. Her past ensured it. And Vale had been the first person she allowed into that circle closest to her heart. To know it had all been a manipulation, that she had been too blinded to see the truth beneath her nose, it was shattering.
“You look sick,” Vale taunted. “Worried. But you needn’t be, my dear. I took care of myself.”
“Took care of yourself?” Selina repeated. “What do you mean?”
Vale pulled her through a glade and into an open grassy area. The clouds blew away from the moon and the light revealed a tall tower in the middle. It rose ominously, at least twenty feet up.
“Thiswas built in remembrance for local boys lost in the Seven Years’ War,” Vale explained. “When I heard it was here, so close, I thought it was apropos because you and I have known each other…”
“Seven years,” Selina whispered, and her heart began to throb. Why hadn’t she listened to Derrick’s concerns about Vale? Why hadn’t she allowed her own a voice? Why had she let the code she held herself up to be one she assumed others followed?
It would be the death of her. She could see that now.
“How did you take care of yourself?” she asked again, hating that her voice broke. Hating that her fear was obvious.
“They used to light the lantern at the top of this tower every year for those who were lost in the war. And then it was just every ten. Now it’s crumbling. Everyone forgets those who are sacrificed to be useful. That’s why we little people have to take what’s ours.” Vale smiled as she shoved Selina closer to the tower. “I’ve gotten quite good at mimicking your handwriting over the past few months. Enough so that your brother’s solicitor believed it wasyouwho asked for a change to your line of inheritance. You who signed the addendum so I would inherit.”
Selina’s lips parted as the meaning of that lie sank in. “Vale.”
“We’re climbing up that tower, love,” Vale said. Her hand shook, but she mastered the tremor swiftly. “And I’m going to push you off. The suicide note waiting for your great love back in our room will convince everyone that you couldn’t live with it coming out that you were the Faceless Fox. They’ll mourn you and cover it up, and I’ll get your money and whatever jewels you still have squirreled away.”
“Vale, you and I have beenfriendsfor those seven years,” Selina began. “You saved my life. Look at me now and tell me you really want to hurt me.”
