“More than likely to get to me,” Davien returned gruffly. “To cause me even more pain.”
“Wot aboot when she was a child? She dinna even know ye then.”
Davien frowned, for she made a valid point, one he hadn’t even considered until then. “All I know is that it’s evil. No one is safe around it.”
“But other than ye an’ Cosette, how many others do ye know that’s been cursed?”
He had no reply.
“Have ye not encountered any more aswangs?” she persisted. “Surely in twenty years ye might have scented one aboot.”
“No,” he said quietly. “Not one.”
“Don’t ye think that’s strange? That ye an’ Cosette are th’ only ones this thing has ever cursed? Don’t ye ever wonder why?”
His throat bobbed, a long held emotion that he’d forced himself to suppress returning with full force. “I already know why it cursed me. It was because of Sir Francis Dashwood.” He clenched the reins tighter, causing his mount to whinny in protest. “The night I was damned in Rome, my father and Dashwood spoke of reopening Wharton’s Club to make a new ‘Order’ since they were of similar . . . appetites.” He snorted dryly. “My father was killed that night, because Dashwood didn’t like sharing the glory with anyone else. I was cursed simply because I was his son.” He shook his head. “The ironic thing is that I spent most of my life trying to rid myself of this bane, instead of enacting justice on Dashwood for my father’s death, for I know he was responsible for it as surely as if he’d pulled the trigger on the pistol. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to find he’d done just that.”
“How would Dashwood get such a creature t’ do his bidding in th’ first place?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? “I have no idea.” His brow furrowed again. “Unless Dashwood was in possession of something that this demon wanted . . .” He ran a hand through his hair. “Bloody hell. Of course!”
“What?” Charlotte asked, perplexed.
“What does any spirit want but more omnipotence?” Davien returned on a sneer, furious with himself for being so blind to the truth that had been in front of him the entire time. “The Order is known for their pagan sacrifices to Bacchus and Venus. While I didn’t attend all of these rites, I was present at more than I care to recall. At one such ritual, I remember another name was mentioned—Lilin. I think Dashwood promised this demonic entity, this female succubus, more dominion if it would give him the same sort of control over the Order.”
“That explains how ye was cursed, but wot aboot Cosette?”
This was the part that was the most difficult for Davien to comprehend, but he had the sinking feeling that his suspicions were right. “Remember what Mrs. Clay told us? She said that Cosette was cursed by the blood of the demon, that is flows through her veins. When I was in the archives, I came across several books on demonology. According to theMalleus Maleficarum, Heinrich Kramer claimed that demons, either a male incubus, or a female succubus, could, in fact, reproduce with humans.”
Charlotte gasped, her face bleaching of all color. “Ye dinna think Cosette is . . .”
“Indeed,” Davien said grimly. “I do.”
