The Reaper was silent for a moment. When he spoke, there was an edge to his voice. “I would remind you who is in charge here, Silas. Without me, your wife would be nothing but a corpse.”
Silas stopped. Elswyth saw the muscles in his jaw clenching. “Yes, Doctor.”
The vines on the Reaper’s head grew smaller and smaller. His body—once tall and broad-shouldered—shrank beneath his suit, becoming short and portly. Finally, the last tendrils retracted until they vanished into skin. What replaced them was a human face. A familiar face with doughy cheeks and bright blue eyes rimmed by spectacles.
Dr. Gall smiled. “And as for Elswyth, I thinkIwill be the one who decides what to do with her. She is, after all, my wife.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Ovid believed that the bloodred color ofMorus nigra, the black mulberry, was due to its association with the lovers Pyramus and Thisbe, who ended their lives beneath its branches. In the language of flowers,Morus nigrameansI shall not survive you.
Elswyth ducked back into the tunnel, clamping a hand over her mouth.
Dr. Gall. Oleander. Her husband.
He was the one who’d attacked them in the alley. He was the one who had killed Lady Sheers. He was the one who’d sent the mandrake.
He’d killed Percival. And he’d taken Persephone.
Her stomach turned. Bile rose in her throat, and a scream threatened to follow it. The blood drained from her fingers. They began to shake in the cold.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to run across the room and strangle him until the light left his eyes. But more than anything, she had so many questions. Silas had told her that Aranyani was dead, poisoned at the hand of his father—so what was she doing in the pool? Why did he think Gall could bring her back? And more than that, how could Oleander be the Reaper? Why would he agree to kidnap and kill women just to help Silas? And why take Persephone?
All she could do was listen, but everything seemed far away and every sound was a whisper. Her lip trembled and she realized she’d stopped breathing. Her heart thundered in her ears, but she forced herself to take one deep breath and then another. Then she inched her eye past the edge of the wall, catching sight of them again. Dr. Gall moved to the far side of the room, where he began preparing surgical equipment.
“Where is she?” Silas asked. Something deadly tinged his voice.
“Fear not, Silas. I have done nothing to harm Elswyth. She sent me a letter this evening, informing me that she would be late to our wedding night. That was of no concern to me, of course. But I had my suspicions. I followed her, only to find that she had found the hedge witch. That was too close for comfort, wouldn’t you say? I had no choice but to put her off the matter for good.”
“You don’t understand Elswyth,” Silas said. “You haven’t deterred her.”
Dr. Gall laughed. “I should think I understand my own wife. You may have known her body, Silas, but I know her mind.”
The casual tone in his voice made Elswyth queasy. She clutched the baby closer to her chest.
“No,” Silas said. “You kidnapped her friend.”
“Her tutor. She loathes her.”
“No, herfriend. And she won’t stop until she’s found her. You made the same mistake with Persephone. She will come for you.”
Dr. Gall frowned. He picked up a scalpel. “Then we will dissect her tonight and dump her body in the morning. Aranyani needs a new liver, after all. Perhaps this will finally discourage the tenacious Miss Elderwood once and for all. Ready my scalpels—”
The baby in Elswyth’s arms cried out. It echoed once and then twice. The sound faded and silence fell over the chamber.
“Curious,” Gall said.
Elswyth stayed perfectly still, not even daring to breathe.
The baby cried out again and this time it was a mournful wail. Elswyth ran. She turned back to the room only to see that Gall had vanished. Silas stood there, alone. For a split second, his eyes met hers. He reached out, eyes widening, but she was already running toward the tunnels, clutching the baby to her chest, and—
She collided with a nest of writhing ivy.
When Elswyth woke, poison clouded her mind. Voices cut through the fog, arguing loudly. The baby was gone. When she tried to move her hands, leather straps stopped her.
“We can’t do this. People will ask questions.”
“I assure you we are well protected.”
