I nodded and hoped the wild gesture masked my shakes. This place had healed my body, but not my eyes, not the empty space in my chest our attackers had killed.
Somehow, I went that final set of treads and knocked on the door to the main bedchamber.
A weak welcome told us to come in, and we pushed inside.
Lavender walls. Jasmine-scented air.
A big framed walnut bed with mermaids carved in the posts.
Swamped in lace and pillows was my dying friend, Madame Talease.
This lanky woman with titian red–colored hair had proudly proclaimed she wasn’t marrying no duke, so she’d use her charms to take their money. Her bawdy houses specialized in the exotic—foreign women, Blackamoors. “Ruth,” she said, “Ruthy Wilky, what are you doing here?”
“Milly said you’re not long for the world. I had to come.”
“Ah, my Spanish señorita, Miss Milly. That’s a smart girl with numbers.”
I sat on her wide bed and took up her hand. “Do you hurt, ma’am?”
“Of course, silly. Everything does. How’s that boy of yours? I heard you had one.”
“Big. He’s a good boy.
“What did he end up looking like? I’m fascinated by the by-blows. White as a ghost? Dark as your pa?”
“His skin is light, like my mother’s, but his eyes are mine.”
“Good,” Madame said and closed her eyes. “I told you that the baby would have your eyes when you birthed him. No hideous mole, either. I told you.”
“No. No mole. My son is perfect.”
“Mole?” Wycliff balled his fists. He shifted to the window.
I hoped he didn’t punch through the glass.
“Ruth, who’s the brooding man?”
“Lord Wycliff,” I said, and I looked at him. There was tension and strain in his jaw.
“Wycliff, the whip-swinging man. Thank you for closing down that bawdy house in Mayfield. Peers need to travel for their enjoyment.” The woman cackled and coughed. “Ruth, why did you come?”
“I need proof. I need you to say who brought me here. I never asked but I need the answer now.”
“You and your possessions were sold to me, but your father paid me back.”
I heard Wycliff growl, but I waved at him to quiet. “Who sold me?”
“It’s been so long, Ruth. I don’t remember so much.”
Wycliff came near. “A group of men attacked Ruth and her husband not so far from here. Was it Soulden Wilkinson?”
“It’s so hard to remember, young man. Maybe if I had something in my hand.
The woman was dying, yet she was determined to get a coin out of Wycliff.
“What is it you want, Talease?” He was behind me. I could feel the anger radiating.
“Something to help me focus, Lord Wycliff.”
