Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“ Y ou nearly killed him!” Amelia cried out in the carriage.

A fury she’d rarely known powered through her blood behind the terror and disgust. Isaac had been willing to go the lengths of murder to ensure her hand, his delusional thinking suggesting that she might still wish to be with him after something so heinous.

“I did what I had to! Was I to let the man plunder you?! Had I the opportunity the Duke would not be so lucky as to have claimed first taste either.”

Hot tears streamed down her cheeks, rage and wrath melting from her eyes, for her body could not contain them. Isaac had disconnected from reality. Amelia was not sure when, but as of now, he could not grip the weight of what he’d done or her justified revulsion.

“You have driven yourself to commit assault, Isaac. What on earth makes you think that I would stand for such a thing? That I would want to be associated with anyone who could harm enough like that?”

“Do not test me, Amelia. I have and will take any action necessary to guarantee my prize. Patience and virtue had not gotten me this far.”

Amelia shook her head, her chest cracking open for the grief contained within her. This was not the man she’d met at her coming out. What had happened to her friend?

“Isaac, please. This is not you. You must understand that this is wrong,” she pleaded.

“Come on, Amelia. Think as if a woman were capable of such a thing. No one remains set on a course that proves to be ineffective time and again. I waited for your debut. I had made my intentions known to your father, and I was pushed aside. Like trash! And even so, I had presented myself to you as a companion, years spent waiting for you to say something.”

Shaking her head, Amelia tried to recall their past around the cloudy fog of horror that clung to her.

“You never said anything. I would have been clear with you immediately. I have only ever seen you as a friend, and I have been honest about that.”

“Never said anything?! No, no, Amelia,” Isaac shook his head, his tone biting, “it is you who never noticed! You have been blind. Blind! To everything that goes on around you. The Viscount, your husband, the exasperating lot I’ve been forced to put up with for all these years. You see none of their truth. At least Selina was good for a round.”

She recoiled. “Selina? What on earth?—”

But Amelia stopped. The drinks…

“Oh, so she finally sees it now,” Isaac smirked, all venom and malevolence. “Your wheyface husband was at last out without you, gone for several hours’ time. And then Selina had come up with her ridiculous notion to mix cocktails. Still, it provided me with quite the opportunity. Had it not been for that insufferable Charlotte, we would have been on this little trip weeks ago.”

The world has spun off its axis. The contents of the globe were shaken and scattered to the winds, and she was swept away with them.

“You…you put something in my drink.”

“Only a bit of laudanum. An easy thing to come by when you are in good graces with several surgeons.”

Amelia was going to be sick, and she hung her head between her legs, trying to breathe through her nose. Heat and blood rushed to her face, her mouth pooling with saliva. Every bump and jostle of the carriage sent her further down the spiral, and though there was nothing within her to heave up, her stomach threatened more and more with each second.

“There, there, Amelia.” Isaac smoothed a hand down her back, and she was quick to jerk away.

“Don’t touch me!” She glared at him, her face damp with tears as sweat clung to her brow. “You drugged me! I was supposed to be your friend!”

“Amelia,” Isaac started, but she slashed her hand through the air at him.

“No! There is no defense! You sought to render me unconscious to kidnap me, which you have now done! You must be out of your damned mind if you think I will go anywhere with you! You have tried to assault me, to…rape me! Let me out of this carriage at once, and I may consider withholding that bit from the authorities!”

It was Isaac’s turn to reel back, but the satisfaction in seeing him do so did not last. His shocked expression turned deadly, and the Earl shot his hand out across the slim space between them and gripped Amelia’s arm. His fingers dug into her flesh hard enough to bruise, and she winced.

“You will come with me as instructed, Your Grace.” Amelia fought to free her arm, but Isaac’s grip was iron. “ Or I shall find no issue in locating the Duke and paying him a little…visit.”

Amelia’s thrashing slowed, her eyes locked on Isaac’s as he stared down at her—a madman intent on violence.

“What do you mean?” Her voice was small, and she cursed herself for how pathetic she sounded.

“Feigning ignorance doesn’t suit you well, Amelia. But,” he sighed, hauling her closer so that he could grab her face and whisper right at her, “if I must spell it out for you. The Viscount survived because I was interrupted. I shall not be so unprepared again. If you force my hand, I will ensure your husband is dead by bringing his tongue to you in a little box.”

Gagging, Amelia shrunk beneath Isaac’s towering presence. She may have doubted many of his words now, but these she did not. He spoke in earnest as he described killing Richard, and she could see the evil in his stare as he manhandled her so utterly.

This isn’t right! This must not be how things end. I will get out of here!

There was a moment of stillness from her, and Amelia waited to feel the grip on her relax, just enough for her to shake free. That was all that she required. It took Isaac several seconds of studying her while Amelia kept her stare pinned to the ground before the Earl’s fingers eased up on their painful control.

“That’s a good girl.”

He spoke to her like a dog, and at once, Amelia’s spirit was emboldened with rage. She lifted her foot only to slam it back down on top of Isaac’s. He reeled back with a screech, and Amelia pulled her arm free. There was no time to consider how fast they might be going, so despite the fact that this would be a rough landing, Amelia went straight for the carriage door.

Throwing herself into it, the exit popped open, and Amelia tumbled to the ground in an uncoordinated roll. The grassy patches at the side of the road cushioned some of her descent. However, Amelia still hit the earth with terrible force, and her shoulder immediately cried out in protest.

“Damn you!”

Isaac’s scream behind her didn’t slow Amelia one bit, and she took off running. There was water somewhere in the distance; she could smell the salt in the air. Where had the Earl taken her? It didn’t matter right at this moment. The first order of business was to find a place to hide away so that Isaac would abandon her. Only then would she try to determine her location and get back to Richard.

There was a building not far from where she’d leaped from the carriage, and Amelia hurried in that direction. Sticking to the shadows would be her best bet, and she put her weight on the balls of her feet as she rushed forward, quieting her steps some.

It looked to be some type of industrial warehouse of sorts, and there were several crates and barrels parked out in front of it. Hiding behind them for a time seemed as good a plan as any, but she didn’t dare take a direct route there, fearing that Isaac was right behind her.

Amelia dipped into the space between the larger building and another that stood nearby. The alley was dank and silent. Amelia had never been to this part of London before, and she had to assume that she was near the docks, going by the scent and type of establishments she was seeing.

Think, Amelia. You must outwit him somehow.

Along the side of the building were several windows, and she briefly entertained the notion of leaping inside through one. Unfortunately, they stood too tall off the ground, and she could not reach them. Continuing her path to the rear, Amelia found a door to the larger building. Getting inside would be even better, so she tried the lock.

Surprisingly, the door opened, and Amelia slipped inside. It was nearly pitch black, the only light from those windows she could not reach. The interior also held with it a strange smell, which Amelia placed as raw textiles when her eyes fully adjusted to the lack of light. Still, she crept through the empty space, looking for a place to stash herself.

In the distance from outside the warehouse, Amelia could hear the low horn of a vessel somewhere up ahead on the water. She was undoubtedly near the docks, which meant that returning to Heartwick would require a carriage. She had been stripped of her reticule, so Amelia was without money. While it would be possible to lean on the weight of her title, this was not the area of town she wanted to be waving that around.

I’d be robbed if I had a pound on me. How can I get home?

There was a long workstation to her right as she got closer to the front of the building, where she might exit once the coast was clear. The impressive machine wove fabric, and between the crossing sets of thread, Amelia could make out a medium-sized box of sorts. Inspecting it closer, she realized it was the shuttle that carried the thread back and forth.

Over the years, Amelia had learned some of what Ethel knew about the world through her books, and the presence of a very sharp point at the end of the shuttle was happily one of them. Amelia reached her hand inside the dormant machinery and retrieved it. Using the device as a weapon sounded very appealing, and Amelia clutched it to her chest so as not to drop it.

With her little trinket in tow, the Duchess slipped further into the shadows and made her way closer to the front door. She didn’t wish to go outside just yet, but she was desperate to get her eyes on the situation. Where was Isaac? Did he follow her?

She was close now to the door, and Amelia’s heart beat furiously against her ribs. The pounding was nearly deafening, and her stomach had wound itself thoroughly into unruly knots.

“Just breathe, Amelia,” she whispered to herself.

Reaching for the door, she steadied herself, and it angled toward her with a low creak. As she peered out through the crack she’d created, Amelia saw no sign of the Earl or anyone else for that matter. It was not terribly late in the day when she’d gone into the gardens to get some fresh air. What time was it now?

She glanced up at the sky, overcast now and too thick with clouds to get a clear look at the sun. It was likely only just past noon, but it could have been evening for how oppressive the gloom in the sky was now.

With nothing else to go on, Amelia ducked back inside the building to wait. There was little more that she could do.

Backing up into the darkness with her eyes still trained forward on the door, Amelia stepped on something that crunched beneath her foot. The sound was too loud, and just as she made a move to rush to the other side of the building, a set of arms wrapped around her and yanked her backward.

“There you are, little cat.” Isaac’s voice was right at her ear, and Amelia thrashed against him, trying her hardest to pull herself free.

“Let go!”

She called out, but Isaac was a fair bit stronger than she was, and then before she could even get so much as a hand free, a handkerchief—smelling of the horrid sweetness—was clamped down around her mouth.

Her vision wavered as the fumes made their way into her nose, even as she tried to hold her breath. It was impossibly strong, and her head began to feel as if it was going to float right off. She wobbled on her feet.

“Now, now, Amelia. It’s like you can’t hold your drink. I should think a little chloroform would be a trifle.”

Isaac’s voice found her ears as though he were speaking to her through water, Amelia the one sinking into the dark abyss. Her feet were slipping out from under her. In a last-ditch effort to protect herself, Amelia arched her arm across her body, leveling the shuttle’s point with where she assumed Isaac’s jugular to be.

She was impressed by the strength she mustered, and the Earl screamed as the sharp tip penetrated his skin.

“You bloody bitch!”

Amelia fell to the floor as Isaac dropped her, and she pulled herself across the dusty surface toward the door. Her legs refused to work, and her arms were nearly useless as well. She had to get out of there, breathe in the fresh air and get this damned drug out of her blood.

Light from outside the warehouse called to her, but then footsteps approached from behind.

“It was a valiant effort, Your Grace, but I am afraid all you have done is convince me that you require a firmer hand.”

At once, Isaac gripped her by the back of the head, yanking on her hair. Her vision tunneled as she tried to focus on him, and then there was a sharp pain in her face as his fist came into focus. It did not last over long before unconsciousness claimed her.