Chapter 36

36

The hatch remained open just long enough for the small cascade to drench Caroline’s head and shoulders before it slammed shut again.

A cat batting at a mouse, cruel and patient.

Caroline shoved down the stark panic clawing at her throat. She forced herself to think, shutting out the creak of rusted hinges and the hollow groan of currents. Five wheels coded with symbols from Kellerman’s letters, each with thousands of potential combinations. Impossible to test each permutation before her air ran out.

The frigid water surged higher, sliding icy fingers down her neck and chest. Loud as cannon fire, new droplets bombarded the hatch above at regular intervals. The once-distant thunder of churning currents pressed against the metal tomb encasing her. Lapping at the rusting walls, eager for its prize.

Five wheels. What sequence? She ground her wrists raw against the rope until her skin bled.

Mathematics in a logical order, chosen by a mind viewing humanity as disposable odds and variables. Subtract the heart, and all that remained was…

The realisation stole Caroline’s breath. Of course. She used the permutation she’d utilised to solve the coded notes about the warehouse in Wapping.

Cold salt water surged over her feet now, leaching away all warmth. The hatch would soon dip below the surface, sealing her fate. This was her only chance.

Caroline strained against her ropes. Her frozen fingers shook as she seized the first dial and wrenched it right to the seven. The second she twisted left to the three, the movements needle-sharp with desperation.

When she had set the last number on its seven, she collapsed back. Her heartbeat drowned out the roar of the incoming tide, chest heaving with prayers. Outside her tomb, the river rose. Icy seawater gushed through the opening overhead, soaking her to the skin. She gulped a breath just before the downpour sealed the hatch fully.

The world fell silent. There was no light, no sound save her thin breaths and the creak of chains. Somewhere below her feet, the inexorable tide swirled. Rising by the second. If she had gambled and lost, the choice was no longer hers.

When the icy water reached her lips, Caroline closed her burning eyes. She thought of Julian. Of eight years without him. Of all the words she hadn’t yet said.

The cold seared her lungs. Paralysis crept inward from her limbs, her thoughts growing sluggish and remote. Before the black water closed over her face, she gave one last push against the lock, clicking the final number in place, and it yielded.

She shoved upwards. But despite the hatch being open, she scrambled for purchase. She couldn’t pull herself up, not with her wrists bound.

Above her, the square of pale light beckoned, impossibly far. Her bound wrists thrashed, the cuffs tearing her abraded flesh anew. She could glimpse the grey sky overhead, but the rising river pinned her down, just out of reach. Already, the frigid seawater reached up to her collarbone.

This was an elegant torture, engineered to torment the prisoner with hope before the inevitable end. Even now, she strained upwards, desperate to prolong each agonising moment above the surface.

“Linnie!”

The hoarse shout fractured the stillness. She must be dreaming, her fevered brain conjuring ghosts in these last moments. And yet – there – a face eclipsed the light above.

“Julian.” His name tore from her raw throat, ripped free by the savage riptide.

“Hold on, my duchess.”

The reply echoed against the iron walls. Not a fantasy. He was real. Caroline wrenched her bound wrists upward with the last dregs of her strength.

“Julian,” she choked again as the dark tide swallowed her. His blurred silhouette loomed against the square of light before everything vanished.

Hands plunged into the box. Strong arms encircled Caroline’s body, heaving her towards sunlight and breath – through the open hatch into the chill air.

Then, she was held tight to a broad chest. Gasps sawed her lungs as the roaring in her ears slowly resolved into shouts somewhere nearby. She heard the strike of oars on the water. She sagged against Julian as the box receded below them.

“You’re all right. I have you. Just breathe,” he rasped against her temple.

She felt him fumbling at the rope binding her mangled wrists, freeing her.

Caroline’s lips shaped his name, no sound escaping her burning throat. There was only this – Julian’s heart hammering against hers, the warmth of his skin chasing away the chill.