“That you deal in darkness.”
“You are so very fond of your light, aren’t you?” Magnus replied. “But you have no notion how to preserve it. Perhaps you don’t understand how badly you need me as a teacher.”
The air seemed to congeal around Evelina, raising the gooseflesh on her arms. Her heart began to patter with fear.
But then all logical thought stopped.
The lights in the chamber began to dim. Even though the flames in the gas brackets and the chandeliers burned just as tall, they lost their luster, leaving the atmosphere a dirty and forbidding gray. The sound of the mechanical orchestra in the ballroom seemed to fade, but whether that was perception or reality, she couldn’t tell.
Evelina could feel the rising tide of panic. Her stays felt suddenly tight, her hands clammy and cold. She clutched her arms, hugging herself as the atmosphere whispered of fear. “Dr. Magnus, please!”
His head turned slowly to regard her with the measured pace of a coiled snake. “You need to recognize my strength. You need to understand that you cannot stand against my will.” Then he reached out and grabbed her forearm—the same crushing grip that had forced her to drop the knife.
If the fear floating through the room was soft and insidious, creeping like mist, this was a waterfall. It shot up her arm as if injected, coursing straight to her core. This was death. This was the terror, the moment when the dying knew their fate was sealed—the final breath caught halfway down their throat, the last thrashing thought as darkness closed in.
Evelina gasped, her pulse racing so hard it hurt. Instinct screamed to pull away, to run, but her numb limbs could barely support her, much less move. Like a cornered animal, she bit with the only weapon she had.
Her magic reared up, slamming into the invading horror like a sudden wall. It wasn’t much—there was no flaming sword or blast of lightning, just refusal. “Get out!”
Magnus gave his soft laugh. “No.”
Her barrier wasn’t enough, and she had no training beyond what Gran Cooper had told her as a child. Magnus was right that she needed lessons. The room was growing darker still, dim and murky. Terror pervaded the space, as if it had turned breathable.
Her stomach lurched, panic skittering like bugs past the barricade she had built. Evelina shut her eyes, blocking out as much as she could. Inside was blackness itself, but this was her personal night, solid as mud. She thrust her energy into it, making it thicker still. Magnus pulled back, only the merest fraction, but it gave her hope.
In her mind’s eye, she filled the mud with life—earthworms and burrowing things, roots and rivulets of water. It smelled rich, full of the sharpness of loam and the goodness of bursting seeds. The seeds burst, stretching up and out, driving out of the soil and exploding into leaves.
Magnus pulled back, yanking his hand from Evelina’s arm as if it scalded him. She stumbled, bumping against the wall. Exhaustion flooded her, her lungs barely finding strength to suck in air. She still felt afraid, but this time it was her own emotion. She could live with that.
Surprise lurked in the doctor’s eyes. “An interesting demonstration, Miss Cooper. You would be such an apt pupil, if you would only release your grip on accepted wisdom. Death always trumps life in the end.”
“Life eats death,” she retorted, her voice weak. “Neither way is final.”
His shock turned to condescension. “How little you know of the cosmos.”
The lights came up again. The mechanical tea trolley wheezed to life and began to trundle around the chamber. Evelina shuddered and looked around, reassuring herself the room was still intact. No one was screaming or stampeding through the building. That had to be a good sign.
She had no idea how much time had passed. Probably only seconds, but it felt like weeks. Suddenly she saw Keating and two of the Westlake footmen standing just inside the threshold of the room, staring at the lights in consternation.
Evelina turned, falling back a step at their unexpected arrival. The motion made her bump into Magnus and he steadied her with a gentle touch to her shoulders. That made her skitter to the side.
The look on Keating’s face was one of unholy rage. Evelina might as well have been invisible. Keating looked right past her, his attention fixed wholly on Magnus.
The doctor sighed. “Alas, the prospect of a public unpleasantness erupts. Here comes the villain of the piece.”
A quip about pots and kettles sprang to mind, but the idea died before it was fully born.
Keating spoke. “Get out, Magnus. No one invited you.”
“And on what authority do you order my removal?”
“The duchess is my friend.”
“Come, Keating. Men like you don’t make friends.”
Keating’s face twitched. “Leave. You weren’t invited.”
“And yet here I am, finding exactly what I need.” He gave a sidelong glance to Evelina.
She stepped back, even more uncomfortable than she had been moments before.
Keating filled the room with his anger. “Get out, before I remove you by force.”
“Is this a threat? I think we had a chat about that, did we not, Mr. Keating?”
“I’m calling your bluff. You don’t get to slither through my streets. Not anywhere you see my lights.” Keating voice was hard and steady. He stopped a few feet away, his henchmen a step behind. “To find you accosting a young lady of good reputation doubles your offense.”
There was a pause, then Magnus made a languorous bow to Evelina. “Good night, Miss Cooper, we shall speak again. No doubt your dance partner awaits.”
Tobias! She cast an anxious glance at the door. He had to be waiting for her. As she looked away, Magnus grabbed her elbow and pulled her close one last time, putting his lips to her ear. “Until next time.”
He spun away, shouldering past Keating and striding through the door. The moment he was gone, Evelina heard the first strains of a lively tune. The regular orchestra was back, like birds bursting into song the moment the storm had passed.
Evelina sagged against the wall, sweat dampening the small of her back beneath the countless layers of muslin and whalebone. Fatigue blanked her mind, except for one tiny idea, small and green as one of the sprouts in her wall.
The Gold King gave a nod to the two footmen. They followed after Magnus, no doubt making sure that he actually left.
“Who is Dr. Magnus to you, Miss Cooper?” Keating demanded.
Evelina shuddered again, looking around for Tobias. He was still a dozen strides away. “Dr. Magnus is the Flying Dutchman.”
The Gold King gave her a narrow look. “You know what happened to the girl in that story, don’t you? She finished by throwing herself into the sea.”
She gave a laugh that sounded slightly lunatic. “I like the version where she ran away with the kraken.”
Then some subconscious instinct made her reach for her reticule. Her fingers closed on the soft beaded sack, crumpling the cloth into an empty ball. It was covered with a film of Magnus’s oily magic, and Mouse was gone.
Chapter Thirty-four
Nick cursed. Evie would be safe at a ball. It was public, and the Golden Boy was sure to be there, anxiously hovering at her elbow the minute someone stepped on her toe.
After leaving her at the gate of Hilliard House, Nick had gone back to Ploughman’s. Immediately, he went to the stables, picked up a brush, and began grooming his mare. The light seeping into the stall was dim, the air warm with the horse’s heat. When she whickered, he felt the wash of her sympathy. Anyone who said animals couldn’t talk weren’t listening.
There was no performance that night, and he had time to himself. He had no appetite for carousing, and for
