Netherby Halls (26 page)

Sassy reached there before her and stood for only a
moment before the girl came to an abrupt halt in front of her.

“OH!” cried the young woman.

“Caroline Hughes!” Sassy said, her voice hushed with
shock. “What does this mean?” She put the candle up and shook her
head. “Why on earth are you painted up like that?” Dawning was
beginning to settle in her brain and make her sick.

“I-I am sorry … I was at a friend’s …”
Caroline tried to lie.

Sassy shook her head. “Come with me!”

“Oh … Miss, there is no need to wake the
headmistress. She knows.”

“Does she? Faith, girl, you will come with me, and we
will get to the bottom of this tonight!”

Meekly the young girl followed Sassy up the stairs
and into her room, where Sassy set down the candle. “Take off your
cloak.”

It was all Sassy could do not to gasp at the sight of
the fifteen-year-old in a harlot’s gown of red and transparent
glitter. “Caroline, has some young man convinced you to meet with
him, dressed like you are?”

“Yes, Miss, you might as well know,” said the girl,
looking away.

“My dear child, you are too young, and such
clandestine arrangements will ruin you.”

Suddenly the girl lost her temper and threw her hands
up. “You know nothing about it. I know you mean well, probably the
only one that does. Miss Graves and the others look the other
way—always have, from the day Sallstone got here and started …
well. You know nothing, and if you let on that you do, you will
vanish like poor Miss Saunders, who suspected … and …”
Her voice trailed off.

“Suspected what?” Sassy knew. That voice in her head
began whispering to her, and she knew the answer.

“Nothing. I like you, Miss Winthrop, but there
is nothing you can do about this. Look at me. I have nothing. Where
will I go when I leave here? There is nothing out there for me when
I leave.”

“What are you saying? Be clear, Caroline, so that I
may help you.”

“You can’t help me, but you can get yourself in
trouble. I’m tired, and I’m going to my room now. Don’t tell
anyone. If you do it will cause you trouble.”

Sassy put out her hand. “The key, Caroline.”

“Aw, Miss Winthrop, you don’t know what you are
getting involved in. Don’t take this key. It won’t do.”

Sassy took the key. “Here, take the candle,” she said
softly, “but you and I, we are not done. I will get to the bottom
of this, and
I will help you!”

“I know you want to, but you can’t,” said Caroline as
she left Sassy’s room.

* * *

Sassy sucked in air and knocked at the headmistress’s
office door. She was told impatiently, “Come in.”

Sassy opened the door, closed it behind her, and went
forward as Mistress Sallstone sat back and with narrowed eyes said,
“What do you want?”

As an answer, Sassy put the key on her desk. “This is
the key to the side entrance,” she told her more calmly than she
felt.

“And the significance of this?” The headmistress was
as cool as ever.

“Caroline Hughes used it last night to re-enter the
school building. I heard her and met her at the students’ wing. Her
face was painted, and she was dressed most inappropriately.” Sassy
watched Miss Sallstone’s eyes and knew at once that the
headmistress knew this—all of it. She did not think Caroline was
out at a friend’s home.

“Have you told anyone else?”

“No,” Sassy lied. She had told Molly and asked Molly
if she had noticed any of the other girls coming and going at odd
hours. But now she needed to know more about the rest of the staff.
“I thought of telling Miss Graves.”

“For heavens’ sake don’t do that!” Miss Sallstone
seemed nonplussed for the moment.

Sassy felt some relief; perhaps the other teachers
were not a part of the headmistress’s dark business. “Caroline
tried to make me think she was meeting with a friend … but it
isn’t that, is it, Miss Sallstone?” Sassy said boldly.

“How should I know what she was doing?”

“Of course, now that I have presented you with the
facts, I am certain you will take precautions to see that this sort
of thing no longer happens. In fact, I thought I might write Lady
Devine for her opinion on the entire matter.”

“Nonsense. You must not bother her with such things.
That is why I am in charge,” Miss Sallstone snapped.

“And are you, Headmistress—in charge?” Sassy had not
meant to go this far, but after Caroline left her, she had used her
magic; it had showed very clearly just where Caroline had been and
what she had been doing. Her heart had broken over it, and her fury
now took over and left wisdom behind.

“Yes, and I shall make sure this does not happen
again.” Miss Sallstone’s eyes filled with hatred.

“You won’t be alone in that effort,” Sassy promised,
staring the headmistress down and wondering where her courage was
coming from.

* * *

It was still early, only seven, as Sassy paced in her
room.

She had made up her mind to go have a chat with Delia
and Caroline and let them know that she knew what was going on.

Quietly she padded down her hallway, took the stairs,
and then made her way to the students’ wing.

She went stealthily to Caroline and Delia’s room,
rubbing her ring and silently saying the words that would encase
her in a magical darkness, just as an additional precaution. She
was not quite invisible and yet concealed as she listened first at
their door.

She heard Caroline’s contemptuous voice say, “I gave
her a good scare, I did. Reminded her that Miss Saunders
vanished—let her think on that.”

“But, Caro, what about the paint? What did she say
about your dress and all?” Delia asked.

“She thought it was for some boy,” Caroline said.
“Forget her now.”

“Some boy! Ha! He is such a fat old thing. When he
put his hands on me last week, I was sick, just sick.”

“I know, and for what? They get fifty guineas every
night we go out, and we get but one! And we do all the work!”

“Work? I don’t call it work with the likes of Sir
Francis, though. Now there is a buck, and what about tonight with
that handsome marquis? Now that will be good fun,” Delia said. “He
is a Greek god, that one.”

“What time do you go to him?” Caroline asked.

“They put it off till ten o’clock,” Delia said and
added, “so Wheeler will come for me about 9:30 or so.”

What was that explosion in her head? It hurt. What
was that squeezing the blood out of her heart? Sassy put a fist to
her mouth and stifled the cry that almost made its way out as she
ran.

No! No—not her marquis. It just couldn’t be. It had
to be another marquis. Surely it was someone else. But how could
there be two marquis in town, both of them as handsome as he?

Her body quaked, and her mind reeled with this new
information. It couldn’t be true. He wouldn’t debase young girls—he
wouldn’t. She couldn’t love someone like that!

She found the cloak that Molly had cleaned and hung
up for her, slipped on her boots, and without stopping to think,
ran outdoors and made her way to the stables. She yanked a bridle
from its hook, hefted a saddle from its perch, and tacked up a
horse faster than she had ever done before.

Hoisting herself up, she adjusted her stirrups and
spread her skirts about herself as she started him out and down the
bridle path to the main road.

What was she doing? This was madness; she was going
insane. All she knew was that she had to face him—this man who had
stolen her heart and took ownership of her spirit, her thoughts,
her cares. She had to face him and know the truth.

Oh please
, she begged,
don’t let this be
true.
Not him, not him.

Something sick and dreadful was going on at Netherby,
led by the headmistress. She did not blame these girls. They were
young and had been led astray. They were being used. All her
suspicions had formulated into fact as she stood outside their door
listening to them. They were being used as prostitutes by the
people who sheltered them. It was horrid beyond thought.

Her mother had once taken her to a place that
sheltered indigent women. She had said that some of them sold their
bodies to make ends meet and that Sassy should never judge them,
for no one could possibly understand what one would do when
starving, when one had no shelter, no clothes. Sassy understood
their plight, but this, this was despicable, that these young girls
should be sold in this way by greedy scoundrels.

That the marquis should pay to have a young girl was
unthinkable.

How could he? He couldn’t. Percy Lutterel! She
couldn’t be wrong about Percy, who was sweet and good and in love
with Sophy. The marquis could not conduct himself this way with
Percy in the house, could he?

She slid off her cob horse and rushed headlong to the
front door of the marquis’s lodgings, doing once again the
forbidden—and this time at night, full with determination!

When the butler appeared she rubbed her ring and told
him to stand aside. “And you will not remember allowing me to enter
or that I am here.”

“Yes,” he agreed.

“Where is his lordship?”

“In the study,” he answered vaguely.

“Thank you. Now go about your business,” she said and
strode hard and fast towards the room she and Sophy had been in
only a week ago.

* * *

The marquis unbent from what he was doing to face a
darkly clad and hooded young woman charging into the room.

He frowned, thinking that Percy and Dobbs were late
and the chit was early. He said, “My dear, you are early.”

“
Am I?”
Sassy asked between tears and obvious
agitation.

“What the deuce?” he said as he went towards her.

His first thoughts were confused. He had asked for a
fresh young beauty with experience be sent to him, and they sent
him Sassy? How could this be? Sassy? Sassy was a part of this?

It was as though she had ripped the heart from his
chest, and all he could do was stand there and watch as a beast
devoured it. His reaction was an angry sneer. “I see. Well, well,
Sassy, I was not expecting you.”

“Who were you expecting then? Were you expecting
someone from Netherby?” she demanded. She didn’t wait for a
response. “I feel as though I have never known you.”

His eyes lashed her fiercely, wanting to hurt her as
he was hurt. “I was expecting a whore or perhaps some young thing
about to embark upon the worthy old profession! I know I professed
a preference for you, but never thought …”

Sassy’s hand went to her heart. She held onto a
nearby chair back, looking as though she were about to
collapse.

He saw the moment she started to use her magic to
engulf herself in a circle of protection. “How … how could
you?”

It infuriated him. With a flick of his finger he
dispelled the protection mana. In one stride he had her arm in his
grip. Shaking her, he demanded, “How
could I
?” He sneered at
her. “Do you know what you have lost this night? I was going to
offer you everything—my heart, my life, my devotion …”

His lips tore at her own brutally. He wanted her to
feel his agony, and he poured it into that kiss as he pressed her
hard against him. He wore only his shirtsleeves and breeches, and
he set her aside to remove even those.

“Stop!” she cried.

“Oh no, madam. We are in too deep to one another to
stop now,” he said, feeling the heart she had reassembled over the
last few weeks break beyond repair. “Tell me, Sassy—how many have
you had before me?”

* * *

“What? What is wrong with you? What are you saying?”
It dawned on her.
He thought
she was the girl they had
sent over
. “Oh! You odious scoundrel—it is not what you
think.”

He laughed mirthlessly. “Oh, but you are every bit of
what I think you are! I was going to ask you to be my wife—imagine
that? Egad what a fool I turned out to be.”

“You were going to ask me?” Sassy shook her head.
“Yet, you were hiring a girl for the evening? It is I that am
saved, not you, my lord.”

He frowned. “What the deuce is wrong with you?”

He scooped her into his arms, and she pushed with all
her strength. When that did not work, she closed her eyes and used
her mana. She was able to thrust him across the room, and he
stumbled.

As he righted himself he said, “Ah, do we use our
powers then?”

“I am leaving, and do not ever cross my path again,
for I shall never look your way again. And I am reporting Netherby,
Sallstone, you—everything—to the authorities!”

* * *

“Justin!” Percy shouted as he entered the room. “What
in thunder are you doing?”

The marquis turned to find Percy and Dobbs standing
in the doorway looking astonished. He said to them as he ran a hand
through his hair, “Where the devil have you two been?”

“We were delayed, but never mind that now—he is
outside in the courtyard with the girl,” Percy said, going to Sassy
to bow. “My dear, I do not know why you are here, but you must make
haste and leave!”

“I-I … what is going on? You cannot all mean
to … to—
she is only fifteen
!” Sassy said.

Dawning lit in the marquis’s eyes, dawning and a
quixotic strangulation of emotions: joy, relief, and instant
remorse.

Sassy had come to his lodgings to protect the
girl
. Somehow she had found out, and either she knew the girl
was coming to him, or she had come to him to ask for help.

The marquis took Sassy’s arm and hurried her through
an adjoining door to a small anteroom. “Remain here and be
quiet.”

* * *

Dobbs and Percy were blabbering at him, both at the
same time. He put up his hand and ordered them to sit. “Just
sit.”

Dissatisfied, Percy sat, though he was visibly
worried about Miss Winthrop’s presence in the next room. He cast
his glance between the adjoining door and the marquis’s grim
expression.