Steam Guardians 01 - A Lady Can Never Be Too Curious (6 page)

Janette stood by the breakfast table as her father eyed her.

“Indeed, I believe I have always been quite clear on my view of Illuminists, and still you accepted one as an escort.”

Heat rose to her cheeks, but it wasn’t from shame. Janette bit her tongue to hold back the tart response she wanted to make.

“Howard, really. Mrs. Brimmer would have been offended if Janette had declined the dance,” her mother reminded him. “You know very well the Brimmers are controversial in their views on Illuminists interacting with society.”

“
Controversial
is too mild a word to describe that woman’s tendencies to ignore decent behavior. How dare she select my daughter for her atrocious public demonstrations? Well, she shall not change my thinking. Not one bit!”

Her father hit the tabletop. The breakfast dishes clattered, and Janette stared at his closed fist in shock.

“You see what this has pushed me to? Physical outbursts! The calling card of the low-bred who do not have enough intelligence to rise above common brawling.”

Howard Aston stood and threw his napkin down. He pointed at his wife, who had taken to hiding her gaping mouth behind her napkin.

“You made a promise to me, madam, one I will see you keep. I insist upon it. Those Illuminists are endowed with a cheap sort of intelligence that has its uses and place. They are uncivilized. I am a gentleman, and you shall recall that marrying me lifted you above the station you were born to. I will have respect and order in this house. The Illuminists shall not be spoken of or acknowledged by any member of this family.”

Her father stomped from the room. The serving staff did their best to look as though they were not listening. Janette stared at her mother.

“Mother, what did he mean? What station did he lift you from?”

“Oh dear.” Her mother stood, her chair scraping the hardwood floor because the butler hadn’t anticipated her action. The man ran to catch the back of her chair before it fell over, but her mother sat back down.

“I never thought…”

“Mother, please tell me. Is that why I’ve never met any of your family? Father believes them beneath us? Why?”

Her mother looked at her before drawing in a stiff breath that she held a long moment. When she blew it out, she stood again.

“Janette, you shall have to put this morning completely out of your mind.”

“But—”

Her mother held up a single finger. “Yes, wipe it from your thoughts and never speak of it. Your father is correct. It is best you concentrate on ensuring you recall that having your name linked with an Illuminist will only bring distasteful encounters with your father. We shall have no contact with Illuminists. The matter is not open for discussion.”

Janette found herself standing in the breakfast room with the stunned butler. They locked gazes for a moment before they both looked away out of habit. But Janette wasn’t so confident of her place in the world. Not since meeting Darius Lawley. Two days ago she’d accepted that the Illuminists were people of a lower station than herself. But today she discovered herself questioning the teachings of her father.

And her mother? She was hiding something. Janette walked through the house, feeling very much as she had when trespassing at the Solitary Chamber. As if she did not know where she was or what might happen next.

Maybe she should seek the man out again.

***

“Miss Janette, your father requests you in the parlor.”

The downstairs maid offered a quick curtsy before hurrying back to her duties. Her apron was still pristine and her cap perfectly pressed well into the afternoon.

Appearances.

Her father was demanding when it came to the staff maintaining the standards he expected of them. That maid had several aprons all hung neatly in a closet at the end of the upstairs hallway in case she needed to change. Even being in the middle of her workday didn’t allow for her to look rumpled. Wasn’t an apron worn for the purpose of keeping dirt off one’s dress?

It was something Janette wouldn’t have questioned the need or wisdom for before her encounter with Darius. Appearances were maintained for the betterment of everyone in the family, yet now she wondered if being honest wasn’t more important. This realization vexed her. Why wasn’t she questioning the useless actions and prejudices surrounding her? It was astounding to consider how much effort was wasted on things with so little meaning.

So did that mean Darius Lawley was a more noble man than the gentleman her father claimed to be?

“Ah, there you are, Janette.” Her father gestured her into the parlor. “I’ve a friend to introduce you to. This is Dr. Nerval.”

Janette curtsied without thinking or taking the time to look at the doctor. When she raised her attention to the man sitting in the red leather armchair, a chill traveled across her skin. She’d never seen such cold eyes.

The doctor studied her from head to toe. Standing behind him was a plump matron in a stiff, full-length apron. It crisscrossed her chest, and she wore a white handkerchief hat like a nurse, only it lacked the red cross.

“Turn around,” the doctor instructed.

Janette looked at her father to find him nodding. Turning her back on the doctor unnerved her. She felt her heart beating faster while she attempted to keep her motions controlled.

Dr. Nerval clasped a cane with both gloved hands. It was a wooden one with a glass knob topper.

“Dr. Nerval has graciously called upon us to assist us in overcoming last night’s unfortunate incident.”

The doctor was an old man with deep folds around his mouth. All of his hair was white, and his thick sideburns too. He was perfectly groomed, every hair in place. His clothing was just as pristine, but what bothered her was the way the matron stood so still. She looked straight ahead, never turning her head to whoever was speaking. Obviously, the doctor shared her father’s views on people knowing who their betters were.

“Take my cane, please, Miss Janette.”

He grasped it around the wooden neck and extended it toward her. Apprehension tingled down her nape, but there was nothing overly strange in the request. Janette wrapped her hands around the glass knob and felt the current run through her.

Crystal. Deep Earth Crystal.

The rhythmic hum began playing in the back of her senses, and she looked down at the knob topping the cane. The doctor took it back, his grasp surprisingly strong for how aged he appeared.

“You were correct to summon me, Mr. Aston. Your daughter requires purging immediately.”

Janette spun around to look at her father. “I am quite well, Father.”

Dr. Nerval stood and tapped his cane against the floor. “She is not. My dear girl, you have no idea what manner of sinister infection has latched its teeth into you.”

“It was only a single dance. I couldn’t very well refuse Mrs. Brimmer, Father. It would have shamed you.” Tension pulled the muscles along her neck tight. She wasn’t even sure what she was fighting to avoid, only that she wanted nothing more to do with the cold-eyed doctor. His spectacles did nothing to shield her from it.

Her father looked undecided, but the doctor stepped between them.

“You must listen to me, Mr. Aston. This sort of thing can easily grow into something unstoppable without treatment. Considering your wife’s unfortunate history, you cannot afford to hesitate. Send her tomorrow morning for treatment.”

The matron opened the parlor door for the doctor, and he strode out. He turned to look at her before leaving. Janette felt the chill race down her back once more. This time there was a look of satisfaction in his eyes that horrified her.

“Tomorrow morning, the clinic. Do not go soft.”

“I shall not disappoint you, Doctor.”

Janette felt the walls of the parlor closing in. What had once been a favorite place now felt as cold as a prison cell. The butler closed the door behind the doctor, and her father remained facing it, giving her nothing to look at but his back.

“Father, you cannot mean to send me to that clinic. I hear they do the most brutal things there.”

He turned on her, determination etched into his expression.

“Nonsense you no doubt heard over a tea service. Dr. Nerval is a highly esteemed member of the scientific community. His clinic will provide you the treatment necessary to keep you from tumbling into the insanity your mother’s blood has tainted you with.”

“What taint? Has it something to do with why I’ve never heard anything about my maternal grandparents?” She spoke smoothly and slowly, the forbidden topic suddenly very permissible.

“You shall not speak of them, not ever. A fact you know very well. You see? I have always feared this day would come. Why do you think I have strived to remind you so often of the dangers of the Illuminists? Yet here you stand, defying my clear instructions to never ask about your mother’s parents. The doctor is correct. You have been infected by that Illuminist.”

“It was but a single dance,” she countered in a smooth tone, despite the dread twisting her insides.

“It was more.” Her father’s voice cracked, and he pointed a damning finger at her. “I witnessed you returning from the garden myself. Did you really think I did not follow you outside when you had departed on the arm of such a creature? You have carnal knowledge of that…that Illuminist. Your innocence has been tainted. His nefarious actions have planted a seed inside your mind that will sprout into a weed if we do not sterilize it.”

She covered her mouth with her hand. Her father spoke the truth. Darius had unleashed something inside her.

“You have defied me, Janette, and it led you to last night’s catastrophe.”

Her father marched across the parlor and pointed at a wooden box. “Dr. Nerval was wise enough to instruct me to have your room searched, and look at what was found.”

He lifted a science circular from the box. “You see, madam? It is plain you have been reading the writings of those Illuminists, and it has unleashed a craving inside you that made you vulnerable to that man last night.”

“But—”

“I will not hear your excuses. You are unwell, and it is my duty to see you are given proper medical treatment. Without treatment, you will be sneaking out in the dead of night to be with him. You will become a fallen woman and end up on the docks when he has had what he seeks from you. Giles!”

Her father’s personal butler entered the parlor immediately.

“Giles, be kind enough to escort my daughter to her room and see she remains there until tomorrow morning. You will escort her to the clinic where this Illuminist infection can be sterilized.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Father, you cannot mean this.”

Her sire turned on her, his expression solid and unrelenting. “I assure you, I do. You shall respect my word in this matter or never set foot in this house again. I tell you truthfully: fail to embrace the treatment Dr. Nerval prescribes, and I will disown you. You will be left to take your chances on the street corners with the rest of the unfortunates.”

He might as well have slapped her. England no longer had whores or thieves, only a great many
unfortunates
. The men who had stood next to her father the night before in their white vests and had aimed condemning looks at her when she returned from the garden liked to discuss what treatments might cure the unfortunates of their impulses. Those ever-proud members of upper society firmly believed that common blood meant a person lacked the ability to control their emotions. They argued against the Illuminists because the Order offered their entrance exams to those willing to prove their worth. A family history wasn’t required, and it didn’t matter what station or race they were. Black, Asian, or otherwise, if they passed the entrance exam, they could wear the badge of the Illuminist Order. The Illuminists did it all without hiding their emotions behind stiff, judgmental expressions.

She’d enjoyed feeling her emotions running free. If that was a sin, so be it. She looked at the circulars, a desire kindling inside her to prove she was worthy of knowing more.

“Miss?”

Giles had moved closer. There was an unpleasant look in his eyes, but he remained firmly obedient to his master’s will. Of course he did. If he didn’t, Giles would find himself dismissed and on his way to becoming an unfortunate, for no good family would hire him without a reference from her father.

Janette bit her lip but tucked her right foot behind her left ankle and offered her father a curtsy. “As you say, Father.”

The lie passed her lips more easily than she’d thought it would, but she realized she’d been lying most of her life. In fact, she’d learned it from her father—little comments that were untruthful but acceptable because they were polite. It had been the way she was raised by the man watching her offer a curtsy of respect, when the only feeling she had for him was pity.

“Yes, well, it seems you are not so far off the path if you can still behave in a civilized manner. Everyone in this house needs to understand I only mean the best for you.”

Her father waved his hand, dismissing her.

Giles followed her up the grand staircase. She turned right instead of left and heard the butler clear his throat.

“I simply wish to have a word with my mother.”

The butler offered her a short bow. “Mrs. Aston has left for the country at the command of the master.”

She felt a chill tingling across her skin again. Now the entire house felt unfamiliar to her. Giles extended his arm toward her room. She could have sworn she heard the clattering of keys like a jailer would have on his belt, because she was very much a prisoner. The urge to flee began to clamor inside her. She looked toward the front door, realizing all she needed was the courage to walk away from her imprisonment.

The same courage that had seen her walking up the steps of the Solitary Chamber.

“Now, don’t make me handle you,” Giles grumbled. “I don’t want to be telling the master you aren’t in your room. The clinic won’t be worse than the street.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

The butler frowned and grabbed her wrist. He had an amazing amount of strength and sent her tumbling into her room with a hard tug.