Her Dark Curiosity. Megan Shepherd

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      10

      The parlor door remained open behind them, leaving only the sound of the ticking hallway clock. Henry Jakyll. Edward Prince. One and the same.

      ‘I’m glad she’s left,’ Lucy said, coming to stand next to me at the window. ‘I think Aunt Edith only ever comes to tea to chastise me for all the things I’ve done wrong.’ She hunted in the fruit bowl on the side table and selected a grape. ‘What did you think of Henry?’ she asked slyly, popping the grape into her mouth. ‘He’s just awful, isn’t he? Didn’t I tell you?’

      ‘Yes, awful,’ I said carefully, glancing out the window to try to catch a glimpse of him as he left. ‘Not your type at all. Inspector Newcastle is more attractive anyway, don’t you think?’

      She frowned, but at that moment I glimpsed Edward and Lucy’s aunt stepping out of the house below, where he helped her into a cabriolet and then started down the street at a fast pace, heading to the botanical gardens for our rendezvous. I looked at the sky, where the sun was already casting shadows. Maybe two hours before sunset. Damn these short winter days. I’d certainly not be able to meet Edward and still have time to rush back home for dinner at the professor’s. He’d be beside himself with worry when I didn’t show up.

      Lucy plucked another grape, eyeing me strangely. She changed her mind and set it back down in the bowl. ‘The truth is, and I know this must sound absurd coming from me, but I actually think I might admire him. Not much, of course. Only a tiny bit. Perhaps it’s just stuffy in here.’

      I shot her a look. I couldn’t imagine anything that chilled my blood more than the idea of Lucy enamored of a boy with a monstrous other half who had already killed four people in London – for me. I clutched her hand suddenly. ‘He seems a bore to me. I think you should forget him. Really. Now I must go, Lucy. I’m so sorry.’

      Her eyes went wide. ‘You’ve only just arrived. I thought we might be able to talk, here, while we’re alone. Didn’t you want to speak to me privately?’ She leaned in, her voice dropping. ‘I have things to tell you, too. I’m not certain Papa’s been fair in his business dealings, and when I mentioned it to Mother, she didn’t seem to care.’

      ‘Blast, I’m sorry, I really can’t stay to hear about it right now. I’m a terrible friend, I know, but I really must go.’ I paused in the doorway. ‘Oh, and I forgot to tell you – Inspector Newcastle is going to propose. I thought you should know. And I really don’t think he’s that terrible; perhaps you should give him a chance.’

      I squeezed her hand and hurried from the room and down the stairs, waving to Clara as I ran out into the street.

      Guilt gripped me for leaving her so suddenly, but part of this was for Lucy. I could hardly explain that her suitor – who she actually fancied – had a murderous other side to him, and it was either cure him, kill him, or have her end up dead.

      A chill was settling into the shadows of buildings as late afternoon approached. I turned toward the sun in the west, in the direction of the Royal Botanical Gardens, where palm trees stood like ghosts within the captive heat of the greenhouse.

      A thousand places to kill. A million reasons not to trust.

      I started running toward Kensington.

      My feet ached by the time I arrived. The tired-looking ticket collector glanced at his pocket watch.

      ‘Palm House closes at sunset, the gardens at six. You have but a few hours.’

      ‘That’s all right,’ I said breathlessly, shoving my coins at him. I dashed through the gardens to the bridge that stretched across the frozen lake. From there, I could see the greenhouse, where rays of light caught on the thousands of glass panels.

      I felt as though I’d crossed some invisible boundary and was no longer in London. Gone were the city crowds, the smoke and the soot, the noise of carriages and yelling street vendors.

      I took a deep breath and pushed open the Palm House’s ironwork door. A flood of warmth escaped the crack, filling my lungs with steam as I entered the domed central atrium.

      I slid out of my coat and left it hanging over a branch, then fumbled to open the top buttons of my dress. Sweat was already forming on my inner layers. Somewhere, the line between this world and another blurred.

      I was back in the jungle.

      The hiss of steam jets replaced the ocean tides. Machinery squealed like jungle birds. Steam filled my lungs with memories: Jaguar, with his flicking tail; the smell of burning refuse and unwashed animals in the islanders’ village; the salt in the breeze. In a strange way I missed the island terribly, heartsick for a place I’d hated and a father I’d wanted to die.

      No – a father I’d helped murder.

      ‘Edward?’ I called as loud as I dared, uncertain if it was an enormous mistake to have come here.

      A chain rattled overhead. Iron catwalks spanned the ceiling so visitors could walk among the treetops. A well-dressed figure now descended the spiral staircase. Edward. He stopped a few feet from me, as quiet as the steam at our feet.

      ‘Hello, Juliet.’

      Being here, in this place so reminiscent of the island, I felt beastly things stir inside of me, taking me back to the island where we had learned to move through the trees quiet as animals, where he’d kissed me behind the waterfall. My pulse quickened, hungry for those things again despite my better sense.

      He stepped forward, toying with his gold pocket watch, and I stepped back. ‘I told you, for the time being I’m still stronger than him. I can fight him if I feel him coming on. I’m not going to hurt you.’

      ‘What about that thief girl, and Annie, and the others? You were quick enough to kill them.’

      ‘I’m sorry for them, truly. When the Beast takes over, I lose myself to him.’

      ‘Why only kill people who have done wrong to me?’

      A flicker of confusion passed over his features. ‘You’ll have to ask the Beast that question; he’s the one who chose them.’

      ‘I don’t understand,’ I said.

      ‘He seems to know my memories, but I only share pieces of his. The next day I find newspaper headlines about three slashes to the chest, and I assume he was responsible. I knew the solicitor was an acquaintance of yours, but not the others. I had assumed they were random.’

      ‘Hardly. Each one of them committed a crime against me.’

      Edward’s face softened. ‘That explains it, then. I hadn’t realized why he was so intent on those particular kills. He’s trying to protect you, in his own way.’

      ‘Protect me? Why?’

      He regarded me strangely for the space of a few breaths, while I wondered if I was crazy СКАЧАТЬ