Page 60 of Infamous

Finally, and most importantly, she realised that this posed an urgent question: if Albert’s reasons for entering this engagement were now very clear, where did this leave Rose?

In the dark? Very unlikely. Rose was one of the smartest and most discerning people Eddie had ever known. Was she doing him a favour, to the detriment of her own happiness? Not impossible, but even Rose would not go so far out of her way to ruin her happiness for Albert’s sake.

There was a third option, of course. One that simultaneously made a lot of sense in retrospect and cast Eddie’s mind into utter disarray.

She was suddenly walking very, very quickly. She practically leapt up the stairs, and almost crashed into Kitty, who was coming the other way.

‘It’s all a bit bacchanalian up there,’ she said, righting Eddie by the shoulders. ‘If you packed a crucifix, best to locate it now.’

‘I was looking for Rose. I need to .?.?. Have you seen her?’

‘I have – she was entering her bedroom with that Cliffe character. Nowshe’sstriking. I may ask her to sit for me, if I catch her after.’

‘After what?’ said Eddie.

Kitty tilted her head to one side and considered Eddie as if she were a small child who had just enquired where the elderly family dog had disappeared to.

‘Did I say after? I meant .?.?. soon. On her way out.’

Eddie’s chest constricted.Ifher suspicions were correct .?.?.ifRose was marrying Albert because she knew, unequivocally, that there would never be a man who would truly capture her interest .?.?. andifRose was this very minute holed up somewhere in the house with Isabella Cliffe, she of the unfailing confidence and long legs in breeches .?.?.

‘I need to talk to her,’ Eddie said determinedly.

Kitty seemed reluctant to get out of her way.

‘While I’m impressed by your dedication to foolishness, I think you should give Miss Li her privacy. She asked after you a few hours ago, but I actually thought you were with Nash – I suppose he’s gone to drown himself in private.’

‘Drown himself?’ Eddie said, momentarily blown off course. ‘What? Where?’

‘I just saw him sneaking out and making for the dock, looking morose. You honestly never know with that man. He might have taken a boat back to shore instead, that would be just like him.’

Eddie felt torn. It was probably nothing, but Nash always seemed despondent and volatile when he and Liza fought, and after the amount he had drunk .?.?.

‘I’m going to find him, just to make sure he’s all right. If you see Rose, tell her I’m looking for her. Tell her to come and see me.’

Eddie half-sprinted down the hallway and through the front door, briefly doubling back to snatch a lantern. Her shadow stretched ahead across the lawn in front of her, as if reaching for the matching gloom of the woods; they had never seemed quite so eerie as they did just then, as she left the life and warmth of the house behind and started to make her way through the darkly grasping trees. Every time she took a step she felt as if she were intruding; twigs cracked beneath her feet and feathers ruffled furiously overhead, punctuated by the sounds of hidden paws scampering and shrill cries of warning.

When Eddie stumbled and a crow started to caw ominously, she began to wish she had dragged Kitty with her, or that Juno could be loping ahead as usual, stalwart and comforting. She felt as if there were hundreds of eyes on her, and in the dark, with a stomach full of wine, it was hard to be rational and remind herself that they wereprey, not preying. Perhaps it was said wine muddling her brain, but she was starting to dread what she might find when she reached the shore; she thought of the drowned maid again, of the creeping cold of the seance, and hurried even faster.

‘Nash?’ Eddie called, when she reached the edge of the woods, her pulse racing.

She spied a figure sitting alone on the dock, feet in the water, a bottle of wine gilded in moonlight at their side. A cold breeze was coming in off the lake and Eddie shivered, pressing her hands as tightly to the lantern as she could without burning them. She picked her way down to the shore, feeling a rush of relief as she drew closer and recognised Nash. He only turned to glance at her once she had set the lantern down and taken a seat beside him, keeping her feet carefully out of the icy waves. He nodded up at the moon, which was a sliver away from being full.

‘Did you know the Ancient Greek calendars were all lunar? The Athenians placed the beginning of the year in July, but plenty of other regions had it starting in autumn.’

‘That’s a strange time to begin the year,’ Eddie said, wrapping her arms around herself and glancing up at the clear, star-scattered sky. ‘Just before everything dies.’

‘Well, I suppose their climate keeps most things alive. Not like here. We’re half-dead already and there’s still a month until the first frost. If we had any sense, we would be in Greece.’

‘I would love to see it,’ Eddie said, and Nash turned to her, looking simultaneously ancient and no older than twenty in the reflected moonlight and the flickering of the lamp. ‘Greece, I mean.’

‘I have no doubt you will,’ he said, his focus suddenly absolute. ‘I have no doubt you shall see anything you want to, Edie.’

‘You are being mawkish, and it isnotbecoming,’ Eddie said lightly, elbowing him in the side. ‘Why are you out here all alone? You invited everybody to a party, you might recall. They are all up in your long gallery trying to see if they can make it the tall gallery, too, by breaking through the floor.’

‘Good,’ said Nash. ‘No, I mean it. Let them tear it to pieces. I thought this house was the answer .?.?. When I’m in London, I long for the lake, but when I’m on the lake, I yearn for London. It is almost as ifI’mthe problem, but that cannot be it, so it must be something else.’ He gave her a rueful smile. ‘Thecompanyhas certainly never been better.’

‘Your card-playing friends were very rude.’