The Third Circle

by Amanda Quick

  “There will be dreams,” Thaddeus said, repeating back to her the words she had once spoken to him. “You will come to me when they descend upon you.”

  It was a promise and a vow.

  Something inside her eased.

  “Which one of those men murdered Lord Delbridge?” Victoria asked.

  “The leader of the Third Circle, Lord Granton,” Thaddeus said. “When I put him into a trance he explained that Delbridge had become a serious liability. Dr. Hulsey witnessed the murder and was delighted to offer the leader not only his services but also a crystal worker he was certain could activate the aurora stone.”

  “Me,” Leona said.

  “You,” Thaddeus agreed.

  “Annie Spence will be able to provide a great deal of information about Hulsey,” Leona said.

  “Caleb has already interviewed her,” Thaddeus said.

  “Speaking of Annie, I trust the Society will compensate her for what she went through,” Leona continued. “After all, if it had not been for the very existence of the founder’s formula and the Arcane Society, she would not have been kidnapped and used as a research subject.”

  “Gabe is very conscious of the Society’s responsibility in all this,” Thaddeus said. “It appears that Annie’s dream is to open her own millinery shop. Gabe has ensured that the funds she needs to achieve her goal will be made available to her immediately.”

  “I must go and see her today. She suffered greatly because of that madman, Hulsey. I want to make sure she knows to come to me if the hallucinations return.”

  “I paid a quick visit to her a short time ago to tell her about the money,” Thaddeus said. “Her friend, the tavern owner, is taking good care of her. When I left, she was already making plans to search for premises to rent for her shop.”

  Leona smiled, relieved. “I think Annie will do very well. Hers is a resilient spirit.”

  “As is yours,” Thaddeus said.

  Suddenly she felt a good deal more cheerful. Think positive.

  Victoria frowned. “After all that fuss, what was in Sybil’s strongbox?”

  “Her journal of experiments and some two-hundred-year-old alchemical apparatus,” Leona said. She raised her brows very coolly. “All of which, everyone agrees, belong to me.”

  Victoria looked troubled. “But, my dear, the journal and the stone are so dangerous.”

  Leona wrinkled her nose. “In view of that fact I have agreed to allow the Arcane Society to take charge of the aurora stone and the contents of Sybil’s strongbox on the condition that I have access to them anytime I wish.”

  “Excellent decision.” Victoria was clearly relieved.

  A knock sounded on the door of the library.

  “Come in,” Thaddeus called.

  Gribbs loomed in the opening. “I apologize for the interruption, sir, but the dressmaker has arrived. She says that she has an appointment for the second fitting of Miss Hewitt’s gown.”

  Reality slammed through Leona, jerking her out of her pleasant little fantasy.

  “There is no longer any need for me to attend the Spring Ball,” she said quickly. “I won’t be needing the gown.”

  Victoria opened her mouth. Leona never discovered what it was she intended to say, however, because Thaddeus was on his feet, circling the desk and giving orders.

  “Tell the dressmaker that Miss Hewitt will be ready for her fitting in a few minutes,” he said.

  “I really don’t see any point—” Leona got out. She broke off when Thaddeus arrived in front of her.

  He reached down, clamped a hand around her wrist and hauled her unceremoniously to her feet.

  “Come with me,” he ordered.

  He headed for the French doors, half dragging her with him.

  She could not be certain because she was feeling decidedly rattled, but she could have sworn that she heard Victoria making a very odd sound behind her. It was the sort of noise one made when one tried to swallow laughter.

  52

  THE CONSERVATORY WAS a very different place by day. The humid, tropical atmosphere was the same and so were the exotic, fragrant scents. But the flood of bright daylight filtering through the overarching glass robbed the miniature paradise of the magical quality of night. Gone was the sense of having been transported to a hidden bower in some other dimension. This was the real world, albeit a very beautiful slice of it. Thaddeus was very real, too. And he was not in a good temper.

  He brought her to a halt in the shade of a large palm. “You and I agreed that you would allow me to escort you to that damn ball.”

  “But that was because we intended to set a trap,” she said. “Those plans have been called off, so I assumed there was no reason for me to be present.”

  “You assumed nothing of the kind. You’re trying to find a way to avoid accompanying me. I think I have a right to know why.”

  “You know why. My connection to the Arcane Society is of a somewhat strained nature. Now that there is no longer a pressing need for me to attend the ball, I think it would be best for both of us to avoid being seen together in such a public manner.”

  “You want to continue our affair in secret, is that it?”

  She cleared her throat. “Well, it did strike me that might be a more sensible way to proceed, yes.”

  “When have you and I ever done things in a sensible manner?”

  “Surely you can understand that this is all a little awkward for me,” she said.

  “Because you don’t wish to be seen with me?”

  It was too much.

  “How dare you say that?” she demanded, incensed. “In case you have failed to notice, I’ve been through a great deal of stress in the past few days. I’ve encountered two murdered people, been forced to flee my home because of the threat of a killer who proved to be a psychically enhanced lunatic, and was kidnapped by a mad scientist and five conspirators. To say nothing of losing my virginity right here in this very conservatory.”

  She burst into tears. The sobs welled up out of nowhere, taking her completely by surprise. One moment she was in a towering rage, and the next she was weeping like a waterfall. What on earth was wrong with her? “Think positive.”

  But Uncle Edward’s words of advice were useless against the tide of emotion that threatened to consume her. She turned away from Thaddeus, covered her face with both hands and wept.

  She cried for the mother she had lost when she was young; for the uncle she had trusted and who had abandoned her; for Carolyn, the friend with whom she had planned to share a house and a life; for the children she might have had if she had married William Trover. Most of all she cried for the nights she had lain awake staring at the ceiling, trying to concentrate on the future, and for all the energy she had put into thinking positive when it was clearly an utter waste of time.

  Somewhere in the distance she heard Fog howl, but she could not control her tears long enough to go to him and reassure him. That realization made her weep all the harder.

  She felt Thaddeus’s hands close around her shoulders. He turned her toward him without a word and wrapped her in his arms.

  She collapsed against his chest and sobbed until she was exhausted, until there were no more tears. When she finally fell quiet, her face pressed into his now-damp coat, he kissed the top of her head.

  “I’m sorry,” he said gently. “About everything.”

  “Mmm.” She did not raise her head.

  “Almost everything,” he clarified.

  She nodded numbly. “Most of it wasn’t your fault.”

  “Except the lost virginity.”

  “Well, yes, that was your fault.”

  He tipped her chin up and looked into her drenched eyes. “That is the one thing for which I cannot apologize. I don’t feel any regret, you see.”

  “Why would you?” she said, blotting her eyes on her sleeve. “It was my virginity, not yours.”

  “The reason I can’t feel sorry for my role in the business is because maki
ng love with you is the most astonishingly wonderful thing that I have ever done in my life.”

  “Oh.” From out of nowhere, hope returned, just as if it had never been utterly extinguished a moment earlier. “It is that way for me, too.”

  He frowned. “If that’s the case, why did you list losing your virginity as one of the things that had gone wrong during the past few days?”

  “I didn’t say it was a list of things that had gone wrong. I just put it on the list of things I had found somewhat stressful.”

  “What the devil is that supposed to mean?”

  She glowered at him. “For pity’s sake, Thaddeus, just because something is pleasurable, even transcendently so, doesn’t mean there is not some stress involved.”

  “That’s ridiculous. Why should there be any stress under such circumstances?”

  “Are you going to stand there and quarrel with me about what I felt or did not feel when I lost my virginity?”

  “Yes, I am damn well going to quarrel with you about it. I was involved in the process that night, and I didn’t feel any stress.”

  “Maybe that’s because you weren’t emotionally involved.”

  “Bloody hell, woman, I told you that first night when you used the aurora stone to save me from the poison drug that some sort of psychical bonds were fused between us.”

  She drew herself up, straightened her shoulders and prepared to wager her entire future. Think positive.

  “I wouldn’t know about psychical bonds,” she said politely. “The only bonds I felt that night were the bonds of love.”

  It was his turn to be dumbfounded. “What did you say?”

  “I fell in love with you in the carriage when we fought your demons together and I witnessed the strength and passion of your spirit. I knew then that you were the man I’d been waiting for all of my life.”

  Exultant satisfaction flared in the atmosphere around her. Thaddeus gave a shout that could surely be heard by everyone inside the house. He fitted his hands to her waist, lifted her straight off the ground and swung her around in a dizzying circle.

  “I love you,” he roared in his enthralling mesmeric voice. “I will love you all the days of my life and beyond, Leona Hewitt. Do you hear me?”

  Light, joyous laughter rang from the glass walls of the conservatory. It took her a while to realize that she was the one who was laughing.

  “I love you, too, Thaddeus Ware. And I will love you all the days of my life and beyond.”

  The vows were as binding as any spoken in church. Thaddeus stopped spinning her around, brought her close and kissed her for a very long time.

  INSIDE THE LIBRARY Victoria experienced a surge of keen satisfaction. Her talent was frustrating at times, but it was always gratifying when she was proved right.

  She looked at Fog, who had stopped howling and now had his nose pressed against the French doors. His ears were pricked, and his gaze was fixed on the conservatory.

  “I told you there was no need for all that howling,” she said briskly. “They will make each other very happy. Knew it from the first moment I saw them together. I have a talent for sensing that sort of thing, you see. I’m never wrong.”

  53

  THERE WAS ENOUGH ENERGY in the ballroom to light up the chandeliers. Individually, each of the elite, powerful members of the Arcane Society could move, unnoticed, through a crowd, but put a hundred of them in close quarters like this, and the atmosphere fairly shimmered. The Spring Ball was a glittering affair on both the normal and the paranormal plane.

  Leona stood with Thaddeus and Victoria at the edge of the throng. They watched the dancers take the floor. At the heart of the room, the new Master of the Arcane Society swept his wife into the first waltz. The crowd signaled its approval with a round of applause. It was clear, however, that as far as Gabriel and Venetia were concerned there was no one else in the room.

  “Born for each other, those two,” Victoria announced. She downed a healthy dose of champagne and lowered her glass, looking vastly pleased with herself. “Of course, from now on people will have to pay for that sort of brilliant insight.”

  “Nevertheless, it’s always nice to know that the head of the Society is a happily married man,” Leona said diplomatically.

  “Right.” Thaddeus smiled a little. “Means he’ll be able to concentrate better on his job. Got his work cut out for him trying to shove this tradition-bound Society into the modern era.”

  Victoria frowned. “Word is he intends to make a lot of changes. There’s going to be a lot of kicking and screaming.”

  Caleb Jones materialized from behind Leona. Dourly he surveyed the dancers as though searching for patterns in the swirling turns of the waltz. “The kicking and screaming has already begun.”

  Thaddeus raised his brows. “The Council objected to the new Office of Enquiries?”

  “No,” Caleb said, “I did.”

  “You didn’t take the post?” Thaddeus asked, surprised. “Gabe assured me a short time ago that it was all settled.”

  “It’s settled,” Caleb said. “But there won’t be any Office of Enquiries.”

  “How very disappointing,” Leona said. “I was so looking forward to being a private enquiry agent again.”

  Thaddeus’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve already got a career as a crystal worker. I’m the one who was going to be a private enquiry agent for the new Office of Enquiries.”

  She patted his arm. “Of course. I would never give up my crystal work. But it occurred to me that the occasional fling as one of Mr. Jones’s agents might prove quite stimulating.”

  “The issue is now moot,” Thaddeus said.

  “You know, you sound a lot like Fog when you growl,” she observed. “I do hope you won’t progress to howling on occasion.”

  “Actually, it’s not moot,” Caleb said. His attention was still on the dancers. “I’ll need the help of both of you and others within the Society, as well. I require people I can trust absolutely, and there aren’t a lot of them around. This damned conspiracy we uncovered is more dangerous than anyone on the Council realizes. It must be stopped.”

  Leona tilted her head a little to the side. “But you just said you had turned down the position as head of an enquiries office.”

  “I told Gabe that I would not put myself into the position of taking orders from the Council,” Caleb explained. “Half of those doddering old fools are still playing at alchemy. The other half are obsessed with their own status and power. I don’t trust any of them to have the future of the Society as a high priority. Gabe agrees with me.”

  Thaddeus looked intrigued. “You have our attention, Caleb. What are you planning?”

  “I am going to establish my own private enquiry business,” Caleb said. “Gabe and the Council will be my most important clients. Protecting the Society’s secrets will be my firm’s principal objective. But Jones and Company will be independent. I and my agents will be free to conduct investigations as I see fit and free to take private clients.”

  Cool satisfaction gleamed in Thaddeus’s eyes. “I like the sound of that arrangement.”

  “So do I,” Leona said.

  Victoria looked at Caleb. “I don’t suppose you will have some use for a matchmaker?”

  Caleb looked briefly startled. Then he frowned in thought, his eyes still on the dancers. “I can certainly envision situations in which it would be extraordinarily useful to have your sort of intuitive sight into an individual or individuals. Yes, I think I can offer you some employment, madam.”

  Victoria glowed. “How thrilling.”

  Caleb abruptly turned away from the dance floor. He appeared distracted.

  “If you will all excuse me, I must be off,” he said.

  Leona examined his humorless expression. “Are you ill, Mr. Jones?”

  “What?” He seemed baffled by the question. Then his face cleared. “No, I’m well, thank you, Miss Hewitt. I’m leaving because I have work to do. I promised Gabe I would
put in an appearance here tonight, but now I must get back to my laboratory. I am working on Hulsey’s notes. There is something about the manner in which he organized his experiments that may provide a clue to the way he thinks. If I can comprehend the pattern, I will be able to devise a plan to locate him.” He nodded brusquely. “Good night.”

  Victoria watched him leave. “Odd, even for a Jones.”

  “I believe Caleb is sinking deeper into his obsession with patterns,” Thaddeus said quietly.

  Leona smiled. “About my part-time career in the enquiry business.”

  Thaddeus held up both hands, palms out, and smiled. “Enough, my love, no more arguing about the matter. I refuse to ruin the evening worrying about all the things that might possibly go wrong if you were to get involved in another investigation. I will take your advice; I am going to think positive.”

  “I am delighted to hear that.”

  “For tonight, at least. One step at a time.” He took her arm, mesmeric eyes heating. “Dance with me, my love. It will go far to ensure that I maintain my new optimistic outlook.”

  She laughed, happiness effervescing through her as light and intoxicating as champagne. “Anything to assist you in your goal to think positive.”

  He responded to her laughter with his wolfish smile and drew her into the glittering pool of dancers.

  “I love you, my beautiful sorceress,” he whispered.

  “I love you, Thaddeus. You are the man I have waited—”

  She stopped midsentence, aware that Thaddeus was not listening. His attention was fixed on the far side of the room.

  “What in blazes?” He brought her to a halt in the middle of the floor.

  Annoyed at the interruption of what had been one of the most romantic nights of her entire life, she turned to follow his gaze.

  A visible ripple of awareness accompanied by murmurs and whispers was sweeping through the crowd. Heads turned. At the center of the moving wave was a tall, distinguished-looking gentleman elegantly attired in black-and-white evening clothes. The light of the chandeliers gleamed on his silver hair and sparkled on his diamond stickpin.

  The room seemed to waver and shift around her. For the first and only time in her life, Leona wondered if she might faint.