SOPHIA

"We have an acquaintance named Lila who has certain skills and connections. She’s the one who helped us find Daisy," said Nathan.

Excited, I asked, "You found her?"

"We have, Miss Sophia. She’s recuperating at one of the Duke’s houses in the Sixth Region. We’ll bring her home soon, I promise."

I latched on to one word in that sentence. "Recuperating?"

"The family Jace sent her to is well-known for abusing and starving their servants. Daisy was in a bad state when we found her. We wanted her healed and healthy before we brought her to you," said Nathan. "She’s safe now."

"What about that awful family? Will they suffer the consequences of domestic violence?"

"Legally, no. But they are experiencing some very trying times these days." Hune lifted his hand and showed me five fingers. He ticked each one down as he said, "First, their house caught on fire. Second, the husband’s scandalous affairs were exposed. Third, the wife filed for divorce. Fourth, his business lost so much money, it’s on the verge of bankruptcy. Fifth, all of the servants disappeared."

"Well done, Hune," I said. "You’re getting a bonus." I looked at Nathan. "Right?"

"Whatever my wife says is right," said Nathan.

Knowing that Jace had purposely sent my lifelong maid and friend to be abused and starved made me feel less conflicted about his death. When I thought about the stories I’d heard about him in Velvetleaf, the fact he was friends with a scumbag like Fabian Velle, his cruelty and indifference to me in my first life, and how utterly selfish the man was ... well, I wasn’t all that sorry he was dead.

"How were you going to kill Jace?" I asked Hune.

"I was privy to the conversation Mr. Willowmarch had with our contact. Apparently he had tracked Miss Lila through her connection to Miss Shire. It seems Miss Shire had used drugs to ... er, sleep with Mr. Willowmarch. These drugs made him unconscious for two days. When he woke up, he couldn’t remember what happened. Evidence suggests Miss Shire had several sessions of coitus with him."

"Gross," I muttered.

"Miss Lila sold Miss Shire the aphrodisiacs used on Mr. Willowmarch. He was quite angry. She offered him a chance at revenge. It was he who procured the poisonous mushroom powder. He planned to give to Miss Shire to punish her for what she’d done to him."

I snorted. How ironic. When someone dared to make a fool of Jace he pulled out all the stops to seek justice. When his wife suffered, he did nothing.

"So he tried to give her the powder on the rooftop," I said. "Maybe he was trying to get her to fall off. But he wanted her to suffer first."

"Yes. The hallucinagenic qualities of the powder are quite strong," said Hune. "However, Miss Lila didn’t want money. She asked him to be the catalyst for her own revenge." Hune reached for the teapot on the side table and poured himself a cup. He took a few sips. "She’s versed in the art of gu poison, which uses insects that burrow into the victim’s skin. The one she wanted to use would make the victim do whatever she wanted."

"Who did she want to control?" I asked.

"Fabian Velle."

I thought about meeting Fabian on the pathway to the carriages. He had seemed out of it. Certainly not oozing the usual smarmy charm he used on women. I remembered, too, the woman in the pink carriage who called to him.

Was she Miss Lila, the mysterious contact Hune was talking about? Maybe this was one of those things I was better off not knowing.

"Jace agreed to poison his friend with a gu insect so he could have the powder?" I asked.

Hune nodded. "Miss Lila poisoned him with a concoction that would stop his heart if he didn’t get the antidote within twenty-four hours. He was supposed to meet her later, after he’d done what she asked. Though, that became irrelevant after Mr. Willowmarch died." Hune sipped more tea.

"What did Fabian do to her that she wanted him poisoned with gu?" I was curious about Lila’s motivations, but it wasn’t a stretch of the imagination to think Fabian had broken her heart.

Hune shrugged. "No idea. But the phrase hell hath no fury like a woman scorned comes to mind. Fabian won’t have a good end, either. The gu insect will die after three days, and it kills the host, too."

"So we’ll be getting news that the Velle heir is dead, too?" I asked.

"Likely," said Hune.

Nathan put his arm around my shoulder and turned me toward him. "There’s much I haven’t told you yet because you just got your memories back. I wanted you to recover before I revealed anything. I was afraid you would feel overwhelmed."

"It’s okay," I said. I cupped his cheek. "You’re the best to me in this whole world, Nathan. Why don’t you tell me about one thing? We’ll work through each piece of information slowly, okay?"

"Okay." Nathan drew in a breath and exhaled heavily. "Jace tried to kill me, Sophia. After the airship crash, you and I landed close to each other. I was on the edge of the ravine and you had fallen onto ledge a few feet down. I managed to get you up the cliff and Jace arrived. He took you. Then kicked the living hell out of me until I fell into the ravine."

"What?" Outrage poured through me and I suddenly wished I could throw Jace off the roof again. "How did you survive? Why weren’t you more hurt?"

"Are you complaining about how healthy I am, butterfly?" asked Nathan with a half-smile.

"No," I said. "You must’ve suffered so much."

"Nothing hurt worse than finding out you had amnesia. You forgot me. Forgot everything that happened between us. Jace was trying to keep you in the dark, too. About the divorce. About the Hunter’s Ball. About Penelope. That’s why he replaced all the servants. That’s why he wanted you to stay in Amaranth Manor by yourself. That bastard left you alone and you’d barely recovered from your own trauma."