A Cold Legacy by Megan Shepherd Read Free Book Online Page B

distillery from the British authorities. No one uses the passages now, except Hensley. They’re quite dangerous. Loose nails and uneven bricks and a few traps Lord Ballentyne set in case he was being pursued. Tomorrow I’ll have Carlyle seal this painting with some nails, so you won’t need to worry about anyone intruding upon your friend’s slumber.”
    â€œThank you,” I said.
    â€œAs to the electricity, the girls will try their best to repair it tomorrow. Until then, you’ll find more candles in your closets. Let’s hope for no more disturbances this time, eh?”
    I gave an uneasy nod. “Indeed.”
    The servants returned to their rooms, and after a few minutes Montgomery did as well, leaving Lucy and me alone with Edward. She sank onto the bed next to him, brushing an errant strand of hair from his brow.
    â€œHe’s burning up,” she muttered. “All the excitement must have him worried.” Her hand dropped to the chain across his chest, toying with the lock almost as if she didn’t realize what she was doing, but I did—she wanted those chains off him so he could sit up and be his old self. But I wasn’t certain he was his old self, not anymore.
    â€œLucy,” I said softly, “he’s delirious. He doesn’t even know we’re here.”
    She gave me an exasperated look. “I’m the one who’s been taking care of him since we left London, and I know his moods best. I swear he woke up in the traveler’s inn on the way here, no matter what you say. . . .”
    I’d stopped listening to her, shocked by what was happening on the bed. Before my very eyes, Edward blinked. For a moment I thought I’d imagined it. But then his eyes opened.
    My lips parted in shock.
    â€œJuliet, what’s the matter?” she asked, and then followed my gaze to the bed and gasped.
    Edward blinked again, wincing in pain, lucid for the first time since he’d taken the poison. “Lucy,” his voice rasped.
    â€œEdward!” She threw herself against him, running her hands through his sweat-soaked hair. “I knew you were better!”
    I covered my mouth with my hand, hanging back by the door as though afraid to believe it. “Edward? Is it you?”
    â€œJuliet.” He winced in pain. “Listen to me, both of you—” He coughed, the chains rattling, and he collapsed back on the bed, overtaken with the fever again. He looked so much like the skeletal castaway we’d found on the Curitiba that my heart started thumping painfully hard. Back then, he’d been just a step away from death. He looked even closer now.
    â€œEdward, can you hear me?” Lucy said. “You’ve been delirious for days. Montgomery gave you something to help with the poison.”
    I clamped a hand on her shoulder, holding her back. “Be careful, Lucy. We don’t know if it’s the Beast or Edward.”
    â€œOf course it’s Edward!”
    His eyelids fluttered and I pulled Lucy back farther, despite the chains and her insistence. “Listen to me,” he said. “I can’t fight him off any longer. This might be the last you hear from me.”
    Lucy and I both gaped at him. She shook her head. “You’re recovering,” she pleaded. “You’ll be fine.”
    His eyes shifted to her. “Lucy, don’t think I haven’t been aware of everything you’ve done for me, taking care of me all this time and believing in me. Your strength gave me strength, and it was enough to keep fighting him. But even so, I can’t fight forever.” He swallowed hard, as though his throat was bone dry. “There was a moment, a flash, when he and I were truly one. I could see all his memories because they were my memories too. I know everything he knows, allhis secrets—and there were many. The Beast was doing his own research. His own experiments.”
    His eyes shifted