Fever Quest: A Clean Historical Mystery set in England and India (The Isabella Rockwell Trilogy Book 2) by Hannah Parry Read Free Book Online Page A

downstairs.
    Livia was sitting with Rose in the library. Her eyes
were red and swollen, but Livia waved at Isabella and beckoned her to come and
sit down with them.
    “You were allowed out?” Isabella asked gently.
    Livia nodded and hiccupped.
    “Yes, I was crying so much I think Mama thought coming
down here would be the only thing that would stop me.”
    Isabella looked at Rose, whose eyes narrowed in a way that
suggested Isabella not say anything. So Isabella didn’t and just took Livia’s
hand. But Livia’s eyes filled with the tears she’d been trying so hard to
suppress and they ran down her pale cheeks. Livia’s cheeks were sunken and her
hair was flat. Was Livia’s fear was eating her from the inside?
    “What can I do to help, dearest? Please tell me.” Rose’s
voice was gentler than Isabella had ever heard it. But Livia had no voice with
which to answer.
    Isabella looked around. It was the quiet time between
dinner and the evening’s entertainment and they had the room to themselves.
    “Nothing is worth this, surely? Shall I try and speak to
your mother, or could I ask Mrs Rodriguez to help? I can’t believe your mother
really wants you to marry an old man.”
    Rose’s face was set in hard lines, her little green eyes
grim, her lips thin.
    “She does. She’s only allowed me to go with Livia because
I begged. Otherwise she’d have been sent on to Pune all alone.”
    “Is that where the duke lives?” Rose nodded. “Where are
your family, Rose? Are they in India already?”
    Rose shook her head. “They paid for my passage. Told me to
find a husband or come home after Livia’s wedding.”
    Isabella didn’t know what to say. What was the matter with
these families, that the happiness of their daughters was so unimportant?
    As if in reply to her question, Rose said: “I have four
older brothers. They’d hoped to make it five. I was a huge disappointment – not
even pretty.” Her face twisted in what was almost a smile. “What happens to me
is of little matter to my parents. Just so long as I don’t disgrace them.”
    “I’d rather be in your shoes,” gulped out Livia.
    Rose patted her hand.
    “I know.”
    “Isabella?”
    Mrs Rodriguez was wearing a brown satin dress with black
beading at the neck; she had a black velvet choker on, above which her face
looked worried. The girls all stood up.
    “I think you’d better come with me.”
    Her face was so serious Isabella didn’t speak and just
followed her out of the library the rustle of petticoats telling her the girls
were behind her.
    At the door of her first-class cabin stood three members
of the ship’s crew, including the captain.
    “Ah good, you found her,” the captain addressed Mrs
Rodriguez.
    “What has happened?” said Isabella, finally finding her
tongue.
    The captain threw open the door to her cabin. Everything
inside had been turned upside down. Lanterns were broken, wardrobe doors
hanging from their hinges and her clothes strewn all around. Her father’s bag
had been upended and its contents spread across the bed. Her mother’s picture
stared up at her from the floor and Abhaya’s herbs, like a cascade of dead
leaves on an autumn day, lay all over the floor, hopelessly muddled. It would
take Isabella hours to sort through them.
    “Who could have done this?” Behind her, Livia’s voice was
shocked. There was the sound of laughter from the corridor outside the cabin
and Midge’s voice could be heard.
    “All right, Captain Golding?” Midge said by way of a
greeting.
    It took a moment, but Isabella winced as a cold shower of
realisation poured over her.
    “Lordy, what’s happened here?” Midge’s eyes were wide and
his face appalled as he stared around the stricken cabin. “Looks like you needs
a bit of help with your housekeeping, Iz.”
    Isabella turned on him like a snake. She didn’t think
she’d ever been so angry about anything in her life.
    “How dare you stand there playing innocent. You did