Playing With Fire by C.J. Archer Read Free Book Online Page B

I'd learned. Not only was I most certainly an orphan, I was used as a test case by a madman. It was almost too much to fathom.
    "You must understand something," Wade said. "My mistress's baby…" He swallowed. "It died some years earlier. I was still coming to terms with that when you came along. I couldn't allow another baby to suffer."
    "Then why, three years later, was I relegated to the attic with Vi?"
    "It was Lady Wade's wish."
    "Is it because Eugenia was born?"
    "In part. You were quite a handful, you see. You had a terrible temper at that age, and every time you threw a tantrum, the sparks set something alight. It was becoming harder and harder to hide the fact from the servants. Lady Wade found it exhausting. It wrecked her nerves. I tried to tell her that it wasn't your fault, that you were unique and needed special care, but she wouldn't listen."
    Jack opened his mouth to say something, perhaps comment that I wasn't so unique, but closed it again when his uncle held up his hand for silence. Wade didn't see it. He was too busy looking down at his lap.
    "If it was me your wife didn't like, why did you confine Vi to the attic too? There's nothing wrong with her. You let me believe she was the one starting the fires, yet it was me all along. So why lock her away too? Your own daughter ?"
    "I'll not speak of Violet," he said, lifting his chin and pursing his lips beneath the shrubbery of his moustache. "If she has questions, she can ask me herself."
    I'd hoped to gain some insight as to whether Vi was indeed his daughter at all, but he gave none, and I doubted he would tell me outright. It was certainly strange that he would lock away his legitimate and perfectly normal child.
    "Will you at least tell me if she's still in the attic?"
    The moustache moved as he thought through his answer. "She's as free as any girl her age."
    My throat closed as my heart swelled. I'd thought myself immune to gentle feelings where Vi was concerned, but it seemed I was not. To think she was free! I was so happy for her.
    I wondered how she liked it. Vi was always such a nervous girl that part of me thought she may have wanted to remain in the attic. But that was absurd. No one would want that.
    "I'm glad to hear it, my lord," I said. "Did you let her out because I'd left?"
    He hesitated again before answering. "I thought it was time. Now, is there anything else, or may I leave?"
    "I haven't finished."
    "I'm a very busy man, Hannah." The disdain and impatience had returned to his tone. The earl had taken over from the man again. I was sorry to see it, and not only because it meant it would be harder to get answers from him now, but also because I liked the man and not the earl better.
    "Who put the hypnosis block on me?"
    It was terribly satisfying to see the color drain from his face. He looked quite ashen and much older. "Ah. Yes." He looked to Langley who merely waited for an answer too. "That was on the advice of a gentleman from the Society. He thought it best if you didn't know what you were capable of. A way of keeping you sane, if you like. He put the block in place himself."
    "He's a hypnotist? What was his name?"
    "Myer."
    "Was he a natural hypnotist?" It was a question asked for Samuel's benefit, but Wade merely shrugged.
    "I don't know what you're talking about," he said. "He hypnotized you so that you would fall asleep whenever you emitted fire. When you woke up, you remembered nothing. I don't regret having him do it, if that's what you wish to know. The fire used to frighten you, and you'd scream until you were hoarse. After the hypnosis, you became a placid little thing most of the time. Much easier to manage."
    It seemed a rather callous thing to do to a child. Then again, so was confining her to an attic.
    "I do believe she's run out of questions," Langley said. "Are you sure you won't stay for tea, Wade?"
    "I don't think you really want me to," Wade said with a sneer.
    Langley smiled in that twisted way he had. "No, but