The Forest Lord (53 page)

"Mr. Blake detected the presence of one of his wendigos, and thought it expedient to take Donal from the house. Unfortunately, that made it impossible for him to continue guarding the rest of us. I was rather good at picking locks when I was a boy." He turned back to
Eden. "I learned within days that Claudia had not gone where I expected but had returned to Hartsmere. When I arrived and tried to take custody of the boy, she…" He grimaced. "She has hired a henchman to do her bidding, an American. He has prevented me or the servants from leaving Hartsmere."

"Is Donal well?"
Eden asked, ignoring Claudia.

"I saw him briefly when I first arrived, but yes—he has not been harmed. Claudia—"

"Will you speak of me as if I am not present, Cyrus?" Claudia said, mocking to hide her hurt. "Here we are, all together again. Where is the happy reunion?"

"Happy?" He moved by slow steps to
Eden's side. "Not while you hold my grandson."

"Ah. I will enjoy hearing the tale of where you have been all these years, and how you came to assist
Eden after abandoning her for so long. But that can wait for a more opportune moment."

"If one ever comes."

"It will, along with peace for all of us."

He shook his head. "Whatever your game, Claudia, you must return Donal to his mother."

"So that she may lose him to his father?"

"His father?"

Claudia smiled. "Yes, Cyrus. He is alive… for the moment." She gestured toward Hartley. "Do you not recognize your would-be son-in-law?"

He looked at Hartley, and slowly the knowledge spread across his face. "My God," he whispered.

"The situation is quite complex, as you can see," Claudia said. "But I assure you that I am in command of it. The monster can do nothing while my 'henchman' has the boy in his keeping. You have avoided responsibility for the pain you caused, Cyrus, but you are too late. You would be best advised not to interfere."

"But I will, as long as you intend my daughter and my grandson harm, even if I must—"

"
Your
daughter, Cyrus?"
Claudia said. "No. I think it is time to end that fiction." She swept the group with her glance. "Tonight we are speaking the truth in our hearts. It is time for you to do the same, dear Brother."

All eyes turned to him.
"Papa?"
Eden whispered.

He covered his face with his hands. "Claudia—"

"Tell her."

Slowly, he dropped his hands. "Eden, my dear—I had prayed it would never come to this. I have deceived you, hoping to protect you. In that, too, I have failed.

"You see… Claudia is not your aunt. She is your mother."

Eden let the revelation sink into the calm, quiet center
of her being, where it could neither hurt nor
surprise
her.

She supposed that she had always known in that same deep part of
herself
. She had simply never admitted it even to her innermost heart.

She met Aunt—Claudia's gaze. Claudia had behaved like a deranged stranger ever since
Eden's arrival. Her obsession with Hartley was frightening in its power, and she posed a very real threat to Donal.

But now she looked at
Eden and… waited. Did she expect her daughter to rush into her arms with a glad cry? Or did she find all this an entertaining pantomime that would somehow further her cause?

Half aware,
Eden moved close to Hartley. He was the one person who had not changed beyond all recognition. He put his arm about her shoulder.

"I have been your father for four-and-twenty years," Lord Bradwell said, bowing his head. "I loved you like a daughter. But I am your uncle, Eden. My wife was your aunt." He faltered. "She loved you, too."

"Do not stop there, Bradwell," Claudia said. "Tell her the rest."

He closed his eyes. "
Your
… Claudia was married a year before your birth,
Eden. It was a love match. But a tragedy occurred, and she lost her husband in a terrible accident on the fells."

Claudia laughed.
"An accident, yes.
That was what everyone believed. Do go on, Cyrus."

"Claudia was very ill for a time after that, and we learned that she was… with child." He flushed. "When the child… when you were born,
Eden, she was still not in her right mind, and we feared for your safety. It was necessary that I and your aunt… care for you while my sister recovered from her grief."

"Recovered?" Claudia's eyes flashed with scorn. "Is that what you call sending me to an asylum for the mad?" She looked at
Eden. "I was there for two years.
Two endless years."

"We could not help you, Claudia," Lord Bradwell said. "Please, try to understand. You showed no memory of having given birth when you came back to us… and it was only much later that I suspected you did know. By then, she was our daughter, and you were content to be her aunt—"

"I was never content. You believed what you wished and neglected my child while you pursued your pleasures. I
was
a true mother to her when you all but abandoned her."

"I know. I know that now, Claudia. But I will make it up to her."

"As you have done so far?
You would have served us all best if you had stayed away.
Eden doesn't need you, and I certainly do not. Perhaps you should run now, or I may allow your daughter's suitor to take his revenge upon you before I take mine on him."

"I seek no revenge," Hartley said. He looked at
Eden, gentle and sad and showing her everything she might have called love. "I hold no enmity against him. I… regret that I ever threatened to do him harm, as I regret the pain I caused you. I ask your forgiveness."

"Yes,"
Eden said. "Yes."

"And I—" Lord Bradwell shook his head. "I am beginning to believe that I, too, was mistaken." His glance was for
Eden alone, and with it he asked a question and accepted
Eden's silent answer. "There are many things beyond mere human understanding, but I… hope to learn."

Eden
's eyes filled with tears. There was a tiny oasis of sanity in this grim desert of pain and sorrow. She was deeply proud of Hartley and her father. Peace, and an end to the fear and hatred, was almost within their grasp.

"Poignant, indeed," Claudia said with a lift of her lip. "But have you forgotten,
Eden, that this monster killed your true father?"

The knowledge cast a baleful shadow over her hopes. She forced herself to meet Hartley's eyes.

"I have not forgotten," she said, very low. "I forgive you, Hartley. You did not know. You were different then."

"But I do not forgive," Claudia said. "You may have bewitched my daughter, Monster, but you have not paid what you owe me."

"Is my grandson to be the price?" Lord Bradwell demanded. "Do you hate him, Claudia, as you hate his father?"

"No. But he will destroy my daughter's life as long as he remains by her side. He is his father's son."

"Yes, he is mine," Hartley said. He stepped away from
Eden and stood toe to toe with Claudia. "You will give him to me."

Claudia did not move. "Are you prepared for violence, Monster? Believe me when I tell you that not even all your magic will persuade me."

"No!"
Eden grabbed Hartley's arm. "No, Hartley. There must be another way."

"She must be stopped."

Claudia looked over Hartley's shoulder, catching
Eden's gaze. "It is he who must be stopped. Can you not
see,
my daughter? You must choose."

In place of the anger that should have come then,
Eden felt pity. This woman had virtually raised her without benefit of a mother's name. She had taught
Eden to thrive in Society and given her the strength to bear the past five years. The undying grief of a terrible tragedy had turned a decent woman into a pitiless stranger.

Eden
could not stop loving her. In an odd way, that realization gave her the courage to go on and the determination to win. And it crystallized within her mind the decision she had been fighting since Hartley had revealed himself.

Donal would never be safe in a world containing those like Claudia Raines. Once he was with her again, she must choose—but not between Claudia and Hartley. She had already accepted that she must let Hartley go.

But he loved Donal. He could provide their son with the security he might never find in this world.

She moved between Claudia and Hartley and spoke to him over her shoulder. "Find our son. Take him where he will be safe."

"That will not be necessary." Claudia gestured toward the door.
Eden looked, and gasped.

On the threshold stood a man, a stranger in buckskin and fur.
Locked in his grip was Donal.

"Mother!"
Donal struggled fiercely in his captor's hold, but the man was far too strong.

"Easy, lad," he said in an accented drawl. He lifted Donal off his feet. Hartley charged the stranger who pulled up a shotgun one-handed and jammed the muzzle into Hartley's chest.

"Iron shot," he remarked. "You'll die, Wendigo."

Hartley's nostrils flared. "You are the poacher who tried to murder us in the forest."

The man's gray eyes blazed with fanatical light. "It's my calling to rid the world of demons and evil spirits, Wendigo. Lady Claudia told me of the great wickedness you have caused. This innocent child won't be twisted to your shaping." He pressed Donal's head to his shoulder. "I sense your weakness. You'll soon be defeated."

"Lady Eden," Claudia said, "may I present Mr. Blake, of the
United States of America."

Eden
walked up to the American, jaw set. He refused to meet her gaze. "If you shoot him," she said, "you will also have to shoot me. Give me my son."

"That I can't do, ma'am."
But he loosened his hold on Donal and set him down to face
Eden.

She smiled brightly at Donal. "I am so glad to see you. Are you all right?"

"Yes, Mother." He stood very still in the stranger's grasp.
"Da?"

Hartley reached for him. The American thrust bruisingly hard with the shotgun.
Eden knew that Hartley was angry enough to risk a very painful and permanent death.

Why did he not use his magic? Did the iron in the gun prevent it, or was he weakened from the enchanted flight from
London?

Lord
have
mercy.

She placed her hand on Hartley's arm. "What do you want, Claudia?"

Her mother moved for the first time since Hartley's appearance, walking stiffly to the center of the room. "We appear to be at an impasse," she said. "I could have Mr. Blake kill your lover now, but it would harm the boy to witness such violence. However cruel you may think me, I do not relish hurting him." She sighed deeply. "Before your arrival, I had planned to send Donal to
America with Mr. Blake, who understands the ways of creatures such as your lover and could properly care for his child.
But now…
I am prepared to offer a bargain."

"Mr. Blake will return your son to you, Daughter, and you may leave Hartsmere, but only if
your
monstrous lover is willing to sacrifice himself. If he is not…"

"I will make whatever sacrifice you demand," Hartley said, never taking his eyes from Donal's captor.

Eden
dug her fingers into the rigid muscle of Hartley's arm.

"You cannot do this," Lord Bradwell said, starting for his sister. "I will not—"

"I warned you not to interfere," Claudia said. "Do not mistake my sincerity."

"I beg of you. Stop this."

"You will thank me when it is done. And so will my daughter." She reached inside
the her
black cloak. A dark, heavy object appeared in her hands.

"I had this made, in case my shot should fail to kill him. It is fortunate that I kept it." She turned it in her hands, and
Eden recognized it as a collar—an iron collar, shaped to fit a man.

"Take it, Daughter," Claudia demanded. She signaled to the American, who backed away, Donal still in his grip, and let the muzzle of his shotgun drop. "Your monster must willingly accept this binding, or you shall never see your son again."