“There,” I said, passing John the final sheet of paper I’d been writing on. He took it from me and, with a practiced hand, sifted the finely ground powder over its surface that would absorb any excess ink. He allowed it to dry for several minutes, blotted it for good measure, and added it to the sheaf of other papers…
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I stared at John once the spy was gone, attempting to suppress the desire for him that had bloomed within me when he had threatened the man. Like to like, I thought, my focus falling to his lips. Much as my quasi-serious plans for Aberdine’s demise had stirred my husband’s lust during our carriage ride, this display of his savagery…
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I know a secret about your husband, the notes read. I had scant time to contemplate them. Anyone here to mark my reaction would notice a prolonged absence. The letter went back into its envelope and then again into my reticule, the ties of which I knotted to protect the contents. My feet carried me swiftly to the mirror, where…
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Where many of the ton chose to make their homes outside of the crowded center of London, the Duchess of Amesbury had intentionally inserted herself into the middle of Mayfair, as though declaring herself the heavenly body around which the rest of the aristocracy orbited. The grand façade of the residence she had so recently purchased was wrought in stone…
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I stood at my open window and stared out at the coming dawn with dread. Fog marched through the street below like an army of phantoms summoned from their watery graves in murk of the Thames. In the east, the sun donned her armor and charged over the horizon to meet them in combat, the resulting bloodshed bathing their battlefield…
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