Page 112 of His Wicked Charm

She hurried to the playroom in her bedroom, shoved aside the chair in front of it and flung open the door. The late-afternoon sun shone in through the dormer window, casting a grid of light across the floor. In the hushed stillness, dolls gazed vacantly forward. Games and toys lined the shelves below them.

Lilah went to the small table that held a graceful white dollhouse, its bow-windowed front facing forward. The rear wall of the dollhouse was open, revealing the rooms, each decorated with miniature furniture and peopled with the tiny dolls of a family and servants.

Lilah went down on her knees beside the table. She heard her aunt come in, but she paid no attention to Vesta hovering behind her. The three enclosed sides showed the facade of a foundation at the base of the house, closely flanked by a low ornamental hedge. But along the open back side, there was a space between the table and house.

Lilah slid her hand under the house, and her fingertips touched smooth velvet. Her heart pounded as she removed a velvet pouch and reached inside to pull out a large gold key. Parallel wavy lines were etched into the head of the key, centered by a dark blue sapphire.

Lilah held it higher, studying it. If only Con had been here; he would be so upset to have missed this. The triumph of her discovery was suddenly dampened. She wished she could share it with Con. She shouldn’t have rushed in. She should have waited for him to return.

“You found it,” Aunt Vesta breathed.

“Yes.” She cast a glance up at her aunt. Vesta’s eyes were bright, her smile gleeful. Lilah looked back down at the key in her palm. “Now we just need the other two.”

“Isn’t it fortunate, then, that I have them?” Vesta said.

Pain slammed into the back of Lilah’s head, and she went tumbling into darkness.

* * *

CON RODE TOWARD Barrow House. It was almost dusk, as it had been the first time he saw the place, but now the house looked not so much odd as dearly familiar. His heart warmed inside him. The last few miles had seemed to take forever, so eager was he to get home.

He had found the explosive and a man experienced in using it. The fellow would be coming down tomorrow with his dynamite to inspect the door in the tunnel, so his trip had been a success. But he had wished the whole time that Lilah was with him. He was eager to share his good news with her, but even more than that, Con wanted to see Lilah.

Oddly, no groom came running to take his horse. Stranger still, no footman opened the front door, and when Con walked inside, the entryway was empty, the house was eerily silent. A frisson of alarm snaked up Con’s back.

“Lilah?” He strode down the hallway, his steps quickening at the continued hush. “Lilah, where are you? Ruggins? Mrs. LeClaire?”

“Con!” As he reached the foot of the staircase, Vesta came running down it, her face panicked. “I didn’t expect you so soon!”

“Where is everyone? Is Lilah all right?” He had visions of Lilah’s illness turning into pneumonia in the hours he’d been away. “What’s happened?”

“She’s gone,” Vesta said wildly, wringing her hands. “I sent the servants out looking for her. Come, you must help me.” She latched onto his arm and pulled him toward the back door.

“What? Gone where?” Con went with her, his alarm burgeoning. “What do you mean? She was sick in bed.”

“That’s why I’m so worried! We must find her. I fear she’s gone down to the Levels.”

“The Levels! That’s mad. Why would she go there?”

“That’s just it. She’s crazed—with fever.”

“Fever? She’s sicker? I shouldn’t have left. What happened?”

“I’m not sure. I fear she has something far worse than the sniffles. Wait! Where are you going?” Vesta’s voice rose in agitation as Con pulled his arm from her grasp and started down a different garden path. “We must find her.”

“I need a light. It’ll be dark soon.” He yanked open the small gardener’s shed and pulled out a lantern, sticking a box of matches in his pocket, as well.

Vesta, who had been shifting impatiently from one foot to the other, took his arm in an iron grip and propelled him through the garden. Along the way, she described in dramatic detail her niece’s fever spiking and Vesta’s own efforts to bring it down.

“Did you send for the doctor?” Con asked.

“That’s when she disappeared! I left the room to send a footman for the doctor, and when I came back, she wasn’t there. It was only a few minutes!”

“Damn it. I should have been here. Why the devil did I go to Wells?”

“It wasn’t your fault, dear boy. How could you have known? And I was there to tend to her.”

Con had his own opinions about the efficacy of Vesta’s care, but he kept them to himself. “But why would Lilah go to the Levels? Are you sure?”