As much as I dreaded and hated the force-feeding, what came next made me crazed almost to the point of insanity. I heard the doctor working his way down the cells, and knew Helena must be facing him soon. I wept for her then, and wracked my brain feverishly as to a way I could save her from this fate. I found no answers.
The matron came to see me that evening. I was lying on my bed, shaking with cold and shock, my mouth still bleeding from the metal implement the doctor had used to pry my jaws open, my throat shredded by the large tube. I sat up when she handed me a jug of water.
“I won’t ask you how you are, because I can see that for myself,” she said. “I promised to tell you about Miss St. John, as I knew you must be worried about her. She is as well as can be expected, but I am worried that she has a fever. I have asked the doctor to see her. He said he will do so in the morning.”
I stared at her dully, not comprehending what she said. It was hard for me to concentrate, but I made an effort and focused on each word she spoke.
“Please, please have him release her.” My voice came out cracked and hoarse. “She is too fragile to withstand this treatment.”
“I will do what I can. Try to get some sleep now.”
Left to my own private nightmare, I sank into an exhausted sleep in which there was no rest, only horror.
Time ceased to exist for me. I know it must have been the following day when I heard the doctor making his rounds again, but I had no feeling of time passing. There was no distinction between what was real and what was imagined. I could hear the screams, the sounds of the struggle, and the defiant, “No surrender!” follow the doctor as he came down the corridor. A rattle at my door indicated he had arrived. I gritted my teeth, and looked up to see a wardress beckoning at me.
“Get up and come with me. The Governor wants to see you.”
She had to repeat the message before I could comprehend it. My legs were so weak I stumbled into the door as I left my cell. Taking a deep breath, I lifted my chin, stood up straight, and walked slowly and deliberately after her. I had to concentrate on taking one step after another, but at last I made it to the Governor’s offices. I was left sitting in an outer chamber, the door locked behind me. I sat with my head between my knees to keep from swooning, sure they had brought me in to tell me Helena had died. I wondered how long I could stand the treatment, certain now that I would not be released. Did I have the strength to last the entire nine months of my sentence?
There were no tears left for me to shed as I waited endless, grievous hours, dreading every passing footstep in case it should bring me news of Helena’s demise. Unused to the lights and relatively fresh air, I stood up and walked around the room to regain the use of my legs. The door opened behind me, but when I tried to turn quickly, I stumbled and would have fallen had not strong arms caught me.
“Cassandra, my beautiful, brave Cassandra,” a voice murmured in my ears, a familiar voice that accompanied kisses pressed to my forehead. “Tell me you’re all right, sweetheart. Tell me you haven’t been hurt.”
I lifted my head and Griffin’s beloved face swam before me. Reaching a hand up to touch it, I asked, “Where on earth did you get another black eye?” just before I fainted.
Chapter Twenty-six
“Helena!”
I wept tears of sheer joy when, five minutes after Griffin and the wardress brought me around, Helena staggered into the room.
“Cassandra? Griffin?” She collapsed into Griffin’s arms, weeping hoarsely. I made my way over to them, hugging them both, feeling my own happy tears mingle with hers.
“You look much better than I imagined,” I told her, although I noted her eyes had a feverish brightness to them.
“I am just so happy to see you both,” she said, letting Griffin ease her into a chair.
“I have brought you some tea,” the wardress said as I took the seat next to Helena.
We looked at each other, then at the wardress. She made an annoyed sound and added, “You can drink it, you’ve been officially released. The charges against you were dropped.”
I have had many beverages in my life, but none that tasted of such ambrosia as did that hot, sweet tea. As we were sipping it gratefully, Robert raced into the room and flung himself at Helena’s feet. Griffin had been hovering between Helena and me, but with the arrival of Robert, he sat next to me, pulling me to his side with a protective arm.
“Robert? Oh, my dear, darling Robert!” Helena murmured, stroking his head. When he looked up, I was shocked by his face—he had a torn lip, an oddly shaped nose, and two discolored eyes.
I turned to Griffin, who was scowling at the wardress as she fussed with the tea things. “What happened to Robert? Did he break his nose? And why do you both have black eyes?”
He pulled me closer. “I’ll tell you once we’re out of this damned place.”
Helena
had to be carried out of the prison. I made it on my own feet, although I was glad for Griffin’s strong arm. I admit that I collapsed into his embrace on the way home, but I didn’t feel that Robert and Helena would care. I was a little puzzled as to why we were taking Joshua’s carriage home, but leaning against Griffin’s shoulder with his arm around me, I didn’t feel like inquiring. I did ask how he had secured our release.
“I saw some people,” he said grimly. “Letitia helped.”
“Letitia?” Tucked as I was against him, I could not see his face, but watched his Adam’s apple fondly as he spoke. “I thought she refused to help Helena?”
“She did, until it became worth her while to do so.”
I wanted to ask what Griffin did to make it worth her while, but a suspicion took hold and was confirmed when we stopped in front of my sister’s house.
Mabel and Joshua were on the doorstep to greet us, as was Doctor Melrose. Robert carried Helena up the stairs to the guest room, the doctor following closely behind.
“Shall I take you to bed as well?” Griffin asked.
I tried to summon up a smile. “Is that an improper suggestion, Mr. St. John, or do you just wish to be rid of me?”
Griffin
kissed me gently in response, and helped me into the library. I sat on the leather couch with my feet up, wrapped in a rug, and sipped the brandy Griffin ordered me to drink. He sat on the floor next to me, close enough so I could twine my fingers through his hair in between sips.
“All right,” I said, putting the brandy snifter down, pulling the hand he was kissing free. “Enough, my head is swimming. Would you please tell me what has been happening? How did you get us out?”
“Letitia put me in touch with some of Sherry’s friends. I showed them a few letters she gave me which detailed his plan to destroy the suffrage movement, you, Helena, me…and incidentally, a number of members of the House of Lords who did not see eye-to-eye with Sherry. They agreed to help me in order to cover up what would be an otherwise ugly scandal involving a peer and the House. When the police were presented with the testimony of two impeccable witnesses who stated that you and Helena were unjustly arrested, the charges were dropped and you were freed.”
I ran my finger lightly along his jaw. He took my hand again and kissed my fingers. Little sparks of fire ran down my arms to start a thrumming deep inside me.
“What did you have to do to make Lady Sherringham help you?”
He looked at my fingertips. “I gave her something she had wanted for a long time.”
I put a hand on his cheek and turned his face toward mine. “You gave her your house?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
I smiled at his handsome face. “A guess. They always seemed to be lord and lady of the manor there, I assumed they felt the house was rightfully theirs even though your brother lost it. With her husband locked away, what else does she have?”
Mabel accompanied a maid laden with a tea tray. “You will be happy to know that Doctor Melrose says Helena is not suffering from any illness, just exhaustion and malnutrition.”
‘Thank God,” I murmured gratefully.
She poured me a large cup of tea, and loaded a plate with food. “You drink that tea first, then eat.”
I looked askance at the food. “Mabel, there is no way I could eat half of that.”
Griffin
took the plate and said quietly to my sister, “I’ll see that she eats.”
Mabel beamed at him, looked at me fondly, and bustled out. I took a few sips at the tea, and sighed as it slid down my sore throat. “Oh, that is heaven.”
Griffin
sat next to me on the couch, kissing my throat in a most distracting way.
“What have you done with Mabel?” I asked, having gathered enough wits together to remember how to speak. “I expected to receive a tongue-lashing like none I have received before.”
“I’m sure you will hear from her about the subject,” he said with amusement, transferring his kisses to my jaw. “I think just now she is simply grateful you are back.”
I turned my head until he gave me what I wanted. His mouth was warm and caressing, not demanding and aggressive as it usually was, but soft and teasing, gently stroking away the horror of the last few days and replacing the pain with pleasure.
I pulled away from the hot lure of his mouth and touched his second bruised eye. “Now, tell me about that.”
He sighed, and made himself comfortable, which meant I was made extremely comfortable half-draped across his chest. “Hunter and I were in the balcony of that blasted hall, watching over you.”
I made a sound of protest, but he stopped it with his mouth.
“I won’t tell you unless you drink that tea,” he said, pulling away and nodding toward the cup. “And no interruptions.”
I hurriedly picked up the tea. “Continue.”
“We had a feeling that there was going to be trouble, so we decided to watch over you two from the balcony. When the police sprang out from their hiding places, we knew you were in a dangerous situation. We tried to get down to you but the entire crowd panicked, and we were caught on the stairs, pinned and unable to go anywhere. By the time we did make it downstairs and onto the main floor, the police had most of the women rounded up. We went to free you and ended up fighting the police.” He touched his eye gingerly. “I got this as a souvenir. We were charged with assaulting a policeman, and thrown into jail for three days. I tried to reach everyone I knew who had some pull, but had no luck.”
I put down my tea, touched that he had risked his own life for ours.
“When we were released, I went home and found that Letitia had refused to help Helena. I knew your family did not have the contacts to help you, so I persuaded Letitia to give me Sherry’s journal and the letters that detailed his plans.”
I thought for a few moments. “And now you are homeless?”
“Yes,” he grimaced. “Your brother-in-law has kindly offered to shelter Helena until I can set up a new house.”
“And Robert? Have you promised to help Robert so he can marry Helena?”
“Ah, Robert. Oddly enough, I have an acquaintance in East Africa who is looking for someone to manage his sizable coffee farm while he is away.”
“Really?” I asked suspiciously.
He gave me an enigmatic smile. “Hunter thinks it will be ideal for him. I have a feeling that in time, my friend will be willing to sell him the farm. I think Helena will like Africa.”
“There’s Freddy to be taken care of yet. I dislike the thought of him being allowed to escape without repercussion of his foul actions.”
“Your cousin will be taken care of,” Griffin said with a grim note of promise in his voice that I decided I would not investigate. Whatever Freddy suffered, he had coming to him.
“I see,” I said gravely. “And what about us, do you think I would marry a man who cannot even provide me with a home?”
He looked at me, his amber eyes glowing with an incandescent light. We stared deeply into each other’s eyes, then he grinned that charming, irresistible, boyish grin.
“Won’t you?” he asked, pulling onto his lap, his hand sliding under my skirt, up the length of my bare leg.
“Well,” I said softly as I nibbled his ear, “as you are asking, I suppose I will.”