THE FOREST LORD By Susan Krinard

“Your… husband?”

Eden’s puzzlement only increased Claudia’s pain. “We were both young and very much in love. We visited Hartsmere in the autumn, while Lord Bradwell was away shooting at one of his other estates. Hartsmere seemed peaceful and very private for a newlywed couple, and Raines was eager to try his hand at bagging a few grouse near the wood.” She reached again for the cup and released her breath when she managed to pick it up without spilling the tea. “I knew nothing of the local legends or prohibitions against hunting on Hartsmere land, except the vaguest of stories that I naturally ignored. Raines had only his gun, not even so much as a dog, so it all seemed a lark. We took a picnic up the fell to the edge of the forest.”

Eden’s face was as pale as the morning mist. She guessed what was to come.

“Raines was an active man. Naturally his wanderings took him into the wood, so ancient and beguiling. When he had been gone some time, I followed him. And I arrived…” After all this time, it was still difficult to speak it aloud. “I arrived in time to see the monster cry the forest’s wrath upon my love, and turn him into a fox—a creature to be hunted as he had hunted them. I never saw him again. Everyone believed the story I told… that he had fallen from a cliff. His body was not found.”

Eden looked very much as if she wished to sink deep into her chair and disappear. She straightened instead, and reached out her hand.

“Aunt—Claudia—I am sorry. More sorry than I can express. I… grieve for your loss.”

“Then you will understand why, when I learned Cornelius Fleming’s true identity—when your father told me of his bargain—I could think only of revenge and protecting you from him so that you should not suffer as I had.”

“Why… why did you not tell me what you knew, if you wished to stop the marriage?”

“How could I expect you, or any sane person, to believe me? And by the time I was able to act, you had eloped with him.” She caught her breath. “After Raines’s destruction, I learned all I could of the monster’s nature. I consulted scholars and listened to the tales of country folk and madmen. When your father told me of your elopement and that he intended to follow and stop the evil marriage, I encouraged him. I gave him the iron filings I had prepared, and told him to put them in a drink for Cornelius Fleming.”

Eden blanched. “I saw,” she said. “I saw the cup on the floor—”

“Yes. He sensed the poison before he drank. Just as he avoided the traps laid by the American hunter I employed. But he did not survive the iron ball I had specially made for my pistol.”

Eden bowed her head. Claudia wanted very badly to comfort the girl, but it would do no good. Not yet.

“When I realized that he had revealed himself to you at Caldwick, I knew that you would flee—and he would follow, to take back his offspring. I expected him to expose himself, sooner or later. And he did so. His death set us both free.”

Eden stared at her. “And what… what has my son to do with this? What did you plan for him?”

“He is not human, Eden. He is the monster’s child. Surely you see that he cannot remain with you in normal society.” She closed her eyes. “I was prepared to do anything, commit any act, in my desire to protect you—lie, scheme, employ blackmail… Yes, I forced Nancy to give you the laudanum daily, so that you could not interfere. I regretted the need for such acts. I had, at one time, even come to believe myself capable of harming your son. But I could not.”

“You harmed him enough when you sent him to live with cruel strangers in Ireland,” Eden accused bitterly. “You hid his very existence from me, not caring how much he suffered—”

“I did not know he had been mistreated, not until he arrived at Hartsmere. You see, Spencer was my tutor in blackmail. He discovered a letter I had written to the Irish family who were supposed to raise the boy and keep his origins secret. He was much amused to take revenge upon both of us by telling you as he expired. But the folk to whom I sent Donal were decent people, and I paid them well. My last inquiry revealed that they had died and left the boy to others, who resented the burden. By the time I had that information, Donal was at Hartsmere.”

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