“I am sorry,” Lord Bradwell whispered. “Do not give up hope.”
Hartley’s response was an animal grunt. On hands and knees he crawled over the rock. Then there was more climbing, and the ground leveled out at the edge of the forest.
Lord Bradwell stopped short. “Good God,” he said. “It is barbaric.”
Eden sobbed under her breath. Hartley made a great effort, and his vision cleared just enough to reveal what they had seen.
A cage. A cage, big enough for a man to crouch in, barred with iron. A heavy padlock hung from the door. It rested within a few brief yards of the nearest tree—salvation that lay just out of reach of the being it would imprison.
Claudia ran her hand up one of the bars as if she caressed a lover. “I am surprised to hear you say so, Cyrus, considering your facility for the slaughter of all manner of birds and beasts.”
Bradwell released Hartley’s arm. “I have not… killed… for many years.”
“Then be silent and put the monster in the cage.”
“Remember… remember your oath,” Hartley croaked. “Eden—”
Her warm hand closed around his. “I am here, my love.”
“Don’t try to stop it. Remember Donal.” He released her hand. “Come, Lord Bradwell. You are saving your grandson.”
With heavy steps, Eden’s father guided him to the open cage door and stopped. “No,” he whispered.
Hartley stepped into the cage and fell to his knees. Eden reached the door just as Claudia closed the padlock. Metal clicked home with terrible finality.
“It is done,” she said. “At last, it is over.”
Darkness enveloped Hartley. There was no portion of his body that did not burn with the touch of Cold Iron. Pain had become so constant, so infinite, that he knew his punishment would not last as long as Claudia wished. He had become insignificant, the least of Nature’s creations, soon to be nothing.
Soon it would be over. Eden would be free, their son safe.
“Hartley. Hartley, can you hear me?”
Eden. He stirred, his sprawled limbs untangling as he came back to consciousness. She was the sole point of light in his darkness, true as the golden sun.
“Go,” he whispered. “I don’t want you… to see.”
“I will not leave you.” She reached through the bars. “Let me give you strength. It worked before—”
“No,” he repeated. “Too much Iron. You cannot… help me now. If you ever loved me, go. Take our son, and go.” He turned his head, blindly searching for his tormentor. “Lady Claudia… do not force her… to watch. She is your daughter.”
He did not expect mercy, but Claudia gave it. “Very well. You have kept your part of the bargain. Cyrus, take Eden away. I will follow soon.”
“Come, Eden,” Lord Bradwell murmured. “Please.”
“Let go of me.” The light that was Eden refused to be extinguished. “I love him. Do you know what love is?” Her voice rose in righteous anger. “Do you, Mother?”
“She is like… one of us,” Hartley said, dragging himself up to the bars. “Perhaps she was born a Fane.”
Claudia hissed in rage. “Silence!”
“I… do not think I will obey you.” He found enough strength to feel through the bars. Molten nerves felt the coolness of flesh he had embraced and caressed and loved. The respite of Eden’s tears washed his burning fingers. “Do not weep for me, Eden. Live, as you were meant to live.
“Farewell.”
Chapter 23
“No!”
Eden pressed herself to the bars and tried to hold him. His cheek touched the iron, and he convulsed. His skin was barred with the red mark of burns where his face met metal.
In horror, Eden looked at his hands. Her tears sizzled on his flesh like eggs on a skillet. She pushed him away from the bars.
She could not even hold him. She had failed to stop Claudia, failed to protect her son and the man she loved. She had nothing left.
Nothing but love.
Her existence had been without purpose until the day she’d come to Hartsmere. This was where her life had begun. And this moment was the pinnacle, the fate for which her very being had been aimed since her birth.