by your speech and mannerisms. The poor excuse of a rag that you wear can’t hide where you used to carry a child. Any society family would have a sharp eye on an attractive daughter your age, and you wouldn’t have the freedom to pursue any males you find yourself drawn to and so . . .” He paused, watching her closely. “I assume that in order for you to become with child it would have been at the hands of someone with the freedom to roam the halls of your own home.”
Grace dropped her gaze. His fingers went under her chin and drew her eyes back to his own. “And so,” he continued, “once your condition was discovered there was no acceptable way to explain it other than to disappear you for a while, am I right?”
“I’m on my European tour at the moment,” Grace said. “Due to return in a few months.”
Thornhollow nodded and then glanced about the room. “You should register a complaint about the lodgings.”
A bubble rose up in Grace’s throat, erupting in the form of a laugh, and she clasped her hand down on her mouth in astonishment. Thornhollow smiled.
“That’s the game, then?” he continued. “You return home, undoubtedly back into the nest of the viper himself?”
Grace nodded, all laughter gone.
“We can’t have that.”
She reached for him, and it was his turn to flinch. “This is why I ask for it, Doctor. I cannot go back. If you change me permanently, I won’t be wanted at home. They can say what they like about my fate, I’ll live and die here, happily unaware of the present, and all traces of the past taken from me.”
“As well as your propensity for thought,” he argued. “Grace, so few people in this world have any skills worth speaking of. You’ve learned that beauty can work against you, and your build is so slight you’ll never be able to defend yourself. Your brain is your strength, your quickness of wit the one thing that will deliver you from the damnable life of the dull.”
She yanked her hands from his, balling them into fists at her temples as she realized he was refusing her. “No,” she cried. “Doctor, it is my weakness. I see everything; I notice all and I remember—the beautiful and the horrific alike I can recall as easily as a daguerreotype that can’t be unseen. It will be the death of me, this remembering.”
“No, Grace,” Thornhollow said, pulling her hand away from her face. “Utterly to the contrary, this curse of seeing will do you well.”
“You won’t do it, then?” she asked, hot tears streaming down her cheeks. “You won’t cut me?”
“No,” he said. “There’s a much better use for you.”
TWELVE
“She’ll go with me,” Thornhollow said, casting the words into the darkness of Falsteed’s cell. “You were right in your estimation of her quickness, and I can use her in my new endeavors. She’ll be safe, far away from the brute who did this to her. Not to mention Heedson.”
“He’ll never let me go,” Grace said at the mention of the director’s name. “My father is paying him well to keep me here and for his silence as to my condition.”
“In your current state, no, he wouldn’t let you go,” Thornhollow said. “But you came across the solution yourself. Your family’s story about your absence being due to a long holiday won’t hold up if you come home scarred.”
“Thornhollow, you wouldn’t!” Falsteed cried from the darkness.
“No, he wouldn’t,” Grace said. “I’m of no use to him without my mind intact.”
“Quite right,” Thornhollow agreed. “I’m not in the practice of smuggling privileged young women out of asylums, even if they are as sane as a field mouse. She’ll be put to use and earn her keep with me at my new assignment.”
“And getting her out of here?” Falsteed asked.
“Your man, Reed, he’s dependable?”
“As the dawn.”
“He’ll be the perfect player in our little ruse, then,” Thornhollow said. “Now, Grace, I imagine you’ll want to say a little something to Dr. Falsteed. I’ll give you some moments alone. Join me in the surgery when you find yourself quite prepared.”
Thornhollow disappeared into the darkness, his footfalls echoing after him.
“Prepared for what, young one?” Falsteed asked, his voice heavy.
Grace took a deep breath. Even though their plan was her only hope of salvation, she was worried that Falsteed would disapprove.
“We’ve worked it out,” she said softly. “If Heedson believes Thornhollow has cut me and I’m unrepairable, he’ll panic at the thought of