Kat, Incorrigible (30 page)

“Exactly,” I said. “She faded away. Why did he want someone from a witch’s family? Why does he want all of us? Because we have magical powers.”

“Kat, you mustn’t speak about—,” Elissa began.

“We’ll be proper later,” I said. “Right now we need to think. Angeline! I know you’re angry at me, but you have to help me now. Why would he want all of us and our powers locked away in his house in the country?”

“Well, that’s simple enough,” Angeline said. “He must want to use our powers for himself somehow. As he used his wife’s powers.” Her eyes narrowed. “And she faded away when he’d used her up.”

“This is ridiculous,” Sir Neville said, and laughed as he turned to Stepmama. “Really, ma’am, are you going to let your stepdaughters natter on in this vulgar fashion?”

Stepmama laughed too. Her laugh sounded much sharper and less humorous. “Really, Sir Neville,” she replied, “I have never been able to stop them before in my life, so I don’t see how I could possibly stop them now.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” I said. “Now, Elissa.” I swung back around and took her hand. “Your fiancé is planning to lock us up in his house and use up our powers until we die. Do you really, truly believe that agreeing to that will save the family?”

“Well,” Elissa began. Her eyes darted back and forth. “But he couldn’t truly mean to do that. It’s so—”

“Improper?” I suggested. “Vulgar? Not the actions of a gentleman you could bring yourself to marry?”

“Pray recall, Miss Stephenson,” Sir Neville snapped, “that you are not only saving your family by accepting my hand in marriage. You are also saving the life of my younger brother.”

“Ohh!” Elissa pulled away from me and put her hand to her mouth. “I cannot—”

“Let me die!” Mr. Collingwood said, and rose to his knees to grab her other hand. “Gladly would I give up—”

“That is quite enough from both of you,” I said. “No one is going to die!”

“My brother will hang if your sister refuses me,” said Sir Neville. His voice had hoarsened; he was glaring at me as the veneer of gentlemanly polish dropped away.

“My love,” Elissa began.

“My darling,” Mr. Collingwood said, raising her hand to his lips.

“He will not hang,” I said.

“When I bring my two witnesses to testify to his guilt—,” Sir Neville began.

“It won’t do you a jot of good,” I said. “Because he’ll still be here. He can’t leave without me. None of you can. Haven’t you realized that yet?” I looked around the group. “We came here through my magic mirror.”

“Mama’s magic mirror,” Angeline said.

“It was Mama’s,” I said, “but I inherited it, and now it belongs to me.”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” said Angeline. “I don’t know what stories you’ve been telling yourself, but—”

“Oh, she isn’t talking nonsense, Miss Angeline,” Mr. Gregson said mildly from behind me. “She is, in fact, your mother’s heir, as I have been telling her for some time … and I am most gratified to hear that she has finally accepted it.”

“So there you are,” I said. I turned around. “I wondered
when you would arrive.”

“Your highwayman took some time to dispose of,” Mr. Gregson said. “However, you may be happy to know that he is safely on a transport ship to Australia now. You do take up with the most unlikely personages, Miss Katherine.”

“Will someone please explain to me what’s going on?” Stepmama wailed. “Kat? What highwayman?”

“The real one,” I said. “Not Mr. Collingwood, as anyone with any sense would know.”

“Ma’am,” Mr. Gregson said, and bowed to Stepmama, and then to my sisters. “Miss Stephenson. Miss Angeline. Mr. Collingwood.” He straightened, and his eyes met Sir Neville’s. “Sir Neville.”

“Gregson,” Sir Neville growled. “You had better leave now.”

“Does everyone but me know about this place?” Stepmama said. “Who should we expect to arrive next? Lady Graves?”

Mr. Gregson’s lips twitched. “I profoundly hope not,” he said. “But perhaps …” He glanced my way. “One more person could come, if you required more aid than I alone could give.”

“
Not
Lady Fotherington,” I said. “I don’t care how much help she could give.”

Stepmama swayed and put one hand to her head. “Are you genuinely telling me that Lady Fotherington herself—one of the most fashionable women in London society—spends time here too?”

“Not when I can help it,” I said.

“Would everyone please
be quiet
?” Sir Neville’s voice rose to a roar. “You all seem to have forgotten, but the point remains: Miss Stephenson must marry me, and her sisters must come to live with us, or else my brother will hang!”

“Ah, Neville,” Mr. Gregson said, and sighed. “You never were any good at admitting when you’d been beaten.”

Sir Neville fisted his hands. “You think you can beat me, Gregson?”

“No,” said Mr. Gregson. “I think Miss Katherine already has. Or hadn’t you understood what she said earlier?” He turned to me. “So, I take it, the plan is to leave
Mr. Collingwood safely here until you’re well away from Grantham Abbey, and then—”

“No,” I said. “Not anymore.”

“I beg your pardon?” Mr. Gregson raised his eyebrows—both of them at once, I was glad to see. I would have had to go mad if everyone I knew could raise a single eyebrow at a time except for me.

“That was my plan,” I said, “but then I thought of something better.” I turned around. “Mr. Collingwood,” I said. “Earlier, when we were talking about how Sarah came from a family of witches, you started to say something, and Sir Neville cut you off. What was it?”

Mr. Collingwood blinked up at me. “I’m afraid I don’t quite recall—”

“Who cares?” Sir Neville interrupted. “There’s no point in asking him about anything important.”

“That’s it,” said Mr. Collingwood. He rose to his feet, still holding Elissa’s hand. “You were talking about families of witches, and it occurred to me—did you not know? Our mother was a witch too.”

“What?” Stepmama said. “
What?
”

“She was no such thing,” Sir Neville snapped. “You wouldn’t know anyway. She was dead before you could—”

“I do know,” Mr. Collingwood said, “and she was my mother as well as yours. The servants told me.”

“Servants’ gossip,” said Sir Neville, “means nothing.”

“Oh, it means something,” I said, and smiled. “It means
I finally understand what’s going on and what to do about it. Angeline?”

“Kat?” She looked measuringly back at me.

“If you need assistance, Miss Katherine, as your tutor—,” Mr. Gregson began.

“No, thank you,” I said. It was time to take a calculated risk. I was almost sure I had figured out the truth about Mr. Gregson, as well as Sir Neville. Now was the time for me to find out for certain, while my sisters and I could stand together. “My family can take care of this ourselves.” I reached out my hand to Angeline. “Help me?”

“Don’t be a fool,” Sir Neville said to Angeline. “Didn’t you hear what she was gabbling on about earlier? Calling herself your mother’s heir, taking away what belonged to you …”

Angeline rolled her eyes. “I am so relieved that you are not going to be my brother-in-law after all,” she said. “You do have a great deal to learn about families.” Her hand slipped into mine, strong and warm. “Now don’t get cocky, Kat,” she said. “I’m still going to throttle you later.”

“I understand,” I said. “But right now, I need you to do something else.”

I leaned up to whisper in her ear. She sighed.

“I hope you’re not making fools out of both of us,” she said.

“It wouldn’t be for the first time,” Elissa muttered, and shook her head. But she stepped up to stand beside me
anyway and took my other hand. As the warmth of both of my sisters pressed against me, I lifted my chin to meet Sir Neville’s gaze full-on.

“Now!” I said, and Angeline cast her spell. The scent of flowers filled the Golden Hall.

Sir Neville’s shirtfront bulged and rippled. He gave a start. Then he flung his hand up to press it down. His lips began to move in a fast, whispered chant. Burnt meat mingled with the flowers. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mr. Gregson start forward.

“No!” I said. “I’ll take care of this myself.”

I narrowed my eyes into a thin slits, until all I could feel was Sir Neville’s spell flying toward Angeline. There … closer …
got it
.

“NO!”
I bellowed, and the air imploded around us.

Sir Neville fell back. His shirt ripped open. A white envelope flew out of it, through the air, straight into my hands.

“What on earth—?” Stepmama began.

“How intriguing,” said Mr. Gregson. “And may I ask—?”

“What is it, Kat?” Elissa said.

I held it out to Mr. Collingwood. “This belongs to you, I think.”

He tore it open with trembling hands. “I—Miss Katherine, I—I—”

His face changed color. He sat down abruptly on the golden floor and put his head in his hands. His shoulders rose and fell. Elissa flew to his side.

I said, “What is it? Was I wrong? Is it—?”

He lifted his face from his hands. He was laughing helplessly, and he had his reckless highwayman grin on his face. “It is my inheritance,” he said. “I am a wealthy man. I could—I could buy and sell Grantham Abbey twice over!”

“You may not—don’t you dare—!” Sir Neville began.

“Fascinating,” said Mr. Gregson. “And how, exactly, did you discover this, Miss Katherine?”

“I’d heard of the will,” I said. “But I didn’t believe in it until just now. You see, I thought Sir Neville would have burned it if it had existed. I didn’t understand why he would have kept it until—”

“Until you realized his mother had been a witch,” said Angeline. A smile spread slowly across her face as she shook her head. “My, my, Sir Neville. Perhaps you do understand something about families after all. No matter how hard you try, you simply cannot leave them behind.”

“She cast a spell on the will before she died,” I said. “It protected the will—and Mr. Collingwood’s inheritance—even after her death. Even when Sir Neville used up his first wife’s magic—and her life—trying to defeat his mother’s spell. That’s why Sir Neville wanted Mama’s magic books—in case she had created a spell of her own that could defeat the protection on his mother’s will. And that’s why he wanted all three of us.”

“Aha,” Mr. Gregson murmured. “And I believe you may
have discovered by now that a strong enough Guardian can break any spell or magic-working.”

I nodded. “So if he’d managed to use my Guardian magic against the spell on his mother’s will …”

Stepmama waved away the talk of magic with a shudder. But she had a predatory gleam in her eye as she asked her own question: “Do you mean to say that Mr. Collingwood is now the wealthier brother?”

“Not exactly,” I said. “The money was divided in half. But since Sir Neville must use his half to keep up all his vast estates, and Mr. Collingwood has no properties of his own to tie him down …”

“I believe Sir Neville may be tied very closely to his estates, from now on,” Mr. Gregson said. “And there is very little likelihood of his creating any trouble for the rest of you, is there?” His voice hardened. “Especially with the eyes of the Order fixed firmly upon him. We had only suspicions before—but now we have evidence. If he shows even a hint of trying to harm another innocent through magic …”

Sir Neville let out a growl, like a cornered wolf. “I’ll destroy all your reputations in an instant. When Society finds out the scandalous magic that all of you have been doing—”

“
If
Society finds out the scandalous and murderous magic you have been doing,” Stepmama said, her voice dagger sharp, “then I think it is you whose reputation will be destroyed. And, more than that, my future son-in-law
has every right to take you to court and strip you of every possession you own in recompense for the heinous crime you committed by stealing his inheritance!”

I blinked. Sir Neville took a step back.