Bring Forth a Fire (Book 1)

Four - A Hostile Party

London, December 1887

I went three and a half months without hearing from Sebastian. He hadn't written to me at all asking to meet, which both saddened me and relieved me. I'd had to hide the other one under my mattress, knowing that was the only place the maids and Celia wouldn't find it. I didn't want questions I couldn't answer. Not to mention I'd received something much more distressing – my grandmother had written me that I would be staying in her winter home in Belgrave Square, whether I was up to it or not.

"Your grandmother has two houses?" Celia looked at me wide-eyed after she'd managed to snatch the letter from my hand and give it a quick once-over read. "Whatever does she do with two houses?"

"She uses them on a seasonal basis," I said, wishing I didn't have to talk about this. "One for the winter months, in London, and one for the summer months, out in the country."

"That's sensational." Celia smiled in a dreamy way. "Someday I'd like to have two houses."

My mouth twitched into a smile before I looked away. Inheritance had been quite a sticky matter in my family, my father having refused the title of Earl as soon as he was of age. I had no doubt that was what Grandmother was sore about, even after he died. It must have humiliated her to ask for her will executors to handle the finances until I was old enough to marry, and even more when she discovered I was about as unpolished a lady as there could be, banishing any hope of me finding a suitable husband.

"So besides the meeting with the Order, any holiday plans?" Celia bounced her heels on the bed frame, looking much happier than I'd seen her since I first arrived. She was staying with Catherine's family this year, and wouldn't have to spend all Christmas in this gloomy place.

I let out a heavy sigh. "Undoubtedly Grandmother's going to keep trying to find a suitor for me."

She cocked her head, much like a curious dog. "It sounds very much as if you don't want to be married, Emma."

"I don't." I clapped some stockings down in my suitcase and dropped heavily onto my bed. "I want to travel the world first. I've always wanted to see India."

"India?" She sounded incredulous, and if I wasn't mistaken, a bit appalled. "Why?"

"It sounds very exotic, don't you think? And Grandfather spent some time there as a young man. I hear it was wonderful."

She shrugged, evidently not sharing my point of view. "I suppose."

I tilted myself backwards so I was facing the ceiling instead of her. I couldn't look at her when she was acting like Grandmother, wanting nothing but to see me marry well and produce an heir. But I couldn't tell anyone that wasn't what I wanted out of life. They'd all say the same thing.

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Allerton's coach driver came for me a half-day later, already having taken some of the other girls to the train station most of yesterday. Celia had left with them, and after they'd left me in a flurry of hugging and wishes for the holidays, I felt a familiar loneliness settle around me, one I hadn't felt since my father died.

I fell asleep en route to the train station and on the train ride to London, having a frightful dream where the world was engulfed in fire and in the background there was a voice, laughing. I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, but when I woke up, I felt clammy and cold, breathing hard. To distract myself from it I thought of Sebastian, with his shifting eyes and his pale tousled hair and his grin. Seeing all of that lifted my spirits. I felt a glow every time I thought of him, and I knew exactly why.