The Beast's Bluestocking (The Bluestocking War), Eva Devon [e textbook reader .TXT] 📗

be beyond the pale,” Anthony continued, low but firm. “He must suffer for what he's done. At the very least, we must ensure that he's never able to perpetrate such things again.”

Clara wound her fingers together and ventured, “If he runs to another country, don't you think that—”

“No,” Anthony cut in, easing gently, looking at his sister with love and regret. “We cannot allow him to escape to another country because I guarantee, pirate or officer or merchantmen, he will abuse those beneath him.”

Anthony held his hand to Clara who took it. He squeezed, clearly trying to assure his sister of the necessity of his actions. “It is his nature, unfortunately. Adams has been forged to make other people suffer, and I will not allow that. Not when I feel it is my duty to ensure his punishment and also. . . There’s revenge.”

“Revenge?” Phillipa queried, her own alarm growing. She’d only just reunited with Anthony, and it was beginning to sound as if she might lose him as quickly as she’d found him “Has he personally done something to affront you?”

For she understood that was the only reason why a gentleman might wish revenge. Her mouth dried as her heart began to race. She didn’t wish Anthony to be in danger. She’d assumed that was at an end with his exit from the Navy. “Do you intend to call him out for a duel?” She asked, praying he would say no.

He did not answer immediately and so she rushed, “You've already been in such danger, Anthony. I do not like to think that you might put yourself in harm's way again. Duels are illegal, and he sounds a most dangerous fellow.”

“He is dangerous,” Anthony agreed, his voice surprisingly hard. “And I won't call him out for a duel, Phillipa. This man knows nothing of honor. I’d never be able to trust him to fight fairly. In truth? I’d rather shoot him in the back and have him dead like a dog.”

Merrill shuddered.  “A dog is a far more admirable animal than he.”

Phillipa nodded, none of this assuring her particularly. She felt as if her happiness was again slipping out of her fingers. “You’re not going to lie in wait for him? Surely that is dangerous too.”

“I shan't do that, Phillipa,” Anthony replied, a harsh sigh escaping his lips. “I promise you. I am doing everything I can to use the law to take him into justice.”

“Has he broken the law?” she asked, truly at a loss for what she was learning over breakfast. As a girl, she’d never been exposed to any villainy except her father’s. Now? She’d seen the dangers of Felicity’s criminal fiancé and now this man who clearly wished Anthony danger.

“Unfortunately, no,” Anthony lamented. “He has done nothing under English law and that makes it all the more difficult. I've attempted to get the government to shame him into a lack of power, but it is not working, even with my own personal powers as a duke. Much of society wishes to maintain the status quo and keep men like Adams in positions of power. You see, if Adams is brought to justice, other captains might be brought to justice as well. Very few seem to relish that idea. Justice is a tricky thing. And not as easily come by as children are taught.”

A wave of darkness crashed over the breakfast table, and suddenly she wished she had not asked. She wished Merrill had not come.

She wished that there was no cruelty in the world at all.

But there was. And one couldn’t pretend it away. No. It had to be dealt with.

Anthony grew tense, his anger and pain obvious.

She reached her hand out to him, but Anthony did not take it.

Instead, he met her gaze with agonized eyes. “Dear love, I am so sorry. This is not a subject that I wish to bring you into.”

“I am in it,” she replied evenly, her hand still outstretched. “Now, whether you like it or not. Don't you think you could allow me to know the entire truth of the circumstance? There is something I think you aren’t saying.”

Anthony’s chest rose and fell in a swift breath before he exchanged a glance with Merrill. “I suppose we must invite them in now that we've said so much.”

Merrill gave a tight nod. “I suppose so.”

“You see,” Anthony said, at last taking her hand across the table. He squeezed once, then let go.

Anthony’s voice grew rough, with an edge to it that she’d never heard. “Adams made a boy's life completely miserable, bullied him, hounded him, did everything he could to make the poor child's life a living hell. I did everything I could to bring him some respite, some joy, and I'd hoped that at some point I'd be able to take him away from the Indomitable and bring him here to live in Cornwall. But Joe died in the Battle of Trafalgar.”

The color drained from Anthony’s face and his proud shoulders sagged. All the joy that had been in him this morning seemed to whoosh out in a single moment.

Her hand curled into a fist.

She wished she could take that pain from him because she could see how it affected him enormously. In fact, she could not find words to describe the way he looked in that particular moment.

“I tried to save him,” Anthony said without boasting. It was a simple fact. “But Joe was never found. So he was not even given a burial at sea, let alone a burial upon land. I am perhaps the only person who will remember him.” He grew silent, the sorrow coating his large frame. Then he added softly, “And Merrill, of course.”

Merrill nodded. “Unfortunately, Captain Adams has done that to many children, to many men on his ship. He used the cat o' nine tails quite injudiciously, loving to break it out at every possible opportunity, even upon children. It's frowned upon, of course, the extent to which he relished it,