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Back Cardinal Black Save as PDF
Chapters (44)
  1. Title Page
  2. One: Into the Storm
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Two: London Calling
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Three: The Malignant Seven
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. Twenty-Three
  28. Four: Squirrels and Cats
  29. Twenty-Four
  30. Twenty-Five
  31. Twenty-Six
  32. Twenty-Seven
  33. Twenty-Eight
  34. Twenty-Nine
  35. Thirty
  36. Thirty-One
  37. Thirty-Two
  38. Five: Revelation
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. About the Author

“Sir,” Black replied with a cunning smile, “if you would take stock in the mirror, you would take stock in the anger of my master should any harm befall me from yourself. I am loyal to my Satan, sir, and he is loyal to me. He will be a benefit on this journey, I assure you. And … you would need someone with my influence over such matters to prevent yourself from being torn to pieces before the creature in the mirror could be controlled. Oh, no … you need me.” He waited for that to sink in. “Give further thought to this, sir: it is as important for us to get the mirror as it is for us to prevent Fell from getting it. And as I say, every desire would be within reach. Riches, power, beauty. And certainly renewed beauty.”

The man was silent.

In the room a grandfather clock struck eleven.

At the end of its chimings, the man said, “I do know your reputation. And you know my story, I presume. How events transpired. How I was forced to discipline a woman in my employ, after she allowed one of my possessions to escape? And there was evidence she did this injury to me with full recognition of the fact? Her name was … I forget her name. Interesting. I have her face right there in front of me, but I forget the name. And then this woman perished from the discipline inflicted, which was perfectly my right, and another of my possessions … well … you know this tale, I assume.”

“I have only heard a breath of the story,” Black admitted.

“Another of my possessions, being so fond of this woman,” the man continued, “ambushed me with a bottle of corrosive liquid, and … therefore … her name … what was the name?”

“My idea,” Black prodded. “Yourself, me and perhaps others you might wish to join our quest. Following the professor when the Essex Triton leaves for Venice four mornings hence, and thus to track him—and Matthew Corbett—to the mirror that will give us … everything.”

“Riches and power,” the man said. “I have all that, in abundance. But beauty … ah! I recall the traitor’s name now. It was Spanner.”

“My idea, sir?” said Black. “Your decision?”

The man leaned forward into the light.

The left side of his face was that of a man devilishly handsome, with a dark brown eye, a high aristocratic forehead, a nose carved for the statue of a god, and a chiselled chin. His abundant hair had once been fully lustrous black but now was streaked with gray at the temple.