I tiptoed over to the bed and, instead of taking off Vincent’s dressing gown, I wrapped it tighter and huddled down under the covers. Though it wasn’t cold, I trembled from head to foot as though I had the ague. My left hip was sore where Crillick had crushed it against the library doorframe. I’d only got away because he’d let me.

I started, but it was only Vincent’s arm that snaked around me and I felt him bury his face in my hair. He hadn’t fully woken, but perhaps some part of him sensed my fear because he held me tight. For now, I was safe in his arms, but Crillick’s challenge still echoed in my ears. Why don’t you scream? he’d said, knowing that, as long as I was in his power, I couldn’t make a sound.

I didn’t know where the Leopard Lady was, or even if she was safe, but I was more determined than ever that I must help her. If Crillick could make me feel so powerless, when I had my act and Vincent to protect me, I didn’t dare to dwell on what danger she must be in when left alone with him.

XV

A Game of Billiards

They say it’s dishonourable to eavesdrop but listening at doors has often served me well. You don’t always learn much from hearing two gentlemen talk – with them it’s grunts and harrumphs and the occasional sniff of snuff – but Crillick was a commoner at heart and tended to say too much. I knew that if I timed it right, I could learn where he was keeping the Leopard Lady. I didn’t have to wait too long.

Vincent and I were eating dinner on Monday evening, the day after the party. He’d loved me as the sun came up, but since then we’d been a little strange with one another. Vincent had had a letter from his father so I knew what was preoccupying him. It was the Leopard Lady that was still on my mind, and now I was certain that Crillick was keeping her elsewhere. He’d barely been at the house since returning from his business travels and something told me it was to do with her. More to come, he’d said. I needed to find out exactly what. More freaks? Or did he have further horrors he intended to inflict on her, specifically?

‘Are you well, Zillah? You’ve been listless all day.’

‘A headache is all.’

‘You must go and lie down,’ Vincent said. ‘I promised Crillick a game of billiards tonight, so I’ll be late. When I come up, I’ll try not to wake you.’

I crossed my knife and fork over one another and stood. He captured my hand and pressed it to his lips.

‘You are sure you’re not ill?’