Free The Third Circle (Arcane Society Book 04) by Amanda Quick Page B

relics such as the crystal that they believe to have psychical value. And in the case of the aurora stone they seem to think that they have a claim on it based on an old and utterly ridiculous legend connected to the founder of the Society.”
    Carolyn frowned. “Do you think your Mr. Ware is a member of the Society?”
    My Mr. Ware. Leona paused, savoring that little fantasy for a few seconds. Then she pushed it aside. Thaddeus Ware was not her Mr. Ware, and he never would be.
    “No matter where you go I will find you.” She pushed the memory of Thaddeus’s vow from her mind. Personal issues aside, Carolyn’s question was a very good one.
    “I don’t know,” she said. “I suppose it’s possible he is affiliated with the Society, but it doesn’t matter because I will never see him again.”
    Carolyn’s jaw tightened. “Thank goodness Mr. Pierce suggested that you wear servant’s clothes last night. At least if Mr. Ware does decide to search for you he will not realize that he is looking for a woman.”
    “Mmm,” Leona said. Yet another secret. She did not mention that Ware had penetrated her disguise, because she knew that fact would further alarm Carolyn. “I thought you did not approve of Mr. Pierce.”
    “I do not. I think it is clear that Pierce has connections to the criminal underworld.”
    “Those were the very connections that helped him locate the crystal for me,” Leona pointed out.
    Mr. Pierce was received in respectable social circles, but there was no getting around the fact that he lived a very mysterious life. Among other things, he seemed to know a great many secrets—damning secrets—of the rich and powerful.
    Pierce had a few secrets of his own, as well, secrets that Leona had never revealed to Carolyn. Like his lover, Adam Harrow, Pierce was, in reality, a woman living life as a man. The pair moved in a strange netherworld inhabited by other females who had chosen a similar masquerade.
    “Carolyn, you must not worry about me; I will be fine. Tomorrow you are marrying the man you love and leaving for Egypt. Concentrate on your future.”
    “My lifelong dream,” Carolyn whispered. Wonder and happiness lightened her expression. She turned suddenly. “But I will miss you, Leona.”
    Leona tried and failed to blink back the tears. She crossed the room to hug Carolyn. “I will miss you, too. Promise you will write to me.”
    “Of course.” Carolyn’s voice was choked with sudden emotion. “Are you sure you will be all right here alone?”
    “But I’m not alone. I have Mrs. Cleeves and Fog.”
    “A housekeeper and a dog are not much in the way of companions.”
    “I have my career.” Leona gave her a reassuring smile. “You know how satisfying that is for me. It is my passion, just as your Egyptian antiquities are for you. You must not worry about me.”
    “My marriage won’t change our friendship,” Carolyn promised.
    “No,” Leona said.
    But of course it would.
    Think positive.

9
    SHE INSISTED THAT the aurora stone belonged to her,” Thaddeus said. He looked at his cousin down the length of the long laboratory workbench. "Leona thinks that she has a legitimate claim to the crystal. After what I witnessed last night, I’m inclined to agree with her.”
    “There is no question but that the stone is the property of the Society.” Caleb Jones closed the old, leather-bound volume he had been perusing and rested his hand on the cover. “Furthermore, it is dangerous. It belongs in the Society’s museum at Arcane House, where access to it can be tightly controlled.”
    In the glare of the gas lamps that lit his laboratory and the vast library, Caleb’s stern, dour face was rendered even more grim than usual. He was not noted for his charm or sociability. He had little patience with drawing-room conversation and the niceties of polite society. He much preferred the solitude of his laboratory and library. Here, in this place filled with scientific apparatus of every