Read Online The Lamplighter's Love by Delphine Dryden - Free Book Online

watching
Nicholas find and marry a suitable woman. Remaining here,
friendless and marginalized, would kill everything that was good
inside her.
    And while returning to her parents might
kill a part of her as well, at least she would be back among
family. And have a chance of putting her dashed hopes behind her,
finding a new way to make a life. She was still a master of the
Lampworkers, that credential would not be stripped from her. She
could find something worthwhile to do, if she tried.
    When she ducked back out of her room to make
her way down to breakfast, Amberherst was there. Waiting, leaning
on the wall opposite her door, hands in his pockets. How had she
never noticed before how very unpleasant his smile was?
    “Pleasant evening?” he inquired softly.
    “Not that it’s any concern of yours.” She
made as if to sweep past down the hall, but he blocked her with one
arm.
    “It concerns me very much, and I think you
know why. It’s a decent meal they serve there at the Pig and
Sprocket, isn’t it. Nice rooms too. Mistress Mary.”
    She glared at him, too angry to speak. He
took her silence as leave to continue.
    “Some say the Lamplighter’s not really even
a man anymore. But I guess you’d know different, eh?” He made an
obscene gesture with his hands, and she smacked them away without a
second thought.
    It was an unfortunate move. In a trice,
Amberherst had her wrist in his and spun her away from him to twist
it up behind her back, pinning it there with agonizing pressure as
she struggled to get away. He was tall enough to have the
advantage, however.
    “Haven’t you done enough already? It’s over,
Amberherst. You can have the position. You can be the Lamplighter.
I’m packing my things after my shift and leaving, and I wish you
and the guild luck in finding a replacement.”
    She took a grim satisfaction in knowing he
would have to do a great deal more of the work than he’d intended,
until said replacement could be found or trained.
    “Oh no, you innocent little darling you. Are
you really that stupid? You’re not going anywhere. Without you, my
deal falls apart. And if I get so much as an inkling that you’re
considering doing a disappearing act, your little arrangement with
the Lamplighter will be made very, very public. You were even fool
enough to make it easier for me, by running off and fucking him
last night. Innkeepers are fairly cheap, I was pleased to learn. It
will help no end to have a neutral party to corroborate.”
    Amberherst yanked her arm higher, pulling
her back against his body, and to Mary’s infinite disgust she felt
a stiff lump poking at the small of her back. Her struggles had
aroused him, the vile beast.
    Struck with sudden inspiration, Mary made
herself go limp, as if the fight had gone out of her, and ignored
the screaming pain in her shoulder and arm as she slumped down and
back against Amberherst. And then, when she felt his grip relax,
she stood firm to put space between them and brought her free hand
down hard, her fist connecting directly with that hateful
bulge.
    He screamed in her ear but lost his grip as
he shifted his hands automatically to his crotch. Mary wasted no
time in fleeing, and by the time he had recovered enough breath to
start adding coherent words to his shouts, she was safely down the
first flight of stairs, on the hall where the senior masters lived
who were spinsters.
    Never , Mary promised herself, slowing
to catch her breath as she rounded the landing and headed down to
the first story. This will never be me .
    Amberherst hadn’t dared follow her, and in
fact his noisy presence in the women’s residential wing must have
caused him some difficulty, Mary thought when her panic eased.
True, he hadn’t been in among the female students, but generally it
was understood that even among the adults, any visiting male
masters would be discreet for the good of all involved. The guild
hated a scandal. Maybe Amberherst would be at the center of