Ruling with a New Frame novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Dawn Car

Marguerite did not hurry.

She came down the last step, took off one glove finger by finger, and held out her bare hand.

"The ring," she said.

Felix made a small sound behind the table.

"You saw that his finger was bare," I said.

"I saw it in the lake house hall, with the nurse standing by. I drove back at once."

Her pale eyes went to the Book in my arms.

"Only one person in this house would take it."

"My grandfather gave it to me."

"Your grandfather gave you nothing. He is not himself."

"Because you made it so."

She smiled for the first time that week, and it was a terrible thing to see.

"Put the Book down, Linnet."

I did not move.

She crossed the floor in three steps, took it out of my arms, and shut it with a snap.

She did it without roughness.

"The ring," she said.

I put it into her palm.

I had no choice.

She dropped it into her coat pocket and looked down at me.

My mother's note lay folded against my ribs.

She did not know about it, and I kept my hand flat over it.

"The Rule for theft from the head of the house is the Quiet Room," she said.

"I think you have had enough of it. I have a better idea."

She turned to the stairs.

"The car from Briar Hollow comes at dawn. Not in six days. This morning."

"The director will take an heir whose guardian cannot keep her safe."

"Edmund has not signed."

"The head of the house may place an heir, with a lawyer's countersign. I have it in my purse."

She started to climb.

Felix followed me up the stairs, white as milk.

"What do we do?" he whispered.

"We wake my father," I said.

The car came at a quarter past six.

It was a long gray sedan.

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