Daughter of Darkness Read Online Free

circles these days.
    ‘I would love to see him.’ Willow gazed appealingly at Lady Edwina.
    ‘It will not be possible. We’re leaving for Dorset within the week and have no time to entertain.’
    ‘Then you must call on me. I’d be most grateful for your company. Tomorrow at three?’
    Mindful that Daphne de Vere was a Marchioness in her own right, and outranked her, Edwina’s acceptance was graceful. ‘Naturally, we would be delighted.’
    Willow’s smiled bathed her in friendliness. ‘Does little Edward resemble you or his father?’
    ‘Neither. He has brown eyes and a head-full of dark curls. He is straight of limb and tall for his age. He’s a handsome lad and some say he favors the Lytton connection, in that he has my father’s looks.’
    ‘Lytton connection?’ She gazed at Daphne in complete surprise. ‘In what way are you related to the Lytton family, Lady Daphne?’
    ‘My late father was second cousin to Earl Lytton. Our families have always been neighbours and friends and I hope that will continue. I’d like to think my son has neighbours he can respect and trust when he inherits Sheronwood.’ She flicked a faintly damning glance at the marquis, smiling without mirth when he cleared his throat. For a moment her brown eyes conveyed malice.
    Edwina warmed to the young Marchioness as they took leave of each other. Daphne de Vere had more spirit than she’ d first thought. She was unhappy, yet had wit enough to insult her husband in public. She’d probably pay for it, the French fop had a vicious look to him.
    Had Daphne known her son would be punished for her remarks with a beating she would not have been so forward.
    Later, locked in her room, she could hear her son’s screams become sobs, then the sobs become whimpers. When she finally got him back and tended the bruises on his trembling body with witch hazel, rage filled her heart.
    Tenderly, she took her son in her arms and cradled him against her heart. Right then and there she resolved that Eduard Lynchcross would never hurt her son again. Her health had been below par of late. It would give her an excuse to take Edward to Sheronwood Estate to visit his grandmother. She would not return to live with Eduard. Placing a kiss on her son’s bruised cheek she whispered in his ear. ‘I will kill him if he does this to you again.’
    ‘All of London is talking about Sapphire.’ Daphne said the next day as she offered Lady Edwina another sweetmeat. ‘The woman is a mystery. Some say she’s of French birth, others that she was lately an inhabitant of a town called New Orleans in the America’s. It’s said she has a knack of seeing into the past as well as the future.’
    ‘You would not catch me parting with money to know what’s gone before,’ Edwina scorned. ‘I’m already in possession of that knowledge.’
    ‘Rumor says her face is so hideous she wears a veil to cover it. Sapphire promised to cure Isobelle Penforth of her barrenness. She gave Isobelle a potion to secretly slip into her husband’s drink, and has promised her a child within a year.’
    ‘ Bah!’ Edwina said fiercely. ‘Her husband can barely mount a horse let alone father a child. He has one foot in the grave. An aphrodisiac will send the other one over the edge. He is too old for such excitement.’
    Though she gave a little laugh, Willow blushed. The fact that she’d been married for several years and was still intact was cause of concern to her. Something in her feared her husband’s return and the act that would make her his wife, another part of her longed for a child like Edward to love. She laid her cheek against his silky hair and breathed in the scent of his skin.
    ‘You’re lucky to have such a handsome son.’
    Daphne gave Willow a sympathetic smile. Her state of virginity and her absent husband was common talk in London circles. Certain sections of society were betting over who would overcome Lady Edwina’s tight control of her, and seduce