Epilogue
A carriage took Dark and me down the road that led out of London to the west.
The sky outside my window was sunny and blue. A cool breeze rustled tree leaves and the grassy fields, blowing into the passenger car and tickling my skin as well. It was a reminder that the summer was nearly over.
The Knightley carriage stopped just before the place where Dark couldn’t traverse before.
He took my hand and helped me out of the carriage. The world smelled of dry earth and sunlight.
“I wonder what happened to the Mirror Demon’s barrier now that Duchess Sharondale has been arrested…”
Dark began to walk down the road. It was the first time I saw him make it past the usual spot where the mirror sent him back the way he came.
“The mirror is gone! Now you can return to your home territory!” I clapped my hands together in celebration. But Dark merely approached me with a look of indignation on his face.
“How cruel, Alice. Are you really that pleased by the thought of being apart from me?”
“You mean to tell me you’re not pleased? You were the one upset that you couldn’t leave London, so why not rejoice? I won’t miss you once you’re gone, so don’t bother worrying about me. We may be engaged, certainly, but we haven’t even announced it formally yet. Dum and Dee haven’t approved of you either. Don’t forget that you’re merely a candidate for me to marry.”
“Hmm. Then why don’t we call off the engagement?”
“?!”
My body stiffened with shock. But Dark smiled at me softly.
“Just teasing. I won’t let that happen. I’m not as simpleminded as your guard dog, after all. This case has taught me that the best way to keep you safe would be to simply lock you away in a cage.”
Now that I thought back on it, “Alice” had been kidnapped by Jack, was involved in a shipwreck, and had been constantly rescued by Dark during the course of this case.
As danger lurked around every corner, Dark did whatever he could think of for me and my family.
“Thank you for your concern. I’ll try not to drag you into my affairs anymore.”
“Is that really what you think? You haven’t noticed that I’m the one dragging you into things?”
“What do you mean…?”
I was stunned. Dark began to calmly explain his rationale.
“It’s clear to me, now that the Mirror Demon’s actions have been uncovered. The woman trapped London inside the mirror so that I wouldn’t return to my home territory and be apart from you, Alice. She even wrote Jack’s name at the crime scene because she knew that he, my love rival, was preparing to give you a ring. Do you remember what Jack the Ripper’s message said?”
“I believe it said the killer took a life for the sake of love.”
I’d ignored the message ever since I saw it, only focusing on things that would prove Jack’s innocence, but it was certainly a rather romantic sentence for a killer to leave behind.
Dark drew a heart in the air with his fingers.
“That’s right. The message had two meanings behind it, as it turned out. The first ‘love’ the Mirror Demon wanted to come to fruition was her love for the Duke of Sharondale. The second was my own love for you. The duchess knew, from my consultations with the duke, that I was planning an engagement party for the two of us. She also somehow managed to figure out my true nature as a demon and took it upon herself to meddle in my affairs.”
“Well done indeed.”
A large mirror suddenly appeared between Dark and me. I leaped backward away from the mirror’s rippling surface, in which I could see the face of the imprisoned Duchess Sharondale.
“Without that Jack in the way, I knew your love would go smoothly, Lord Knightley. I caught sight of the boy on the night of the murder, and I knew it was just the chance I needed. I only freed him from jail because it let Lord Knightley play the hero and rush to Miss Liddell’s rescue. I helped you out all because I’m a fellow demon who fell in love with a human, and I’d appreciate your gratitude for that assistance.”
Duchess Sharondale began to emerge from the mirror, little by little—first her hands, then her head, followed by her legs.
Her dress today was much more reminiscent of a demon, as it boldly showed a great amount of skin at the chest. That single horn was sticking out visibly from her hair. I wondered if she’d grown tired of appearing in human form.
“You’re supposed to be atoning for the crime of murder, Your Grace. Please find your way back to your cell.”
I whisked my handgun out of the bag I was wearing and aimed it at the duchess. She chuckled back at me.
“Why, I don’t think I will. Prison is such a tedious place, and you should hear the interrogations they put me through. What drives humans to ask the same questions over and over again? I’m not given anything but bread and water for meals either. If only they’d splurged for the occasional meat dish or dessert. I would have managed to stick around a bit longer…”
Sure, this woman was nobility, but she was also a murderer. The demon didn’t seem to understand the human logic of depriving her of luxurious meals.
“Miss Liddell, you ought to be careful. If you want to build a happy family with a demon, you’ll need a great deal to talk about and delicious meals. You should quickly find yourself a skilled chef, or maybe make your servants learn his favorite flavors now.”
“I appreciate the advice from a predecessor of mine, but you’ve meddled in my life quite enough.”
Dark slammed his bejeweled cane into the ground. Sparks of light shot out from the tip, drawing out the image of a crescent moon seal at the duchess’s feet.