Beneath the Six Circles

Lord Nathaniel Thomin Melville de Creighton of the Second Circle… loved and missed by his fiancée Lady Sylvia… Or not.Sylvie knows she should be grieving Nathaniel's death, but even wearing mourning clothes, she's struggling to hide her relief. Annual stipends, betrothal contracts, fragrant dreams, awkward relatives. She's wondering what Nathaniel's unraveling mother hopes to gain by following her around on walks and rides and into Creighton's superannuated temple. She's wondering what her own scheming father hopes to gain by chasing the Creighton steward around the Creighton boundaries, checking the Creighton mines and fences.Sylvie's dreams are thick with murder and marriage. And Creighton Estate is thick with scandals and lies. The mess? The duplicity? The guilty party? Someone powerful wants the details of Nathaniel's murder suppressed. Sylvie may not be grieving, but she is offended. For Nathaniel's sake, for her own sanity, she's endeavouring to discover why two commoners called Seth and Anya were sent to the inquisitor when no-one in Creighton seems to believe that they're the criminals. "e;I asked..."e;"e;His lordship was still there too, ma'am. But he wasn't dead."e;"e;He wasn't dead?"e;"e;No, ma'am. I heard him call for his mother. The guards had the room then, so they forbade me entry and managed the matter themselves. And by the time Doctor Matheu arrived, it was... too late for his lordship."e;"e;And the knife?"e;"e;The slave girl said Seth brought it. One of the guards wrapped it in a sheet and..."e;"e;Still in the bedroom?"e;"e;Yes, my lady. Everyone was still in the bedroom."e;"e;So whose bloody handprint was on the gallery wall?"e;"e;Ma'am, I've no idea. As far as I could tell, everyone was accounted for."e; Taking up where This Far West of Nowhere left off, Beneath the Six Circles is the mesmerising second act in Memories of the Well, E.H. D'Urbin's epic dark fantasy series.