“Why were you in a stable?” Marcus asked.
Cordon swiped more hay from the fabric of his clothing with his hands. “Returning from doing as you asked. I investigated Lucina’s reports.”
“What did you discover?”
Cordon untied his cravat and looped it around his neck. “Nothing good. The murdered vampires in Glasgow were ravaged by some kind of animal, beheaded, and left in places where the sun would not reach them.”
Marcus sucked his teeth. Now he understood why Lucina had sent Cordon to warn him. If the vampires had been killed by a member of their own kind, there would have been no bodies left behind. Only a hunter would take the precaution of severing their victims’ heads and keeping them away from sunlight so they wouldn’t turn to ash.
Someone was sending a message.
“I have worse news,” Jonathan said, appearing behind Cordon as if by magic. Jonathan could do that; move about withoutbeing noticed by anyone, human or vampire. It was a skill he used to liberate priceless vampiric artifacts from private collections around the world.
“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” Cordon said with a frown.
“What did you discover?” Marcus asked.
Jonathan put an arm around Cordon’s shoulders. “A symbol of a sun in a circle carved on the side of the local tavern.”
“A sun,” Marcus repeated. There was something strangely familiar about that description.
Cordon stepped away from Jonathan. “What were you doing in the village?”
Jonathan put a hand over his heart. “Following orders, of course.”
“You were supposed to be watching Miss Belltree’s family.”
“You mean Lady Kingsbury’s family,” Jonathan said wryly.
Marcus inhaled sharply. His brother was right. Winifred was no longer a mere figure in his dreams. She was hiswife. A pleasant warmth bloomed in his chest.
Cordon was still staring at their youngest brother.
Jonathan threw up his arms. “Fine! I took a well-deserved break.”
Cordon scowled. “As always, our brother has a questionable relationship with the truth.”
Jonathan’s eyes gleamed blue. “At least I have not gone soft.”
“What does that mean?”
Marcus held up his hand. “That is enough.”
Both men stood down, to Marcus’s relief. They tested his patience but remained obedient. He did not yet have to worry about one of them challenging his leadership.
“What are your orders?” Cordon asked.
Marcus exhaled slowly. “Jonathan, continue to watch the guests and report unusual activity. Cordon, get Helena to search the archives. See if you can track down any hunter families that might be associated with the sun symbol.”
He knew he’d seen it before but couldn’t remember where.
Jonathan put a hand on his hip. “What are you going to do?”
Marcus cracked his stiff shoulders. “I’m going to question my wife.”
*
Marcus found Winifredasleep in the library with her cousin Miss Sorrow lounging on a nearby window ledge. When the black-haired young lady noticed him, she flattened the book she’d been reading to her chest and scrunched her nose. “Kingsbury.”
