Wait. “You mean Drake?”
Rook nodded.
Relief filled her. Heh. Drake the dog. A far cry from Drake the tiger. The dual picture almost made her smile.
“How did your ladyship get caught up with him?” Rook asked with concern. “If you need any help, my lady, I’m at your aid.”
Violet shook her head. “Don’t worry about me. I am leaving for Bristol for a while,” she admitted. “Until the two dogs stop fighting over whatever bone the one snatched from the other. The Furys don’t know my true identity yet. I haven’t been able to confess that part.”
“Good, my lady,” Rook said with a nod. “It’s best until they stop fighting over whatever bones.”
“Then do you now work for both of them?”
Rook shook his head. “I am not that mad.”
“What did you do to get caught by Drake?” Voilet asked curiously.
“Tried to stab him, my lady.”
Violet’s eyes flew wide. “Killhim?”
“He probably wouldn’t have died.”
“Rook!”
“In my defense,” he said, scratching the back of his neck, “I was operating under orders at the time.”
“You tried to kill a man, and your defense is that someone told you to?” Violet pressed her fingers to her temple. She ought to be horrified. She had known Rook since childhood, had watched him teach her father’s hounds to sit, had once hidden behind his considerable bulk when her brother was in a temper.
“I have several defenses, my lady. That was merely the first.” His face turned sheepish, the kind that reminded her of a fox caught sneaking into a chicken coop. “You are with the Furys now?” he asked.
Violet paused. With the Furys? No. She could not claim such a thing. Neither could she claim not to be. How could such a simple question be so blazingly complicated?Yes, Rook. I amwith the Furys. No, Rook I’m not. I’m with myself.“I am their tenant.”
He nodded in understanding. “A sensible arrangement. Safer to owe rent than allegiance.”
Her mouth curved despite herself. “You speak as though you don’t flip allegiance left and right.”
He coughed. “It’s a matter of survival, my lady. I’ve never betrayed you.”
True. “I suppose I should feel honored, then.”
His gaze flicked toward the waiting carriage beyond the gate. “Do you wish for me to escort you to your destination, my lady? Roads are not always kind to women traveling alone.”
She studied him carefully. Rook had always been many things: capable, cunning, loyal when it suited him, but never sentimental. “Do you not have business for Drake?”
“That is concluded as far as I’m concerned, my lady.”
The man clearly didn’t understand Drake very well. “Just whatwasyour business?”
That foxlike look returned to his face. “To lure your brother to Brighton, my lady. But I swear to you, I did not know you were here.”
The trap the night she met Drake. So that’s what had happened. A chill traced her spine. “Does Reginald know I’m here?”
“I’m sorry, my lady. I truly do not know.”
Violet exhaled slowly. It seemed her decision to embark on a journey to Bristol had been a wise one. As things stood now, she might merely get caught in between the two opposing forces. “Very good. There’s no need to escort me. I shall be fine on my own.”
Rook inclined his head.
