Page 98 of Four Promises to Love

“I suspect his family had him struck from the records. They were ashamed of him, you see.” Wally sighed. “He was born with deformities, and because of this, the Pearces kept him hidden away. I think he was around my age, but I remember very little about him. I only saw him a handful of times—as a silhouette in the window of their manor. They kept him locked inside. I remember he got out a few times, causing a brouhaha. In the end, they hired an attendant to keep an eye on him.”

A chill entered Finn’s blood. Felix’s story reminded her too keenly of her own upbringing in the orphanage. Of how society treated its unwanted.

“Felix was not to blame for the circumstances of his birth,” she said vehemently. “His family should have helped him—not treated him like some prisoner.”

“They made him so invisible that I had not thought of him for decades,” Wally said somberly. “It was as if he never existed, the poor chap.”

“But he did exist. The clues prove it,” she argued. “It makes sense that Felix could have witnessed his brother’s crimes. He was so unseen and voiceless that Langdon might not have noticed or cared about his presence. Yet underestimating Felix will prove to be the bounder’s downfall.”

“Whilst Felix’s voice was taken from him during his life, he has managed to make himself heard now,” Gigi agreed. “With his clues, he intends to expose the truth of what happened. When we manage to solve his riddles, we will break the curse—and he will be the hero.”

“Or the scapegoat,” Wally said.

“Scapegoat?” Finn frowned. “Why would that happen?”

“These clues.” Wally gestured at the scraps of paper. “Some will interpret them as confessions.”

“I don’t understand—” Gigi began.

“This is not the end of my penance,” Grantley murmured. “My last confession rests with what I have left you. Wally has a point. These lines could be construed as admissions of guilt.”

“But we know Rose’s murderer died in her presence,” Gigi said. “Evie saw it in a vision: when the villain was about to attack Rose again, she cursed him to suffer for what he’d done to others, and he died of an apoplectic fit. Which means he could not have written these clues, and ergo, Felix could not have been the murderer.”

Grantley shrugged. “If only logic were as powerful as bigotry.”

“You would be asking folks to believe that Langdon, the pride of the village, committed unspeakable evils.” Wally looked troubled. “They would need to take the word of his brother, the outcast hidden from the world and erased from history, against his.”

Finn had to bite her cheek to stop herself from revealing the existence of Felix’s letter. In it, he’d written that complicity was his gravest sin and duty and cowardice had kept him silent. The duty he felt must have been toward his brother and the family name. As restitution for what Langdon had done to Rose—and for his own perceived failure to speak up—Felix had left her his family’s heirloom.

The pieces are coming together. But how can I share what I know without compromising my mission? How can I work with them and carry out my plan to rescue Iris?

Carefully, Finn asked, “Do you know when Felix passed, Wally?”

Wally scratched his ear. “I am not certain. Several years after Langdon, I believe. The Pearces kept him shut away until the very end, and I don’t recall a funeral.”

“There is something else,” Grantley said. “Did the Pearces possess any jewelry of note?”

“Come to think of it, they did. Langdon’s wife, Leonida, came from a wealthy family and a bridal parure was part of her dowry. The extravagance caused a stir at the time. Leonida took great pleasure in wearing the pieces on special occasions.”

“Do you recognize this?”

Conflict twisted Finn’s insides when Grantley took out the ring. Seeing part of Iris’s ransom within reach made her question her decision. Was Caleb right? Should the Hawks filch the ring and send it to Carver as proof of progress? Finn’s instincts told her showing the ring to Carver was like waving a red flag at a bull. By keeping it a secret for now, she was protecting Iris—and Owen and his family. Yet the fact that the Harringtons now knew about the parure would make a stealthy flit with the jewels even more difficult.

I shall cross that bridge when I get there.

“I have seen that ring.” Wally’s eyes widened. “On Leonida Pearce’s finger.”

“You are certain?” Gigi asked.

“Hard to forget a sparkler like that. As I said, it was part of a set: I think there was a necklace, diadem, and bracelet…perhaps more.” Wally frowned. “But the jewels were discovered missing after Rose disappeared, and Leonida accused Rose of being a thief as well as a witch.”

“It was Felix who took the jewels and hid them—as restitution for the harm his brother had done to Rose and Thomas,” Gigi said. “He left clues that only she would know how to solve.”

“Which means the truth is not the only thing worth finding,” Grantley said.

The anticipation glinting in the duke’s eyes spiked Finn’s heartbeat. The truth about the jewels was out. The race was on to find them, and she had to win—no matter the cost.

Twenty-Eight