Page 85 of Cruel Hearts

I could only offer him an absent nod on the walk to my room. We couldn’t discuss anything in public. If any of Elizabeth’s spies were close by, they would run back and tell the crazy bitch.

At the end of the hallway, I pushed open the door leading to the guest tower and reached into my pocket for the key. “Let’s hope this room is intact.”

“What do you mean?” asked Gideon.

I placed the key in the lock and turned it. “I walked in on Elizabeth Liddell ransacking my bedroom up at Mr. Burgh’s house.”

Gideon’s mouth dropped open. “Whatever for?”

“She didn’t say, but I have an idea.” I pushed the door open and inhaled a warm cloud of lemon-scented air. At least the place no longer smelled of musky dogs.

Stepping inside, I glanced around the room for signs of destruction. The round, circular room remained in its usual ivory splendor. Everything was in order from the double bed and its quilted headboard to the huge desk between the tall windows that overlooked the pond and its lily pads.

“It’s untouched.” Gideon followed me into the middle of the room and turned around, surveying the floors and walls and surfaces.

“The domestic staff might have already straightened out anything she damaged or messed up.”

“What did she want this time?” He headed for the desk and folded himself into the wheeled chair. “Her betting stub?”

After shutting the door, I crossed the room and headed for the tea-making equipment in the corner. Even though I wasn’t a guest, the domestic staff still kept it stocked with teabags and sachets of milk.

“Actually, she didn’t mention it.” I walked to the bathroom, filled the kettle in the sink and returned to the main room.

Gideon frowned. “Don’t you think you should return it?”

I blew out a breath and plugged in the kettle. “Who knows what her family would do to me if they discovered I had it all along. These are the people who planted crap in my room and got me arrested.”

He gave me a slow nod. “You’re right.”

I opened the little cabinet, pulled out a small pot of tea and two cups. “Half of me wants to throw it in the fire and consider it my revenge on the little twat.”

Gideon didn’t reply, but I didn’t expect a response. If I had a lick of sense, I would run back to London. No one wanted to kill me anymore, and Sammy would probably get bored of trying to partner up again after the first few times I told him to fuck off.

I placed two teabags in the pot, thinking of the best way to tell Gideon about my sordid past. My mind went blank, so, I blurted, “I know why Elizabeth hates me so much.”

Gideon leaned forward, resting his forearms on his things in an uncharacteristically inelegant gesture. “Don’t keep me in suspense.”

As the kettle boiled, I told him everything I had worked out, with Mother’s account of her ordeal with Father Neapolitan as proof of my shaky claim to the Liddell estate. “Even Mr. Burgh thinks I’m right. He sent me over here to swear the twins to secrecy.”

“Yet you’re telling me.” He frowned.

“What kind of godfather doesn’t speak to their consigliere?” The words slipped from my lips before I could clamp them shut.

Gideon’s lips quirked into a smile. “Is that how you see us?”

“It’s better than being Blaise Zabini and a female Draco,” I said with a huff.

We stared into each other’s eyes for a second before breaking into smiles.

Gideon shook his head. “I must say, you’re in a precarious predicament.”

“What?”

“Do nothing, and the Liddell family will continue to persecute you.” He counted off the option on his manicured fingers. “Flee and lose the protection of Mr. Burgh, possibly resulting in a situation similar to that of your mother.”

“Prison.” It wasn’t a question.

“That was the purpose of last term’s debacle.”