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He placed a hard kiss on her lips and walked away.
Eloise entered her room and shed his coat. She performed her nightly ablutions, combed her hair, and nestled in her bed. He wasn’t ready to spend the night with her, but she was. She already missed him, and it was the darndest of feelings.
Eloise stared at his coat, lying on her bedside chair, and scrambled out of bed. She took it in her arms and climbed back between the sheets, cuddling the coat next to her. His scent was comforting, and she could imagine his heat still lingered.
Something rustled in one of the pockets, and Eloise reached inside. She didn’t want to rumple his important communications by her embarrassing act of sleeping with his coat. She took out the envelope, rotated it in her fingers, and froze.
In her usual scroll, it had one word written on it.
Ford.
It was the letter she’d written to her brother upon winning the wager against Keyon during the first nights of residing in this place. And he had not sent it.
* * *
Hades sat downstairs at the long dining table, surrounded by the people he trusted most: Grace, Sal, Garric, and Lucien. This discussion was long overdue, but he had not had the fortitude to talk about it earlier. He knew that sitting out in the open on the main floor wasn’t the best place for this conversation, but he was not about to hide from the traitorous bastards in his own home.
“So, you are finally acknowledging it,” Grace said in her usual emotionless voice.
“There is no other explanation. The attack on the hell by Shadows was specifically because I captured Eloise. It wasn’t because of the drunkard lord and his wife. It wasn’t because of smuggled goods. The Shadow said it was because of Eloise. Aside from the thief-taker, nobody would bother to report her disappearance. And the thief-taker would not risk his sister this way. He couldn’t have alerted the Shadows. So this leaves only one other option.”
“We have a traitor,” Lucien supplied.
“Yes. A traitor who has been leaking information to that squalid criminal group for weeks. Every time we dealt with smuggling, we were under attack. Our partners had shut down because of those attacks. And now they finally reached the heart of us. The hell.”
“What do you want us to do?” Sal asked eagerly.
“I want you to pay special attention to everyone residing under this roof. I do not want anyone leaving this house without one of us knowing it.”
“How do you plan to enforce it?” Grace cocked her head to the side.
“I shall assign one half of the house to spy on the other half and vice-versa. Nobody will know who is watching whom. And if they see anything suspicious, they will report to one of us. This should dissuade this traitor’s further attempts at communicating with the Shadows.”
Hades stood, and everyone else followed. With a nod, he dismissed them, and the men eagerly left the hall. Grace slowly walked toward him.
“Do you think it was wise to include those three men in the conversation? They are the ones who know the most. They could be the traitor.”
Hades nodded. “Exactly. And now I get to see who of the three of them tries to communicate to the Shadows before the rule is enforced.”
Grace smirked and walked even closer. “Now that you seem to start taking my advice seriously, perhaps it is the time you let the woman go.”
Hades let out the growl. “Are we still discussing this?”
“We never stopped discussing this. The hells are under attack. Traitor or not, it is because of her. I told you, nothing good will come out of your attachment to her.”
“I do not believe—”
“In curses,” she finished for him. “Yes, I remember. But I do. And the curse stated that your kingdom will crumble because of your love for a woman. I am a part of that kingdom, Hades. I am not ready to crumble, not for anyone. Not even for you.”
“So what are you saying?”
“I am saying if one more thing happens that threatens my life, I shall leave.”
Hades scoffed. “And where will you go?”
Grace lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I have my house. I have funds. I can find plenty more women. I can open my own brothel.”
“I protect what is mine,” Hades gritted between his teeth.
