AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And that surprises you? I warned you there was a standing order to kill you on sight. Did you think I exaggerated? If Máelodor’s men have learned of your return, so have the Amhas-draoi. You should have followed orders and stayed close to Rogan.”
“I’m not a child who needs minding. I managed for years without the use of a mage-chaser to keep me out of danger.”
“Even the luckiest lose now and again,” she answered bitterly. “Listen and listen well, Douglas. Had you killed that Amhas-draoi, I’d have butchered you myself, plan or no plan. I may be stretching the rules for you, but if this blows up, you go down alone.”
“How noble of you,” he answered her scorn with his own. “Has the brotherhood discovered we’re working together?”
“Not so far as I can tell, but that could change. Just in case, you can’t return to Duke Street. You can come to gather your things, but then you’ll have to lay low somewhere in the city.” She opened the door, scanning the yard before turning back, jaw set. “It shouldn’t be much longer. I hear the bounty on your head has gone up. You’re quite a catch these days.”
“Máelodor’s growing desperate. The summoning of the Domnuathi nearly destroyed him. Soon he’ll be too ill to work the magic.”
“Alive, he remains a lethal threat. Dead, and any hope of clearing your name is gone. Quite a conundrum.”
“I’m glad you can call it such. I call it a devilish great nuisance.”
Her gaze passed over the squalid ruin of the chamber. “It still amazes me how far you’ve fallen. From the pampered son of an earl to this.”
“The location’s not much but the service is excellent.”
“Always the wit, Douglas, though I think after the last few days I’m in on your little secret.”
“I sleep in the buff?”
Her look shot daggers. “Your guilt almost killed you.”
“Fortunately shame isn’t fatal. It just plays havoc with your free will.” He offered a casual shrug and a flash of a gallows smile before sobering. “What will happen to Elisabeth once I leave the town house? You have to promise me she’ll be taken care of.”
“She’s welcome to stay with Grand-mère and me until this is over and you return for her.”
Brendan concentrated on knotting his cravat, eyes downcast. Over and under, his hands fumbling with the knot, muttering under his breath.
“You’re not coming back, are you?” Helena ventured. “This marriage of yours. It was all a sham. You plan on skipping out on her just like last time.”
He tossed the damned cravat on the pallet. “My marriage is as legal
as I can make it. And you’ll see that Mr. McKelway trumpets his part in matters to the heavens when the time comes. But no, I don’t think I’ll be coming back.” He lifted a brow. “And you don’t either. So between us, let’s stop pretending.”
She smoothed her hands down the sides of her skirt, lifting her chin high, her face a mask of Amhas-draoi determination. “Máelodor has to be stopped, Douglas. The Other are scared and nervous, the tension between the races thin as spring ice. All it will take is the rise of a leader on the part of our people to solidify their discontent into rage, and the world won’t know what hit it. Already there are reports of Other vengeance and Duinedon retaliation. The Amhas-draoi are working to contain them before it escalates beyond our control, but we’re stretched thin. It won’t be long before the rage spreads like a torch set to a dry field.”
“It’s what the Nine counted on.”
“You said yourself Máelodor wants you alive.” Her voice almost conciliatory. “His malice might be your best protection.”
He buttoned his waistcoat. Shrugged on his jacket. “I’ll choose death over Máelodor’s version of alive any day.”
“Let’s hope you get the choice, then.”
Perhaps his brains had been addled. Perhaps he looked to shed Jack once and for all. Or perhaps he simply felt sorry for Helena, who’d probably come as close as capable to being compassionate. Come to think on it, perhaps it was her brains that had been scrambled. Whatever the case, he heard himself saying, “I believe you knew a cousin of mine. Jack O’Gara? Tall fellow. Strapping. Frightfully blond and manly.”
She stiffened, giving him a thunderous glare. So much for sympathy. “I did. Is there a point?”
“Well, you see, there’s something you ought to know about Jack—”
“He’s dead, Mr. Douglas. That’s all I need to know.” Eyes like chips of obsidian, she strode out with a swordsman’s swagger, leaving him to sink upon the chair. He should have known any kindness on his part would be rejected, but no one could say he hadn’t tried.
Closing his eyes, he let out a whoosh of spent breath.
What the hell his cousin Jack saw in that woman was completely and utterly beyond him.
