Unfettered Vessel (Found & Freed: The Unfettered #6)

25. Chapter 25

Chapter twenty-five

Pink

F or one heart stopping moment, I think I’m back in the harem. My heart goes crazy and I bolt awake. I’m not in my bed at home, or in the campervan. I am somewhere different. But it is not the harem. It is Monty’s bed in his enormous stately home. Because he has an enormous stately home, because he is Duke Eastminster.

I let out a shaky breath and try to calm my racing heart. My body wriggles closer to the heat of Monty’s sleeping body. His proximity is reassuring, even though he is the source of my anxiety.

My new surroundings are overwhelming. The gorgeous bedroom is lit mutely by the early morning sun. Pale winter hues that make everything look faded. It is a very nice room. Not at all ostentatious, but definitely the chamber of a very wealthy person.

My mind continues to whirl. My boyfriend is a duke. A frigging duke. My parents would be so very pleased. It is what they always dreamed of, before they decided that Ritchie’s money was a better option.

I wince at that thought, and it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. It almost feels as if fate has a dark sense of humor and is mocking me with it. With a grimace, I push the unpleasant thought aside. My parents are dead to me and I refuse to give them any more room in my thoughts, emotions, or life. As for the harem, that is something I am slowly untangling myself from.

Neither it, nor my parents, are going to influence my life. I won’t let them. They took enough from me. They are not having my future as well.

I take a deep breath and let the long shadows of the harem and my parents go. Now I need to focus. What are the facts that I need to concentrate on?

Monty is a duke. Can I really forgive him for keeping that truth from me?

Carefully, I roll over to face him. The sight of his handsome face quickens my pulse, as it always does. But now, even in sleep he looks stressed. There is a furrowed line in his brow that I ache to smooth away.

Monty. My Monty. My lover. My boyfriend.

I know his kindness, intelligence and personality are not lies. I can feel the truth of that in my very bones. The only thing he hid from me was his title. Nothing else has changed. I know him. I see him. I understand him. If he had his way, he’d live in his campervan and study alchemy forever.

That’s the true Monty. Not the duke version.

My boyfriend simply wanted some freedom before taking up his duties. A gap year, of sorts.

I can understand the desire for that. Especially after meeting his mother. And his brother.

I’ve only known them for a day, but the dynamic is clear to see. I sigh as I ponder that mess. Monty is going to have a hell of a fight on his hands when he arranges a kind and decent husband for Laurie. His mother is going to try to demand status above all else.

My thoughts fall quiet as Monty stirs and opens his eyes. A sleepy warm smile spreads across his face as soon as he sees me, and my heart skips several beats in response. He leans forward and gives me a soft, lazy and tender kiss.

“Let’s go down to breakfast. Annie makes the most wonderful pancakes. I’ve never figured out how she does it,” Monty says in a tone of genuine awe and respect.

But I can’t think about pancakes. Far more pressing thoughts are consuming me.

Monty is talking about breakfast, in a breakfast room, with his family, and servants. I bite my bottom lip as uncertainty washes over me.

“Do you want us to go down separately?” I whisper hoarsely.

Monty’s blue eyes flash with a multitude of emotions. All passing far too quickly for me to name. Then he finds my hand and brings it to his lips for a quick kiss.

“No,” he says firmly.

I stare at him helplessly. “Are you sure? Because blatantly carrying on with an unwed vessel…”

“Pink,” he interrupts. “You are my greatest pride.”

It’s a damn good thing I’m lying down because I am pretty sure I would be collapsing in a swoon otherwise. As it is, my head is spinning and I’m all shaky and weak.

“In that case, let’s go get those pancakes!” I somehow manage to say.

Monty grins in delight, and it doesn’t help my dizziness at all.

We get out of bed and share a quick shower. One that feels far more companionable and comfortable than sexy, and I love it all the more for that.

I put on a pair of light brown corduroys and a white polo shirt. Monty dresses in cream chinos and a navy blue linen shirt.

He smiles at me and takes my hand. And he keeps a hold of it all the way down the stairs. He only lets go of it when we reach the door of the breakfast room, and I don’t blame him at all. His mother is scary.

She is sitting at the table when we enter. Dressed all in black. The sight makes me wince. I should have thought of that, but I don’t have any black, smart casual clothes.

Monty guides me to the serving table and points out the pancakes. I take an empty plate and slide a pancake on it. They do look amazing, but I think I’m going to be far too nervous to eat more than one.

We join his mother at the breakfast table. She sips her coffee and gives us a vaguely disapproving look, but says nothing.

I drop my gaze and focus on eating my pancake as unobtrusively as possible. The room falls silent, apart from the gentle clink of cutlery against crockery.

After a while, Monty asks. “Where is Laurie? Is he not joining us?”

“Lawrence,” replies his mother sternly. “Is not home.”

Monty carefully puts down his knife and fork. “What do you mean?”

His mother picks up her glass of orange juice and takes a dainty sip. “I have sent him to a prestigious finishing school.”

Monty jerks in his chair as if he has been slapped.

“First thing in the morning? Without telling me? Without letting him say goodbye?” He bites out sharply.

The duchess dabs her mouth with a perfectly white napkin. “Yes.”

Monty inhales sharply. He grabs the edge of the table and his knuckles turn white.

His mother’s green eyes flick to me briefly, and they glimmer. “You left me no choice, Montgomery. You are entirely too soft on vessels. You need to understand that they are merely tools.”

My guts twist painfully. My lungs feel heavy and my throat is too tight. Monty’s magic coils in the air, hissing like an angry snake.

“You think of Laurie, your own son, as merely a tool?” His voice is soft, the tone measured, but the threat in it is unmistakable.

Across the table, his mother straightens. Her magic lashes in the air, like a cat preparing to pounce. She says nothing, but she doesn’t need to. Her stance is clear enough.

“Laurie is coming home,” growls Monty.

Green eyes narrow. “You’ll never find him.”

Monty sucks in another sharp breath. “Mother, what have you done?”

I try to swallow, but I can’t. What should I do? How can I help? Monty needs me, but right now it just feels like I’m trapped with two angry mages and I hate how small and powerless it is making me feel.

“Don’t be so dramatic!” snaps the duchess. Her gaze flicks to me and the calculating look she gives me freezes the blood in my veins. “I’m simply keeping him away from you,” she continues. Then a tiny malevolent smirk curls her lips. “The fey are going to return and Lawrence will be given to a fey prince.”

Her words swirl around my mind. At first, they don’t make sense. They are just sounds with no meaning. Then Monty gasps in horror and turns to look at me with an expression of utterly broken dismay.

Then it clicks.

Fey. She said the fey are going to return. Like it would be a good thing.

Oh my god. They are Revivalists. Monty is a Revivalist. He is part of a cult that is working to bring the fey back to our world. He wanted Jade to succeed. He probably had something to do with it. It is quite possible that his whole relationship with me has been nothing more than a ploy to try to get closer to Jade. And to use my magic for their cause in the meantime.

With a sob, I jump to my feet. Blindly, I turn and run. I run as fast as I can. Where I am going, I have no idea. I’m in the house of Revivalists. They told me their secrets. They are not going to let me go.

But I have to try.

Behind me, I hear Monty calling my name.

It only makes me run faster.