Chapter 4
“Afire?!” Adrian roared the next morning, slamming his hands on his desk.
While Elara stood proud and unfazed by her brother’s temper, Caroline flinched and shrank in on herself at her side.
Elara’s eyes shot to Caroline, filled with pity for her cousin.
Word had spread quickly that a fire had erupted at the Duke of Ashworth’s residence last night, but Elara was quite sure it was not the rumor mill that had alerted Adrian that she and Caroline had been guests at such a place.
No, she was quite sure it was the Lord of the House himself who had sent the message to her brother.
“Brother, we—”
“You set a fire,” Adrian repeated, standing up. “Are you quite serious? You could have been killed! You put countless others in danger!”
“Cousin, please,” Caroline timidly replied, her shoulders rising to her ears. “I... it was an accident. I never meant to stumble so.”
Adrian rounded his desk, his blue eyes blazing with rage as he raised a finger at both women.
“And this accident never would have happened if you had not been there in the first place,” Adrian bit out. “I really expected better from you.”
“Brother, do stop yelling at our poor cousin before she faints from terror,” Elara said with exasperation. “This is not her fault a single bit. It is entirely my own; I forced her to be there, and everything was entirely my idea.”
Adrian opened his mouth as if to argue, then gnashed his teeth.
“Caroline,” he said, his tone only slightly less enraged than before. “I believe that it would be best if you went home now. I am sure your stepmother and stepsister will be expecting you.”
Elara looked over at her cousin just in time to see her face grow paler, and for a moment, Elara truly feared that Caroline was going to faint. It was almost as if she would rather stay and face Adrian’s wrath than go home.
“Perhaps she could simply—” Elara began to say, but Adrian cut her off.
“No, she is to go home,” Adrian commanded, nodding toward the door. “I believe some time apart would do you both a great deal of good.”
Elara gave her cousin a sympathetic look, and Caroline offered her a small, sad smile before the two hugged.
“I shall write to you later this evening,” Elara whispered the promise into her ear.
Caroline nodded, then, without another word, curtsied to Adrian and his wife, Bridget, and promptly left the study.
“You should not have sent her away like that,” Elara insisted, refusing to meet her brother’s eye at first. “I fear all is not well at her home and I—”
“You know I have nothing against Caroline, and I sympathize with her if that is true,” Adrian said, cutting her off as he drew closer to Elara. “But for now, I must focus on controlling what goes on in my household, which, dear sister, includes you.”
Now standing directly before her, Elara had no choice but to look up and meet her brother’s gaze.
“You were right earlier,” he said, his tone harsh. “About the blame resting entirely on your shoulders. It has been from the very start, and therefore, you alone deserve the punishment.”
Elara balked at the words, but it was her sister-in-law, Bridget, who hurried to Adrian’s side to defend her.
“Now, darling, let us not be too quick to pass judgment,” Bridget insisted. “I am sure that Elara has a perfectly good reason for escaping her guards’ watch last night to attend the Duke of Ashworth’s party.”
The note Elara found after escaping the Duke’s notice last night burned against her wrist where she had tucked it. She wanted to show Adrian what she had found, but not while he was like this. She needed her brother to be reasonable first, and at the moment, he seemed far from it.
“That is what I am afraid of,” Adrian stated, keeping his gaze on Elara.
He took another step closer, his gaze intense and scrutinizing.
“You should not be afraid of the truth, Adrian,” Elara said quietly.
“You just will not let it rest, will you?” he asked, a look of pity swirling with his rage.
Elara’s lips set into a line of determination.
“We do not know that he is dead, Adrian,” Elara said, her voice quiet as she looked up into her brother’s eyes. “All we have is the word of a dead man, whom I recently discovered was in business with the Duke of Ashworth’s younger brother, Augustus! Evander might still be—”
“Evander is dead!” Adrian snapped, and Elara flinched at her brother’s intensity.
Bridget placed her right palm on her husband’s shoulder, and her left on Elara’s, as if pleading for peace. Adrian closed his eyes at his wife’s soft touch and drew a deep, steadying breath as Elara continued to gaze at him.
“Evander has passed away, Elara,” Adrian said, calmer this time as he opened his eyes.
She did not miss the pain in them. He missed their brother, too.
“It is a heartbreaking truth, but a truth no less. Most days, I can barely get Mother to accept it, and I thought I at least did not have to worry about you. But now that I understand this is what you have been using your freedom for, I am afraid I must take it away.”
Elara’s brows furrowed as a knot formed in her stomach.
“What do you mean?” Elara demanded, cocking her head.
“I mean, I have allowed this rebellious side of yours to slide for far too long,” Adrian replied.
“I thought that if I kept my guard up, I could allow you to sneak off at night. Such a rare thing for a lady your age to be allowed to do, but I did, as I thought it was helping you as long as you did not get into trouble. Now that I understand you have been continuing the investigation into Evander all this time, I cannot allow it to go on. You will no longer be allowed out of the house after seven unless escorted by Bridget or me.”
Adrian almost sounded regretful as he issued the decree, which only made Elara laugh bitterly.
“Adrian, please,” she said. “You know I cannot let this go, and your men have no idea what I truly do or where I go.”
“Maybe not,” Adrian begrudged. “But they will be stationed so close to you from now on that there will be no opportunity for you to elude them. I will post them atop the roof if I have to, but your nightly adventures are over, sister.”
“This is unfair! You cannot force me to stop looking for him, Adrian!” Elara exclaimed, feeling her heartbeat quicken.
Adrian grabbed her shoulders so suddenly that she gasped. He dragged her close, and with the wild look in his eyes, she was not sure what he was about to do next. Even Bridget had frozen by their side, unsure what to do.
Then he let out a wary sigh, and as he closed his eyes, he shook his head and pulled her into a tight hug.
As Adrian’s arms closed around her, Elara’s eyes stung without warning.
For a moment, she was not standing in her brother’s study at all.
She was thirteen again, trembling in a darkened room, and it was not Adrian’s arms that held her but Evander’s.
She could still feel the weight of his chin resting atop her head, still hear the quiet certainty in his voice as he murmured into her hair.
‘There is nothing I would not do to keep you safe. Always come to me. Always.’
The memory dissolved as quickly as it had come, and Elara was back in the present, blinking in the study’s brightness. She let Adrian hold her for a moment longer, her throat tight.
He made me that promise, she thought. And I intend to keep it for him.
“This business with Augustus Harcourt and Evander must be let go, Elara,” he insisted, his tone low and resigned.
“Do you not understand that I have already looked into this rumor myself? It was just like all the others, a wild tale meant to lend mystery to our brother’s death.
Evander is dead. As is his murderer. I must move on with my life as the new Duke of Redgrave, and you?
You will finally have the debut you were never afforded. ”
Adrian pulled away from their embrace, his piercing blue eyes filled with more sadness now than with rage. He reached toward her face, gently taking her chin between his thumb and the knuckle of his pointer finger, and gave her a gentle tug.
“Put your efforts into preparing for that,” Adrian gently insisted, letting her go as he stepped back. “Taking a husband is no simple choice. You must know yourself, Elara.”
Still hurt by her brother’s refusal to listen, Elara took a step back from him and shook her head.
“I do know myself, brother,” she replied coldly. “It is obvious that it is you who do not understand me.”
Adrian’s dark brows furrowed as his blue eyes flashed with pain and his jaw clenched.
“All right then,” Bridget announced airily, stepping between the siblings as they stared each other down. “I believe it is best for us all to take a moment to cool our tempers, yes? Adrian, darling, I believe I hear young Samuel’s cry. Would you be so kind as to bring him to me?”
While Elara heard no such cry, she noticed that at the mention of their young son’s name, Adrian’s stance visibly relaxed, and, right before her eyes, he became almost a different person. She watched, fascinated, as Adrian pulled his wife into his arms and kissed her lovingly on the cheek.
“Of course I will,” he answered, his deep voice soft as he spoke to his wife. “I shall be but a moment.”
Bridget smiled affectionately up at Adrian, and after he gave her cheek a final gentle stroke, he let her go and left the study.
“Did you truly hear Samuel’s cry?” Elara asked as the two were left alone, her thoughts drifting to the baby she had heard the night before. It had sounded close, as if it were in the very room with Constantine.
Bridget’s lips lifted up toward a smile.
“No, but I feel that he is awake from his nap,” Bridget replied, taking a seat on one of the cushioned chairs.
Elara raised a curious brow.
“How do you know that?” she asked.
“I believe all mothers can sense their children in some way or another,” Bridget replied, her tone honest. “Just like your mother still senses Evander.”
Elara’s heart skipped a beat, and she stepped closer to her sister-in-law.
“Are you saying you believe me?” she asked in a hushed tone.
Bridget’s smile was sweet and sad as she shook her head.
“The opposite, my dear. I believe your mother is still confused. That she confuses the loss she feels over her oldest son with the idea that she can still feel him, as both are great, overwhelming emotions.”
Elara’s small, hopeful smile faded, and she took a step back.
“You think I should give up as well,” she said, her tone accusatory.
“I do,” Bridget agreed. “If not for yourself or your brother, then for your mother. What you have been doing is dangerous, Elara, and if harm should befall you, how do you think your mother would take it?”
Elara suddenly paled at the image her mind conjured.
Her and Adrian’s mother, Nora, had nearly gone mad when Evander’s death was announced, and she still struggled two years later.
If Elara were hurt—or worse—she was sure that whatever strings of sanity Nora still clung to would be shorn in half, forcing their mother to sink fully into madness.
Her heart broke at the thought.
“Point well made, sister,” Elara said with a defeated sigh.
Feeling weary from the morning’s argument, Elara bid Bridget farewell and promised to meet her after her nap to discuss the upcoming family ball.
She had only made it as far as closing the study door when she looked up and found Adrian approaching, baby Samuel tucked into his arms, the child’s bright blue eyes wide and alert.
“She was right, he was awake,” Adrian said, nodding down to the baby in his arms.
“So she was,” Elara murmured, taking in the sight of her brother holding a baby.
It was a strange sight indeed. Not just for her brother, but for any man, really, to be holding a baby. She did not remember her father ever picking her or her brothers up. Nor did she remember her late uncle picking up Caroline. It was a rare sight to see such a thing.
And yet…
Yet last night, there had been a baby in Constantine’s house…
had there not? She was sure the cry had come from the adjacent room, and by the way he reacted so quickly, it surely came from a baby he cared about.
Yet it was not his, was it? Surely the ton’s rumor mill would have produced such grist if the Duke of Ashworth had borne an illegitimate child and cared for it in his very house.
“Elara, are you well?”
Elara jerked out of her reverie and blushed as she looked up to find she was still standing in front of Adrian and Samuel. Her brother watched her, worried, as he gently bounced his son.
“I am... fine,” she answered, then smiled kindly as she reached out and stroked a gentle finger over baby Sam’s hand. He cooed and gurgled at the touch, making her smile widen and her heart throb with affection.
“I just need a moment to gather my thoughts,” she assured Adrian, pulling back gently from her nephew. “You and Bridget are right, of course. I am nine-and-ten, and it is time for me to focus on my belated debut.”
Adrian’s brows drew up in surprise.
“I am grateful to hear your change of heart,” he replied.
Elara glanced up at him, keeping her smile in place, and nodded. A plan began to take shape as she bid them goodbye and took to her rooms. Once she had privacy, she began sketching out her goals.
Yes, she was going to focus on her debut.
Yes, she was going to allow Bridget’s upcoming ball to be the initial part of that debut.
However, she aimed to do this to draw the Duke out and learn more about his mysterious family.
She was not yet sure if Evander was truly involved with the Harcourts, but she was determined to understand what the Duke meant when he mentioned Evander last night.
Out of additional curiosity, she also wanted to find out whose baby was in his house.
Just how many secrets does this man keep?