Chapter 8
Eight
The Earl made no appearance at breakfast the next morning—or perhaps he had already eaten and left the table before Aurelia arrived. She picked at her food, wishing she had risen earlier. But it had taken her a long time to fall asleep, and she had consequently slept late.
Lucia arrived even later than Aurelia and began to talk almost immediately about another game of croquet. Aurelia knew perfectly well what was motivating the noble girl and privately thought she was likely to be disappointed for a second time.
But to her surprise, when they arrived at the croquet lawns, an entourage in tow, the Earl was already waiting for them with a resigned-looking Phoebe. He greeted his guests with easy smiles, and Aurelia pretended not to feel the least disappointed when he paid no special attention to her.
When everyone hurried to select mallets, however, the Earl appeared at her side.
“Is it true that you’re a beginner to the sport, Miss Aurelia?” he asked with good cheer.
“It is true, my lord. And I’m afraid I showed no great aptitude yesterday.” She wasn’t going to pretend she could impress him as Lucia no doubt could.
He merely laughed. “Ah, but if you had Phoebe for a teacher, you can’t be blamed for that. She has no great love for the sport and therefore cannot be considered an ideal mentor.”
“You mean I have no skill at it.” Phoebe grinned as Fable ran up her side and draped himself around her neck. “I like it well enough—better than any other sports that come to mind, at least.”
The Earl grinned back. “Your words, not mine, sister dearest.” He turned to Aurelia. “Would you accept me as a humble substitute for my sister? I’ll endeavor to give you better instruction, to the best of my ability.”
Aurelia caught movement in her peripheral vision as Lucia’s head whipped around to stare in their direction, Malia only a beat behind. But she accepted the Earl’s offer anyway. Had he come to croquet this morning in order to talk to her?
It was such a heady idea that she should have refused his help. She didn’t even consider it, however. She needed to know why he had brought her to his estate so she could get a good night’s sleep. Or so she told herself.
The game began, and the Earl stayed close to her side the whole way through, not playing himself but instead dedicating himself to her instruction.
This time, Aurelia made no attempt to escape in the direction of the cups of tea, and Phoebe, her partner, remained book-free.
Instead, Phoebe poked fun at her brother the whole way, critiquing his teaching techniques at every opportunity.
He took it all in good part, laughing and showing no signs that his pride was stung.
Watching them joking and laughing made Aurelia wish she had an elder brother of her own. But somehow she knew they wouldn’t have shared the same dynamic. Danton and Phoebe had grown up in unusual circumstances and had developed a unique bond as a result.
The Earl was quick to include Aurelia in their laughter, however, demonstrating his adroit social skills as he ensured she didn’t feel on the outer with the two siblings.
And she realized just how disastrous the morning had been when he finally declared he would have to show her how to hold the mallet properly.
Before she knew what was happening, his arms were around her, his hands warm on hers as he guided them into the correct hold.
His breath made her skin prickle as he leaned down and murmured instructions against her hair.
She could only be grateful he was physically moving her into position because her mind had gone completely blank—at least as far as croquet was concerned.
She had even forgotten their audience as her heart hammered against her chest, every part of her aware of his nearness.
If she turned around, they would be in an embrace.
She swallowed, trying to regain control of her mind. She was not going to turn around, and they were not embracing. He was teaching her.
And she had been right that it was a terrible idea to spend time with the Earl. He was far too captivating.
“Meet me in the library after luncheon.” The whisper brushed against her skin, taking time to penetrate her mind.
By the time its meaning had sunk in, he had already released her, standing back and declaring she was ready to try on her own.
Her wild attempt went so far off course that Phoebe almost fell over laughing, but Aurelia could only manage a weak smile.
When she looked at the Earl, he gave her a significant look and a nod, and she nodded back, despite herself.
They needed to talk. And clearly they needed to create an opportunity to do so since it was surprisingly difficult to have a private conversation at a house party—something she probably should have realized given the number of people attending.
Her attempts at croquet only got worse after that, and she could sense Lucia’s frustration at not only being excluded from their trio but at having such a useless opponent into the bargain.
By the time they finished on the croquet lawns and all strolled up to the house for luncheon, Aurelia’s nerves were frayed almost to breaking.
To her relief, the Earl excused himself from the meal, carrying a plate away with him and using the convenient excuse of business.
For all Aurelia knew, he truly did have business on the estate to occupy him.
But she suspected he was also taking the opportunity to shake off anyone who might try to stick close to him after the meal.
Unlike Aurelia, he was in high demand among the guests.
When the interminable meal finally ended, Aurelia was relieved to see her mother head into the gardens for a walk with the Marchioness. Watching them go, Aurelia managed a small smile. Her mother seemed to be having an excellent time.
But as soon as her mother was safely out of the building, she hurried in the direction of the library, watching carefully for any sign of other young people. After nearly running into Lucia in the entryway, she made a last-minute change of route and reached the library alone.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she slipped inside. In defiance of all her internal lectures about caution, she was unable to help a thrill at the meeting. Despite the presence of higher born and more sophisticated girls, the handsome earl wanted to meet with her.
She stepped inside, a smile already on her lips, only to catch sight of Phoebe.
The smile faltered and slipped before she managed to paste it back into place.
Of course Phoebe was there as well. It wasn’t a romantic assignation, and the Earl wouldn’t be so lost to propriety as to meet her totally alone.
The Earl stepped forward, and the sight of him reminded her how foolish she had grown after only a morning spent in his company. He was handsome enough and well born enough to court any girl in the kingdom. He wasn’t interested in her.
“I’m sorry to have brought you here for a house party only to ask for something else,” he said. “But I’m desperate, and you have the only new idea anyone has suggested.”
“You brought me here for the pegasus herd,” she said slowly, although it still made little sense to her.
He took several more steps in her direction. “Please won’t you help them?” He glanced toward Phoebe. “And us.”
Aurelia frowned. “But how can I be of help? Surely you have people better suited to searching for plants in the mountains than me. I don’t even know if such a plant exists, let alone what it looks like.”
He nodded. “I know. But you were the one to make the suggestion. You had the same basic information as everyone else, and yet you put it together in a new way. You’re a creative thinker. And I need every advantage I can get.”
Aurelia looked between him and Phoebe. “I don’t understand. Surely the king has better people to send with you than me.”
“Probably,” Phoebe said bluntly, and her brother shot her a reproving look.
Aurelia, however, smiled. She appreciated her friend’s honesty.
“But we need to be the ones to find the solution, not the king,” Phoebe declared matter-of-factly. “And while he has the royal medical team, the royal librarians, the pegasus grooms, and the royal guard, we have you.”
Aurelia’s eyes widened, and the Earl groaned.
“You’re going to scare her off putting it like that, Phoebe.” He looked back at Aurelia and grimaced. “But she’s not too far from the truth.”
“I still don’t understand,” she said slowly. “Of course I want to help the sick pegasi, and I believe you do too. But why does it have to be you that finds the solution to their illness?”
The Earl threw another look at Phoebe, and she sighed. “I’ve already told you. We can trust Aurelia. I’m sure of it.”
“I’m so used to not talking about it that it feels wrong,” he murmured. “But you’re right.” He drew a deep breath. “The truth, Aurelia, is that I’ve been breaking royal law for three years now.”
Despite the dramatic nature of his words, her attention settled on the way he’d said her name. It felt different without her title in front, no matter how small and insignificant a title. Had he dropped it because it was just the three of them? What would he do if she called him Danton in return?
“I told you she wouldn’t be so very shocked,” Phoebe said, and Aurelia raised her brows, forcing her mind to focus on his declaration.
“That depends on what law you’ve broken. If you’re about to confess that there are dead bodies buried beneath the floor, I’m going to run out of here screaming.”
Phoebe laughed but the Earl—Danton—only looked stricken. “Of course it’s nothing as serious as that. No one has been harmed. But there’s a reason I don’t usually invite anyone to my home. When no visitors are in residence, a pegasus lives in my stables.”
Aurelia sucked in a breath, finally feeling some of the shock he had clearly expected. “You’re bonded with a pegasus?”
He nodded. “Echo is…” He expelled a breath. “I could no more reject Echo than I could reject Phoebe.”
“You said three years. He bonded with you when you went into the mountains and brought down a stallion for the king.”
“Yes, Echo chose me on that trip,” Danton said. “And I’ve had to keep him a secret since. I think the head pegasus groom at the palace suspects—I visit the stables often when I’m in the capital, and I know too much about pegasi. But as far as I’m aware, he hasn’t said anything to anyone.”
“Where is Echo now?” Aurelia asked, trying to think through the ramifications of the Earl’s confession.
“I sent him into the mountains for the length of the house party. He’s waiting there for us.”
Aurelia’s brows rose at that statement, but she had another question to ask first.
“How does Echo relate to healing the royal herd? He isn’t sick too, is he?”
“No, thankfully. I’ve asked him about the sickness, and what might be keeping him healthy, but he doesn’t know, unfortunately.
The reason I need to find the cure myself is because the king has promised that if I can find a way to heal the royal herd, he’ll give me special permission to host another herd here at Windward. ”
Aurelia’s brows shot the rest of the way up.
“If Danton can get that permission,” Phoebe said, “then Echo won’t have to live in hiding anymore. Danton could ride him freely—even to the capital. And I won’t have to live in constant fear that my brother will be found out and punished by the king.”
Danton put his arm around her shoulders, giving her a quick squeeze. The look he directed toward Aurelia was pleading, and her heart wasn’t strong enough to resist it.
“So if I help you, and if we do manage to find a plant to heal those sick pegasi, then you’ll get your own herd?” she said slowly, taking time to absorb the situation.
“If Echo can start his own herd, it won’t belong to me,” Danton said. “But we’ll build a proper stables here for them, and they’ll belong to Windward, just like Phoebe and I do. And Echo won’t have to choose between me and having his own herd.”
He let go of his sister and came to Aurelia, taking her hands as he had the previous time they had met in the library. “Please help us, Aurelia.”
“Very well, my lord,” she said softly. “Although I still don’t know what help I’ll be.”
His relieved smile was dazzling, piercing straight to her heart. “We should leave this afternoon.”
Aurelia’s brows drew together. “Is a single afternoon enough time? Shouldn’t we set out earlier in the day in order to maximize our time?”
“It won’t be a one-day trip,” he said. “We’ll have to travel higher into the foothills if we hope to find a wild herd.”
“More than one day?” She stared at him. “But I can’t go into the mountains with you overnight!”
“We’ll bring tents, of course,” he said quickly.
“And we won’t be alone. I have a team from the estate ready—all loyal men who can be trusted—and Phoebe will come, too, of course.
” He grinned across at her. “It will get her on her feet and her nose out of those endless books for once. Nothing could be better for her.”
Phoebe wrinkled her nose at him, but Aurelia caught the genuine exasperation beneath the Earl’s affectionate teasing. He was a man of action, and he didn’t like his sister reading.
Aurelia’s heart sank. She had told herself she was being foolish in feeling a connection between them, but part of her had insisted on feeling it anyway.
But now she had all the proof she needed.
The Earl didn’t like bookworms. He had never picked Aurelia from a crowd.
She was his sister’s friend and someone who might be able to help him get something he desperately wanted.
That was all. No doubt he was attracted to athletic girls like Lucia.
“Even with Phoebe along, my mother will never agree,” she said woodenly.
“Aunt Ophelia will come as well,” Phoebe assured her, and the surprising revelation was enough to snap Aurelia out of her fog.
“Your aunt will trek into the mountains with us?”
Danton grinned. “She’s much tougher than she looks, I promise. And she’s a stickler for propriety. It’s an unusual undertaking, but you’ll share a tent with Phoebe and our aunt, and all proprieties will be observed.”
“We won’t have to put the tent up ourselves, will we?” Aurelia regarded Phoebe doubtfully. Did her friend have hidden skills?
Danton laughed. “Don’t worry, two of the gamekeepers will do that. All I need from you is your agreement to come.”
Aurelia sighed. “Then you have it. As long as my mother will allow it.”