“I do wish you had seen
how
Alwyn makes a difference,” Giles muttered and scowled at Ezra.
“So do I.” Ezra dragged his hands through his hair, leaving several strands standing straight up.
“We best decide,” said Paul. “They are coming.”
“I will go,” said Alwyn, standing up as straight as he could. “My mother would be sad if Sir Orion got bloody and he helped me get away from Morris and helped my mother find me. And I think Giles would be sad if his father got hurt, too, and Giles saved me. My mother will be with me so it will all be fine.”
It would not be fine at all, thought Giles, but he said nothing. Ezra and Paul had the sight. It was not wise to ignore their words. This plan was going to make every adult around them furious, however. Giles also had to think of some way to stay with Alwyn and yet not be caught by Morris or his men. He had no doubt about his own fate if he was caught. No one needed him alive to claim Alwyn’s fortune. Then he heard the faint sound of a carriage approaching at a quick pace and knew he had to make his plans fast.
“We have to get him nearer to the road,” said Hector.
Giles grabbed Hector by the arm to stop him. “You cannot put the boy out by the road as if he is some Michaelmas gift just waiting to be gathered up.” He looked at the boy trying so hard to be brave and decided he would be a good brother to have, if his father was smart enough to marry Alwyn’s mother. “Only Alwyn goes. Alwyn, walk toward the road and pretend you are looking for some of those stones you like to collect. The rest of you”—he glared around at the other boys—“keep back some, so that if the men catch sight of you, they do not see you as something they need to be rid of.”
“Will they not be suspicious if they find him wandering about alone?” asked Hector.
“He will not be alone, just separate from the pack. Once they grab him, the rest of you can make an outcry and act like you are going to chase him down and get him back. Just do not get too close. I want you all to make as much noise as you can and appear to be trying to get to them before they can get Alwyn in the carriage.”
“How do you know they have a carriage?”
“I can hear the bloody thing. Now, my plan? You understand it?”
“Why is it your plan?” Hector studied him and his eyes slowly narrowed. “What are you going to do while Alwyn gets grabbed and we run around like headless chickens, yelling like we are actually a threat?”
“I am going to get on that carriage,” Giles said.
“How can you do that without being seen?”
“Thought you lived in the city,” drawled Giles, but then hastily explained when Hector glared at him. “I am jumping on the back so I can go where they go. Do it all the time in London. Usually a little perch there for a footman.”
“That will not be a city carriage.”
“Have not noticed a big difference in carriages. I can just hang on the back if I have to. Now be ready to do what I said.”
Giles moved closer to the road, doing his best to stay out of sight. He was not fond of riding on the back of a carriage, but he could not allow Alwyn to go into danger without him. If his brother and cousin were right, Lady Catryn was in trouble, too, and his father would not want her to be alone, either. Hector had not spent days traveling with the two of them and did not know that Lady Catryn could become their mother. Giles was still hoping his father had enough sense to see that it would be a good choice for all of them and that he would regret it if he let her walk away.
The carriage had slowed somewhat as it neared the manor, then stopped suddenly when the man riding with the driver bellowed in surprise. If Alwyn had stayed in the manor or even in sight of the residents at Radmoor, they would never have had a chance. It also appeared that Morris’s men were not bright enough to question why the boy was outside, near the road, all alone. Anyone with a drop of sense would see the trap waiting there, Giles thought as he got ready to run to the back of the carriage.
The man who had yelled jumped down and grabbed Alwyn. Giles almost smiled at the way the boy carried on, and the others quickly did as told. The noise was a perfect distraction and he ran, hopping onto the back of the carriage and tucking his body in as close to the wood as possible so that he would not be spotted.
He listened as the man shoved Alwyn into the carriage and slammed the door. And odd noise told him that the door was being secured in some way. Then he pulled out his handkerchief and hastily tied it over his mouth and nose. Just as he finished, the driver snapped the reins and the carriage jerked into motion, within moments reaching a speed that frightened him a little.
As soon as he began to feel more secure, Giles inched up until he was standing. He peered into the little window and saw Lady Catryn hugging Alwyn. The smile the little boy gave her showed he was proud that he had done his part in the plan perfectly. Lady Catryn looked horrified and Giles hoped it was because she did not know the whole story.
When she struggled to her feet, he tensed, knowing she would see him in a moment. He tried to think of a way to tell her everything was fine. It was not, and she was too quick-witted to believe that, but he would try to reassure her. Then her eyes met his and widened. He grinned.
Catryn jerked awake, stunned that she had actually gone to sleep for a while and blamed the surprisingly steady sway of the carriage. A quick look out the window revealed that it was late in the afternoon. She had thought Morris would have been lurking a lot closer to the inn where she and Orion had stayed. Although Orion had difficulty using his gift to find Morris, he had still been certain that the man was close when they had stopped there. It was why they had stopped much earlier in the day than they had planned, for Orion had wanted to take some time to seek out any clues to Morris’s presence in the area. They were miles away from there now.
She wished she knew how long she had slept but could only guess. Then she realized the carriage was beginning to slow down and she returned to looking out of the window. Her heart sank, for she was certain she recognized where they were. Despite how firmly she told herself that one could not tell one larch from another, she could not shake her certainty that she knew the place, and the small clearing they were now passing by.
The truth struck her hard and she gasped. They were near Radmoor. Catryn was torn between hope and fear. Were they just passing through on their way to London? Were they here to try and get Alwyn? Did she have even the smallest chance of getting one of the doors open, leaping out of the carriage without breaking any bones, and running for the manor and safety? Just as she decided to try the doors again, the carriage came to such an abrupt stop she was tossed off the seat and landed hard on the dirty floor.
Catryn cursed as she struggled to get untangled from her skirts. She could hear the men talking and there was an urgency in their voices that told her something important was about to happen. There was a chance that they would open one of the doors and she needed to be ready to try and get out, no matter how slim the chance of success. Scrambling to her knees, she was just about to get to her feet when the door was yanked open. Her lunge for the door was halted by the impact of a small body, which sent her slamming back to the floor. She knew who she held even before she looked up into blue eyes as familiar to her as her own.
“Do not look so sad, Mama,” Alwyn said as the door was slammed shut and the carriage began to move again. “This is where I must be. Even Papa says so.”
Catryn fought back the urge to weep. Her one comfort had been that Alwyn was safe. Just why that was no longer true was a question she needed answered but was not sure Alwyn could do so. At times he could seem much older than he was, but she now wondered how much of that was actually his spirit companion and how much was Alwyn.
“Why must you be here?” she asked her son as she started to struggle to get to her feet without letting go of him or tearing her gown.
“Because Paul and Ezra saw it in a dream. If I am here with you then Sir Orion will not end up on the ground and bloodied.”
She nearly fell back onto the floor. “They saw him dead?”
“They did not say dead. They said on the ground and bloody. But if I am with you it will be Morris who is on the ground.” He frowned. “They did not say Morris would be bloody and I think he should be. He is behaving very badly.”
“It was still foolish of you to allow yourself to be caught. We left you at the Radmoors so that Morris could not grab you again, and yet here you are.”
Alwyn patted her cheek. “I will be fine. They saw me standing with you while”—he paused and looked thoughtful as he always did when his spirit spoke to him—“that cowardly pile of pig muck will be squirming on the floor in terror as he damned well should be.” He then smiled and nodded. “Papa is right again.”
“Papa needs to grow a little humble.”
Finally on her knees, Catryn started to push herself to her feet. She looked to the long narrow window at the back of the carriage and froze. Giles was looking back at her. She blinked and shook her head, but that boyish face with its mischievous grin was still there.
“Giles, what are you doing?”
It did not surprise her when his answer was a few awkward jerks of the fingers of one hand, and then he slowly disappeared from view. She sat down on the seat and kept Alwyn pinned to her side. How could everything have gone so wrong so quickly? What bothered her even more, aside from the gnawing fear that Giles would die on the back of that carriage, was that Orion would soon learn the ones he had been working so hard to protect were now in the hands of their enemy. The fact that she had tricked him into leaving her alone so that Morris grabbed her first was going to make him even angrier.
“Alwyn, we need to pray that Giles stays safe on the back of this carriage,” she said.
“I will. Papa says the lad will do fine as he is a boy who has learned a fine skill or two while fighting for his life in that hard-hearted bitch of a city.”
“Aeddon Vaughn, you will cease teaching my child those words,” she snapped and then sighed. “And now I am talking to a spirit I cannot even see. This disaster has clearly disordered my mind.”
Perhaps, she thought wearily, that would be her plea when a furious Orion finally found them.
Chapter Sixteen
After making certain he had all Catryn had asked for tucked securely in the small sack, Orion tied it to his saddle. He stared at it for a long moment, wondering what bothered him about it. Everything about Catryn’s request troubled him, causing a nagging uneasiness that grew stronger the longer he was away from the inn. It was as if he were acting out a part in some play. Yet he could not see what was wrong, what misstep had been taken.
His heart clenched as he battled the fear that he had lost his gift. Not only was he surprised how much that bothered him, as if someone had cut away a piece of him, but he had never heard of a single person in his clan having that happen to them. Considering how their ancestors had suffered for what they could do, Orion was certain he would have heard or read of someone who had found a way to kill the part of them that made them so different from everyone else. He was allowing his difficulties with Morris to prey on his mind. It was also a bad time for his gift to become so tempermental as he needed it in his battle to keep Catryn and Alwyn safe.
Catryn had been ill and he had come to collect what she needed to help her feel better. It was as simple as that, he told himself, yet a part of him still refused to accept that. He could almost believe he had begun to gain a third gift, something none of his clan ever had, and was having a premonition or forewarning. That pinch of panic was growing stronger and a part of him was increasingly urging him to go back to the inn as fast as he could.
Deciding he would heed that intensifying urgency, Orion mounted his horse and rode across the field toward the road. He had just reached the edge of the road when he spotted three horsemen riding his way from the direction of London. He kept his hand on his pistol until they drew close enough for him to recognize.
At first he was delighted to see some of his family, especially three men he rarely saw but liked well. Then he thought on how unusual it was for three of his clan, large though it was, to be on this road at this particular time, and just when he was really in need of some help. All pleasure in seeing Bened, Iago, and Gethin rapidly faded. His smile of greeting was no more than a memory by the time the three men reined in before him.
They did make an impressive group of men, Orion thought as he waited for one of them to speak. Bened Vaughn was the biggest, taller than the other two by several inches and broader of shoulder. Dark haired and dusky skinned, Orion had no doubt the tale of his gypsy blood was true despite his silvery eyes. The man could sense danger or an enemy and could read a lot in the weakest of trails. Iago Vaughn looked the elegant man of society many thought him to be, with his thick black hair; tall, lean, and well-dressed frame; and hazel green eyes. But Orion knew the man had strength and courage. He had to possess such qualities to deal with a gift that showed him the dead, revealed ones standing in the shadows of approaching death, and could even show him people connected to death in some way, usually from the dealing out of it. Gethin Vaughn looked a lot like his sister Alethea, now the wife of the Marquis of Redgrave, with his black hair, ivory skin, and silvery blue eyes. The last Orion had heard of the man, Gethin had been roaming through the wilds of America learning everything he could about medicines, potions, and anything that hinted at the mystical. Every one of the men was closely connected to Alethea, who had the powerful gift of foresight, and who was in London at the moment.
“Thea sent you,” he finally said, fighting to hide the fear for Catryn that gripped him.
“She did,” said Bened. “She said you had need of us. Told us you were being blinded by a man you need to stop. Did fear she meant that literally, but then she explained herself. Man has a shield and your skills cannot get past it. She thought ours might.”
Orion grimaced and scratched his chin. “That is the sad truth. Yet if he is shielded from me then he will be shielded from you, will he not?”
“I thought so,” said Gethin, “but my sister just said we had to come here, to the field with the crooked willow. She was insistent on that. I am thinking Bened’s gift for reading a trail might be something no one can truly protect himself from. I have also gained some knowledge of the same in my travels. I decided Iago was sent along as the pretty trimming for this mighty army.”
“How kind of you to acknowledge who is the fairest of this group,” drawled Iago, but the look he gave Orion was intensely serious. “My gift would be useless as far as I can tell, but when Thea says to go, one goes. I will say that I have never encountered anyone who can repel my gift.” He smiled faintly. “Death conquers all, they say. I do, however, have some other uses.”
Knowing Iago referred to his work for the government, Orion nodded even as his stomach became knotted with worry about Catryn. “What did Thea see?”
“All she told us was that we are needed here.”
“No, we need to be at the inn.”
Orion could wait no longer and spurred his mount into a gallop. He now knew what had been nagging at him. Catryn had looked the same as she had when she had felt a strong foreboding. She had seen that danger was headed their way and found a way to send him off, to get him away from the looming threat. While he had been prancing through a field collecting plants she did not need, she had been alone at the inn, facing whatever Morris had decided to send against them this time.
The sound of his relatives following him gave him some comfort. If more of Morris’s men were coming for him, he could meet them squarely now. All that really mattered was that he reach Catryn before the threat did.
When he reined in before the inn, he knew he was too late. The innkeeper and several of his workers were waiting for him. Orion dismounted, pushed by them, and went straight up the stairs to Catryn’s bedchamber. He knew he would not find her there but hoped he might find something, anything, which could tell him who had her and where they were taking her.
Her bedchamber held nothing of hers except for her lingering scent. It was obvious that she had gathered her belongings in a hurry, though. It did him no good at all, but he could see her plan clearly. First she put him out of harm’s way, and they would be sure to have a discussion about that when he got her back, and then she would hide wherever she could. Knowing he could be used against her because she cared for him, she would try to lead her enemy as far from the inn as possible. He also knew, his gift acting just as it should for the first time in far too long, that she would try to get to Radmoor, where she would be safe with her son.
“I am sorry, sir,” said the innkeeper.
Orion looked behind him and realized that his kin and the innkeeper had all followed him to Catryn’s room. He fixed his gaze on the innkeeper. “Did she get away?”
“Nay, sir,” the innkeeper replied. “She gave it a good run, she did, but one of them knocked her to the ground. Then we, me and the lads, tried to stop them from taking her, but they pulled pistols on us, threatened to shoot us. Your lady said she would go with them then. They tossed her into a carriage and headed for London. Well, headed off in that direction and all. Right sorry we failed in stopping them.”
“They would not have hesitated to shoot you. You did the right thing and so did she.”
Resisting the urge to shove everyone out of his way, Orion politely nudged his way through the blockade formed by the innkeeper and three Vaughns. He went into the room next to Catryn’s, the one he had taken for the sake of propriety only, since he had had every intention of spending a long, luxurious night in his woman’s arms.
His woman
, he thought as he hurriedly packed his belongings. Orion shook his head. She was his and it was past time he just accepted it, stopped wondering over such things as love. He knew he would be a good husband and that was all that mattered. Catryn was his and Morris would pay dearly for frightening and hurting her.
“Where do you think they took her?” asked Iago as they started out of the room.
Orion stopped and looked behind him, realizing that he had been so involved in his own thoughts he had not even paid heed to the fact that his relatives had been following him around. All three watched him with concern, and a touch of amusement. He suspected the concern was mostly for Catryn and the amusement came from the knowledge that he had been firmly caught, his bachelor days soon to come to an end.
“He is taking her to London,” he replied, turning and starting out of the room. “The man does not plan anything. There is no order to what he does, which is one reason he has been so difficult for me to stop. That and what I suspect is a natural shield against such gifts as mine. One thing remains constant. He wants my Catryn.”
“So he will not hurt her.”
“Not yet. If he can force her to marry him, get what he wants, I cannot be certain what he will do after that. Catryn and Giles say he is similar to the very worst of spoiled children, intellectually and emotionally. What does such a child do if he gets what he wants and then decides it is actually not what he wants or becomes bored with it?”
“Tosses it out or breaks it.”
“So I thought. Catryn is safe enough for now, at least until the vows have been said. So is Alwyn.” He stopped short and stared blindly at the horses waiting for them, absently noting that the animals had been tended well by the inn’s stable hands. “Alwyn,” he muttered. “I think we will need to make a stop at Radmoor. The boy is there and he is the other thing Morris badly wants.”
“So Thea said,” Bened said as he moved to his horse and swung up into the saddle.
“I thought all she told you was that you needed to be here to help me because I was too blind to do it myself.” Orion secured his pack to his horse and mounted.
“That and the fact that it is not just because of the woman. The boy needs help and he is one of us. That she did not explain.”
“And I have no answer. There is a very distant connection between the Gryffins, Catryn’s family, and ours, but the boy has a very strong gift.” Orion started to ride in the direction the innkeeper said the kidnappers had gone, keeping his horse at an easy pace. “He has a spirit attached to him whom he calls Papa.” He explained all about Aeddon. “For that I have no answers either.”
“You do not believe Catryn cuckolded her husband though.”
“No, Bened, I do not. Yet, it is evident that her husband drugged her every night he planned to visit her bed, and there was no reason to do so. I begin to fear that there is a very ugly truth behind what he did, one that is going to cause Catryn a lot of pain.”
Bened nodded. “No racing to the city?”
“No. Morris will go there and I believe he will go to his own home as well. Might already be there and it is just his men we chase now. Morris thinks I am the only threat to his plans, and I have yet to prove to be a truly serious one, sad to say. There is no need to exhaust ourselves or our mounts.”
When not one of his relatives objected to that plan, Orion relaxed again at that silent agreement. He wanted to race to London and snatch Catryn away from Morris as quickly as possible, but he knew it was an unthinking urge. At the pace they had set they would not arrive in London all that much later than Morris’s men, who would have to change the team pulling the carriage at least once, perhaps more if they pushed the horses hard, and they also had to follow the roads. He and his family had some time to plan what to do when they did find Morris.
And once he got Catryn free of Morris and all the trouble he was causing, Orion knew he had to make a decision. Stay free or stay with Catryn. There was no way he could do both. His heart told him to stay with her, marry her, become a faithful husband. Despite the fact that he wanted no other woman, his mind had stubbornly clung to the idea of maintaining his freedom. The gut-wrenching fear he felt over her being in Morris’s hands told him he was just struggling a little against the inevitable.
“Appears to be some trouble at Radmoor.”
Iago’s voice pulled Orion from his thoughts and he realized they had ridden miles already while he had brooded. He was briefly grateful for the respite until he realized the import of his cousin’s words. Looking ahead, he could see Ashton arguing with some of the boys while Pen sat on the grass with a wide-eyed Juno at her side. A cold, hard knot settled in his belly as he nudged to the front of the pack and rode over to the group. The looks on their faces when they saw him only made that knot colder and harder.
“What has happened?” he asked and then noticed that Alwyn and Giles were not there. Knowing his son, Orion was certain the boy would be in the midst of this trouble, if only to watch it. “Where are Alwyn and Giles?”
“Morris has Alwyn,” answered Ashton as he stepped closer to the road.
“He had to go,” said Paul, moving to stand next to Ashton.
“Are you telling me that you knew what would happen and did nothing to stop it?” The way Paul turned pale told Orion that his anger was too clear to see, and although he felt guilty for scaring the boy, he was not sure he could bury the fury burning inside of him.
“We could not stop it,” said Hector as he stepped up beside Paul and put his arm around the younger boy’s shoulders. “Paul saw you dead at Morris’s hand and Morris holding Lady Catryn. Ezra saw Morris as the one who would fall, and you holding Lady Catryn. With you stood Alwyn.”
“Oh hell,” muttered Ashton, and Orion could hear his companions echoing the sentiment weighting Ashton’s curse.
The boys had read the signs the only way one could read them. Paul and Ezra were already gaining a reputation within the family for the clarity of their visions and forebodings and the way they worked together so well to understand them. If Orion was to survive the final encounter with Morris, then Alwyn had to be there. It did not make any sense to him, for he could not see how a small boy could be of any help, but he doubted either Ezra or Paul had seen the sort of detail that would make it all clearer. Nor did any of it make the knowledge that Morris held Catryn and Alwyn any more palatable.