Had he taken a turn for the worse? Oh, dear Lord, is that why Kips had been acting so strangely? No, no, Lord Roberts could not be dead.
The soft murmur of male conversation interrupted the silence. Anxious for answers, Ella rushed across the room to an adjoining door. She lifted her fist to knock when Lord Roberts’s voice made her still.
“Did you see the body?”
Elation gave way to confusion.
Body? Whose body?
“Leo,” she whispered. “No, not Leo.”
Not Leo!
The blood rushed from Ella’s head, and the room started to go dark. She sank against the wall, too weak to stand.
“Well, not exactly,” a male voice replied. “But a man from town claimed to have seen the Indian’s remains and buried him.”
Indian? Not Leo?
Relief shot through her, bringing stinging tears to her eyes. “Not Leo.” But who? “Akshay,” she whispered, horrified.
“Damn it, you didn’t see for yourself that he was dead?” Lord Roberts growled in a voice that belied his weaken state.
“No, my lord. We can dig up the body if you’d like.”
“Constantly cleaning up Henry’s messes.” Lord Roberts sighed, long and loud. “Forget the Indian man.” There was a tinkle of china, as if he were taking a drink of tea.
“And the governess?”
Fear and confusion held Ella frozen in place. There was only one governess in this household.
“She retired hours ago, my lord.”
“A nosey chit. But Henry insists on keeping her.”
Ella couldn’t seem to move. Couldn’t seem to think. Lord Roberts didn’t want her here? Never had? Then why was she here?
“Do you think me a monster, Samson?”
“It is not my job to judge, my lord.”
Ella’s hands fisted in her skirts.
“It must be done, you know.”
“Of course, my lord.”
“It is not something I enjoy, but it must be done.”
Ella stumbled back, leaning on a dressing table. “What must be done?” she whispered.
A chair scraped in the room, indicating someone was standing. Ella spun around, preparing to flee.
Then she saw it, glistening on the tabletop…a necklace. The same necklace Convey’s brother had in his cottage. A little, clear quartz god. She staggered back, feeling as if she’d been punched in the gut.
“Very good, Samson.” Lord Roberts’s voice sounded hollow and empty, as if the man were far away, when she knew, even in her dazed state, he was coming.
She stumbled back, her heart thundering in her ears. He was coming. She spun around and raced across the room. When she was not three feet from the door, it opened. Ella stopped, soft gasps of air parting her lips.
“Miss Finch,” Kips snapped, his jaw clenched in obvious annoyance as if he’d been looking for her.
A shiver of unease made the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, and she knew Lord Roberts had entered the room. Kips’s gaze focused over her shoulder and panic sucked the strength from her body. Swallowing hard, she turned. Lord Roberts stood in the middle of the bedchamber, his brows drawn together.
“What has happened?” he demanded, taking a step forward and pausing to lean on his cane.
“I just now found Miss Finch here, in your bedchamber.”
Lord Roberts’s nostrils flared slightly, the only sign of his anger. “Leave us, Kips.”
The man bowed and left the room. Ella wanted to beg him to stay, but she knew she was alone. Silence settled around them, harsh and condemning.
“What exactly are you doing in here, my dear?” His voice was calm, too calm.
“Lord Roberts, I…I…” Oh, dear God, she couldn’t think. “I wanted to check on your welfare.”
He came closer, his face a blank, empty mask that frightened her more than his anger. “Really? And what did you find?”
Her hands fluttered around her like nervous birds looking for escape. “I…I saw that the bed was empty and was worried. I was going to ask after you, when Kips entered.”
He stilled only feet from her. “What did you overhear, Ella?”
She couldn’t prevent the telltale heat from racing to her face. “Nothing, I swear it.” But she’d never been good at lying, and it was obvious Lord Roberts didn’t believe her.
He sighed and closed his eyes for the briefest of moments as if gravely disappointed. “It doesn’t matter. You would have found out soon enough. In fact, we did little to hide the obvious.”
But it wasn’t obvious. Nothing made sense. “I don’t understand.”
Instead of answering her, he went to his sideboard and poured a glass of scotch. “And that, my dear, is your downfall. You are much too trusting.”
She didn’t know how to respond, and so she didn’t.
“This is bigger than you, Ella. This is about my family, my heritage.” He strolled to his dressing table with his glass in hand. “Is this familiar?” He held up the necklace, the god swinging back and forth, glistening like pure ice in the lamplight.
Ella swallowed hard and nodded.
“Of course it is.” He smiled and dropped the necklace to the tabletop. It tinkled like glass. “I have no use for it. But Henry’s father thought the god important, and now Henry does. I only want to keep my family together, to keep the bloodline strong.”
“Of course, my lord. Surely you will.” She darted a glance at the door, wondering if she could make it down the hall before he called for help.
“You wouldn’t make it.”
She snapped her gaze toward Lord Roberts. He’d gone from looking indifferent to looking furious. With hurried steps, he stormed toward her. Fear held her immobile. He stopped only inches from her face, his breathing ragged and harsh against her skin. “It couldn’t work with Leo.”
“I…I don’t understand.” He was mad. Truly, completely mad.
“Leo will be this family’s downfall, and I can’t allow that.”
Her lips parted on her gasp. “My lord, surely you don’t mean that. Leo is—”
“Insane. Uncouth.”
She resisted the urge to reach out to him, to make him take the words back. “My lord, no!”
He laughed then, a sound of actual mirth. “You honestly thought I’d keep him here? I’d hand over the title to a boy educated in a jungle?”
Ella ignored his question and attempted to keep her face calm and natural. “Perhaps you aren’t feeling well; perhaps I should call for a servant.”
Forcing herself not to run, Ella turned and started toward the door. Something whacked hard against her back. She cried out and stumbled forward. The ground rose up to meet her, and she hit the carpet with a thud that shook her bones. Immediately, she rolled over. Lord Roberts loomed above, his cane in hand. She shrank back, her lungs collapsing, and she couldn’t seem to draw a breath. He quirked a bushy brow and tapped his cane lightly against an open palm.
“It’s honorable, really. You think you can protect him?” There was no sadness in his voice, not even mockery—only mild curiosity.
She scooted back, her feet catching on her skirts. It couldn’t all end like this. “Please.”
“I admire that, I do.” He started toward her. “But you can’t possibly understand our world.”
Tears stung her eyes, and she finally managed to get to her feet. “He’s your grandson!”
Lord Roberts released a harsh laugh. “I highly doubt that, my dear. Not with the way my wife was constantly sniffing around my older brother.”
Ella didn’t understand this Lord Roberts; she didn’t understand what was happening. Was she dreaming? Stuck in a perpetual nightmare?
Lord Roberts waved a hand through the air. “His sire doesn’t matter. I would have allowed him to rule this land, but I can’t allow it now. Leo is the firstborn, he will inherit everything. Everything. Henry is trained. He knows how to run this estate. I thought Leo dead, but Leo came back. He’s not right, Ella. Don’t you see that? He can’t run this estate…not everything I’ve worked so hard for.”
Ella glanced one more time at the door. Was Kips still there, keeping watch? Most likely. How could she possibly escape with so many servants working against her? She had to find Leo; she had to tell him his grandfather had gone mad. She had to save him.
“Leo’s father was barely better than Leo. Still, I would have allowed him to inherit. But Leo…that is asking too much of me. Not when I had to watch my own brother nearly run our name into the ground with his ignorance and wild ways.”
“Leo is not wild—he cares.” Ella tried one more time.
Lord Roberts sighed as if truly disappointed in her. “You’re blind. You don’t understand how society works. Do you know what I’ve done to keep this castle within my grips?”
Ella straightened, suddenly angry. “No, and I don’t think I want to know. I’m leaving, Lord Roberts. You can’t keep me here.”
He didn’t look gleeful when he responded, merely resigned. “Yes, I can.”
Ella knew she had only moments. She spun around and raced to the door. Her sweaty hands slipped on the handle and pulled. It wouldn’t budge.
Locked in, captured.
Slowly, she turned. Lord Roberts stood in front of her. A scream trapped in her throat as he lifted his cane and swung toward her belly. The wooden pole hit her hip with a thud that sent Ella stumbling into a table. She lost her balance, and the table and the objects it held fell to the floor with her.
She pushed her hands under, attempting to sit up, when Lord Roberts appeared.
“I’m sorry, my dear. Truly I am.” He pushed her back so hard her head hit the carpet with a thud that left her dizzy. In her dazed mind repeated the thought that this couldn’t possibly be happening. Lord Roberts couldn’t be mad. It was all a dream.
Before she could even part her lips to scream, he pressed his cane to her neck, the wooden pole crushing her throat. Ella wrapped her fingers around the cane and pushed back. The old man was too strong. Her arms burned with exertion. She’d die…and with her death Leo would die. Black blurred the rim of her vision.
Just barely, as if from far away, she could see Lord Roberts smiling. “You did an admirable job holding on, my dear.”
She closed her eyes and pictured Leo. His golden body, his soft smile, those intense eyes. No. It couldn’t be the end. Ella flung her right arm wide, hitting something hard. Desperate, she wrapped her fingers around the cool, metal object.
“It’s rather unfortunate, but must be done. Just close your eyes—it will be over soon,” Lord Roberts’s voice was fading as her mind started going blank.
Dredging every ounce of strength she had left, Ella lifted the object and slammed it against Lord Roberts’s head. His gaze widened, and he slumped to the side. The blackness roared back, and light burst into view. Ella pushed his cane away, gulping for air. She scooted back from his unmoving body. A deep ache pulsed down her neck, but she was barely aware of the pain. Instead, she focused on the bright red blood that trickled down Lord Roberts’s temple.
Had she killed him? She stumbled to her feet, her heart pounding against her chest. A thump sounded from the hall, footsteps coming closer and closer. Any moment the servants would arrive. She’d be hauled off to prison, and Leo would never know the truth. Leo would hate her for killing his grandfather. Tears burned her eyes. Frantic, her gaze jumped from door to door, looking for the safest way out. Could she make it? Could she possibly sneak through the house without being caught?
A soft rain pattered against the windows, and suddenly she knew how to escape. The only way out.
Ella stumbled to the windows. Her hands trembled as she pushed the panes wide. Above, spread a dark, fathomless sky; below was blackness. She had to find Leo. She had to tell him she hadn’t meant to kill his grandfather. She pulled herself onto the window ledge. Her right foot slipped on the slick sill.
“Please, God, please.” She grasped onto the sides, regaining her balance.
The cool wind whipped her gown around her legs, and strands of hair slapped her face. Reaching into her skirt pocket she drew forth her uncle’s journal. She took in a deep breath and with a low growl threw the book into the night sky. Spinning and flipping, the journal arched over the moat and landed with a soft thud on the bank.
The moon peeked from behind a black cloud and below, the remnants of the moat glistened silver in the dim light. Ella closed her eyes and let the soft rain wet her face. Could she do it? Could she possibly survive the jump?
Just relax and you’ll float
, Leo’s voice drifted through her mind.
“Just relax,” she whispered.
Taking in a deep breath, she released her hold and jumped.
“Bravo, dear cousin. Charming the hostess?”
Leo clenched his jaw. The urge to toss the cup of lemonade into his cousin’s face was overwhelming. His fingers tightened around the delicate glass as he turned to face the man.
Merda,
he merely wanted to take Lady Pool her drink and slip outside unnoticed.
“Doing what I can to dispel the lies you’ve spread.”
Henry blinked his eyes wide. “Lies? I’ve only told the truth. How you attacked me in front of our grandfather. How you attacked me in front of our guests and how you attacked poor Convey for no reason at all. Besides, we had visitors that day, dear cousin. They’d spread the rumors before I’d arrived.”
Leo brushed past him, knowing his cousin followed. “I misjudged the lengths you’d go, you know. But in my defense, I expected family to be honorable and trustworthy.”
Henry released a wry chuckle. “Ah, well, that’s where you went wrong.”
Leo stopped and met the man’s gaze. “I won’t make the mistake of trusting you ever again.” He turned to leave.
“Where is that lovely governess of yours?”
Henry’s words stopped him cold. Icy fear raced down Leo’s spine. “Do not speak of her—do not even think of her.”
“Or what?” He brushed a piece of imaginary lint from his black jacket. “Leaving her alone at the estate wasn’t one of your most brilliant ideas.” He stepped closer to Leo. “Anything could happen there…without protection.”
Leo’s free hand curled as he resisted the urge to hit his cousin. “She’s protected.”
Henry quirked a brow. “Is she? Was she protected when that arrow came through the garden? When she was attacked in the woods?”
The cup dropped from Leo’s hand, shattering on the floor. He hadn’t told Henry about the attack in the woods. Hadn’t even told his grandfather until right before he’d left. He’d known his cousin was responsible, but he’d never imagined Henry would practically admit he’d been involved. “If she is harmed in any way—”
“And that heathen friend of yours. What ever happened to him?”
Leo stepped closer, anger propelling him forward. “Where is he?”
Henry clasped his hands behind his back and nodded toward a servant who was rushing their way to clean up the mess. “Why, how should I know?”
Leo’s nostrils flared, his anger mounting with each passing moment. “Damn you, where is Akshay?”
“I’d be more worried about that woman you’ve seduced.”
Panic flared through his body, clenching his gut like a fist. “What have you done with her?”
“Ella?” Henry straightened his coat. “Nothing.” He turned and started to walk away. “Yet.”
Before Henry could escape, Leo grabbed his cousin by the back of his coat and spun him around. Leo slammed his fist into his cousin’s face. Henry stumbled back and fell to the floor. High-pitched screams erupted through the room. He didn’t care. Nothing mattered, nothing but Ella. He pulled Henry up by the collar. “What will happen to her?”
Henry swiped at the blood pouring from his nose. “He’s mad,” he shouted to the room.
Leo jerked his cousin closer, frantic to know the truth. “What are you planning?”
“It’s over, Cousin,” Henry sneered in a whisper, blood smeared across his right cheek. “You couldn’t save your Indian friend. You can’t save Miss Finch. And you sure as hell can’t save your reputation.”
Anger and despair welled inside Leo, erupting in a roar of anguish that ripped from his throat. He slammed his fist into his cousin’s face again.
“Help me,” Henry cried out, twisting from Leo’s grip.
Suddenly, Leo felt claws dig into his shoulders. Faces flashed before his mind…angry…shouting in a language he didn’t understand. The whip hit his back over and over…He was pushed forward and fell hard onto the marble floor. The thump vibrated through his body and brought him back into reality.
These were different faces that hovered over him, round and white…and horrified. “Let me go,” he roared, struggling against the arms that held him down.
“Dear God, tie him up before he hurts someone else,” Henry cried, regaining his feet with the help of friends.
“Tell me what you’ll do with her,” Leo demanded as they jerked him to his feet.
“I don’t know what you’re speaking of.” Henry pressed a white handkerchief to his nose. “Insane. Mad, I tell you.”
Leo elbowed a man in the gut, freeing himself. He lunged at his cousin. Gasps rang out, and he was pulled back once more. “He’s going to kill her.”
“What do you speak of?” he heard one man snap.
“What should we do with him?” another asked.
“He’s ruining the ball,” Lady Pool shrieked, her pale face hovering before him.
“Not safe in my own home.”
Leo spun around and grabbed Lord Pool by the collar. “You don’t understand—he’s going to kill her.”
“Dear God,” the man cried out, swatting his hands away.
Growling in frustration, Leo pushed them aside and started toward the doors. Ella, he had to get to Ella. She was alone. Vulnerable. All this time he thought he was the target.
“Don’t let him leave—who knows what he’ll do,” Henry’s voice echoed shrill across the room.
Before Leo could reach the doors, hands dug into his shoulders…his arms…pulling at him…tugging at him…holding him back.
“What should we do?” a man asked.
“Lock him up until my grandfather arrives,” Henry said.
Lord Pool’s head bobbed amongst a crowd of horrified onlookers. “My cellar.”
In a jerk, he was pulled down a long hall, away from the guests. “Where are you taking me?” Leo threw his arm wide and hit one of the men in the stomach.
“Damn it, hold him still! Strong as an ox.”
More arms, more hands clutched at him…dragging him up stairs and down a yet another hall, so fast the doors and furniture blurred before him.
“You don’t understand—her life’s in danger!”
Merda!
How could he get them to realize?
“Rubbish, pure rubbish, he’s gone over the bend,” Henry’s voice rang out. “Insane. You heard the rumors.”
“He’s mad, he is,” another man said.
“How could he not be? Raised in a jungle for God’s sake, no more than a heathen.”
They pulled him down a dark set of stairs. “Unhand me…I’ll leave your party, I’ll never return.” The men lapsed into silence and hesitated. “Please,” Leo pressured, looking into every one of their shadowed faces, so many he knew his situation was hopeless.
“He’s lying. Dear God, do not fall for his deceit.” Henry’s voice rang out. “Since he’s returned he’s attacked innocent men and his own family. He’s insane; how could he not be?”
They mumbled their agreement and jerked him down…down steps into a cold cellar. “He’ll be fine for now,” Lord Pool said. “It’s best we lock him in here until Lord Roberts arrives or the constable.”
They wretched open a large wooden door.
“Her life is in danger. He’s lying—they’ll kill her!” he cried out, desperate to make them understand, still clinging to the hope that they would.
They pushed him into the room. Leo fell to the ground, his knees slamming on rough stone floor. He stumbled to his feet and shot toward the entrance. The door slammed shut in his face. Leo threw his body against the wooden panel.
“He’ll kill her!” he cried out, pounding his fist against the solid oak.
Lord Pool’s face appeared in the small window. “We’ll bring you food, blankets. We’ll try to get you help, young man.”
Leo clutched the bars of the small window. “He’s lying!”
The man shook his head and walked away. Footsteps faded down the hall.
“No!” Leo cried out.
Henry’s face appeared in the window. A slow, easy smile spread across his lips. “She’ll go fast, when the time comes.”
The room began to spin as rage and hopelessness rushed through him. “Why, dear God? Why harm her?”
Henry shrugged as if it were all so easy to understand. “She has the map. She’ll talk when she realizes her life is in jeopardy. Besides that, you’ve told her everything, haven’t you?”
His stomach churned as realization rushed through him in a sea of burning guilt. He’d been right all along. Because of him, Ella would die. “She doesn’t have the map. Doesn’t know anything about it.
Merda,
is this all for money?”
“Even kings have died for money and power, my cousin.”
Leo’s knees gave out and he slumped to the cold ground.
“Leo,” Henry sighed. “Did you honestly think Grandfather would let
you
run the estate he’s worked so hard to build? You’re barely more than an animal.”
Leo didn’t bother to answer. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore.
Henry chuckled. “It’s not about loyalty…It’s about continuing the family line. And you are tainted.”
Perhaps he was tainted. After all, he’d lost every single person he loved.
“Know this, my dear cousin.” Henry stepped closer to the window. “My father’s name was Henry, but his friends called him Will.”
“Will,” Leo whispered. The one named he’d heard shouted at the camp before his parents were murdered.
“Why do you suppose grandfather omitted that?”
Shock pierced his very core. Leo roared and lunged at the door.
Henry stepped back, his laughter echoing down the hall as he disappeared up the stairs.
Swimming and running were much easier when one wasn’t wearing multiple layers of clothing. Gasping for breath, Ella pushed through the gate and stumbled to the front door of Fran’s cottage, leaving behind a wet trail in the dirt. She pounded on the bright blue panel. Rapid footsteps echoed through the house, and the door squeaked open.
“What is it?”
“Fran, it’s me, Ella.”
“Oh, thank God.” She threw the door wide and tugged Ella inside. She’d barely made it over the threshold, when Fran slammed the door shut and locked it. Her friend was back to looking pale, her body trembling.
“Dear Lord, what ’appened to you?”
Ella brushed a wet lock of hair behind her ear. “Doesn’t matter. Please, keep me in suspense no longer. What is it? What’s happened? Are you sick again?”
She shook her head. “Come, I’ll show you.” The woman hustled toward the back of the cottage and disappeared into a room.
Ella rushed after her friend, leaving a trail of water in her wake. “Fran, what is it?” she called out as she pushed the bedchamber door wide and slipped inside. Near the hearth, Fran poured tea into a cup. Her gaze swept the room and landed on the form huddled under a blanket on the bed.
“Please, Fran,” Ella begged, “Tell me what has happened.”
“Oh, Ella. I’ve been waiting for your return. I wasn’t sure if you’d get the note. Do you realize Lord Roberts has the entire place surrounded?”
Exhaustion swept through her, and it was all she could do not to sink into a chair. “Yes, I’m quite aware. It was practically impossible for me to sneak here. Fran, what’s going on?” Ella made her way to the bed. Just above the blanket she could make out dark hair spread across a white pillowcase. “Who is that? What’s happened?”
“Your man’s friend.”
Ella shook her head, confused. “My man?” She leaned closer to see tanned skin, narrow face. Ella stepped back and sucked in a breath. It was Akshay, although he was barely noticeable with his face covered in dark purple bruises. His dark lashes fluttered up revealing familiar black eyes.
“Akshay? You live?” Ella whispered. “What happened to you?”
“Men,” he rasped out.
Fran gripped her upper arm and pulled her away from the bed. “Oh, Ella, when he stumbled into the ’ouse…I about fainted. He was attacked in the woods, and he came ’ere. He wouldn’t let me send a note to the estate. Every time I mentioned it, he got real upset.”
Ella sighed and moved back to the bed. Gingerly, she touched his arm.
“Henry,” he whispered.
Tears burned her eyes, and she nodded. “I know.”
“You know?” Fran asked.
“I overheard Lord Roberts.” She choked on a sob and sank onto the edge of a chair. “Oh, Fran, it’s terrible. He knows everything. Lord Roberts knew all along what happened to Akshay.”
Fran gasped, her hand covering her mouth. “We thought Henry, but never the lord. I spread word around the village that Akshay was found dead and was buried.”
Ella nodded, smiling for the first time. People always underestimated Fran. But she didn’t have time to dwell on the townsfolk and whether they believed her story. She had to save Leo.
“Akshay, look at me. I need you to do something.” She pulled the journal, dampened from her wet skirts, from her pocket and prayed the writing had not been ruined. “Please, I must know what this says.”
Fran brought the lantern closer. “Is that your uncle’s journal?”
Ella nodded. “I think the answers to the attacks are in this book.”
Akshay swallowed hard and narrowed his eyes, focusing on the scrawl. “When the lotus and Brahma come together, so shall the keeper be revealed.”
Ella slipped the journal back into her pocket. “Who is Brahma?”
“Your necklace,” Akshay whispered.
She shouldn’t have been surprised he knew about her necklace, but she was. “And the lotus?”
He closed his eyes. “Leo has the lotus.”
“Does he know?”
But Akshay didn’t respond. Fran pressed her hand to his forehead.
“How bad is he?” Ella asked. She couldn’t seem to stop her body from trembling, even when she crossed her arms over her chest. A cold had settled into her bones a cold that seemed to be taking over her very soul.
“Bad. I think he has some cracked ribs and a broken arm.”
Ella choked on a sob, shaking her head. “Leo. His life’s in danger.”
Fran rested her hand on Ella’s shoulder. “Surely you don’t mean Lord Roberts will turn on his grandson.”
If the man still lived. “I mean that exactly, Fran. If not him, Henry.”
“But how will you ’elp? Where will you go?”
“Lady Buckley.”
Fran stepped back as if the mere mention of the woman’s name would conjure her. “No, surely not.”
“Franny, she’s the only person who can offer any assistance, who has money and connections to help.”
Fran sighed. “Fine. I’ll get you dry clothing. But Ella, I do ’ope you are right about Lady Buckley. I ’ope she can ’elp.”