If He's Noble (Wherlocke Book 7) (Paranormal Historical Romance) (15 page)

Bened looked so pleased that Primrose began to think she had been right to think she had been brought to face some kind of test. Obviously she had passed and so had Lilybet. Then, when Bened took her hand from the duke’s she recalled the man’s gift again. The necessity for such a test came to her so quickly, the reason so clear, she almost gasped. She glanced at Lilybet who was frowning at Morris. They had wanted to see if the duke could read their thoughts. Primrose would have been angrier if she had failed.

“You did not tell them,” said Dob, and slapped both Bened and Morris upside the head. “I would get my spoon and do that except that I am in too good a mood right now. A newfound Wherlocke who can come and go here as freely as she pleases and a new friend who can do the same. You brought us two treasures so you are forgiven. By me. Might take a little longer to be forgiven by the ones you tricked.”

“You did not smack Bevan,” said Bened as he rubbed at his abused ear.

“He is just too adorable and I am sure was just following your directions. Now, into the parlor all of you and I will bring some food and drink.”

The moment the woman left and Primrose found herself seated next to Bened in a lavish front parlor, she scowled at him. “You could have warned us.”

“Nay, because then you may then have worked to build walls and that is never a true judgment,” answered Bened.

“You mean you can actually make it so he cannot see inside?”

“Yes, although it is hard work. You and Lilybet are what is best, ones he can actually befriend, even come round for a visit without a long warning. You just do it, without thought or effort. It is a natural part of you.”

“And obviously with you, Morris, and Bevan.”

“With most of the family, of the blood. It does appear as if the high strong walls to the mind come hand in hand with the other things. It requires a strong emotion to put a crack in them and then he is assaulted by a little of what is there.”

“You are right. That is more a curse than a gift,” she said softly, watching the duke prompting Lilybet to tell him everything she knew about her mother and her mother’s family.

“It is and I am sorry I did not warn you but I could not. It had to be as normal a meeting as possible to know for sure.”

“Apology accepted and now I am going to go find his aunt Dob and see if she needs any help in the kitchens.”

Bened gave her the directions and Primrose walked away, allowing herself to inspect everything she passed. When she stepped into the kitchens, Dob turned to face her, holding a bloody butcher knife. On the board covering the counter behind her were a lump of brown fur and the innards of the butchered rabbit corpse she could see on the stovetop. But that scene rapidly blended into another as horror, grief, and fear surged up into Primrose so fast she could not stop it. She heard herself scream as Dob became Augusta and the mangled fur and blood became Constantine.

 

 

Modred suddenly jerked and leapt to his feet. “Where is your lady, Bened?”

“The kitchens. Why?”

“We need to get to her now.”

Then the screams echoed along the hallway and Bened was running for the kitchens, faintly aware of everyone else running right behind him. He entered the kitchen to find Primrose shaking, her hands over her face and hoarse little screams escaping her. Dob was frantically cleaning up the remains of a rabbit she had obviously readied for the pot, all the time trying to soothe Primrose with words. He went to Primrose and rubbed her back, saying empty useless words that did nothing to calm her as she quieted to a whispered repetition of “Constantine. She has killed my Constantine.”

He was pushed aside by Lilybet who whispered an apology and then slapped Primrose, hard. Bened grabbed Primrose when she staggered back but swallowed his angry words for Lilybet when he saw Primrose’s eyes clear then darken with annoyance as she glared at the other woman. Acting as if she did not even know she had been a babbling mass of hysterical woman but a moment ago.

“What the bloody hell did you do that for?” she demanded.

“You were hysterical. A good hard slap is one of the cures for it. Bened rubbing your back and saying ‘there, there’ was doing no good,” Lilybet replied.

“I did not say, ‘there, there,’” Bened protested even though he could not be all that sure he had not.

“Near enough.”

Modred stepped over and took both of Primrose’s hands in his. He was still pale but he no longer looked as if he was about to collapse, and Bened had to assume that Primrose had her shields back in place for he showed no sign of hearing anything.

“I fear you were hysterical, Miss Primrose,” he said, “but not without reason. Do you recall what set you off?”

“I recall coming into the kitchen and Dob moved and then I saw . . . I saw . . .” She took a deep breath and the duke squeezed her hands.

“I know what you saw and it was vicious, cruel, evil. I think you have a very good mind, clever and able to retain all kinds of things you read, hear, or see, but it is also strong enough to slam up a wall and hide what it feels will hurt you too much. You just recalled one of those things, did you not?”

“Days ago I recalled why I was so desperately afraid of the dark, especially if I am out in the woods alone.”

“And you just recalled another thing. This was not caused by that memory. You have adjusted to that.”

“Constantine,” she whispered, and felt tears run down her cheeks. “I remembered my dog. I was twelve and he disappeared. All I could recall was that he disappeared and we looked for a few days. No more than that. I thought it strange. But I just recalled what happened to him, didn’t I?”

“Yes, I fear you did. And your clever mind knew that, at that tender age, it could break you so it did what it felt it must to protect itself. It walled it all in so you could not remember.” He smiled faintly. “Even though I suspect you could give me all of Act Three of
Othello
word for word.” He nodded when she blushed and then let go of her hands.

“She butchered him.” When the duke stepped aside so Bened could put his arm around her, she leaned into Bened, welcoming his warmth and strength. “She showed me his coat of fur and said she was going to make mittens of them for me. I think that is when I swooned. When I woke up all I knew was that my dog, my constant companion, was gone and so we looked for him. I just don’t understand why my mind hid that away. It could have made us see Augusta for the sick, evil woman she is so much sooner.”

“It would have broken you,” said the duke.

“I would like to think myself stronger than that.”

“You were a young, sensitive girl on the cusp of womanhood.”

“A very sensitive time for a girl, a time of high emotion and easily broken hearts,” said Dob as she handed Primrose a cup of hot sweet tea. “Drink that down.”

“I suspect all your love and affection, things the woman in that house never returned, went into that dog.” The duke reached out and patted her on the arm. “You must rid yourself of this woman. She will never stop and her actions will simply grow worse and worse.”

“It makes me sad to think I had the knowledge of just how ill she is and it was hidden away. It could have saved my father.”

“I think if your mind had not hidden it away and it had broken you, whatever you had the ability to say would not have been listened to.”

“Ah, of course, for everyone would have seen me as the one who was ill.”

“The wound has been mended now, though. Whatever trouble that walled-in memory caused will pass away now.”

She nodded and let Bened lead her back into the parlor. After she finished the tea, she joined Dob and Lilybet out in the gardens, thinking they nearly rivaled her uncle George’s. When she said as much to Dob, the woman blushed with pleasure.

“This is made for Modred mostly, for it can calm his poor mind after a bad day, although I discovered I loved doing the gardening.”

“You do a great deal for the duke, I think.”

“He needed me at a time when I needed to be needed. We healed each other. We have servants, you know. ’Tis just that they all have this afternoon off for a wedding of one of their family. That is the problem with taking one’s servants all from just two families.” She laughed. “There are times when we wonder how we manage but we do. I know the Pughs will have work at the place Bened is going to. There is a couple already there with a fine home in the gatehouse.”

“Bened was pleased to hear how well they are working for him.”

“So when are you going to marry that boy?”

“One needs to be asked first.”

“One could nudge a bit.”

“I want to be asked when he knows for certain it is what he wants.”

“Reasonable, but kill that bitch of an aunt of yours first. Best not to be marrying and bringing new ones into the world while someone like that is still running about free.”

“Agreed. I am going to tell Simeon all I have recalled.”

“Get him to tell you about his beatings and a few other things,” Lilybet said. “He is suffering a lot of guilt and it is because he knew things and never said. He also wonders if he could have saved his father just by telling what he knew. Guilt. Both of you have it and neither deserve it.”

“How do you know? Did he tell you?” asked Primrose, wondering if there was something about Lilybet and her brother that she had missed.

“Did not have to. I can sense emotions.”

“I thought you saw things, the future and all.”

“I also can feel the emotions of a lot of people. One occasionally leads to the other.”

“Oh. That must be unpleasant at times. Not everyone is experiencing pleasant emotions all the time.”

Dob studied Lilybet. “I could teach you how to close the door on that now and then.”

“I just might want you to when I get more settled.”

“Well, time to get back inside, for dinner will be served soon.” Dob patted Primrose on the back and added, “And it is not rabbit.”

Primrose laughed and knew she would recover from the shock of this last memory just fine.

 

 

Simeon stared at his sister in open-mouthed shock. “She did what?”

“Please do not make me repeat that. ’Tis bad enough knowing the memory has now been freed inside my head and could be pulled forth at any time. Yet, I feel horrible. Modred says it was just my mind protecting me but by hiding the truth it put us all in danger for we did not see just how truly evil she is.”

Simeon hugged her. “If it had crushed you, crippled your mind, no one would have paid any attention to what you had to say.”

“That is what Modred says.”

“Modred, is it? You now call a duke by his proper name?”

“Once you meet him it becomes harder and harder to think of him as The Duke. He is so young.”

“And he can read minds?”

“Something like that. He was so happy to meet more people with high walls, as he called them, that one would have felt very rude asking him specifics about his gift. But when I got so upset, no, hysterical, he knew it even before I screamed. He also knew what I had seen. It was all right at that time because he was being comforting and helping me. But when I thought on it later, I realized that he is a rather scary young man. Oh, and thanked my puny mind for having big strong walls.”

“I wonder if I have walls?”

“It may well be something that runs through a family. He says he can read none of his own, none he has met, anyway. I thought that was interesting. And, you could see that he was thoroughly enjoying having company that he could not read, to just be a normal young man having a normal conversation and telling silly jokes. I think he is alone too much.”

“That is sad. A young man with his title and money should be out learning how to be as bad as he can without actually breaking any laws or losing his place in society.”

“I am certain that is what all young men aspire to.”

“So what do we do now?”

“What everyone says we must do. Find our aunt and end her.”

“I think it might be best if you started back home,” said Lilybet as she walked into the dining room the next day.

“Good morning to you, too, Lily,” said Simeon as he put some ham on his plate.

“I mean it,” she said as she got a plate and began to fill it with some of Frederick’s excellent cooking.

“I know you do but do you perhaps have some explanation for saying it? We lesser mortals arrived here to break our fast after a pleasant night of dreaming of our favorite things such as food, especially lemon cakes, water, boats, fluffy clouds. We do not have”—he waited until she sat down and took the seat across from her—“the peek inside the planning room for our futures that you do.”

“She is angry. She means to destroy all you love and need.”

“That would be idiotic since she, whom I must assume is Augusta, is after getting her filthy hands on all I love and need.”

“Anger does not always make a person make sense. She needs to strike out. I think the manor and all that are safe as she does covet them very deeply and spends a lot of time dreaming on how much she would change to meet her horrific tastes in decorating.”

“How do you know they are horrific?”

“Ah, a good question.”

“Which would be an even better one if you would answer it.”

“I think when she had hold of me and was beating me, she and I, well, became connected in some odd way. I have been seeing her, a lot, doing things that rarely appear in my usual seeings. Such as her dreams of the crimes she would commit in making the manor more to her taste. If you can call that taste,” she muttered. “Maybe I bled on her a little or something.”

“Lily, you do see that I am trying to have my morning feast, do you not?”

She laughed. “It is no pleasure for me to have that witch in my head so much.”

“No, I can fully understand that. Is it ruining your ability to do what you usually do?”

When she did not answer, Simeon looked up from his food and saw that she was sitting very still, her eyes unfocused, and a little chill went over him. “Where is Frederick?” she asked, in that tone of voice that Simeon was learning to absolutely loathe, a flat tone utterly devoid of all the warmth and life that was Lilybet.

“He is walking the children to the tutor’s house,” answered George as he strolled in and went toward the food. “He does it every morning that they go there and then he is off every afternoon and walks them home. He would have done it yesterday but he wanted so badly to cook that he had one of the Pugh boys do it for him.”

“We have to go and walk him home,” Lilybet said as she drank down her cider and stood up.

“Why?” demanded George as he watched Simeon hastily fill his mouth with the last of his ham and stand up.

“We must do it now. Simeon!”

“Coming. I will explain later, Uncle George, as soon as she explains it all to me,” Simeon said, gave the man a quick pat on the back, and hurried after Lilybet.

Bened saw them rushing out the door and followed. “What is wrong?”

“Hell if I know,” said Simeon. “Lily says we have to walk Frederick home from the tutor’s house so we are off to do that.”

“I will join you.”

“Oh, that would be good,” Lilybet said, and smiled at Bened.

“Hey!” Simeon glared at her. “I am no weakling, you know.”

“I do but you have to admit Bened looks far more intimidating.”

Glancing at Bened, Simeon had to agree. Although he was having a little trouble catching his breath as they nearly ran along the path to the road, he asked Lilybet, “And we will be in need of someone intimidating?”

“Yes. I fear it is your aunt again.”

“She followed us here?”

“She knew you were coming here. She then thought on how much you care for your uncle.”

“Frederick is not my uncle.”

“But he is your uncle’s best friend, his love. It will crush him if something happens to Frederick.”

“Damn. Well, maybe we can end her here.”

Lilybet shook her head. “She is not here. She sent some hirelings. She is headed for Willow Hill.”

“Right at this moment, I am beginning to not care so much about what she is planning to do or has done. I want to shoot her down just for being such a nuisance.”

If Bened had not been so concerned for the amiable Frederick, he knew he would have smiled. He wondered if the two had yet noticed what was stirring between them. Then he saw the tutor’s house and Frederick walking out of the door. Just up the road from him were three men. He did not need any special gift to tell him they were the ones they were here to stop.

Lilybet ran straight for Frederick while Bened and Simeon went for the three men. Seeing the glint of a blade in one man’s hand, Bened called out to Simeon, “Knife!”

Bened got in front of Simeon and kicked the man in the face. He howled and clutched at his nose, which allowed Bened to disarm him. He then swung the man around to use him as a shield against a second knife-wielding man. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Frederick move Lilybet out of his way, grab the arm of the man trying to cut him, snap it, and then punch the screaming man three times in the face before letting the body drop to the ground. Frederick, he thought, could probably have taken care of himself.

“Nicely done,” he said as he walked up to the man and looked down at the one Frederick had punched.

“It certainly was.” Simeon frowned at Lilybet. “Makes me wonder why I had to interrupt my morning feast.”

“I did not know he could fight like that,” said Lilybet. “And it was three against one.”

Frederick huffed. “Three men who think they are big and bad because they have a knife. I have faced worse. Ten years in the infantry.”

“You did not even see them until we arrived.”

“So they may have been able to wound me but I would have managed.”

Simeon saw Lilybet’s eyes narrow and said quickly, “I am sure you would have, Frederick.”

“While bleeding and fighting the other two while weakened by that and risking another wound,” said Lilybet, and then she nodded her head toward the tutor’s house, where they saw two terrified children standing in the doorway. “Right in front of your children.”

“Da?” said the little girl, and Frederick hurried up the steps to soothe the children while talking in a low voice to the tutor.

“I think we offended his manliness,” said Simeon.

“Men are idiots,” said Lilybet. “Do not give me that look. You can be. One against three. Three armed men against one unarmed man. That makes it perfectly reasonable for me to see what I saw as a warning that he might need help.”

Frederick sent the children back inside with the tutor and walked back down to stand in front of Lilybet. “You are right. Seeing three men against one with killing in the mind of the three is a warning. I do thank you for rushing here to help me. You were also right to say I would have gotten bloody and poor little Idelle was terrified enough without having had to see that. The tutor sent someone off to fetch the magistrate’s men.” He looked up the street and smiled. “And here they come. We will soon be able to go home.”

When they finally arrived back at the house, George looked up from the book he was reading at the table and Primrose cast them a worried look as George asked, “Everything all right?”

“That woman sent three thugs after me. We dealt with it.”

Bened moved to the sideboard and filled a plate with food even as a yawning Morris and a sleepy-eyed Bevan entered the room. He moved to sit next to Primrose, trying to forget how much he missed her lithe body curled up in his arms all night long. It was odd to see George smiling faintly when he had just been told that Frederick had been attacked.

“Do not get your feathers ruffled, Frederick,” George said. “They have never seen you fight.”

“True and she”—he nodded at Lilybet who was back in her seat enjoying some fruit—“was right to see it as a dangerous threat. She was also right to point out that I would have ended up wounded in some way even if I took all three down, as I would have, and the children seeing me hurt like that would have been very upset. They came at me from behind so I would have had to endure at least one pinprick.”

Bened noticed how George went a little pale at the news that three men had come at Frederick from behind but the man said nothing, just stared down at his book for a moment until his coloring returned to normal. “Do you think this was part of her temper tantrum?” he asked Lilybet.

“Oh, yes.” She looked at George. “Mind if I ask who you are leaving all your worldly goods to?”

“The children will get most of it such as the land and house, but we have set aside a large fund for Simeon and Primrose as they were my sister’s children and she and her husband helped us get this place.”

“Oh, Uncle, you should set that aside for the children as well,” said Primrose.

“No, it is the exact amount your father lent us and he would not take payment. So we told him what we would do and he accepted that. It sits quietly in a safe funds account and there it will stay.”

She recognized his do-not-argue tone of voice so let it go but asked Lilybet, “Do you think this was just a lashing out then?”

“It was but I suspect she knows where every ha’penny of your money is and thought this would gain her two things. Hurt you in a personal way and add more money to the pile she thinks she will soon get her hands on.” Lilybet looked at Simeon. “Do you know if there is anyone else who would be leaving you something she might covet?”

“Only Cousin Geoffrey. He has land near Willow Hill that used to be my father’s but refused to be gifted with it so he leases. She would not bother with that arrangement, I think, as it produces money enough just as it is. Well, unless she felt she could lease it for more or sell it for a nice sum of money. Hell, I guess I better send a warning to Cousin Geoffrey.”

“That might be best since the woman is headed that way now.”

“Then I guess we had better plan to go back to Willow Hill and be ready for her.”

“We could start out today or leave on the morrow,” said Bened.

“The morrow will do. It has been nice to just be off the back of a horse for hours on end,” said Simeon. “At least this time we will be following her.”

Lilybet shook her head and then sipped at her tea. “She will be at Willow Hill before you no matter when you leave here so best to be prepared for that. She has plans. I just do not know what yet.”

“You seem to be getting a lot of information about her,” said Bened, curious as to what gifts this woman had and how they worked.

“The evil wretch is stuck in my head. I do not know how or why, but she is there. I wish I could scrub her out for it is wearying to deal with so much anger and evil, especially when it is not your own.”

“I could not bear it,” said Primrose.

“That is why I am staying close to you, because I need to be there to make sure she is ended. Harsh though it is to say that, she has earned hanging several times over by now.”

Everyone nodded their agreement and turned their attention to finishing their meal. Primrose was just heading to her bedchamber when Bened caught her by the arm and led her outside. She had to admit it was a beautiful day. Such sunny days were rare and meant to be enjoyed. She rather hoped it would raise her spirits, which had been low since she had recovered another horrible memory and made such a scene at Elderwood.

“I am sorry for causing such trouble at your cousin’s,” she said.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Bened said firmly, and kissed her on the cheek. “One thing my family understands, in far too many ways, is the cruelty adults can inflict upon children. Modred has his share of bad memories from his childhood and probably has wished that he could forget them from time to time.”

“You do not have any, do you?”

“Nay, but I was one of the fortunate ones in that my mother accepted all that my father was and what gifts her sons ended up with.” He smiled. “Bevan’s was the only one she complained about.”

“Oh, yes, I can see that. A child who can hide so well would be a sore trial to a mother.” She grimaced. “I obviously also know how to hide but not in a particularly good way. Now I worry about what else has been hidden inside my memories.”

“I just find what Modred said about your own mind protecting you fascinating. It shut it in a box and sealed it.”

“That is what he thinks and in a strange way it makes some sense. Something I did not have much to do with hid those memories from me. It troubled me when I thought on what I could not recall because I recall so much so easily. Then I even thought it might be when I hit my head after my first horse tossed me down. That suited, was a sensible explanation, so I let it stand even though now I realized the times do not match.”

“It is a good thing that you did not hurt anything when you hit your head. That sort of wound can cause all manner of troubles.”

“It did destroy my eyesight, which had been perfect up until then.”

“It did?”

“Yes. When I woke up everything was a blur. At first we thought it would ease and return to normal as the wound healed but it did not so the physician decided something had been broken and I have worn glasses ever since.”

“Did you know we have healers in our family?”

“Truly? That is wondrous and, I suspect, very convenient.”

“What I am trying to say is that, perhaps, one of them could do something. If the matter is a natural weakness, they cannot fix it, but you seem to have suffered an injury and many of those they can fix.”

Hope stirred to life in her chest but she beat it down. “It is a pretty old injury, Bened. I could not have been more than ten or eleven years of age when it happened and am now three and twenty.”

“And scars may have formed over the injury. I know. That, too, would mean it could not be fixed. But what is the harm in having one of them at least see what they can see?”