Page 59 of The Curse of Penryth Hall
He was still there.Oh, no. Not again. Please not again.
“Not again what?” He stepped inside, taking me by the shoulders.
I shook my head, unable to speak.
Get out of my head, Ruan Kivell.
Get out.
I blinked back tears until finally the words escaped. “Tell me. Tell me Jori’s not dead. Please tell me he’s not dead.” I should have stayed at Penryth. Tamsyn was right to worry. She was right and I quarreled with her and didn’t believe. I left her and now her son was dead.
My knees gave way and I slid down to the marble floor, tugging my legs to my chest.
“Ruby Vaughn, you’re going to shoot me, put that thing down,” Ruan grumbled as he stepped inside the doorway, pulling the revolver from my hands and setting it on the side table. “Jori is fine,” he added curtly as water from his clothes dripped on the floor beside me. The door slammed shut behind him.
“Fine…?”Fine? Fine…It took a few moments for those four sweet letters to settle into my mind, but once they did another thought struck me. One that hurt nearly as much as the first. “Tamsyn?”
“Also fine.”
I nodded again, my breath coming a little steadier now. I hazarded a glance up at his face. His eyes were dark. Dangerous. “What’s happened? You wouldn’t have come if something wasn’t wrong.”
“We need you back.” He took a step forward, placing his hand on my shoulder. Warm and damp from rain, but the strangest sensation crossed my body. A wave of calm washed over me from where his skin met mine. Shoulder to throat to mind, then down my spine, surging through my veins in a way not even the finest imported opium could provide. My breath eased. Heart slowed.
“There’s been an attack,” he said softly.
“Who?”
He shook his head. “There’s plenty of time for that later. Go pack your things. We need to return.”
My hand rose to my throat. “I should wake Mr. Owen… I… I shouldn’t have left… Perhaps we’d have found the killer before…”
Ruan placed his forefinger beneath my chin, tilting me up to look him in the eye. “There’s nothing you could have done. I don’t think the boys were the intended target anyway. They’re alive at least and Benedict and I thought it was quicker if I came to get you and bring you back with your doctor.”
“Boys? Ruan, sit, you must tell me—”
“No…” He glanced warily down the darkened corridor. “I don’t belong here. I wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t dire.”
“Give me a few moments to get dressed and speak with Mr. Owen.”
There was plenty of time to learn what had come to pass on the long drive to Lothlel Green. I would simply have to wait.
ASIHADN’Tunpacked my belongings, it was a simple matter readying myself to leave again. I latched my trunk, threw on a fresh ocher blouse and riding breeches—tied my woefully tangled hair back from my brow with a dotted scarf—then crept down to Mr. Owen’s bedroom. His snore was loud even through the door. I rarely intruded on his privacy, except when he was ill of course. I knocked once. Another snortle.
Quietly I pushed the door open and came to his side, sitting down on his mattress and giving him a slight shake.
He startled awake. “What is it, girl? Is someone dead?”
“Ruan’s come.”
“Kivell’s here?” The old man shifted himself to sitting. Hiswhite chest hairs poking out from atop his nightshirt. “Ruan Kivell’s comehere?” he repeated numbly. “To Exeter?”
I nodded.
Mr. Owen rubbed his face and groped along the nightstand for his spectacles. “Then it must be grave indeed to summon him this far from home.”
“There’s been another attack, I don’t know the details but I need to get back. Can you be sure to bring Dr. Heinrich to Lothlel Green first thing in the morning?” I glanced out the window as another crack of lightning rent the sky.
“You know I cannot drive, lass.”
