Dangerous Exile by K.J. Jackson

{ Chapter 15 }

Ness nudged open the door of Talen’s study slowly, letting the door creak on its hinges as she peered into the room. Two large windows at the back of the chamber lent moonlight to the space. This floor was off limits to her. But this was necessary and she would be quick.

Seven days of wandering between her room and the rooftop terrace and Ness was near to going out of her skin. For as much as Gilroy held her in a tight cage at Whetland Castle, she’d been free to walk the grounds, and she’d had her maid, Gertie, to talk with.

Verity was sweet, ever attentive, and Ness was happy for her company, but the hours when Talen was not at the townhouse stretched long, and she could only read for so long, day after day.

So it had been a fine idea to go searching for a quill and an inkwell. She’d found paper in the secretary in her room, but nothing to write with. If she could jot a letter to Juliet—whether or not Talen would actually allow her to post it, it would ease all of the madcap thoughts running about in a circle in her brain.

What she should do next. How she could ever find a life away from Gilroy. Her attraction to Talen and everything he was—though she fought against it every day.

He didn’t want her. He’d made that clear. Insisted she turn away.

Yet he would still arrive at the townhouse deep into every night after the business of the Alabaster was done, bringing her something—a dessert, a new book, a map of the stars. They would train. Then eat. Then sit on the terrace looking at the stars until the first rays of dawn streaked into the sky. He lived his life opposite the sun, and she’d flipped her own schedule so that she could spend as much time as possible with him.

Something she should cease, if she was smart.

But she was quickly deducing that when it came to Talen, she wasn’t thinking straight.

She needed to tell all of this to someone, and Juliet was her only option, whether or not the letter was actually sent.

Ness stepped into the study, quickly spying an inkwell at the top left corner of the desk. Perfect. Now she just needed a quill.

No quills were next to the inkwell so she rounded the desk, quickly pulling open the set of drawers on the left side. Papers, a letter opener, but no quills. Onto the middle drawer. Three were lined up neatly with sharp nibs ready for writing. She pulled two free and her eye caught the red wax of a broken seal on a letter in the drawer.

She paused. A seal she knew. The distinctive north tower of a castle with garland curling up the sides. The Whetland Castle seal.

Her eyebrows drawing together, she fingered the edge of the paper. Juliet had said she would send a letter posthaste after Ness left Edinburgh, but she wouldn’t have had access to the Whetland seal—they had brought nothing with them to the city besides the clothes on their backs and the coins in the heels of Juliet’s boots.

Juliet must be back at the castle.

Good.

Relief flooded Ness. She had been in fear that she’d destroyed everything between Juliet and her brother-in-law, Evander, with how they’d escaped from the estate.

Ness set the quill down and picked up the tightly folded letter. Talen hadn’t said anything about a letter from Juliet, aside from mentioning the first letter he’d received from her a day after Ness had arrived at the Alabaster. She flipped it over and saw her name on the outer swatch of paper.

Her name. Not Talen’s. Her letter. Not his.

Her hands shaking, she unfolded the letter, quickly scanning the contents.

Then scanned them again.

Then sank onto the chair behind the desk, studying each word in Juliet’s elegant script.

…Gilroy is dead…

…Come back to Whetland…

…Evan has written to your father of Gilroy’s death and he travelled here to collect you…

… I told them you were visiting a friend in London. For appearances sake, it would do well for you to travel up here if you are feeling well enough…

She stared at the letter, frozen in place for far too long. Hours. Hours she sat with the letter in her lap, rereading the words over and over.

Gilroy was dead. Dead. She was free.

She stayed frozen in place, staring at those words, her mind not able to move past that one line. Gilroy was dead.

Frozen, until she heard the rear door open and close on the floor below her. Talen’s heavy footsteps walking along the main corridor below. Up the stairs, passing by the first floor and continuing upward.

The echo of his footsteps a level above, steady, then quickening, disappearing higher to where she could no longer hear them.

It wasn’t a full minute before they thundered down the stairs, the pace of them frantic as they moved from room to room above her.

Out back to the stairs. Down to the drawing room. The ballroom. The dining room. The respite room.

And still she couldn’t move.

The door to the study swung open with a thud and the footsteps stopped.

His breath heaving, Talen found her sitting behind his desk in the moonlight, instant fury on his face, his words thundering. “What in the hell are you thinking, Ness? I couldn’t find you—couldn’t find you and you were in here. Sitting in here the whole damn time?”

“Don’t yell at me.” She didn’t look up at him as her words came out measured and wooden against his anger.

He stormed into the room, his arm swinging in the air. “Your room. The terrace. That was the agreement. You promised.”

“Yes, well, I needed ink and a quill. I waited until twilight. Didn’t even light a candle. Then I snuck down here like a good little mouse that would never be found.”

“Why are you talking like that?” He took two more steps forward. “Look at me, Ness. Look at me.”

Her eyes slowly lifted to him. “How long have you had it?”

“Had what?”

She lifted the letter from her lap, dropping it onto the desk.

“Shit.”

Her eyes closed as she drew in a deep breath, then she stood, her knuckles landing on the desk as she leaned toward him, a bitter edge she couldn’t control lacing her rising voice. “How long have you had it?”

He exhaled, straightening his spine as he glared at her. “Days. But that’s no reason to sca—”

“No reason to what? To scare you? I have been terrified of my husband finding me for almost a month—terrified. Every single day. Every hour. Terrified. And you knew this?” Her hand slammed down onto the letter. “You’ve known this for days? Days and you haven’t told me.”

“You don’t understand, Ness.”

“What don’t I understand? That Juliet sent me a letter that you deemed you should open before me? That you deemed should be hidden from me? I trusted you, Talen. Trusted you when I had no reason to. I trusted you and this is what you do to me? What else are you keeping from me? I could have left days ago, but you’ve kept me here in a prison of your own design.”

Her right hand flew through the air. “Buy me off with a few books and treats and stars and I’ll just stay here, no questions asked?”

His left hand curled into a fist at his side. “You don’t understand.”

“What don’t I understand?”

“The men are still out there. The ones looking for you.” The words barked from his mouth, the ire in his voice palpable. “They’re still searching for you. We found one of them but not the other three. You think they got a letter from Juliet? You think someone told them Gilroy was dead and they wouldn’t get paid even if they managed to find you and bring you back to Whetland? They’re still after you, Ness. You’re still not safe.”

“But why not tell me?”

His voice notched louder. “You want me to talk about the danger you’re in? Talk about what men like this will do to you if they find you? They find you, they bring you back to Whetland, and I promise you that journey will not be pleasant for you. Men like this will abuse you to no end. You are nothing more than flesh to toy with as long as they have you in their possession.”

He moved around the desk and captured her face in his hands, his ice blue eyes intense in the shards of moonlight. “Is that what you wanted to hear? For me to add more fear into your eyes? There is already so much that haunts you why would I ever want to add more to it?”

All her anger deflated from her chest as her right hand lifted, gripping his wrist. “But if I had known Gilroy was dead…”

“What?” His fingers tightened along her cheeks.

“That would have been something, Talen. Something to hold onto.” She blinked hard, her head shaking against his hold on her face. “But what happens to those men once you find them? What’s to stop them?”

His hands dropped away from her face. “With Gilroy’s death, there will be no payout so they’ll drop the matter if they know what’s good for them.”

“And if they don’t?”

He took a step backward, setting space between them. “They will be dealt with.”

She swallowed back the sick lump forming in her throat. “The last thing I want is blood on my hands.”

“It’s not on your hands, Ness. It’s on mine. And I don’t mind blood.”

“But—”

“Correction.” His right hand lifted and he set his palm along her neck. “I mind your blood. I mind your blood spilling. I mind it a lot. Would you rather be accosted?”

“No.”

“I’d rather it not as well, so let me handle this, Ness.”

“All part of keeping me safe?” The tightness in her chest didn’t ease. She hated this. Hated all of it.

“I promised I would, and I intend to keep that promise.” His hand dropped away from her neck and he moved toward the door. “Get into your room and don’t leave it until I’m back.”

“Where are you going?”

“To take care of it. The less you know, the better.”

“But, wait, don’t leave yet.” Her hand flew up to stop him as her mind started working again.

His fingers twitched, anxious to be gone. “I have to Ness. This has gone on long enough. The one man we have isn’t talking and that’s about to change.”

“But my father.” Her gut suddenly sank, her fingers going to her mouth as new terror seized her. “Oh, no—my father—”

He shook his head, turning away from her. “I don’t have time for your father right now, Ness. I need to find out if Declan is any closer to learning the location of the other men.”

Talen was gone in the next instant, his footsteps retreating quickly downward in the house until they disappeared out the rear door.

Her hands quivering, Ness sank into the chair behind the desk.

Her father.

Her fingers reached out, shaking so badly she couldn’t hold the letter from Juliet, so she let it fall to the desk, her stare on the ink, rereading Juliet’s words. Again and again and again.

Her father had already shown up to claim her.

Her father.

She hadn’t thought past the fact that Talen had kept this letter from her. Hadn’t thought past Gilroy’s death. Hadn’t thought past her fury.

But hell and damnation.

Her father.

She curled her right fist into her belly, trying to stop the tremble in her hand, trying to quell the bile quickly turning over in her stomach.

Her father.

She’d been afraid of Gilroy, but with him dead, that meant she’d be shuffled back under the reign of her father.

No. No. No.

Her gut roiled, ice freezing her veins.

This wasn’t freedom—this was a completely different prison she was destined for.

For her father terrified her more than anything else.

More than Gilroy ever had.