Good girls don't go snooping where they don't belong.
But Lady Delia Scarborough never claimed to be a good girl.
Lady Delia Scarborough wants her sister back from the grave.
Since that can't happen, she'll settle for the next best thing...
Making...
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After his devastating final conversation with Delia, Kieran thought that he would return to his own bed. He felt as if there was nothing he wanted more than to sleep out the rest of the century. There was a stone where his heart should have been, and brutally enough, there was still a small voice in his head telling him that he was wrong, that Delia would never lie to him, would never think him such a monster.
I cannot think of her anymore. It will destroy me if I do.
He entered his bedroom, but instead of undressing or even lying down for some sleep, he paced back and forth. He went over the events of the night over and over again, until he thought he might be sick, and each time, he came back with no more knowledge, no more wisdom than he had ever had before. Finally, he turned away from it, leaving his room again. Kieran walked to the nursery, where he curtly dismissed the footman standing guard and walked in.
Before he came to Alice's bed, he was consumed with a sudden and sharp-edged terror that she would be missing, taken by some malevolent force while the household was in disorder. Instead, she was sleeping peacefully, and he sighed, pausing to drop a kiss on her forehead before he sat back down next to her.
As he did so, however, Alice's eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at him with a soft smile that filled his heart with sweetness.
"Hello, sweetheart. Go back to bed, it is still night."
She shrugged her tiny shoulders. "Grandmother and grandfather stayed up all night at the inn. With the guests."
"Well, you do not live with them anymore, and besides, they should never have allowed you to stay up so late."
She shrugged again, as if she were willing to take his word for it, and then she frowned, glancing over at the empty chair on the other side of her bed.
"Papa, where's Delia?"
"She's gone."
Alice looked at him as if he had said the sky had fallen down while she slept, and he cursed himself.
It would have been just as true to say that she had gone to sleep. Alice has already suffered a terrible upset in the past few days, why does she need another?
"Where has she gone to? Papa, you must get her back!"
The lies were right there. He had told Delia what he would say to Alice, and though it might take time, he knew she would believe it. She was only three; in even a few years, Delia would be some memory no more vivid than her time with her birth mother or her grandparents. Why did something in Kieran roar against that?
"She... she must return to her family. She is preparing now. We will not see her again."
Alice's shriek caught him by surprise. It was louder than it had any right to be, and the pure grief in it made his blood run cold.
He reached for her, hoping to comfort her at least in some way, but to his shock, she leaped from the bed and dashed to the door. Kieran was so exhausted and so very stunned that she got past it without a moment of pause, and then he was dashing after her.
For such a little thing, Alice was shockingly fast when she wanted to be, and she was halfway down the hall before he caught up with her, sweeping her up in his arms. His heart was beating fast, and for some reason, he felt as if he had to keep her safe, had to keep her close. The last few hours had been a special kind of horrible, and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if anything happened to Alice, he was going to perish.
"Delia! Delia! Where are you, Delia!"
"Alice, stop this at once!"
"I won't! I won't! I want Delia! She can't go like Mama! I won't let her!"
Alice's body felt like wood as she stiffened in his arms, trying desperately to pull away from him. Her face was red and flooded with tears, and she pounded on him with all of her strength.
With a sinking heart, he realized that Alice was losing Delia just as she had lost her mother, as far as she was concerned. One day there was a loving presence caring for her, and the next day, she was gone.
There was no sense to it. They were right next to the door to Delia's room. He supposed he might have thought that Delia would quiet the child, or even that they would be allowed to say goodbye.
Perhaps it was only that he wanted to see Delia again, because he also couldn't stand the idea of never laying eyes on her after this night.
Juggling Alice in one arm, he reached for the doorknob. He realized in a moment that the latch had been thrown. It was unlocked, and with his heart in his throat, he cracked the door open.
"Delia?"
No words, not timorous or strident, greeted him. Alice must have picked up something in his tone, because she went quiet in his arms, hugging on to him with a child's frail strength.
He threw the door open, and a terrifying sight met his eyes. The covers had been pulled from the bed as if in a struggle, and the small table by the door had been knocked over. The window was closed and with a sinking feeling in his throat, Kieran came to two conclusions.
The first was that whoever had taken her had stayed in the house after his first attempt. The second realization was that whoever it was had no reason and no interest in Delia's safety or life at all.
He nearly tore the bell to the servants' quarters off of its rig, and then he was striding back into the hall, shouting the house awake.
"Papa, Papa, what about Delia?"
"I am going to find Delia, I promise, Alice. But I need you to stay in your room until I do, all right? No wandering. No running. I must be able to rely on you."
She looked fearful, but she nodded, and he passed her to the first maid he saw.
"Take her back to her room and stay with her. Do what you need to do to keep her calm. I'll send some men to watch the door. Do not let anyone in unless it is me."
The maid shot him a nervous look, but he waited until she disappeared into the nursery to turn to the servants who were already rushing toward him.
"Get everyone out on the front lawn. I want every damned human in this place accounted for, even if you have to pull them kicking and screaming from their beds."
To his grim satisfaction, the servants, who after all, had already had one wake-up call this evening, did as he said without a word.
He strode into his room for his riding boots, and then he headed down to the lawn, where the servants were already milling around. The sun was just beginning to paint lighter streaks of blue across the black, and the rain had stopped an hour ago.
He smiled savagely. He would find Delia, and then he would deal with the man who held her.
