“I could not do that to you, not again,” Arinna replied. She looked away, unfocused on the room with its fine wooden furniture and glass-fronted cabinets.“I could not stay back then all those years ago.”Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.“I could not risk your marriage at the loss of mine.” A quiver laced through the solid confidence of her words.
Byran paused, caught in her eyes as well as a mix of memories and possibilities cast aside. Finally, he leaned forward and kissed her forehead, her hair brushing his face.
“Thank you.”
Arinna reclaimed her hand to wipe a stray tear from her cheek. Her gaze slipped to the sunlit window and budding trees as she composed herself. It took Byran a second to realize the moment he had sought to warn her was now.
“I actually came to Kesmere to seek you out,” he said.
“Really, why? That at least explains the earl’s invitation.”
Byran glanced sidelong to the door, remembering his haste down the stairs. He did not need Derrick a part of this conversation. But the doorway was empty and the house quiet. When he looked back at Arinna, her face was more serious.
“No, he knows nothing of this. I’m as surprised as you. But it saved me the trouble of having to find an excuse to see you alone. Arinna, I need to warn you.”
“Warn me about what, Byran?”
Her tone was expressionless. A part of him knew he spoke to the Lady Grey, but the other, and unexpectedly larger, part of him knew her only as someone he once loved, perhaps still did. His voice and feelings were torn between seriousness and deep concern.
“I have a connection in parliament whose son works for the Secretary of Finance. He said he’d seen papers in the minister’s office. There were files with programs and codes cross-referenced to spending on weapons and soldiers for the Grey Guard. It looked like the Secretary was investigating the Guard and that you were funneling money from other sources. He said it added up to nearly the same amount from when we were at war.”Arinna’s expression didn’t flicker as Byran paused.“Don’t you see? They are worried you are planning something. With the army and funding, you could carry out a coup.”
Arinna breathed a quiet laugh as she relaxed, leaning back against the arm of the settee.“This friend of yours doesn’t know of our connection?”
Byran shook his head.“No, he came to me because they are looking for support to have you arrested. Arinna, you are in danger.”
She gently touched his cheek, warmth flooding her eyes.“You are worried, I can tell. But you needn’t be. Truly,” she said with a half laugh when his expression didn’t alter.“Byran, do you think I want to take over parliament?” Arinna’s tone was full of fond exasperation. He believed her but wondered that there was no explanation.“I swear, I do not. The last thing I want would be to have those decisions on my head.” There was distaste in her tone.
“So you aren’t siphoning funds to build up the military? The Secretary of Finance isn’t investigating you?”
“No,” she answered, gaze never wavering from his. “I take no more than parliament allocates for us, and I spoke to Secretary Gerschtein last week. We’ve been working on sorting out the cost of the war. That might be what your friend saw. We have codes relating to equipment and the battles where it was lost. But I will make sure the misunderstanding is cleared up before it comes to more.”
Byran couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so relieved. The punch of the emotions that raced through him evaporated thought and left him tingling. He didn’t doubt her or how he felt about her. Even if for the moment he was content to simply be sitting next to her.
They were on the settee, talking quietly about the intervening years when Derrick walked into the room an hour later. He was dressed already for the day: fine wool pants, high riding boots, and a coat with split tails under which was a dress shirt and scarf. Byran’s shirt was still untucked, he wore slippers, and he was happy he’d managed that much. Of the three, Byran was the least prepared to greet the day. Arinna was dressed casually in what she’d arrived in the day before: grey slacks and a T-shirt with dark grey riding boots.
Derrick poured himself a cup of tea in the sudden silence of the room his entrance had created, gaze avoiding both Byran and Arinna. He stared instead out the window at the rolling pastures surrounding Kesmere. It was the first time since the night before that Derrick appeared uncomfortable with the reality of his friendship with Arinna. Which made Byran want to hug his friend for finally displaying real emotion.
“I wanted to thank you for your kindness last night,” Arinna said into the morning stillness of the room.“I will not trouble you any longer this morning.”
Derrick hesitated before turning to them fully. He answered,“Absolutely not. You shall stay for breakfast,and then Byran and I will ride with you home. It isn’t every day someone can say they came to the aid of the Lady Grey.” A trace of humor moderated Derrick’s strict words, taking the edge from the required civilities.
“Well, as I am horseless and you are my host, I certainly cannot refuse,” Arinna said in return.
Chapter 4
TATIANA GREKOV
ESCAPE PLANS
“I don’t like the way he looked at me,” Corianne finished as she stroked the morning tangles out of her hair. She held the brush up and glanced at Tatiana in the mirror.“Can you brush the back? You do it so well.”
Tatiana rolled her eyes but took the brush. Her strokes started rough but smoothed out as her attention wandered. Tatiana paused and looked at Corianne’s reflection.
“Don’t you think it odd that the Lady Grey was there? They hate each other supposedly.”
Corianne shrugged and then squirmed a bit so that Tatiana would start brushing again.
“It was all for show, of course. With Derrick’s father and her former duties, I’m sure they have to get along on occasion. But the baron ...” Corianne pretended a shiver.
“You should take it as a compliment if he thought you pretty. You know his reputation.”
“Yes,” Corianne hissed the word with dislike.
Tatiana did not say what she was thinking as it would only upset Corianne more. Corianne would prefer to think herself bewitching to Baron Vasquez even if she didn’t like him. But Tatiana had watched him during the night. His gaze had more often slid beyond Corianne to rest on the Lady Grey. When she thought of it, she had caught the earl’s guarded expression wandering to the Lady Grey when he was listening to the Bembys talk or before he spoke. It didn’t really make sense to her.
“You know the earl is engaged. I don’t see how that is so different from Baron Vasquez.”
Corianne stiffened under her hands. She took the brush from Tatiana’s fingers with a look that left little room for doubt with what regard Corianne considered Tatiana’s thoughts.
“The baron is already married. The earl has never been.”
“The earl is still promised. The baron could divorce.”
Corianne rolled her eyes and carefully placed the silver inlaid brush back on her dressing table.
“Yes, but the baron has not divorced yet despite all the pretty girls he’s spent time with,” Corianne said sharply. Tatiana’s cheeks flushed with warmth. Corianne was so often lost to fantasies that Tatiana often forgot she was quite clever when she wanted to be.
“Do you really think the earl would go against his father’s wishes and break his engagement?” Tatiana asked, sitting on Corianne’s bed so she could look directly at her.
“I don’t see why not. Not if there were a better offer. I’m titled as well as she, and younger. And she’ll only inherit her father’s title by default. Who knows, it could go to a male cousin rather than her since her older brothers died in the war. Besides, the match is political, so there could always be a falling out.”
Tatiana frowned.“So you’ve settled on the earl? You said this wasn’t about love. I thought you would keep your options open for any chance.” Tatiana’s voice faded as Corianne pouted
and darted a glance toward her closed door.
“Mama will never let me go to parliament when it reconvenes. My only chance is when they are out of session. It must be this summer. I cannot take another winter here in this dreary pile of stones. Lord, I’m nearly twenty-one already. It is past time to be out of here.”
“The earl is closest,but there are is also Duke Beal. But he is old and not so well connected, and Sir Heffercroft’s younger son, but he won’t inherit his father’s lands or title. His older brother already has a son with his wife,” Tatiana pointed out, thinking through the options Corianne had pondered over the winter.
It had been a harsh one. The wet spring made a poor reprieve to the storms, ice, and snow. They’d nearly run out of wood and had burnt dried horse dung several times though Corianne had lamented the smell would ruin her clothes. It had been better than freezing. Firewood had been hard to come by. Too much was needed for construction, furniture, and paper. The rest seemed reserved for future use. Pyotr managed to trade labor for scraps from the mill. It got them through, at least last winter.
Corianne twisted a bit of the fabric of her nightclothes.“I hate the countryside. I don’t want to farm or sew or find work in a shop. The earl is the best chance I have. And he has a real title from family and lands before the war. Not like these silly things given to people who served. You’ll help me, won’t you Tatiana?”
Corianne reached forward and took Tatiana’s hand. Tatiana looked into her cousin’s hope filled eyes. “Things are changing. In a few years, it might not be so disrespectable, or dangerous, for a woman to travel alone. Like before the war. We could go to a city together and find work,” Tatiana said.
“Before my mother marries me off to some farmer, so we have a new cow or enough wood for the winter? And work doing what? We missed how many years of school due to the war? And we weren’t brought up in any trades. I couldn’t sew well if you gave me an electric sewing machine and the power to run it like they have in the shop down in Kendal. We will always be poor or will marry farmers unless you help me marry well, someone with connections and money.
“Then I’ll be able to find a way for you and your brother to go back to Russia. You can really see what happened to your family. I don’t want to end up like my mother, marrying a soldier with a poor house and little money. I’m meant for more than that, and so are you. I need you, Tatiana.”
Tatiana leaned forward and hugged Corianne, sweeping back her long flaxen hair.“Of course, you know I’ll help.”
She gave in, as she always did. Corianne’s dreams had fed Tatiana since her arrival with her younger brother eight years earlier. She and Pyotr had listened to Corianne’s promises while Russia burned, their family’s fate unknown. He had only been ten and she fifteen. Memories of life before the war, when electricity had been everywhere along with cell phones, computers, and digital cameras, felt like a fairy story compared to reality. Some days, she couldn’t remember what some of the old devices had been called.
Today, it turned out that helping Corianne would be several hours of sending letters dictated by her. Correspondences across the county and breadth of England to extended families or fragile connections to we-once-happened-to-be-introduced. Corianne was truly desperate to leave, hungry for a lifestyle barely remembered. The earl had electricity, Corianne had pointed out after the dinner last night. And a phone!
“We have an uncle, in New London. If we could visit him ...”
Tatiana tuned Corianne out as she arranged the heavy paper. She knew the uncle. He had little money and a mean temper. Tatiana doubted they’d be invited to visit, and that if they were they would find meeting established members of society very difficult while in his care.
“After, I need you to walk over to Lady Rosingale’s to take some spring wine and the last of the winter jam.”
“Rosingale’s? That is four miles away. I’ll be lucky to be back before dinner. Why on earth do you want me to go over there?”
“Oh,you have to be back by four. That’s the point! She is having a garden party this evening,and I haven’t been invited. I’m sure it is just an oversight and when she sees the gifts will realize it.”
Tatiana blinked a few times. The arguments on how unfair Corianne was being tangled between her brain and tongue. Tatiana’s expression said what she failed to speak. Corianne took brief pity on her cousin.
“We’ll do the letters tomorrow so you can leave now. Oh, why don’t you ask your brother to go? I’m sure he has nothing worthwhile to do,” Corianne said.“I’ll go get the basket once I’m dressed. Tell your brother to wear something nice so Lady Rosingale is sure to think well of us. That way you can have tea at eleven with Duke Waldrope’s younger daughter and me. She and her family are up visiting her aunt. I’m sure she’ll know who in parliament is eligible and looking. Maybe we can get an invite down to their estate. At least her mother has socials! We could meet people.”
Corianne breezed into the small room next door while she spoke to sort out clothes. Tatiana’s expression crumbled as hot tears filled her eyes. Tatiana doubted her brother would be willing to hold the bridle to Corianne’s horse even if it meant she was leaving for good. But once she was dressed, she would try. Pyotr was her brother,and it wasn’t a big favor.
As feared, Pyotr was not willing to help her out. His hazel-green eyes frosted when he heard of Corianne’s request, and no begging would get him to budge.
“She is your friend. You do it. I’m not her servant boy.”
“She took you in the same she did me. We owe her.”
Pyotr turned his back, lifting the wheelbarrow of horse manure. Tatiana was left to glare at his broad shoulders and sandy blond hair.
“No, her mother, our aunt, took us in. Not Corianne. I have chores for Aunt Linda to do today.”
Tatiana was tempted to throw a horse apple at him but had nowhere to clean her hand other than her dress. She wasn’t a child anymore. At twenty-three, she could be married and have a family of her own instead of chasing Corianne’s fancies across the countryside. And instead of being caught up in Corianne’s dreams of what life could be like when the war’s deprivations eased at last.
It was nearly ten o’clock. Tatiana sighed. She scooped up the heavy basket and turned on her heel, trying to imagine the day Corianne was married off. To someone wealthy enough that they had more than two horses, one only fit for a plow. Or maybe someone who would just take Corianne to the continent. Tatiana smiled as she headed down the lane between the pasture and the vegetable field.
Chapter 5
THE EARL OF KESMERE
RHIOL
Derrick could not recall any time when Byran might have started to tell him about his relationship with Arinna. Of all the things that had occurred since the day before, that one bothered him the most. Even if it were the most insignificant of the events. He’d never thought Byran could deceive him, or anyone really. Now he knew there was quite a lot that Byran left unsaid.
The three paused their horses in the dancing shade of young leaves. Across the pasture lined by stone walls stood the manor house of Rhiol nestled against the forest at the foot of a high crag. Unlike the tan stone of his estate of Kesmere with its lofty burgundy peaked roofs and solid walls pierced by sets of high windows, Rhiol was squat and plain. And also unlike Kesmere, it was only a borrowed home for Arinna. Kesmere and its title were his by rights. She held only the honorary designation denoting service in the war. Even if her service, as unorthodox as it was, had won the war.
Derrick had not had cause to visit the neighboring estate and had avoided it altogether since Arinna’s arrival. This view of Rhiol was his first. The manor was massively built with small windows. It stood two stories tall, which was comparable to Kesmere. But unlike Kesmere’s arched flowing lines of cream stone that highlighted the windows and buttresses, the only ornamentation at Rhiol was over the doors and along the Georgian roofline. But it was only the simple windows and low roof that made it appear small
er. The entire structure looked to be bigger than Kesmere. The connected buildings, including a main residence, stables, and barn, sprawled to form three sides of a rectangle. A high wall completed the last section, enclosing a small inner courtyard.
Next to him, Arinna’s focus rested on Byran. And Byran’s on her. If it were any other couple, Derrick would have said they were courting. The attraction and friendship were obvious enough that he was happy they’d ridden through secluded woods and met no one. But Byran was married, even if fidelity had never been a strong part of the arrangement. And Arinna kept the rules of the Guard she commanded, and they could not marry while they served. Did she still serve if the war was over and she was never truly military personnel? Derrick watched them and felt like he stood in the sinking ground of a bog with no clear path back to the future he thought lay ahead. It was a feeling he thought he’d escaped years before.
If not knowing when Byran had meant to tell him about Arinna worried his thoughts, what stung was that Byran had come to Rhiol not to see him but to warn her. He’d stood with fingers gripping the balcony railing and listened to Byran confess to Arinna why he’d come to Kesmere. It was a secret that Derrick’s father hadn’t bothered to share. Though the fact that he’d called mere days before Byran’s arrival spoke that his father knew something was afoot. Knowing David Eldridge, if he knew of it, he was likely part of the cause.
Derrick had left his father’s machinations behind years ago when he’d run to Kesmere. He’d walk away from this too, but for Byran. Derrick had never seen Byran look at a woman so smitten, not even his wife. Which left Derrick barely able to contain his nerves.
“Are you well, my lord earl?”
Arinna’s question made Derrick push unwelcome thoughts aside.“Yes, I was actually thinking of tomorrow,” he replied, nudging his young stallion onward. Cobalt rolled his eyes but obliged.
After the War: Military Dystopian Thriller (Friends of my Enemy Book 2) Page 3