The Scholar's Heart (Chronicles of Tournai Book 3)

by Antonia Aquilante

  Tristan wondered about that, but Etan knew Corentin better than he did. Then again, Tristan was trying to get over what resentment and jealousy he’d felt toward Corentin since he had helped to find Bria. Doing so should have been easy, but somehow it wasn’t. He just kept picturing Corentin with Etan.

  He shook the image out of his head.

  “Captain, who kidnapped my daughter?” Perhaps the question was a bit abrupt—it was, if Etan’s sharp look in his direction was any indication—but he needed to know, and he needed to stop thoughts of Corentin and Etan before they got started.

  Captain Loriot set his mostly empty plate aside and looked into Tristan’s eyes. “I don’t know.”

  “What? How can you not know?”

  Etan placed a hand on Tristan’s knee, restraining him from jumping to his feet, and said, “How is that possible? You got them back.”

  “We did, and we apprehended the people holding them,” Captain Loriot said. “But those people were hired to carry out the kidnapping. They aren’t behind it. We’ve been questioning them, but so far they seem to know nothing about the person who hired them. We’ll continue, of course, both questioning them and in our other investigations.”

  “Have you gotten anything from the interviews you were conducting?” Despite the day being a bit fuzzy, Tristan remembered Captain Loriot saying he was going to talk to Tristan’s family and business competitors.

  “Not yet. To be perfectly honest with you, it’s down to Savarin and Master Corentin that we found them so quickly. Savarin’s spell had already narrowed down the area they might be held in, but it was far too large to search. With Master Corentin’s information, he narrowed it further, and was able to tell us almost exactly where to look for them.”

  Tristan scrubbed a hand over his face. He was thrilled that Savarin had found his daughter, but that whoever had orchestrated her kidnapping was still out there terrified him. Etan’s hand tightened on his thigh, less restraining and more supportive now. Tristan covered it with one of his own. “So what do we do now? Is she still in danger? Will they try for her again?”

  “I don’t know, Master Tristan. They might give up now that their plan failed. They might try again,” Captain Loriot said, his expression and voice apologetic, though neither made Tristan feel much better. “It may depend on why they took her in the first place.”

  “Which we don’t know.” Tristan closed his eyes briefly before focusing back on Captain Loriot. He couldn’t be ruled by fear; he had to protect his daughter. “What do we do, then? How do we make sure they don’t get to her again?”

  “I’ll continue my investigations, and hopefully I’ll find something soon that will lead me to her kidnappers. In the meantime, you’ll take more precautions with her security. Their Highnesses authorized me to assign guards to your home until the kidnapper is caught. You’ll want to be careful who you allow into the house and where you take the baby. If she leaves the house, the guards can go with her.”

  Tristan nodded. He wondered if he should hire guards of his own. There were limits to how many private guards a citizen could keep within the city walls, but he could hire a few, augment the number that Philip and Amory loaned him. Of course, he would have to find trustworthy people, and right now he wasn’t inclined to trust anyone he didn’t know, or who wasn’t recommended to him by people he trusted. Perhaps it was best to rely on the royal guards and keep Bria within the house and garden. She wasn’t even walking yet; she wouldn’t know the difference.

  “You could stay up at the palace,” Etan said, his voice tentative as he ventured the suggestion. “Until the kidnapper is caught. It’s much more secure. No one would be able to get to her.”

  The suggestion made quite a bit of sense. He should be more upset about the idea of leaving his home for an indefinite period of time, but he wasn’t feeling particularly confident in Bria’s safety in the house, and really, it never had felt like much of a home. Just the place he lived during his short marriage. He probably would have found a new house sooner or later, a place to raise Bria that could be their home.

  “You don’t mind? You don’t think Philip or Amory would mind?” Tristan asked, the question of Philip and Amory’s feelings an afterthought. He was first, and perhaps more, concerned about Etan’s feelings, with what Etan thought about having Tristan and Bria in the palace for an untold amount of time. Would he want Tristan underfoot? Would proximity hurt their budding relationship? He hoped not, but he didn’t know. But in a building the size of the palace, Tristan and Bria wouldn’t have to be underfoot. Etan could certainly go without seeing them if he wanted.

  The thought that he might left a bad feeling in Tristan’s stomach.

  “Not at all. They’d be happy to have you where they know you and Bria are safe. I’d be happy to have you there too. I’d worry less.”

  Captain Loriot had watched their exchange silently until now, but after Etan finished speaking, he said, “If Lord Etan and Their Highnesses are willing, moving into the palace might be a good idea. Certainly safer and more secure.”

  “Then, yes. If no one minds our being there, I would be grateful,” Tristan said. “I would worry less too if Bria was somewhere safer.”

  “That’s settled, then.” Etan’s smile was encouraging, and a bit of pleasure lit the golden brown of his eyes. “When should we move you up there?”

  “Oh, um. I hadn’t thought that far.”

  “Sooner would be better,” Captain Loriot suggested.

  “Yes, I see that. Is the morning soon enough? Bria is asleep, and her nursemaid will need the time to pack her things.”

  “You’ll need to pack too,” Etan said. “You’ll want your own things for a stay of any length of time.”

  Instead of borrowing Etan’s clothes. But Tristan rather liked the idea of wearing Etan’s clothes now that he had the time to think of it—he liked that Etan was wearing his clothes. Still he knew Etan was right. “I can make do with less than Bria can, but yes, you’re right. I’ll pack tonight as well.”

  “I’ll leave the guards with you overnight. They can escort you and your daughter up to the palace in the morning,” Captain Loriot said as he stood. “I should return to the palace.”

  “Thank you, Captain.” Tristan rose as well with Etan beside him. “You’ll keep us informed of what you find.”

  “As soon as I know anything, you will.”

  Tristan and Etan walked with Captain Loriot out into the entryway. A maid stood ready with Captain Loriot’s cloak and uniform hat. She handed them to him with a bobbed curtsy and then disappeared down the corridor.

  “Try to get some sleep tonight, Captain,” Etan said.

  “I’ll do my best, but there’s a lot to be—”

  Whatever else Captain Loriot might have said was cut short by a scream and a crash from upstairs, followed by Indigo’s frantic barking. For a heartbeat, everything froze.

  “Bria.”

  ETAN WAS running up the stairs before he even consciously thought to move. Footsteps pounded behind him as Tristan and Captain Loriot followed. The scream could have meant anything—a maid could have seen a mouse or slipped and fallen—but somehow he knew it was more, especially with the way the dog was barking. He knew something had happened in the nursery. And his only thought was to get to Bria.

  He pushed for more speed as he reached the top of the stairs. Rounding the bend in the corridor, he saw Indigo jumping at the nursery door, and his worse fears were realized. The dog knew something was happening inside that room too.

  Tristan called for the dog to stop, but Indigo wouldn’t. Tristan pushed forward to grab the dog and pull him back so Etan could throw open the door. As it opened, he saw a man in dark clothing and a mask grappling with the nursemaid. Over the sounds of the struggle came the shrill sounds of Bria’s crying from her crib. At least that meant Bria was alive and where she was supposed to be. The nursemaid seemed to be holding her own when he flung the door open—until the intruder shoved
her away from him and she stumbled and fell, striking her head and lying still.

  The man turned for the crib, obviously intending to grab the baby and make for the open window. Etan leapt into the room, calling on his Talent as he did. He was the cat in an instant, and in another bound he was on the intruder, knocking him to the floor and pinning him there with the strength his Talent gave him. He wanted to rip the man to shreds but he couldn’t. They needed to know who was behind the kidnapping, and if he killed this man for trying to harm Bria, for the pain Tristan felt, they would never know. Captain Loriot needed this man alive to question.

  Captain Loriot. And Tristan. Both of whom had certainly seen him change into a cat.

  He called on his Talent again, changing himself back just as fast as he’d transformed into the cat. He looked down at the man he crouched over and saw he was unconscious. Etan hadn’t noticed that happen, but the man had either hit his head when he hit the floor or passed out from the fright. He didn’t much care one way or another as long as he was alive to answer Captain Loriot’s questions.

  Captain Loriot who was staring down at him with an expression Etan had trouble reading.

  “Something I should know? Or something I shouldn’t?” Captain Loriot asked shrewdly.

  “Something you shouldn’t.” Etan got to his feet to face the man. He’d have to tell Philip that he’d let himself be seen using his Talent and see how Philip wanted to proceed. But for better or worse, Captain Loriot knew, and they would have to tell him something. “But now you do, so you need an explanation. I’ll ask you to wait until we return to the palace, and to not tell anyone about this.”

  “Yes, my lord. I’ll make sure nothing makes it into a report when we question the intruder either. You have my utmost discretion as always.”

  He wondered if he imagined that Captain Loriot wasn’t quite as surprised as he should be. Or perhaps that was the captain’s natural ability to hide what he felt, an important skill in his position. “Thank you.”

  Captain Loriot went to the window and looked out, down toward the ground of the narrow alley beside Tristan’s house and then up. “Looks like he came down from the roof. Might be how the guards didn’t see him, but I’ll be talking to them about that. Though I don’t know how he got up there.”

  “The house on the other side is much closer. He could have gotten across from there.”

  Tristan’s voice drew Etan’s attention, and his stomach sank. The sick feeling didn’t abate as he turned to Tristan, who stood beside the crib with Bria in his arms. He was rocking her and rubbing her back, and her crying had quieted. But he stared at Etan, his face stark white—a reaction caused by the attempted kidnapping or the revelation of Etan’s Talent or a combination of both. Etan wished he knew. Indigo was pressed against Tristan’s legs, watching Etan, but he wasn’t growling, which was an improvement.

  “We’ll check, Master Tristan. Thank you.” Captain Loriot looked down at the man on the floor. He hadn’t stirred. “I’m going to have one of the guards help me bring him in, but I’ll leave the other guard here with you. I suggest you move to the palace tonight. Hopefully this one can tell us something to help us, but until we can talk to him, I’d prefer you and your daughter be somewhere more secure.”

  Tristan’s gaze darted between Captain Loriot and Etan, but he finally nodded. “All right. I’ll put some things in a bag for each of us.”

  A soft groan drew their attention to the other side of the room. Etan cursed. Somehow in the excitement they’d forgotten about the nursemaid. He hurried to her side, dropping to a crouch. “Everything is all right. Don’t try to move.”

  “I’ll have a healer sent,” Captain Loriot said.

  Everything moved quickly after that. Captain Loriot and one of his guards hauled the still-unconscious would-be kidnapper out of the house. The servants flooded the nursery, fussing over the nursemaid until the healer arrived. They dispersed reluctantly then, one of the maids following Tristan’s orders to pack up enough of Bria’s things for a couple of days. The other guard moved indoors, staying close to Tristan and Bria and making it impossible for Etan to talk to Tristan.

  Etan could only hover.

  Tristan tried to pack a bag for himself, but the disturbance had made Bria fussy and he couldn’t put her down without her crying. Etan didn’t ask to hold her for Tristan; he was too scared Tristan wouldn’t allow him to. Instead, he took over packing clothing for Tristan. The guard stood at the open door to Tristan’s bedchamber the entire time, alert for threats and hopefully not sensing the air of awkwardness and tension strung between Etan and Tristan.

  The tension didn’t abate when they were finally alone in a carriage rumbling through the nighttime streets toward the palace. Well, alone but for Bria who had finally fallen back to sleep in her father’s arms.

  “Tristan,” Etan began quietly. Tristan looked at him from the opposite seat, his gaze skewering him and stopping the words in Etan’s mouth. Etan had wanted to sit beside Tristan, but he wasn’t certain that action would have been welcome.

  “What was that, Etan? What did you—how did you do that? You turned yourself into a cat—a massive, scary cat. How is that possible?” Tristan’s words flooded out in a harsh whisper. Etan flinched, but Bria never stirred.

  “I have a Talent.”

  “A Talent? That’s a Talent?” Tristan shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

  “It’s rare, maybe even unique in the world. I’ve been studying, but I haven’t found much like it outside my family.”

  “Your family? The royal family? You all have this Talent?”

  “For the most part. It’s the origin of all those legends, or at least I think it is.” Etan stopped himself before he could get into a long discussion of his scholarship and research. Tristan wouldn’t care, not now. He rolled his shoulders, trying to move some of the tension out of them. “It runs in the family, but not everyone has it. It skips around. Skips whole generations sometimes. My father doesn’t have it, nor did Philip’s father or any of their siblings.”

  “But you do. And Philip? Your siblings?”

  Etan nodded. “Most of my siblings, yes.”

  “What about Julien?” Tristan asked, and Etan wished he could read Tristan better, but he couldn’t see him well enough in the shadowy interior of the carriage and his voice told Etan little.

  “Maybe. It’s too early to tell. There doesn’t seem to be any pattern to how or when it shows up.”

  “How have I never heard about this? Does anyone know?” Tristan’s voice rose a bit, but he immediately lowered it. Bria slept on after only a slight twitch.

  “No, no one knows. Because it’s a secret. It’s always been a secret. According to family history, a few members of the family didn’t even tell the people they married.” Etan stared across the small space at Tristan, willing him to understand. “It has to stay a secret, Tristan.”

  Tristan’s gaze snapped to his. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying I need you not to tell anyone.” He hated himself for exposing their secret. Not so much that Tristan knew—Etan would have told him sooner or later—but to let Captain Loriot find out. He couldn’t regret leaping to Bria’s defense, but he’d wonder if he could have done it just as well as a man. Perhaps he should have tried, but instinct had overridden thought in that crucial instant. “No one can know.”

  “Or what?”

  Etan’s brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of Tristan’s question, but too much had happened tonight. “What do you mean?”

  “What will happen to me if I don’t keep it a secret?”

  Etan’s mind blanked with shock for a moment, and then he stuttered out, “Nothing. Tristan, I’m only saying I’m trusting you not to tell anyone about this.”

  “Oh.” Tristan looked down at Bria.

  Etan’s heart clenched, leaving a hollow, ill feeling in its wake. “Are you—are you afraid of me?”

  Tristan’s head sn
apped up and he stared at Etan. “What? No. Why would you say that?”

  “Because you saw me… that way. And you thought I would do something to you if you told someone about it.”

  “Etan.” Tristan sighed. “I’m shocked, and maybe a little hurt that I didn’t know before now, though I know that’s ridiculous since no one knows outside your family. Mostly so much has happened, and this is so new, that I don’t know what to think about it. But I’m not afraid.”

  Etan slumped back into the cushions behind him, the tension abruptly leaving his muscles. “Good. I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”

  “I couldn’t.” Tristan gave him a small smile. “From what I saw, you were beautiful like that.”

  Etan felt his cheeks heat, an odd reaction, but he couldn’t remember anyone ever even commenting on how he looked as a cat. “Thank you. Um.”

  Tristan tilted his head to the side. “What?”

  “If you want to see it again, me like that again, I could show you. Not now obviously, but sometime.” Why did he sound like a boy stumbling over his words at his first infatuation? It was ridiculous. But this, discussing his Talent and what he became, was all new to him.

  “I’d like that.”

  Etan nodded and cleared his throat softly. “In the meantime, if you have questions, just ask. Or you can talk to Amory—he knows.”

  “I assumed. I don’t think he and Philip keep much from each other.” Tristan sounded almost wistful.

  “No, they don’t.” Etan paused. “I would have told you soon. Maybe I should have told you before, but I couldn’t. We’d barely settled anything, and with Bria gone….”

  “I understand.”

  “My Talent was the only secret I kept from you.”

  “I really do understand, Etan.”

  “Good. That’s good. Thank you.”

  Tristan held out a hand across the space dividing them, and Etan took it, reveling in the connection. It was the first time they’d touched since Tristan had seen Etan as a cat. He hadn’t known if Tristan would want to touch him again after seeing, but he was so glad to have been proven wrong. The position was awkward, holding hands with arms stretched across the space between carriage seats, but Etan didn’t want to let go, not even to move and sit next to Tristan.