Tempting Danger: Sinclair and Raven series

by Vella, Wendy

  What the hell is going on?

  “You know that we cannot read the small print on the page from here, don’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Open the paper and face it to us,” James directed him. “The small print on the bottom of the page, Dev. Read it out loud.”

  At James’s words, Dev put down his cup and looked to where Nicholas stood. Suddenly tension filled the room, so thick he could almost taste it. Looking at his brother-in-law he noted his eyes were once again brilliant green, like sparkling jewels. He appeared to be focusing on the newspaper Nicholas held open with both hands.

  “Really, there is no need….” Nicholas’s words fell away as Dev started talking.

  “An invigorating tonic is now available for men who are experiencing bouts of lethargy. For a small price, you can procure a bottle and feel its benefits in days.” Dev spoke in short, clipped words. When he was done, his eyes seemed to lose their brightness and return to their normal color.

  “Your turn now, Nicholas, read the words out loud,” James said.

  Nicholas looked at the four people seated in his breakfast parlor, his eyes passing from one to the other. All were solemn, even Cam, which was a rare thing. He felt a strange reluctance to turn the paper around, almost as if he knew deep down inside that today he was about to learn something about himself that would change everything.

  “Do it, Nicholas,” Cam said.

  As if in slow motion, Nicholas turned the paper and stared at the words there in small black script

  “Read them,” James urged.

  “An invigorating tonic is now available for men who are experiencing bouts of lethargy. For a small price you can procure a bottle and feel its benefits in days.” Nicholas’s voice shook as he repeated what Dev had said word for word.

  “I don’t understand.”

  Cam’s laugh held no humor. “Neither do we, but come and sit down now, Nicholas, and we shall at least attempt to explain things.”

  His feet weren’t working properly as he staggered back to the breakfast table and fell into his seat. He held out his hand, and Lilly gripped it once more, her gloved fingers anchoring him to her. He needed that.

  “Cam has a heightened sense of smell,” Dev said.

  “The soap you bathed with this morning has lemon along with all the other ingredients, which I won’t outline. Your cologne has sandalwood,” Cam said.

  “Take a mouthful of your tea, Nicholas,” James said. “Because the shock you are feeling is only going to grow as we continue on with the other members of our family.”

  “There are others?”

  “Your sister for one, as you saw she can heal with her hands.”

  “Dear lord.” Nicholas looked at her. “How could I not have known?”

  “Did you ever wonder why I wore gloves all the time?”

  He nodded.

  “I’ll take it from here, love, as you are far too modest,” Dev said. “Her gift is perhaps the most powerful of us all and is the most precious.”

  “Lilly.” He rasped her name.

  “Yes,” Dev said calmly. “As I have explained already, Eden and Alice have the heightened sense of hearing. Essex and Kate taste; these are the basic elements to our senses. Warwick, Dorrie and Somer are gifted also.”

  He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

  “Essie also has this ability with herbs and healing, which Kate is learning. Wolf has a connection to animals. Surely you’ve seen them with him?” Dev asked.

  “I thought he carried sugar or something in his pockets.”

  The laughter was small, but it eased some of the tension in the room... but only slightly.

  “We all feel each other’s pain and fear. Our strength is at its most powerful when we are together and connected as we were that day Alice fell from her horse.”

  Nicholas knew and respected these people greatly, but what they asked him to believe was almost beyond reasoning.

  “Lilly.” Her name was torn from him. “How you must have suffered. How you must have loathed me.”

  “We will not start that, Nicholas,” she said in a sharp tone. “No further recriminations are required, and I want no hand wringing—”

  “I was... am your big brother. You deserved more from me.”

  “Yes, I likely did, and now I am getting it. You still have a few things to make up for, but I shall extract those from you when required.”

  Dev barked out a laugh.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I know.” She patted his hand.

  “Surely you’ve wondered about them sometimes, Nicholas.”

  He nodded at James. “I did, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine this.”

  “So, like me, you just thought them odd?” James said.

  “But how is it possible that Lilly has a heightened sense? She is not a Sinclair.” Nicholas said when the realization came to him.

  “This gets a bit complicated.”

  “I doubt it could be more so.”

  “One of our ancestors and one of yours had an affair, and as far as we can determine, that is how Lilly came to be gifted, and now you with the visions. There is a scroll somewhere, or something that tells us the history. As yet we’ve never been able to find it anywhere. Raven Castle has been turned upside down.”

  “Tell me about these senses then.” He looked at Dev. “They must have taken some getting used to.”

  “You believe us, excellent.”

  “I doubt someone could make such a story up, so I fear I must.”

  Lilly patted his hand, then rose to walk to the sideboard.

  “Wolf and I can see great distances and at night. We also see people in colors.”

  “Colors?”

  “Have you never noticed him looking at you oddly. Kind of fixed and glazed, his pupils dilated?” Cam asked. “He appears a simpleminded fool.”

  “Yes, thank you, Cam.”

  “I have, actually.”

  “Well, that’s him checking your colors. He does it to all of us, it’s his way of making sure we’re not ill or upset.”

  “You should be married to him,” Lilly muttered. “He is constantly checking me and our children.”

  “Such is my love and adoration for you all,” Dev drawled. “Your color is yellow, but it can get weaker or darker depending on your health.”

  “If it’s white, then you’re likely going to die soon,” Cam said cheerfully.

  “Good lord.”

  “You’re the same color as Alice, actually,” Dev said in a neutral tone. James and Cam were both suddenly alert and focused on Nicholas.

  “What?”

  “Dev doesn’t think you should marry anyone who is not your color,” James added. “Add to that the Sinclair and Raven thing—”

  “What thing?” Nicholas’s throat was suddenly dry.

  “I think he’s probably heard enough,” Dev said.

  “No, tell him. It’s like lancing a festering sore; get it all out at one time,” Cam said.

  “Charming.”

  “Tell me what?”

  “I’ll tell this part because it still annoys me,” James said. “Many years ago—”

  “1335, to be precise,” Cam added.

  “—a lowly Sinclair, they were not always noblemen—”

  “But we were always noble,” Dev drawled.

  “—saved the then Duke of Raven,” James said, ignoring him. “King Richard III bequeathed the Sinclairs the land at the bottom of Raven mountain in gratitude.”

  “And why is that, James?” Cam asked innocently... far too innocently.

  “Because they are our bloody protectors,” James growled.

  “I beg your pardon?” Nicholas shook his head.

  “Eden saved me from drowning, and Dev saved me when we were away fighting for our country. He then saved Lilly from being thrown from a carriage.” James wasn’t pleased by the revelations. “Lilly then brought Dev back from the dead.”

>   “What?” Nicholas stood suddenly.

  “You could have worded that better.” Lilly wandered back with her plate of food. “Dev was shot; I healed him.”

  “It takes a great deal out of her,” Dev added. “Saps her strength when the injury is severe, as you saw the other day when she healed Alice.”

  “You healed me that night at the Mueller masquerade!” Nicholas said suddenly. My ribs hurt and then they didn’t.”

  “I did, yes,” his sister said calmly.

  “Christ.” The word hissed from his mouth. “I can’t take this in.”

  “I saved Emily. Wolf saved Rose, and Essie, Max. There have been many more incidents in our past,” Cam continued.

  “Yes, thank you, Cambridge, I believe Nicholas gets the point now.”

  Cam smiled widely. “We’re always here for you, James, you know that.”

  “God’s blood, Nicholas, it is the one aspect of this entire situation that boils my spleen,” the duke said. The Sinclair brothers simply smiled.

  “It’s almost unbelievable.”

  “Yes, well, it takes time. I’ve been married for many years and still can’t quite take it in.”

  “And now it appears you have something of us in you after all,” Dev said. “And if you are now experiencing your visions during daylight hours, there is every chance that your strength is growing.”

  “You make me sound like a Warlock... if indeed they exist,” Nicholas said, feeling like the ground was moving beneath his feet.

  “Makes you wonder though, doesn’t it, brother?” Lilly said.

  “I felt your power that day in the field. Felt it course through me,” Cam said.

  Nicholas wondered, if he ran from the room and mounted his horse, could he simply keep riding and outrun whatever madness this was. Suddenly his life was spiraling out of control, and strangely, all that had started since Alice Sinclair had stormed into it... after saving him. Looking around the room, he decided to keep that piece of news to himself after what he had just learned.

  Sinclairs marry Ravens.

  There was always an exception to every rule, and he was it.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “And you say the man who arrived said he was directed by the midwife to take the baby?”

  Nicholas looked at the woman seated across from him at the small table. Toby, his stable hand, to her right. He had both hands wrapped around a mug of tea.

  He’d asked the boy to bring him here today to speak with his cousin.

  “And this happened fourteen months ago?”

  “It did.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  She nodded but said nothing further.

  Do you remember the name of the midwife, Mrs. Ham?”

  Her face screwed up as she thought about that.

  “Mrs. Adley,” Toby said.

  “That’s the name,” Toby’s cousin agreed.

  Another one. He wondered if Alice would visit him tonight with a third child in her arms.

  “Very well, I shall leave you now. And thank you for your time. You stay and visit with your cousin, Toby.”

  “Mr. Marsh won’t be happy,” the boy said.

  “I will speak with my stablemaster.”

  Letting himself out, he mounted and headed to his next address. Mrs. Potter’s daughter, Jane.

  He knew Mr. Spriggot and Mr. Brown were investigating also, but Nicholas felt he needed to do something. Alice had yelled at him last night in his vision, demanding he take action. So today he was.

  When he knocked on another door ten minutes later, it was answered by a pale-faced woman.

  “Mrs. Budd, I am Lord Braithwaite. Your mother is my housekeeper—”

  “You employed my Bill.”

  “I did, and he is a fine worker.”

  “We are grateful to you for taking him on. What is it that has you here today, my lord?”

  “I merely wish to ask you a couple of questions about the night you lost the babe.”

  As soon as the words left his mouth, she started to weep, and he cursed himself for his insensitivity. The woman was clearly grieving.

  “I shall leave you.”

  “No! I want to answer your questions if it helps get my babe back.”

  “And you are sure, like your mother, that you heard the baby cry?”

  “My babe was alive when she took him from me, but it wasn’t until I’d come to my senses that I realized it for certain.”

  “Did you see the man who took him away?”

  She shook her head.

  He asked a few more questions, gently.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Budd, for speaking with me about that night. I understand it must be painful for you.”

  He didn’t understand at all, how could he? But he had to say the words before leaving. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d felt this helpless before.

  “And will you find my boy, Lord Braithwaite, and bring him back to me?” Jane Budd begged him.

  “I will investigate the matter entirely, I promise you that. I also have several others looking into it.”

  She nodded and began to rise.

  “I’ll see myself out.”

  “It’s her, I’m sure of it. Mrs. Adley.”

  “If the midwife is at fault, she will be brought to justice, I assure you of that.”

  Nicholas left then, letting himself out into the dismal day that had descended on London since he’d woken many hours earlier. It was one of the days that couldn’t make up its mind if it wanted to be light or dark, so it was halfway between.

  The hour was not late, 3:00 p.m., and yet it felt more advanced. Jamming his gloved hands in the pockets of his jacket, Nicholas walked down the narrow lane.

  Alice’s visions were more disturbing with each night she visited. Perhaps because… well she was Alice, and she disturbed him, but there was also the absolute belief he felt when she talked that he would be the one to find the babies.

  At least he’d had no more while he was awake. For that, Nicholas was extremely grateful. Seeing Alice bloody and lying there on the ground had shattered him.

  Was it true? Could his visions be attributed to the affair many years ago between a Raven and a Sinclair? He could still not take in what he’d learned. Lilly could heal, and Alice had the heightened sense of hearing.

  He couldn’t imagine it would be pleasant overhearing everything that was said around you. Dev told him that both she and Eden wore earplugs to dull the noise, but he doubted that blocked out everything.

  Strangely, knowing about his family and what they could do and the fact he was one of them now had simply added to the feeling of belonging growing inside him. He liked that he was now connected to them by more than just blood and marriage.

  Collecting his horse, he mounted. His next stop was to visit the midwife again. Mr. Spriggot had spoken with her, but the woman had told him nothing, simply shutting the door in the man’s face. Nicholas would not be allowing that to happen this time. He wanted answers and was getting them.

  He headed back down the street, and up the next. The shortest route to Mrs. Adley’s house would take him past an establishment he had no wish to see, and yet if he did not take this direction, he could add twenty minutes to his journey.

  “Just ride by,” he muttered as he turned into the street Bastil’s, one of the worst gambling hells, was on. He had not been a coward in many years and was not about to start now.

  It was as he approached the building that had almost been a residence to him that he saw the carriage. Something made him look at the driver. Call it intuition, but he knew he’d been right to do so as he looked in the worried eyes of Bids, Dev and Lilly’s driver.

  “Good day, Bids, what has you here? Is Lord Sinclair in the vicinity?”

  Turning his horse slightly so he could not see the building behind him, he focused on the man seated above him.

  “Lord Braithwaite, ’tis mighty pleased I am to see you.”

  “W
here is your employer, Bids?”

  “I am not here with Lord Sinclair, my lord. He’d never be seen outside such an establishment.”

  Nicholas heard a small squeak coming from inside the carriage, then a loud shushing sound. His curiosity climbed.

  “I’m driving for Miss Alice Sinclair, my lord. Her and that woman. They conned me, they did.”

  “If Miss Alice Sinclair is inside the carriage, I can fully believe that.”

  It was clear that even after all her talk of needing to grow up and become responsible, Alice was still taking risks. His anger started to simmer.

  “They said they wanted to drop off something, and we ended up here.”

  “Why did you not simply keep driving, Bids?”

  “They threatened to leap out if I did. Lord Sinclair loaned me to Captain Sinclair because he trusted me to watch over his cousins. But they are trouble, especially Miss Alice and that Kitty Trent.”

  “Watch your mouth, Bids!” The door was thrown open and a woman stepped down from the carriage. “I’ll have you know I’m looking after Miss Alice so she doesn’t step into trouble alone! Would you rather that was the case?”

  Like the last time he’d seen her, Kitty Trent was bristling with energy. Today she wore a long coat of peacock-feather blue, with matching bonnet.

  “Good evening, Mrs. Trent,” Nicholas said, drawing her fire away from the trembling Bids. The man may look like he could hold his own, but not when faced with a determined woman.

  She spun to face Nicholas.

  “Good afternoon, Lord Braithwaite.” Her curtsey was elegant. “We met at The Trumpeter. I’ve heard a great deal about you.”

  “Have you? I hope at least some of it was good?”

  “Indeed, some of it was,” she said, making Nicholas snort.

  “Excellent, and now will you tell me why you and Alice Sinclair are outside an establishment as disreputable as Bastil’s?”

  “I would of course tell you, my lord, and yet I’m afraid it is not my story, and I will not break Alice’s confidence by doing so.”

  Dismounting, Nicholas handed Bids his reins.

  “Then I shall get the full story myself.”

  Nicholas had not seen Alice in over three weeks because she was healing, and because when he did see her again he wanted his defenses rebuilt and sturdy. Holding her while she’d slept had caused them to crack.