“He didn’t come as far as the abbess,” Iris said with a grin. “When I heard he’d come I packed all Beryl’s things, which I had hidden after her death, into the market basket, and left the abbey as usual for the village. Once at the willow grove near the river, I changed into Beryl’s clothes and met my escort at the inn.”
Lucan appeared stunned into speechlessness. “But…but I’ve received no word from the abbess that youwere missing.”
She smiled sweetly. “I flung my habit into the river. They likely think I drowned but still wish for my stipend to continue. Since you never sent any letters inquiring as to my welfare,” she pointed out.
“Sly,” her brother mused. Then his face dropped back to the sheaves of papers scattered over his lap. “Iris, this is…”
“Helpful? Remarkable? Vital to ourinvestigation?”
“Myinvestigation,” Lucan corrected distractedly and then looked up to meet her eyes again. “But, yes, all of that. It’s also incredibly dangerous.”
“I know,” she agreed. She grew solemn and then turned to sit on the cot next to her brother. “But I couldn’t just stay there in France, waiting for you. Youneverwrote. I never knew where you were, if you were safe, if you had learned anything new. Iwas desperate.”
“I couldn’t send the kind of information you wanted,” he protested. “It would have been too hazardous if it fell into the wrong hands.”
“I understood—I understand,” she rushed to assure him. “But they were my parents; Castle Dare my home too. I may not remember them as you do, but I remember how I felt after they died. I remember the fire, the smell of the smoke, the blackened walls of our home. I remember the ship, and arriving at the abbey. I remember those years we were scared and alone in a foreign land.” Her brows drew down. “And I remember when the rumors reached all the way to France. I couldn’t stay there any longer. Lucan, I wantedto comehome.”
Lucan looked at the pages for a moment longer, nodding his head distractedly, and then sighed. “I cannot say you’ve not done well. But now that I’ve arrived at Darlyrede, there is absolutely no need for you to stay on. I have the papers.”
Iris’s eyes widened. “I’m not leaving,” she insisted. “Not now. I can’t. I promised LadyHargrave I’d—”
“Iris, listen to yourself; you just cited a vow to a Hargrave as the reason you cannot leave a highly perilous situation. If Vaughn Hargrave finds out you’ve been spying on the household, making these notes—maps, for God’s sake!” He gestured toward herwith the pages.
“That’s another thing,” Iris said quickly. “Lucan, there’s no cellar in all of Darlyrede. The house is ancient, and yet—”
“Yes, it’s ancient,” her brother interjected. “And so, like many others, the cellar likely collapsed or was so unstable that it was filled as new additions to the hold were made. It won’t matter ifLord Hargrave—”
“He won’t find the pages.”
“Well, he won’t now,” Lucan allowed, “for I’ll have them.”
“Oh, no,” Iris warned, and then pulled at the stack. Only half of them came away before Lucan tightened his grip on them and the portfolio. Without fully realizing it, Iris resorted to the French they both had spoken for so many years. “I’ve risked my neck to accumulate this information—I’ll not have you taking all the credit. Give me the rest.”
“I’ll not,” Lucan answered her in French without hesitation, twisting the pages out of her reach. “You shall leave at once. As soon as I can makearrangements.”
“No, I shan’t. I’ve nowhere to go, any matter,” Iris argued. “Lucan, I know you think this is the best way to keep me safe, but it’s not. If I leave suddenly, it will be suspect.”
“It won’t be suspect,” Lucan argued. “You made it very clear in the hall that you did not wish to serve Master Boyd. Servants run away.”
“It’s not that,” Iris continued. “Lady Hargrave is in very real danger from that monster who is her husband. She confides in no one else save me.” She pleaded with him with her eyes. “I’m all she has. If I leave her, Lady Hargrave will die—either at the hands of Vaughn Hargrave or from abroken heart.”
“Iris—”
“Just listen to me, please,” she pressed. “I have insight here that you do not. I am trusted. Isn’t that worth something?”
Lucan looked at her for a long time without saying anything, and Iris knew her reasoning was working. Lucan was rarely swayed from his decisions, but she could hear the creakingof his resolve.
“Why didn’t you come tothe barracks?”
“I needed to make my notes while they were still fresh in my mind,” she said. “I’ll not play chambermaid to that stubborn Scots lout, any matter.”
“No, you shan’t,” Lucan agreed. “Cletus has been assigned his chambermaid.”
Iris snorted reflexively and brought a hand to her mouth. “Cletus? Hargrave’s minion? Perhaps I should have attended, if only for theentertainment.”
“Yes, you should have,” Lucan continued. “Especially because you seem determined to stay on at Darlyrede. You must take up a position in his camp, now that it’sbeen allowed.”
“In both camps,” Iris lamented. “In what possible capacity could a lady’s maid benefit a rough Scotsman intent on defeating a member of the English nobility?”
