Snick. She loaded the shot and patted it down with the ramming stick that had been given to her. There was a far more critical concern at hand than her disappointment over a proposal. Leo thought them safe to rest, buthehad not witnessed the cold determination in their pursuer’s beautiful eyes. Such a man would not stop after the fire. He was still following them; of that she was certain. Therefore, she must be prepared.
Muscles aching, Juliana replaced the shot and powder in her greatcoat’s pocket where it draped over her chair, and strode with the pistol to the rumpled bed. She didn’t wish to sleep when the threat of danger hovered over her head, but the better course of action was to rest as much as possible before their next encounter. And, of course, she was exhausted.
She gingerly placed the pistol on the table at her bedside, and slipped between the bedclothes. It was a lumpy affair that pressed uncomfortably into the bruises on her hip and thigh, but it was better than the cold ground.
Turning the gas lamp low, she reached out to keep one hand on the pistol and closed her eyes. The flickering fire of the hearth and the low-burning lamp wavered beyond her eyelids, creating soothing silhouettes.
A slight dampness formed behind her knees, the only outward sign of her nerves. She ought to feel frightened, even terrified, but all she could muster was trepidation. Perhaps it was due to her conflict with Leo, or mayhap it was because she had previously faced her pursuer and prevailed, but she felt rather calmer than she could have imagined.
She took a deep breath and settled further into the mattress.
Creak.
Juliana’s eyes snapped open.
Creak.
Her hand tightened around the pistol, and she slowly turned her gaze toward the noise. A hulking figure crouched in her window, sliding the sash open to allow his bulk through.
That’s not Leo.
Gritting her molars, Juliana held back her shout, waiting for the right moment. He moved slowly, as though in pain, until he finally breached the room.
Nerves tingled up her legs before knotting heavily in her stomach. Once he aimed his weapon at her, the upper hand would be his. She could not allow that.
All at once, she sat up, swinging her arm to cock and aim the pistol at the large shadow. She turned up the lamp with her free hand, and light flared through the room, revealing her pursuer’s handsome, drawn features. There were dark circles under his eyes and a short growth of beard on the bottom half of his face, but those couldn’t disguise his pallid complexion. The man was clearly exhausted and hadn’t allowed himself to heal from his injuries.
Juliana bared her teeth at the approaching figure. “Why have you been following me?”
He laughed cruelly, the sound echoing hollowly off the thin walls. “I’m shocked, Juliana, that your brother didn’t warn you of our plans.”
Her heart tripped over as pain slammed into her chest, but she did her best to mask it. Jasper had known about the threat? And he’d never told her. It was yet another stain upon her relationship with the dastardly Duke of Derby.
“Just a moment,” she said, forcing strength into her voice that she didn’t feel. “You saidourplans.”
A derisive laugh rasped from his chest. “Of course you must have questions.” He snapped open his pocket watch and examined it.
In that moment, Juliana truly looked at the man. Though travel-worn and dirt-smudged, he was dressed in a finely tailored suit of indeterminate colour. He had blond tousled hair, blue eyes that sparked with malice, a broad jaw, and hard lines around his mouth and forehead that spoke of pain and many long days out of doors.
How did he know Jasper?
He closed the pocket watch with aclickand slipped it into his waistcoat.
The man’s wicked smile deepened. “Truth be known, it isn’t necessary to kill you, Juliana, and I hadn’t intended to. But then you shot me…and stabbed me, and since then I’ve thought of little but the many ways in which you could die. Oh, what fun we shall have.”
“Fun? Sir, you forget yourself. It is I who is pointing the pistol atyou.”
He barked a laugh. “Do you not recognize me, dear cousin?”
Juliana stilled, the air in her lungs frozen, her heart slamming against her back.Cousin. “No,” she whispered. No, he couldn’t be. The spark of recognition grew to a blaze as memories of long ago filled her mind’s eye. The boy she remembered had been vile. Aberrant and dreadful, he had taken pleasure in and boasted about harming animals on their estate when they were children. On several occasions, he’d attempted to show her the results of what he’d done.
He spread his arms to the sides, a wide, hateful smirk on his lips. “Yes.”
Slowly, the puzzle pieces of childhood memories fell into place, and her gut lurched. “Miles.” Miles Sinclair, the younger of her two cousins and the more physically destructive of the two. His older brother was always the architect behind their plots—he preferred emotional torture—but Miles was most often the perpetrator of violent acts, always eager to destroy, and to watch as something suffered. But she hadn’t seen them since that day long ago… “Where is Francis?”
Miles withdrew the watch from his pocket once more, glanced at it with a satisfied sigh, and returned it to his pocket. “The Duke of Derby has run out of time.”
Juliana took a quavering breath. “Miles, where is Francis?”
