His intrusion would not have mattered anyway, for Miss Palliser was nowhere to be found. Indeed, the chamber looked as if she had never even inhabited it. With a vicious curse, he left and jogged down the hall, telling himself to be calm all the while.
That his fears were likely groundless. That Miss Palliser and Edward were probably breaking their fast at that very moment, and he would race into the breakfast room to find the lad flashing him a grin. The Fenians who had murdered Burghly had been arrested. Surely the end had come to this madness. Surely, he was overreacting.
But the breakfast room was empty. Keynes appeared, the ever-efficient butler sporting an air of perplexed concern. “May I be of assistance, sir?”
“The young duke,” he bit out. “Have you seen him this morning?”
Keynes’s eyebrows snapped together. “I cannot say that I have, sir.”
The misgiving in his gut deepened into fear.
“Damn it.” He raked his fingers through his hair. He was going to have to wake the household. Where in the hell could Miss Palliser and the lad be?
Leo entered the breakfast room just then. “Clay, I need to speak with you. Would you excuse us, Keynes?”
Clay had never been more relieved to see his brother. The butler bowed and disappeared.
“I’m glad you are here,” he said hoarsely, about to enlist his brother in helping him to find Edward and the wayward governess. Or to assure him that he was mad and the lad was safe and sound.
“Not the usual reception I receive, but I will take it,” Leo said drily before Clay could continue. “I’m afraid the news I have is not good, brother. I’ve just had word from Leprechaun.”
The news made Clay’s skin go cold.
Leo referred to their mutual friend Padraig McGuire by the name the League had assigned him. McGuire had successfully infiltrated the most militant faction of Fenians in New York City, his work so sensitive and dangerous that he had nearly been killed on more than one occasion. The information he fed to the League was invaluable.
Dread made Clay’s mouth dry. An invisible fist clenched on his heart. Information from Padraig could only mean one thing. The Fenians were plotting again. And if the Fenians were plotting again, Ara and Edward could be in grave danger.
Which meant it was entirely possible the disappearance of his son and the new bloody governess was not innocent as he had so desperately hoped.
“They have sent a female,” Leo continued, oblivious to the fear paralyzing Clay. “She was working with the man you killed at Burghly House. She’s the last of the ring of plotters, and she has infiltrated your household already. We need to interview the entire staff. Each domestic will be subject to scrutiny. We need to find out who she bloody is before she can do any irreparable harm. I would like to begin with them, interviewing each servant. Females only, starting with the new governess, and…bloody hell, Clay, why are you so pale?”
Because his brother had just confirmed his greatest fear.
Miss Palliser, or whatever the bloody hell her true name was, was not a governess at all. There was no innocent explanation for her disappearing with Edward. She was the female. The female who had infiltrated his household without a moment of resistance from him.Jesus, had he been so relieved to replace the incompetent Miss Argent with her love of getting soused nightly that he had failed to notice he had allowed a fox into the henhouse?
“She is…damn it.” He closed his eyes for a moment, sucked in a frantic breath. Fear and terror and panic and worry and every bad emotion he had ever experienced hit him full force, straight in the chest. For a beat, he could not find his voice. Could not even find his mind. He was adrift in a sea of blackness, helpless.
“Clay.” Leo’s voice was stripped bare, rife with emotion.
He had never seen or heard his brother so affected. “It is the governess, Leo. She has him. She has my son.”
The color leached from Leo’s face. “Fuck.”
“Yes.”Fuckand every other epithet that had ever been invented had never been more appropriate. “We have to find them, Leo. I have to…I cannot let anything happen to him. This is all my bloody fault, and I will not forgive myself if…if…”
“Do not say it,” Leo interrupted, his countenance as grim as his tone. “Do not even think it. We will find him, Clay. We will find him and bring him home where he belongs.”
Clay swallowed hard and could not keep himself from dragging his half brother into an embrace. They had never hugged before. Leo despised outward displays of affection. But Clay didn’t give a damn.
To his surprise, Leo hugged him in return, clapping him on the back.
“I swear to you, Clay. We will find your son. He needs to get more acquainted with his dastardly Uncle Leo, yes?”
“Yes.” Clay closed his eyes. “Yes, he damn well does.”
“Then there is no time to waste. Let’s gather the men.”
“Ara.”
