He hadn’t thought much about it; Rhiannon kept whatever hours she chose, flitting about like a butterfly from one social engagement to the next. He had arrived in London late in the evening, and after a carriage ride with Miranda that had been spent in delightful distraction, he’d been so tired he had simply gone to bed. No one but the servants had been about.
“Yes,” his mother said unhelpfully, still twisting her hands together and looking as if someone had announced that her prized collection of jewels had been thieved.
Which would have made more sense in this moment than anything to do with his sister. Because Mater didn’t care about anything other than herself and her collections. Oh, she wasn’t malevolent. She was always perfectly pleasant to converse with. However, she simply didn’t care about her children. She never had.
Rhys had long suspected that to her, he and Rhiannon were obligations forced upon her by his father. The heir, although not the spare. Several years of miscarriages and one stillborn son had finally persuaded the former duke to put an end to his quest to secure the Whitby line.
“What about my sister?” he asked, when it seemed Mater was not inclined to elaborate.
“She’smissing,” Mater announced, her words rambling together without pause, punctuated by a wail.
This was more emotion than he’d seen from his mother in…well, ever.
Rhys blinked. “Did you say she is missing?”
“Yes,” Mater cried, wringing her hands some more.
And that was when worry hit him, like a fist to the gut. True concern from Mater, and his sister was missing. Just what the devil was going on here?
“What do you mean, Rhiannon is missing?” Rhys hissed at his mother, sure he had misheard.
“P-precisely that,” Mater snuffled. “She’s g-gone.”
He stalked toward his mother, stopping before her. “Details are important at a time like this, madam. When did she go missing? Where did she say she was going last?”
“I…I c-cannot be c-certain.”
“What can you not be certain of?” he demanded, frustration surging along with worry.
He could scarcely make sense of what she was saying.
“I d-don’t know w-when she went missing.”
Rhys sent a silent prayer heavenward for patience. Mater was sobbing now, verging on inconsolable, which only rendered getting lucid answers from her even more difficult.
“I saw her the day I left a week ago,” he said slowly. “Did you see her after that?”
Mater’s face crumpled. “You were gone f-for a w-week? Where w-were you? Did you take h-her with you?”
Dear God. If he weren’t so worried about his sister, he would most definitely be insulted that his mother had failed to note a weeklong absence on his part.
“I went to the country,” he snapped. “To a house party. And no, Rhiannon was not with me. Nor would she have been invited. Do you mean to tell me that you have not seen her this last week at all?”
“I…I couldn’t say.” Mater’s face crumpled even more, and fresh streams of tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Bloody hell,” he muttered, raking a hand through his hair. “I left her in your charge, madam. You are her mother.”
Not that the title meant a damned thing to Mater. She had never looked more selfish and small to him than she did now, her nose red from weeping tears that were undoubtedly more for herself than for Rhiannon. Likely, she feared how such a scandal as a disappearing daughter would reflect upon her.
“She is th-three and t-twenty,” Mater protested. “How am I meant to w-watch her?”
“You are meant to make certain that she is safe,” he growled. “To ensure that no harm befalls her. You are meant to be chaperoning her, to be at her side. That is the duty a mother owes to her daughter, at the very least, madam.”
“B-but you know how Rhiannon is. She is r-rebellious. She d-doesn’t want my interference.”
That much was likely true, though Rhys doubted very much that Mater had even tried to offer any influence over Rhiannon. Christ knew she hadn’t with him. She was like a dazzling little butterfly, mysteriously flitting about, his flesh and blood and yet almost entirely unknown to him.
“Do the servants have any notion of where she has gone? Have you checked her bedchamber? Did she leave a note?”
