Silas snorted. “Hardly all day. Your little cottage is but a stone’s throw from my residence.”
Benedict simply looked at him, waiting.
Silas sighed, shaking his head. “Her Grace and I may have… had a difference of opinion. It has been weighing on me. Nothing toworry about. She grows ever more agitated as the days go by without rescue of her brother.”
“Yes, it must be quite harrowing for her. I do not envy either of you.” He patted Silas’s shoulder. “Hang in there, old man. We’re almost to the finish line.”
“I know that. I wish my wife did.”
Silas reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a folded, creased letter. He handed it to Benedict, who unfolded it curiously.
“It arrived two days ago,” Silas said. “From James.”
Benedict’s brow furrowed as he read. “‘If you want the boy back, you will come to Downfield alone. Bring no men, no weapons. You will not be harmed… if you are obedient.’ Charming fellow.”
Silas scowled. “He sent it directly to her. She tried to leave in the middle of the damned night to meet him. Alone.”
Benedict’s eyebrows shot up. “Hellfire.”
“I stopped her on the road. She was ready to walk into his trap without telling anyone. I barely caught her.”
Benedict exhaled, glancing back at the letter. “He knew exactly how to bait her.”
“Yes. And she blames me for not moving quickly enough. For not doing more.” Silas rubbed a hand down his face. “I don’t blame her, not really. But she thinks I would’ve let Charlie die if she hadn’t acted. And that?—”
“Hurts,” Benedict finished quietly.
Silas didn’t answer, but his jaw tightened.
Benedict handed the letter back. “We’ll get the boy. And when we do, your wife will understand exactly how far you’ve gone for her.”
Silas took the port and drank it down in one swallow. “I only hope she’s still willing to hear it by then.”
Helena became aware that Amelia was lurking behind an alder tree, watching her. She sighed, looking up from her book.
“Did you want something, Amelia?” she called.
Amelia crept out from behind the tree. “Are you all right?”
Helena sighed deeply. “No. I’m not. But you don’t have to walk on eggshells around me. Come and sit.”
Amelia hurried to sit on the bench next to Helena. “You’ve been grumpy all day.”
“Yes, that’s because your brother is treating me like a child.”
Amelia stared at her with wide eyes. “Are you fighting?”
Helena cleared her throat. “Of course not. Your brother would never do anything so undignified as fight,” she snapped.
Amelia stared at her in trepidation. “You seem…annoyed.”
Helena took a deep calming breath, closing her eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to scare you.”
“I’m not scared. I’m worried. Silas took off for parts unknown, and you are here, breathing fire. I don’t want there to be strife.”
Helena put her hand on top of Amelia’s, patting it gently. “It’ll be all right. Don’t you worry.”
Sleeping in his own bed, with the door closed between their chambers was not restful for Silas. He couldn’t get comfortable enough to rest.
