I checked Luna's muzzle to make sure she wasn't hurt, and I also made sure all the horses had enough hay and water. The stables were warm and dry, so they’d be comfortable through the night. “What happened out there, girl?”
She huffed and stomped her foot on the ground as if to say she was just as confused as I was, and carrying a stranger home was a horrible ordeal. Too bad I couldn’t read her thoughts like I could my orchid’s.
"Did you see who did this?" I asked on the off chance she might reveal a clue. But she turned her head away from me. She didn't know. I gave her one last pat, and our small party trudged backto the house together.
“Do you think this may have been a hunting accident?” I asked the group as we removed our heavy coats and boots in the formal coatroom.
“It shouldn’t be.” Darcy’s dark eyes flashed, he paced in front of the picture window. “We certainly haven’t issued any permits in the area. Still, it’s possible that someone snuck onto the property.”
I added another log to the fireplace. "Hunting has no appeal to me. I wish we never allowed it.”
Though it was necessary to keep the ecosystem balanced when the deer populations were too high, I disdained the practice. As a fae princess, my connection to nature was inseverable, so I did my best to warn any threatened creatures to leave the area when the authorities permitted hunting.
"Nature can be cruel," Darcy muttered, stopping in front of the window to observe the gales of snow. “I know we believe it was murder. But we should look at every possibility. If it wasn’t an accident, any chance it could have been self-inflicted?”
“Doubt it. He really said 'murder' as he fell. Bradford, Oscar, and I all heard him. Why would he have said that if he wanted to hurt himself?” Henry rubbed his browand helped me tend the fireplace, turning over some spent embers. His arrival at my home at that moment seemed to be quite a coincidence. We had many guests during the holiday open house. But two guys from College de Synthese showed up at Pemberley on the same day by chance. There was something else going on. There had to be.
I suspected Pemberley understood we'd need Henry about. Maybe her enchantments brought him to us.
“Even if he did, no one shoots themselves in the abdomen. Not on purpose, anyway. The angle is impossible. So we agree that someone must’ve killed him?” The nausea returned to my stomach, and the strength left my knees. “I need to sit down.”
“Of course,” Henry said, offering me his arm and leading me to a sofa. “Georgiana, I know I should’ve texted…”
"Oh, don't worry about that." Being a gracious hostess meant helping others feel comfortable, even though I silently agreed. Heshouldhave texted. “A lot of people from school have come to see the art.”
Henry broke our eye contact and stared at the floor. “I guess it’s just a little awkward, and I’m kind ofembarrassed for not saying hello. But that doesn’t matter. We’ve got to figure out what happened to Zac.”
As random as Henry’s arrival at Pemberley seemed, he’d never murder anyone. Plus, I’d had a lot of other fellow students visit the house. In Paris, I’d talked about it and encouraged people to stop by. So it wasn't all that strange. “Yes, this certainly isn’t turning out to be quite the December afternoon I thought it would.”
Darcy cleared his throat. “What worries me is that with the storm trapping everyone here, the killer has to be trapped as well. They're possibly in the house or at least on the property. We may all be in danger.”
Chapter 4
Outside,thestormbatteredthe estate, sweeping a sheet of white over the world. Snow plastered itself against the windowpanes, building thicker with each breath of wind.
"We'll have to keep our security on guard. But you know Pemberley should offer some protection." I attempted to soothe everyone's nerves. Our ancestors quarried enchanted stones known only to the fae. Then they threaded unbreakable magic throughout the walls, hoping to protect anyone in our home from malice. It wasn't perfect, but it helped.
"Not even earthsong magic can ward off all dangers. I doubt the house could protect anyone from a determined killer. But it’s kept these walls solid for centuries." Darcy wiped the window with his sleeve and turned to Lizzy. "I'm sorry about the timing of this storm."
She had drifted into thought watching the fireplace, but she gave him a slight nod.
Both my head and ankle ached, and I rubbed my temples. I curled up, cross-legged, in an armchair.
"We need to take some precautions." I eyed my brother. He knew I preferred not to be treated like a child, but he still had to restrain himself from giving commands. Sitting idly by was out of the question. Pemberley, my beautiful home, resembling something between a fairytale castle, a fortress, and a magical labyrinth of secret tunnels, stood as a sanctuary for all. And I intended to keep it as such.
“Yes, we do. And I know you’re going to want to investigate and try to figure this out yourself. But you’ve already been seriously injured today.” Darcy stopped pacing and stood in front of me, his eyes pleading. “Please let me, Oscar, and Dan look into this. We need to figure out who’s even on the property before we do anything.”
I pressed my lips together and glanced out the window, where drifts of snow reached the windowsill and turned trees into white lumps. “How about you all search the area and get a headcount? I’m assumingthe security team will scour the afternoon’s footage. But I want to help question people.”
Darcy frowned and looked between me and Henry, who stood awkwardly in front of the sofa. While it was natural for my brother to be wary any newcomers, especially with their oddly convenient arrivals, we had no more reason to suspect Henry than Lizzy. Fortunately, since Henry was driving and Lizzy was touring the house, neither of them could have startled Luna by shooting at someone in the woods. “Please, just don’t do anything by yourself. I don’t want to leave you alone with any suspects.”
“Henry’s trustworthy if that’s your concern. We’ll wait until you and security have done a headcount and verified on the cameras.” I turned to Henry. “If that’s okay with you.”
“I’d love to help, as long as I'm not in your way.”
“All right.” I expected a bit more pushback against my hanging out with an unexpected guest in the wake of a murder. Maybe he could sense Henry’s character. Or, “Dan, please stay here with Georgiana and her guest. We’ll be back as soon as possible," said Darcy—he was leaving us with a babysitter.
Darcy and Lizzy ventured out together. His leaving Dan as a chaperone checked. Dan wasn’t only built like a tank with eagle-like observation abilities, but he’d been a trusted family guardian for years. Dan retreated to the farthest corner of the room and found an ottoman to settle on. Henry took a seat on the sofa nearest me.
