“Moving on from Plunge,” Michael said. “My source said you all but fell down Madame Lucy’s neckline and have been seen there every night since, Zach.”
He didn’t bite at the Madame Lucy, as that was Michael’s main reason for saying it.
“She did have lovely cleavage,” Zach mused as he opened the note. Scanning the page, he felt his heartbeat increase and excitement fill his veins for the first time in days.
“We have been summoned.”
CHAPTERTHREE
The Deville brothers and their cousin were part of a secret organization called Alexius. An Earl of Raine had been a member since the organization was founded in 1709. They and other noblemen protected the king and those closest to him. They also worked in whatever capacity the monarch felt was needed.
Since Zach joined, he had completed many varied and dangerous missions. It had been two months since they had been summoned, and his blood simmered with excitement.
“I need a new cloak,” he said, poking a finger through the hole at the hem of the heavy cloak he wore. It was a tradition that those who were part of Alexius wear them. It was cold out tonight, so Zach was glad of its warmth.
“I don’t see how yours can be continually in need of repair and ours not,” Gabe said, sounding testy. “Perhaps if you treated it with the respect it deserves, it would last longer.”
“It’s ugly, and who wears cloaks anymore anyway?” Zach liked annoying his brothers, and had to say he was feeling better. Just being summoned to an Alexius meeting had done that. Clearly he’d been more bored than he realized.
“Obviously, as you are being annoying, your spirits are improved,” Gabe said.
“Annoying? I call it my brotherly duty. After all, you lot spend your life being bowed and acquiesced to by people. It’s not healthy, I tell you.” Yes, he was definitely feeling better. Clearly his was a fickle nature that needed constant stimulation.
He sat wedged on one side of the hackney between Michael and Nathan. Opposite were Gabe and Forrest. All wore their cloaks.
“We are going to the Speckled Hen for pies after, aren’t we?” Zach asked.
“I find I have a craving for one,” Forrest said.
Their cousin was vastly different from the emotionless man who had arrived on their doorstep clutching his daughter many years ago. His family had left England for India when he was an infant. Forrest had returned after the death of his wife. He was now married to the lovely Ruby.
Their family was growing, and Zach loved each and every member even if he had resented their happiness in a small way. He’d been shallow and petty to hate that marriage had taken his brothers from him as they had Warwick. Perhaps change was good, and it was time he found other things to do with his life.
Visions of a certain French woman slipped into his head. He pushed them aside. It was unhealthy to be fixated on a woman simply because of her body and the sultry tone of her voice.
When the carriage slowed, they all pulled up their hoods and climbed from it.
The church they had been visiting for many years was in a quieter part of London, a small building hidden from the road. One side was blackened from fire, and the other covered in a creeping vine. It was old, and a place his forefathers had been meeting for centuries.
Their boots thudded on the stone path as they walked to the scarred wooden front door.
“Is it only me who has a problem with him wearing the ring and knocking on the door?” Zach asked.
“Move on, Zach, for pity’s sake. Every time we come here you say that,” Gabe snapped.
“It’s not like he’s the best Deville either,” Nathan added, winking at Zach.
“Just the eldest. The brothers improved with each new birth,” Michael said.
“Or addition of a cousin,” Forrest added.
“If you are all quite done,” Gabe gritted out. He then knocked on the scarred wood four times.
They entered in single file. A man sat at a table with a solitary candle burning. This scene was always the same and had deviated only a few times since they’d set foot in here. The room was dark, and the candle offered little by way of light, but no one challenged the need for more.
Gabe sat at the table and folded his hands, ringed finger on the top. His brothers and Forrest lined up behind him.
“Veritas scutumtibi erit,” they all said.
