Essien shook his head. “I do not know,” he said. “Le Kerque does, and he is in the vault.”
“Then let us go and ask him,” Addax said, grabbing his brother by the arm and pulling him along. “We will ask him where the man is and then we will find him.”
They were heading toward the gatehouse, where the vault was, and Essien walked alongside his brother. “Catalina said she would know him on sight,” he said. “I told her we would go together.”
Addax came to an abrupt halt and faced him. “Nay, you will not,” he said, his voice low and harsh. “You willnotgo together. You will not take her anywhere near him. I will go to him, and when I do, you will not have to worry about this any longer. The problem will be gone and buried. Literally. Do you understand me?”
Essien did. “Ad, I cannot ask you to do such a thing.”
Addax’s dark eyes were glittering. “You did not,” he said. “But I will not risk my brother’s happiness, or his entire life, over the return of some man who was supposed to be dead. Where has he been all of this time? And why did he choose this particular time to return if, in fact, itishim?Why?”
“I do not know,” Essien said. “Addax, you are speaking of the man who fathered those two little girls you just spent time with. You would kill their father?”
“I would save my brother’s world. That is the only way to look at it.”
“But—”
“Essien, listen to me,” Addax muttered. “Do you remember when I was betrothed to Emmeline, how we believed her husband to be dead? Do you?”
Of course Essien did. Addax had been in love with the beautiful Emmeline, who was married to a man who mistreated her horribly. When the man disappeared on a trip into town and no body was found, they assumed him dead. It was a natural assumption. But the man wasn’t dead, in fact. He’d been badly injured, and had no memory of who he was, until Addax happened to see the man in a village one day. All of the man’s hopes and dreams to marry the woman he loved came crashing down when he saw her husband working as a servant in a tavern.
It had been horrific.
But fate had other plans. A series of events saw the man killed that very day, in front of Addax, no less, and the problem was solved. No one ever knew that Addax had seen Maximilian de Grey, Emmeline’s husband, and when he was killed, Addax made sure the man was properly buried. But he never told anyone, save Essien and another close friend who had witnessed the entire event. Odd how Essien’s life was now playing out along those same lines.
A husband who wasn’t dead.
History was repeating itself.
“Of course I remember,” he finally said. “How could I forget? Your life was nearly ruined.”
Addax nodded. “I know,” he said. “I also know that if you had been next to me the moment I spied Maximilian, you would have taken fate into your own hands. If the runaway horse hadn’t killed him, you would have. Do not deny it because I know you would be lying.”
Essien sighed heavily and averted his gaze. “This is different.”
“How?”
“Because it is,” Essien said, more firmly. “This man we seek has not harmed anyone. He was not horrific to his wife, or beat her, or slandered or abused her. He was going to war. He was reported dead. But he may not be dead. He is simply returning to the life he knew.”
Addax was shaking his head even before his brother finished. “He’s been gone for two years,” he said. “Why did he not come back sooner? Mayhap he’s been running all over Europe, spending money and reluctant to come back to a wife he does not treasure. Mayhap he is only here because he had nowhere else to go. Do you really wish that upon Catalina? That is a horrible existence.”
“You do not even know if any of that is true.”
“If you will not let me do this for you, then let me do it for her.”
That brought Essien great pause. He knew that Catalina had been unhappy with Alfred. He further knew that she was wildly happy withhim. They were wildly happy together.
Let me do this for her.
Was it possible that Addax was the only one willing to fight for Catalina’s happiness?
“Oh… Addax,” Essien said, wiping his hand over his face in a weary gesture. “Are you certain this is something you want to do?”
“Of course it is.”
“Butwhy?”
They’d come to the gatehouse by that point. In fact, they could look inside and see Catalina leading the girls around on the blond pony over on the south part of the bailey. Addax let go of his brother and looked at him with anguish in his expression.
