Annoyance swirled with an odd sense of being impressed by her bravado in his chest, and he let out a bitter laugh as he shook his head.
“You have no idea what you are talking about.It was your brother who hurt my family, not the other way around. I had nothing to do with your brother’s death, but I certainly have not mourned his passing. He got what he deserved.”
He watched as Elara’s face turned as crimson as her gown as he said the words, those ice-blue eyes suddenly shifting to a dark cobalt, a shift that greatly intrigued him.
“How dare you accuse my brother of such things!” she exclaimed, rising onto her toes as if trying to reach his height. It was useless, of course, as her forehead barely reached Constantine’s sternum. “Evander was...isa good man!” she went on.
“Perhaps he was a good man in your eyes,” Constantine retorted. “But to my brother and me? A demon. And as I said, he got what he deserved in death.”
“Evander isnotdead,” Elara insisted, taking a step toward him.
Constantine scoffed.
“You are not so daft as to believe otherwise,” he goaded. “Winslow confessed to the crime. It was in all of the papers.”
“How convenient! I have it on good authority that something else happened. Perhaps he was covering for you or your brother?” Elara quickly countered.
The question threw Constantine off guard for a moment.
“Is that it?” she demanded. “I promise you, Your Grace, I will find the truth and claim revenge on those who harmed my brother, no matter what. I will ruin both you and your brother if I have to!”
Constantine was on her in a second, any thought of decorum long forgotten in the heated argument. He had her pressed against the door again, this time with his hands wrapped firmly around her waist, lifting her feet several inches off the ground so she could meet his eyes at his level. Elara gasped and dug her much smaller hands into his, but she did not kick or demand to be let down before he had a chance to speak.
“Now you listen to me, and listen to me well,”he growled out. “I can almost admire the lengths you are willing to go to in order to do right by your family, but what I willnottolerate from you are threats of any kind toward my own. You will not speak that way again, do you understand? You willnotreturn to my house. You willnotslander either my name or my brother’s. You will leave and never come back. Am I understood?”
Constantine glared into Elara’s eyes, searching for any hint of fear. Instead, he found only rage and defiance, and she lifted her small, pointed chin higher as she flared her nostrils and sneered at him.
Constantine vibrated with the urge to shake her and demand an answer, but as he fought for self-control, a baby’s cry erupted from behind him. His racing heartbeat nearly stuttered to astop, and his hands loosened from under Elara’s ribcage at once, dropping her to the ground.
“Was that…” Elara whispered, looking confused. “Was that a baby?”
Constantine ground his teeth as he pulled her away from the door, then jerked it open. As he did, the sound of chaos echoed from below, and the baby’s cries grew louder.
“What is going on?” Elara demanded as he pulled her into the corridor with him.
“It is time for you to leave, Lady Elara,” Constantine replied.
Before he could lead her down the hall, though, he saw his housekeeper, Mrs. York, running toward him from the opposite direction. Constantine let go of Elara’s arm and turned his full attention to Mrs. York.
“What in the devil is going on downstairs?” he demanded. “What is all this commotion?”
“Your Grace! You need to come quickly! One of the guests stumbled into one of the firebreathers, and they caught the curtains on fire!”
Constantine gritted his teeth and growled in frustration. He turned, ready to grab Elara and drag her back downstairs, but she was nowhere to be found. His frustration quickly turned to anger.
“Mrs. York,” Constantine gritted out, running a frustrated hand through his hair. “Do stay with the baby until I return. I shall handle the chaos downstairs myself. And if you see a woman in red skulking in this hallway or entering my chambers again, detain her at all costs.”
“Yes, Your Grace,” Mrs. York agreed as Constantine stalked away. “Who is she?”
“A problem,” Constantine muttered, then went downstairs to handle the chaos.
Chapter 4
“Afire?!” Adrian roared the next morning, slamming his hands on his desk.
While Elara stood proud and unfazed by her brother’s temper, Caroline flinched and shrank in on herself at her side. Elara’s eyes shot to Caroline, filled with pity for her cousin. Word had spread quickly that a fire had erupted at the Duke of Ashworth’s residence last night, but Elara was quite sure it was not the rumor mill that had alerted Adrian that she and Caroline had been guests at such a place. No, she was quite sure it was the Lord of the House himself who had sent the message to her brother.
“Brother, we—”
