His friend smirked in response. “Well, yes, her too. But everything else is a blur.”
Everything else was a blur. That answered the question that had been niggling about in the back of Alec’s mind since he’d awoken at Halwell Chase. No, he hadn’t misassessed Daniel Elstone all these many years. He had been right all along. Daniel didnothave a drop of magical blood in him or he would have remembered the pack of hell hounds. Since Daniel didn’t remember their ambush, however, there was no doubt about the man’s lack of magical abilities. On the other hand, Daniel’s pretty cousin was most definitely magical. There was no doubt about that either. Alec had felt her power the moment she’d touched him. The memory of it, even now, heated his blood anew.
It all made for a very unusual case. Magic ran in families. So was there a byblow hiding somewhere in the Elstone family tree? Or perhaps an inter-magical marriage? Of course, magical families rarely joined nonmagical ones. Usually, those with power were keen on amplifying their abilities instead of diluting them with a nonmagical partner. That must be why Poppy Elstone panicked when Alec mentioned her abilities. Perhaps her power was a secret, especially ifshewas the byblow. Was that it? Or perhaps the nonmagical within her family disapproved of her abilities. Or maybe a tragedy had befallen someone due to a misinterpretation of a vision. That last possibility struck too close to the memories Alec kept buried deeply from his thoughts, and he pushed the idea away almost as soon as it popped into his mind. He would not think about that day. He would not.
“Did that country doctor give you something for your pain?” Alec asked, more than ready to focus on something else, on someoneelse. Anything other than—
“He tried to force some laudanum on me after he finished with the splint.”
Alec flashed his friend a smile. “Refused it, did you?”
Daniel winced slightly from his obvious pain. “I don’t want to sleep the rest of the day.”
“Ah, yes, much better to suffer in pain wide awake. I completely agree.”
His friend scowled at him. “Downed your weight of the stuff on the Peninsula, did you?”
A laugh escaped Alec as he started to feel a bit more like himself. “If we’d had enough to go ‘round that field hospital, I can promise you that I would have happily indulged.” As it was, there hadn’t been enough for the vast amounts of injured soldiers, and Alec remembered only too well the horrors of his own pain and the wails of the others injured. If he had been able to sleep through that experience—
Something brushed up against Alec’s boot.
He looked down and spotted a small, fluffy grey cat, who was now rubbing against the side of Alec’s cane. “Hello, there.”
“What’s that?” Daniel strained his neck from his position in the middle of the bed. “I can’t see the floor from here.”
“Little grey cat.”
“Grey?” Daniel sagged against his pillows. “Stormy,” he said. “Poppy’s cat.”
Poppy.
The image of the attractive dark-haired witch flashed in Alec’s mind. “Your cousin. I met her briefly this morning.” Then he glanced back down at the little ball of grey fluff. A pair of intelligent green eyes stared back him, seeming to assess him. The pretty witch’s familiar, no doubt. “What a lovely mistress you have, Stormy.”
“Are you really having a conversation with thecat?” Daniel asked incredulously.
“Just being polite.” Alec then returned his full attention to his injured friend. “Anything you need? Anything I can get you?”
“I’d take a new leg,” Daniel grumbled sourly.
“I’d be happy to have one of those myself, old man.” At least Daniel’s injury would heal.
“Damn it all.” Daniel heaved a sigh. “I didn’t mean to say that, I’m an—”
“You’re in pain.” Alec waved off his friend’s apology. “Think nothing of it, I—”
“Oh!” came a feminine voice from behind Alec. “There you are! I’ve been lookingeverywherefor you.”
Alec pushed away from the doorjamb and glanced over his shoulder to find a pretty brunette headed his direction. He’d never laid eyes on her before that moment. So she couldn’t have been looking for him, though her light brown eyes did seem focused rather pointedly on him, which was odd. “I beg your pardon?”
“Laurel?” Daniel called from within his bedchamber.
The girl looked so much like Poppy, though a bit younger and her hair was slightly lighter. Another Elstone cousin, Alec would wager.
“Did you say you were looking forme?” Alec asked.
“I—um—er—I mean...” The girl’s step faltered a bit and she furrowed her brow as though she was suddenly confused about the whole thing herself. “No?”
“No?” Alec found himself assessing her in the same way the cat had looked at him just a bit ago. She was an odd one, wasn’t she? Flighty, he decided in that moment.
