That night, when Rowan returned home with Emmeline on his arm, London seemed quieter than it had in weeks.
A note from Juliet arrived two mornings later. Rowan recognized her hand before the footman had fully crossed the threshold.
He took the folded paper, dismissed the servant, and broke the seal with more force than necessary.
Rowan,
Do stop scowling. I am alive, uninjured, and presently more sensible than anyone is willing to credit me for being.
I have heard enough to know matters are settling. When it is safe to return without being paraded before every hypocrite in London, I shall come home.
Do not send half of England after me. It is dramatic.
Tell Aaron I miss him.
Tell your duchess I am grateful.
-J.
Rowan read it once, and relief moved through him so sharply he had to sit.
Then irritation followed, because Juliet had always had a talent for surviving a crisis and making him feel unreasonable for objecting to the crisis in the first place.
Emmeline entered moments later, took one look at his face, and stopped. “Juliet?”
He handed her the note.
She read it quickly, then pressed it to her chest for half a second before returning it. “She is safe.”
“She says so.”
“You do not believe her?”
“I believe she is alive and determined to be difficult.”
Emmeline’s mouth softened. “Then she is very much your sister.”
“She refuses to say where she is.”
“Because she knows you would fetch her immediately.”
“Yes, I would.”
She smiled then, and the tenderness in it did something quiet to him.
“What will you do?” she asked.
“Continue sending men to find her.”
“After she told you not to send half of England?”
“I shall send a quarter.”
Emmeline laughed.
Rowan looked down at Juliet’s sharp, familiar hand and let his thumb pass once over the edge of the paper. His sister was alive. The scandal was fading. His household, against every expectation, had begun to sound like laughter instead of silence. Relief should have been simple.
Instead, he looked at Emmeline and felt the old fear stir beneath it, because everything he had begun to want now had something to lose.
