Page 266 of Eight of Swords, Part One

‘Yes, sir.’

‘I’m glad. You are family, Lachlan. And our family is… quite different.’

‘Indeed, sir.’

‘Where is your little assistant, Miss Montbelliard?’

‘With Jessamine, sir.’

‘They are close now?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘That’s good. What of you and my son? Are you closer than before? Is his training helping? Priscilla informed me he split his lip at some point.’

‘That was my fault, sir.’

Alistair’s eyes glint with amusement, pouring more wine. ‘I’ve no doubt, but I am not in a punishing mood, and lip skin does not scar. He is a rebellious thing, my Julian, so like his mother.’

It marks the first time Lachlan has ever heard mention of her.

He doesn’t even know her name. If she’s still alive. Where.

A burning curiosity rises up, makes him aware of the fact that Jules has never spoken of her, no one has.

‘Oh?’ he asks casually, taking a fake sip while Alistair takes a real one, but the old man’s contemplation moves in a different direction.

‘My father once had the soles of my feet flayed,’ he tells Lachlan. ‘He made me dance with my mother the next night for my birthday. I waltzed red ovals around the ballroom, and no one said a word. After that, he believed that we saw one another clearly. All I saw was a monster.’ He smiles to himself, brittle and sour. ‘The inevitability of inheritance. Legacy is a brutal lesson for children, don’t you think?’

Lachlan thinks of Dougal Tanner’s last breaths.

He thinks of early years. The nights his door would open.

The evil in his eyes as he lay dying by Lachlan’s hand.

‘Nothing is inevitable, sir.’

‘Such youthful optimism,’ the old man sighs. ‘How I envy it.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Lachlan is surprised to learn how naturally averse he is about leaving the Estate and not only because of the dread he feels for the upcoming event. Just leaving. The Estate has become his world, his domain, his home. The thought of going elsewhere is making him feel almost pre-emptively homesick.

They’ll be flown to the island via helicopter.

Lachlan has been given access to a packet from the Alderwyck security team but finds it shockingly light. He assumes the island will have surrounding protection and that’s why it’s so minimal.

Telling Mimi is a wrench. He hates every moment of explaining to her that he’ll be gone for four days, hates to see her cry. She rarely cries these days, and it breaks his heart.

‘Daddy, you stay,’ she insists, wobbly and angry. ‘Have to stay here with me and Mari and Bee and Jewel and Silly, OK? We all keep you safe!’

He smiles and hugs her, swallowing down his own feelings. ‘But I need my little shadow sneak to keep everyone else here safe while I’m away.’

‘Like a mission?’

‘Yeah, princess. A mission. A really big one.’

It’s just the two of them.