The silence of the night held constant through morning, at least within Lucia’s own heart. They had, apparently, stumbled into the town of Little Alysmere, about two hour’s ride from the Fallmire estate. The locals were enchanted by Talia’s arrival almost out of nowhere, and she visited with some of the more prominent citizens for the first few hours after breaking her fast.
Lucia didn’t have the heart to accompany her. Thankfully, the Duke seemed to understand, at least in part. When Talia had finished her tour of the place, she hired a coach for them to return to the estate. They barely exchanged more than a few words as the coach trundled north out of the town, leaving the conversation to die beyond mere pleasantries.
Talia’s heart was as guarded as ever. Compared to these last few weeks, trying to read the subtle vibrations of her emotions since the night past was almost impossible. It was like listening for whispers across a crowded taproom at dinnertime.
Lucia gave up trying. If Talia’s plans remained on schedule, it would all be over within a month at most.
She repeated the mantra to herself. It would all be over soon.
***
An hour, perhaps, after they had taken coach, it rumbled to a halt. Talia’s sharp look indicated her first assumption: highwaymen. But the calls outside the carriage belonged to familiar voices.
Lucia scrunched her brow. Was that Raleigh Royce?
Talia cracked the carriage door a fraction, and then opened it when it was clear there was no danger. Lucia heard more clearly Raleigh arguing with the coachman, but Talia called out to him in a friendly tone, ending the argument.
Raleigh was out of breath as he rode his horse beside the open carriage door.
“I’m glad I found you,” he managed. “I’m sorry, I was sent to warn you. Don’t go back to the Fallmire estate.”
Talia opened her mouth to respond, but the warning came as a shock enough to steal the words from her.
“Why?” Lucia asked. “And a good morning to you!”
“A good morning to you as well, my Lady. But I fear it won’t stay that way. That damned inquisitor friend of ours, Lindell—well, former friend now! You can rest assured, if rest is to be had.”
“Out with it,” Talia said.
“Of course. Apologies! Well, he’s arrived with a troop of policemen, with a warrant for the arrest of Lady Lucia Fallmire. We think he doesn’t have standing, any judge would say so, but if you head there now he has the advantage of numbers on his side. I could not sway him.”
Talia’s expression moved from puzzlement to raw fury—and this emotion she did not guard from Lucia in the least. The Duke turned to her ‘wife’ and said, “Out. I must confront Lindell, and I won’t have him taking you.”
This was voiced as a command, but Lucia was highly disined—discl—she wasn’t bloody doing it. And she said so.
Talia growled. “I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“That’s not why you sum—” Lucia cut herself off, realizing Raleigh was still there. “That’s not why you married me,” she amended. “I will go with you, if you intend to face him head on.”
“I cannot in good conscience recommend it, either of you,” protested Raleigh, but Talia was already climbing out of the coach, planting her cane forcefully on the ground as she moved to replace the coachman with herself.
With a slap of the reins, the coach lunged down the road, and Lucia wondered how much danger that fool woman was throwing herself into.
***
They abandoned the carriage half a mile down the road from the Fallmire estate, Talia unhitching the horses and letting them graze along the side of the road. Doubtless she’d send a servant for them once this whole business was over, but she had greater things on her mind.
Talia proceeded on foot, moving far more quickly than her limp should really allow.
Lucia barely kept up the Duke’s blistering pace, hiking up her skirts to do so. “Hold on, for just a moment,” she called, but Talia did not stall.
“I mean,” Lucia said, the exhaustion of their pace creeping into her voice, “Isn’t that what he wants? To bait you out? You’re walking into a trap, I’m certain of it.”
This drew Talia up short. Lucia drew level to her, and then leaned on a fencepost as she caught her breath.
“I have considered the possibility,” Talia said. The pace hadn’t worn on her at all, which was absolutely infuriating. “But, even were it a trap to snare myself and not you, it would still be best to confront it with speed and fury.”
“What? That doesn’t make any kind of sense.”
“We’ve already eliminated surprise from among his advantages.” Talia started down the country road again. “He expected us to draw up and surrender quickly after his overwhelming show of force. That confidence makes him vulnerable.”
Lucia didn’t have an answer to that, other than perhaps, you’re thinking like a damned pirate. Which, well, wasn’t the Duke a former pirate? Probably?
They continued down the lane. It was five minutes later when they ran into Richmond.
He had been hiding—no, he would have said he concealed himself, ever the high-class servant—among the overgrown bushes at the final fork in the road before arriving at the estate. He stood up, brushed himself off, and walked directly to the Duke’s side.
“You talked with Sir Raleigh, I take it?”
“Yes,” Talia said. “How many do we face?”
“Twelve policemen in addition to Lindell.” His eyes flickered over to Lucia. “He has distributed talismans of some kind among them, though the precise nature of these I could not discern. I was able to slip away without giving them cause for alarm, but they have effectively taken the rest of the estate hostage.”
“What’s our way in?”
“We could cut across here; follow the hunting trail that skirts the edge of the estate boundary, and emerge in the west gardens. They have an officer posted on the servant’s entrance there, but he could be overcome rather easily. They’ve positioned themselves to surround you and Lady Lucia as you enter the main hall of the estate, so they will not expect us from the west.”
Talia nodded. “Let us hurry. They’ll become suspicious if we don’t arrive relatively soon.”
Richmond’s eyes flickered from the Duke to Lucia, and then back. “Should she be kept somewhere else? It’s her they are after, at least officially.”
“She insisted,” Talia said helplessly.
Lucia fixed Richmond with a stare to confirm her resolve, one that, truth be told, she didn’t fully understand herself. Something about leaving Talia now seemed utterly wrong to her. She couldn’t do it.
“Very well,” Richmond said. “I warn you, this hunter’s trail will be absolute murder on your dress.”
“Understood,” Lucia said.
And they three plunged into the undergrowth on the side of the road, headed for a fate Lucia could not yet see.