Eloping with the Princess (Brotherhood of the Sword #3)(2)

They rolled forward, away from the school. She rubbed at her throbbing arm where her would-be assailant had grabbed her. Her heart still beat wildly. She put her hand to her chest in a foolish effort to still her heart.

“Did you know that man?” Lilith asked.

Isabel was about to answer when she realized that the question had not been directed at her. She searched the faces of her aunt and her companion.

The man shook his head. “I was hoping you recognized him.”

“Me? No, I’ve never seen him before,” Lilith said. “What does he want with Isabel?”

“I didn’t give him a chance to tell me,” he said. “I simply pulled her free and slowed him down. But it’s obvious she’s in danger.”

Her? Why would she be in danger? She merely assumed that the man had grabbed her because it was so early in the morning and certainly that must be the time when all the criminals were out and about. Her assailant wasn’t the only man she didn’t know. Who was this man who was with her aunt? They quite obviously knew each other, but Isabel had never seen him before. He was a gentleman, that much was blatant, with his perfectly tied cravat and proper speech.

Isabel watched the two of them talk back and forth as if she were invisible. When she could stand it no longer, she finally blurted out, “I am right here. No need to discuss me as if I am deaf or incapable of speaking for myself.”

Her aunt’s companion turned his gaze on her. “Did you recognize him?” the man asked her.

Isabel didn’t answer immediately. She did not know this man. He could very well be a criminal, but that wouldn’t explain why her aunt was with him. Lilith was the only person in the world she’d ever been able to trust. She glanced at her aunt and when Lilith inclined her head gently, Isabel took a steadying breath.

“No, but I rarely leave the school.” She paused and considered any time recently when she would have been out of school grounds and in a place to meet a stranger, but nothing came to mind. She shook her hands out to calm her addled nerves. “I don’t understand. Why am I in danger?” Then she angled her head to speak directly to Lilith. “And who is that man?” she asked quietly.

The man looked directly at her aunt as if she alone held the answer.

“Do not fret, squirrel, I will keep you safe.” Lilith patted Isabel’s knee.

Her aunt’s use of the pet name offered a small measure of comfort.

“This is Lord Lynford. He is our escort for the evening.”

Isabel could clearly see that there was more the two of them weren’t saying aloud. Where was her uncle, and why was her aunt with this Lord Lynford? It was on her tongue to ask precisely that, but she instinctively knew they would not answer. Perhaps once she was alone with Lilith she could find out more.

Later on, the man stopped the carriage and gave instructions to the driver. When Lilith questioned him, he simply told her he was bringing them somewhere safe. Lilith argued, demanded even, that he return them to her townhome, but the man refused.

Isabel knew there was no point in her joining in the conversation; neither of them would listen to her. She had no notion of what was happening in any case, and now merely wanted to be out of the carriage so she could move her body around. She was cramped and stationary, and that made her jittery.

Tired of the quiet that stretched in the tiny confines of the carriage, Isabel finally asked one of the questions spinning through her mind. “Lilith, why did you come get me?”

Her aunt smiled slightly. “You have been at the school long enough, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Well, yes, but every time I asked Lord Thornton if I could leave, he refused me,” Isabel said.

“You call your uncle by his title?” Lord Lynford asked.

Isabel frowned at the man. “He insisted on it. I called him uncle once or twice and he said I was not to do so again.”

“He will no longer be insisting on anything,” Lilith said. “He is gone.”

“Gone?” Isabel asked.

“Dead, my dear.” There was much left unsaid in that one statement. Isabel had known from nearly the moment she’d met her uncle’s wife that theirs had not been a love match. Thornton was a cruel man, and he’d done little more than parade Lilith about on his arm, relishing the way her stunning beauty made others look at him.

Isabel nodded but did not speak. Thornton was dead. He was her only family member save Lilith, but that was only by marriage. She was alone in the world. She’d always felt as much, but now it was truth. The realization swam through her, but she felt nothing. Not relief, not sadness, not even indifference. It was as if Lilith had said something as simple as she’d started growing cabbage in her garden.

The carriage rolled to a stop.

“Who lives here?” Lilith asked after peeking out the curtained window.

“Viscount Ellis,” the man said, then he held his hand out to them to assist them down from the rig. “Ladies.”

The servant who opened the door bowed to the man. “Your Grace,” he said as he gave them entrance. Lord Lynford had moved farther into the house and was speaking quietly with the butler.

“Who is that man?” Isabel whispered.

Lilith rolled her eyes so slightly that Isabel wasn’t even certain it had happened. “I already told you. Gabriel Campbell, Duke of Lynford.”