Seeing Danger (Sinclair and Raven #2)(55)

“Cam, I will thrash you if you don't cease!”

“I had my fingers crossed!”

Spinning back from glaring at his siblings, Dev gently pushed his sister and her ministrations aside and looked at Lilly as she spoke. The wood was still clasped firmly in her hands and she looked small and fragile, a fa?ade that no longer fooled him.

“What?”

“I had my fingers crossed when I promised you.”

Dev stared at her for several seconds—maybe the events of today were catching up with her, because she was making no sense. “What?” he said again.

“Oh, well then, that makes perfect sense,” Essie said, rushing forward to take the wood from Lilly and drop it to the ground.

“Yes, it's a code we Sinclairs have always lived by,” Eden said, moving to Lilly's other side.

“Eden,” James warned in that tone that told Dev he wanted her to shut up and stop interfering. As he was in full agreement, he followed it up with a glare.

“You crossed your fingers when you promised me you would leave?” Dev said as it finally dawned on him what the hell she was talking about. She didn't speak, just nodded. His sisters moved closer, pinning her between them.

“Excellent. Well, I'm glad that's sorted,” Cam said loudly.

“Nothing is sorted! For Christ's sake, when we cross our fingers on a promise it is over something trivial like raiding each other’s rooms and stealing belongings, not... not”—Dev had never been the type to fly into a rage, but it seemed tonight it was his destiny—”when your life is at stake!”

“I don't know, when Cam took Miss Pound Cake, I was devastated,” Eden said.

“She was a doll!”

Lilly's giggle sucked the anger right out of Dev. It was such a sweet, unrestrained sound, and all the sweeter because it came from a woman who had had very few reasons to giggle in her life.

“We need to get out of here,” Dev snapped, pointing to the hole in the wall and scowling. “Now!” he roared, which had his siblings scurrying forward, dragging Lilly with them. James, however, strolled. The Duke never scurried.

“Toby, you are coming with us too,” Dev said, looking to where the boy sat.

“I-I c-can't.”

Dev heard the pain and quickly crouched before him. He had one hand clutched to his side and when Dev pulled it away, he saw blood. “Why didn't you say something?” he said, picking him up and running to the opening.

“It hurts.”

It must have been bad if he said that because this stoic little boy was not one to make a fuss. Dev found his siblings in the carriage that had been outside the warehouse. James was driving, with Cam seated beside him. He hoped that between them they could get them home safely.

He climbed in with Toby in his arms and settled him on Lilly.

“What has happened?” Lilly cried.

Dev picked her up and held them both on his lap. “He's hurt. I don't know how badly, but we need to get to the Raven residence now.”

Dev heard Lilly's whisper as she talked to Toby on the journey to the Raven town house. Essie was kneeling on the floor before the boy, inspecting the injury as best she could given the circumstances.

No one spoke. All eyes were focused on the boy, and he could feel the fear in Lilly as she held him close. Toby lay against her, quiet and still.

“Cam, take Toby,” Dev said as the carriage stopped. He lifted Lilly to her feet and followed.

The house was well lit as they walked into the front entrance, yet like Dev, Lilly did not see her brother standing beside the butler until he stepped before her.

“Are you well, Lilliana?”

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to find you.”

“Why?” she asked, and Dev could hear the confusion in her voice. Placing a hand on her back, he reassured her she was safe and he was there at her side.

“I am sorry.”

“For what?”

“I—everything.”

“I don't know what game you are playing, Nicholas,” she said, “and why you look as you do, but I assure you I want you to leave here now and never return.”

Dev let her leave then, to follow Cam, who was carrying Toby up the stairs.

“She was hardly going to run into your arms, Nicholas.”

Dev stood silently beside James as he spoke, watching Lilly run up the stairs. He would follow soon, but had a few words to say to her brother first.

“At least she is safe, and for that I thank you.”

“I almost believe you mean that, cousin.”

“Surprisingly, I do,” Nicholas said quietly, looking from Dev to James. “She will not wed Danderfield. I will see to it in the morning.”

“Dare one ask about this transformation you seem to have undergone in the space of one evening?” James said, the skepticism clearly evident in this tone.

Nicholas didn't answer instantly, and Dev watched as he thought about his next words.

“I loved her once, you know, but things changed with my father's death.”

“The fact she was your sister never changed, Braithwaite,” Dev said. “And there is much you don't know about your sister, or what she does.”

“What?”

“The story is hers to tell, not mine.”