Chemistry of Magic: Unexpected Magic Book Five (Unexpected Magic #5)(85)

Unwilling to disturb the grooms who had settled in for the evening, he threw saddles on a couple of the calmer mounts in the duke’s extensive stable and led them out. The lady was waiting with Ajax already leashed.

“Shouldn’t you have one of your sisters with you?” he asked, attempting a degree of sanity.

“They only make noise,” she said, not exactly addressing the question. “It’s quieter this way, and I can hear better.”

Malcolm madness. He’d seen his brothers deal with their insane women. This one wasn’t his and never would be, so he didn’t have to listen. But he needed the duke’s approval, and he’d lose it if he learned Will had let his daughter go out alone.

“You’ll explain this to your father if he objects?” he demanded, cupping his hands and lifting her into the sidesaddle. She was so light, he feared flipping her over the horse’s back.

He liked his women heavy and substantial, he reminded himself. He was a big man and needed a big woman. Just because this fairy-like female fascinated him didn’t mean he should see her as more than his employer’s daughter.

She seemed momentarily startled at his assistance. Freezing, as if suddenly realizing the foolishness of this escapade, she glanced back at the lighted house spilling music.

And then she glanced down at him with what appeared to be a frown. “I can’t hear the child if I’m surrounded by noise. You’re oddly quiet.”

Will snorted. Still not the answer he wanted. “Annoyingly silent is the usual epithet I hear.” He checked the girth and unleashed the dog. “Ajax has learned to heel. Let’s see how she does.”

“The child sounds so terrified,” the lady murmured in despair, again not responding to his words. “How will we ever find her? I have no idea how close she might be.”

Was the lady deaf to him while she listened to otherworldly voices? He was mad as she for not hauling her back to the house and letting them lock her up, where she belonged. Unfortunately, he had a little more experience than most at being outside the ordinary, and he couldn’t deny her plea. Or that was his excuse anyway.

“Ajax has better hearing than I do. Let’s see if he can pick up the sound.” Linking his mind to the dog’s, Will tried to hear what Ajax did.

He still couldn’t discern any cry, but Ajax obviously had a scent she was eager to track. With no better guide, Will sent the dog off to follow her instinct.

Tongue lolling, the mastiff took off in the direction of the untamed wilderness beyond the duke’s manicured landscaping. The lady trotted after him as if riding out at night, alone, was the most natural event in the world. Having seen her ride these hills since childhood—in company with family and grooms—Will had no doubt she could handle the steed. His concern was returning her safely to her home before anyone came looking for them.

The lady rode silently, allowing him to stay connected with the dog. The sure-footed horses found paths around rocks and scree, carrying them downhill and into the gloom of the cliffs below. Will cursed himself for being so distracted that he had not thought to carry a lantern. Even the moonlight vanished in the shadows beneath towering boulders. Ajax whimpered and dashed off down an animal trail. Will lost visual sight of him but kept the mental connection. Keeping his ears open, he tried to hear a child’s cry but didn’t.

The craggy moor appeared untouched since the beginnings of time. Tumbling rock, rough grasslands, bogs, and worse were unsuited for human habitation. Miles from the village, cut off from other farms by the duke’s vast estate, the steep hillsides were no easy hike from anywhere. He would dismiss Aurelia’s fears as hallucination—except Ajax was definitely following an unidentified scent.

“I hear her,” Aurelia whispered anxiously, as if sensing his doubt. “How would a child ever find their way down here?”

“The same way you hear her perhaps,” he said dryly.

“Inexplicably,” she retorted, proving she could listen when she wished.

A rabbit darted from behind a rock. His horse shied, and Will heard Ajax’s yip of excitement. If the damned dog was following a rabbit. . . He couldn’t complain. He was rather enjoying this break in his dull routine.

He winced at that wayward thought. He’d chosen his simple path for good reasons—one of them being that he wanted freedom from society’s unreasonable restrictions and lack of understanding.

He focused on the dog’s mind—an interesting place of smells and sounds.

The dog’s kaleidoscopic thoughts didn’t project a rabbit but a patch of thick ferns and the stench of wet fur.

Will still heard no child, but he gathered that Ajax had found an animal, one that was alive but not moving. He held up his hand to halt the lady and swung down.

“She’s not here,” Lady Aurelia argued. “We’re closer though.”

“Let me see what Ajax has found.” He couldn’t abide to leave hurt animals suffering, and that was the sense he was receiving. He crept up to where the mastiff lay down, tail wagging, nose sniffing.

Among the frost-bitten ferns lay a bedraggled spot of dirty brown and white, wriggling pathetically. Will crouched down, removed his glove, and held out his hand for the creature to sniff. It did so eagerly, proving it was accustomed to human handling.

“What have you found?” Lady Aurelia asked, keeping her voice low.