When Strangers Marry (Vallerands #1)(98)

Entering the tavern, Justin pushed through the crowd to the gaming rooms in the back. He located his uncle easily. Bernard was sitting at a table with a group of friends, idly rearranging a hand of cards.

“Bernard,” Justin interrupted, “I have a message for you.”

Bernard looked up in surprise. “Justin? Bon Dieu— you are a mess. You’ve been fighting again.” His dark eyes snapped with dislike. “Don’t bother me here, boy.”

“The message is from Lysette.” Justin smiled coolly as he saw that the other gentlemen at the table were beginning to lend their attention to the exchange. “Would you like to hear it in private, or should I say it in front of everyone?”

“Insolent whelp.” Bernard threw his cards down on the table and stood up, yanking Justin to the corner. “Now tell me, and then be gone with you.”

Justin shook off his hand and stared at his uncle with hot blue eyes. “It would have been three murders,” he murmured. “Because of you, they nearly killed father this evening.”

Bernard’s face went blank. “What nonsense is this?”

“Lysette’s message,” Justin said, “is that the Sagesses know you killed Etienne. They are looking for you. If you value your life, you’d better find a way to disappear. Lysette suggests that you hide at the new warehouse on the quay.”

Bernard did not react, except for a violent twitch at the corner of his mouth. “It’s a lie,” he said softly. “It’s a bluff to make me admit to something I—”

“Perhaps it is,” Justin replied. “Why don’t you stay and find out? I think you should.” He smiled thinly. “Really.”

Bernard stared at the boy in incredulous fury. He lifted his hands as if he would throttle Justin.

Justin did not move. “Don’t try it,” he said softly. “I’m neither a drunkard nor a helpless woman— not your favored sort of victim at all.”

“I regret nothing,” Bernard said hoarsely. “The world is better for being rid of Sagesse… and your whore of a mother.”

Justin flinched. Silently he watched as his uncle staggered from the room.

———

After Max had been attended to by the doctor, Noeline satisfied herself by adding yet more bandages and salves of her own, and then hung an array of charms over the doorway. Lysette did not dare remove them, having been assured by Noeline that they were very powerful.

To Lysette’s relief, Max finally regained consciousness, his bruised eyes slitting open. “What happened?” he demanded, cursing in pain as he held a hand to his battered ribs.

Lysette hurried to the bedside with a glass of water. Gently she lifted his head and helped him to drink. She explained all that had occurred after his near-hanging, and showed him the letter that had saved his life. “Renée Dubois brought this earlier today. Etienne told her it was to be given to you upon his death.”

“Read it to me,” he said hoarsely, setting down the glass.

Lysette read the letter without inflection, trying to keep her voice steady. When she finished the first page and came to the first mention of Bernard, she did not look at Max’s face, but sensed the torrent of outrage, fear, and fury that swept over him.

“No,” he croaked.

She continued to read. Before she reached the end of the letter, Max had taken it from her and crushed it in his fist.

“Sagesse was a lying drunkard.”

“Max, I know that you don’t want to believe it, but—”

“But you do,” he sneered. “It makes things much easier, doesn’t it? Pin the blame on Bernard— someone you have no great liking for in the first place— and then the mystery of what happened ten years ago is over. Never mind that Sagesse had no more honor than a gutter rat. It’s obvious you’re perfectly satisfied with a drunken bastard’s explanation of it all. But it didn’t happen that way, damn you!”

“And why are you so certain of that? Simply because Bernard is your brother?”

“Damn you,” Max repeated harshly. “Where is Bernard now?”

Understanding his anger, and the anguish behind it, Lysette replied without heat. “It’s possible Bernard is hiding in the new warehouse on the waterfront. He knows the Sagesses are looking for him. He may already be on his way out of the territory.”

Max pushed back the bedclothes and tried to move his legs over the edge of the mattress.

“Max, what are you doing?” Lysette exclaimed. “You are not well enough to go anywhere, you stubborn ox! Nom de Dieu, you were beaten within an inch of your life today.”

He gasped in agony, clutching his ribs. “Help me get dressed.”

“Absolutely not!”

“I have to see him.”

“Why? You know he’ll deny everything!”

“I’ll know when I see him if it’s true or not.”

“I won’t let you kill yourself, Max!” Filled with determination, Lysette pushed him back down as hard as she could. Although her weight was a fraction of his, his injuries had weakened him considerably. Groaning, Max collapsed to the pillow, briefly losing consciousness.

Alerted by the commotion, Noeline appeared at her side. “Madame?”

Lysette was grateful for the housekeeper’s competent presence. “Sedate him, Noeline, before he is able to rise again. Give him enough to put an elephant to sleep— he won’t stay put otherwise.”