Shadows and Light

barons’ council by now.

Chapter Twenty-one
    “There’s the manor,” Liam said with weariness and relief. “That’s home.”
    Padrick simply nodded.
    How many days had they been running, hiding? Liam wondered. Padrick had said something about the waning quarter moon, but had that been yesterday? The day before? He didn’t know. Didn’t want to ask.
    He wouldn’t have gotten home without Padrick’s help. Fear had kept him in the saddle for hours the night they’d fled from Durham, but even fear couldn’t battle against the effects of the poison that had still been inside him. He remembered the first posting station where Padrick had said they’d rest for a few hours. He vaguely remembered burning up and freezing at the same time. He didn’t know how long they stayed at that posting station before Padrick had forced him to get out of bed, had helped him dress.
    A back stairway. Stumbling as quietly as possible to the stables. Padrick saddling the horses and helping him mount. Riding away before there was even a hint of dawn in the sky.
    A night spent in a bed of straw in some farmer’s barn. Another posting station. Or perhaps it was a room above a tavern. Fevered dreams that left him weak and confused. Chills no amount of blankets could ease. Days and nights that bled into each other. Places that became jumbled into one place and no place.
    Riding into an Old Place where he saw things that had to have come from the fever dreams—except, when they’d ridden away, and ridden fast, tears had streamed down Padrick’s face.
    This morning he’d finally awakened weak but clearheaded—and close to home.
    Now they were here, riding toward the house that had been in his family for generations. Tonight he’d sleep in a familiar room in a familiar bed, would eat food that had been prepared and served by people he could trust. He’d been unaware of so much over these past few days. Padrick had been unaware of nothing, and it showed in the grim exhaustion that seemed to reveal more of the Fae Lord beneath the gentry face.
    As they reached the house, the front door opened and Sloane, his butler, rushed out to meet them.
    “Baron Liam!” Sloane said. “It’s good you’re home. There’s—” He stopped. Looked. “Have you been ill, Baron?”
    “Yes,” Liam said. There was no reason to tell anyone more than that right now.
    “Has something happened here?” Padrick asked sharply.
    Sloane gave Padrick an uneasy look.
    “What is it?” Liam said.
    “It’s Lady Elinore,” Sloane said. ‘Two people came by yesterday, a man and his wife. They had a letter for Lady Elinore. She told me to take them to the kitchen for something to eat. Then, suddenly, she was packing a trunk for herself and Miss Brooke and giving orders to have the pony cart ready instantly. As soon as the trunk was in the cart, she took Miss Brooke and the young couple and drove away without leaving any instructions.“
    Liam stared at his butler. “She left? My mother left and took Brooke with her?” Sickness twisted his belly. Hadn’t she trusted him to at least try to do what was right?
    “I can only guess that there was something in the letter that upset her greatly,” Sloane said.
    “Did she leave no word for me about where she was going?”
    “No, Baron. But—” Sloane gave Padrick another uneasy look.
    Fear sharpened Liam’s temper. He felt the heat of it under his skin. “Whatever you have to say to me can be said in front of Baron Padrick,” he snapped.
    “The stallion has been fretful the last few days,” Sloane said cautiously. “Refused to enter his stall one evening, and even Arthur couldn’t control him.”
    No matter how valuable Oakdancer was, right now he didn’t give a damn about the horse. He wanted to know about his mother and sister.
    “The day Lady Elinore left, Arthur took Oakdancer for a run to see if he could calm the animal. He came back without the stallion, saying the horse was easier staying where he was—and he said he saw Lady Elinore and Miss Brooke there as well.”
    There was only one place the stallion would feel easier— the Old Place. He suddenly appreciated Sloane
    ’s efforts to tell him where Elinore and Brooke had gone without actually saying where they had gone.
    “Don’t allow any strangers in the house,” Liam said. “No matter who they say they are or why they say they’re here, don’t let them in. Send a message to Squire Thurston to be wary of strangers,