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I grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him down so we were face to furious face. “You didn’t tell me our little vacation getaway was beside a cemetery.”
He gave me a sheepish grin. “Must have slipped my mind.” His humor, however, slipped off his face when he whipped his head about back to the woods. “I heard something.”
We all froze and strained our ears. A soft rustle came from somewhere in the bushes between the house and the stable yard. I released Ben and slipped up to his side as he crept forward with the other men. We inched over to the hedge and searched the area.
“There,” Ben called as he darted forward and bent over the bushes.
We joined him just as he dragged the listless body of the driver from the brush. The man’s face was hideously pale and a soft groan came from his parted lips. He was covered in dead leaves and dirt, and the rain had soaked him to the bone.
“An animal attack?” Edouard suggested.
Ben slipped up to one side of the driver and picked up an army. “We’ll know better when he’s inside. Help me carry him.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
Edouard tookup the other side of the unconscious driver and each man draped an arm over their shoulders. They hefted the driver to his feet and proceeded to drag him toward the barn.
I moved to follow, but a tingling in the back of my mind told me to stop. My attention turned to the forest proper and its mist-infested depths. The fog glided about like the remnants of a ghost but kept itself neatly in the bounds of the undergrowth. I leaned toward the brush and squinted, but nothing could be seen. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was hiding there staring at me.
“Miss Lucas?”
I jumped a mile in the air and spun around to find the emperor standing near me. He had a concerned look on his face.
“I-I’m alright,” I assured him.
He nodded at the forest. “Did you sense something in there, miss?”
I shook my head. “I’m sure it was just my imagination, or maybe an animal.”
“Then we should follow the gentlemen inside,” he coaxed as he offered me his right arm.
My heart dropped into my stomach. According to decorum, his offering his right arm meant I had to accept with my left arm. The arm with the canister on it. The canister that contained his missing family heirloom.
I wanted to keep my head attached to my shoulders, so I bobbed my head as I spun him around so he faced the barn and pressed my hands on his back wherein I gave him a push. “You’re right. No time for formalities, we should hurry.”
My rough treatment of His Majesties’ personage earned me a chuckle from the man himself as he obliged. “You are quite right, Miss Lucas.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “How do you know my name, anyway?”
“One does not become betrothed to one of my wealthiest subjects without my hearing about it,” he told me.
“Oh. Right.”
“By the by, Miss Lucas, I am very curious as to your place of origin,” the emperor continued as he twisted his head about to give me a quick study. “I cannot place your family name nor can I find any information about your lineage.”
“Gutter trash,” was my response.
He blinked at me. “Pardon?”
“My family. They’re not really from a wealthy background, so you wouldn’t know them.”
“Ah. I see. Then how did Count Castle and you become acquainted?”
“Uh, that’s a long story, too long for the short walk back to the house,” I told him as I quickened my pace and pushed him faster across the barn floor.
We popped out the other side and had nearly met up with our other companions. The front door of the house swung open and Dreda’s small form could be seen standing in the doorway.
“Hurry along before you’re all soaked!” she scolded.
