Page 6 of The Unseen Hour

“You do realize you might receive less chiding from Mother and Ambrose if you took to the floor a bit more often during these events,” Bram informed me before offering his arm.

We made our way out of the manor and to a waiting carriage.

“I’m afraid my dance card is full-up for the evening,” I responded before flashing it at him from where it hung around my wrist. I’d written incomprehensible squiggles into most of the lines.

Most, not all.

I knew I had to occasionally venture out onto the floor if I wanted to escape the worst of my mother’s ire.

Bram sighed as Shrewsbury shut the door to our carriage, no doubt ready to report back to my mother and eldest brother whether I was behaving. Mother rode in a second carriage with Ambrose and our middle brother Temple.

I stuck my tongue out at the carriage door once it was safely closed and there was no chance of Shrewsbury spotting me. Not mature, I had to admit, but the only rebellion I could muster in the moment.

Bram chuckled, then reached across for my hand.

“Humor Mother. It’s not as if she’d actually hand you over to most of those fools,” he reminded me as the carriage began to move.

In that, I knew he was right. Since our father’s disappearance, Mother had become a shadow hovering over us all. That was actually an improvement, as she’d practically shut herself into her rooms for the first few months. If I had to choose, I’d settle for the hovering. While it meant she was maddeningly involved in all our affairs, it was also likely why, in spite of her threats, she hadn’t pushed any particular suitor on me—or my brothers, for that matter. Deep down, she didn’t want to let go.

It was well enough for the boys; they’d all stay at one of several family properties if they were married. I, on the other hand, would be expected to move into my betrothed’s household.

Truthfully I had considered it, but in spite of our bickering I cared deeply for my family. That, and the suitors available to me in Emrys left something to be desired. We spent most of the year in Fox Haven, the largest city aside from the capital. For the season, we had to be in Karith, because the queen did not deign to travel outside the capital without good reason.

Unfortunately, neither location had presented me with appealing options for a husband. Occasionally, nobles would travel from Mejje, across the Talwin Sea. I’d once seen an emissary from Sez and its jungle-filled islands southwest of Emrys. I’d never met anyone from Tang or its icy tundra to the northeast. And, of course, no one had ever met anyone from the lost country.

Not that I anticipated their men being any more appealing than ours, if they were the sort of individuals who attended fêtes and art exhibitions, where it was the people on display rather than the paintings.

No, I had yet to meet a man that made me want to leave my family, as bothersome as they sometimes were. And certainly not in the past few months, now that I had a much more important mission.

Saving my father, in my mind, was certainly a worthier use of my time than simpering and flirting just enough to look interested but not enough to appear forward. It was more enjoyable spending my hours absorbed in the writings of Father and the intriguing R. Holmes than pretending to show interest in the men of Emrys, or for that matter men from any country in Rayus.

After all, was it my fault that my options were almost all either dull, self-absorbed, womanizing or some combination of the three? I didn’t think my standards were too farfetched, but the available bachelors in Emrys begged to differ.

Still, I at least had to make a show of it; make it look like I was trying to win over the hearts of all the eligible men of the season. I hardly had the stomach for it, or the inclination.

Especially this year. I’d set myself a deadline of December. My father had been interested in Holmes and his diary, and after scrutinizing his notes I had a theory on why. I suspected he had tried to imitate Holmes in some way. They’d met the same fate, and he’d read the same information in the diary I had. I hadn’t yet figured out how he’d managed to get Taken, but I suspected the missing pages might have something to do with it.

And it stood to reason that the Unseen Hour was my window of opportunity. I did not intend to wait an additional year. The pages were my mission, and now that we’d arrived back in Karith, I was about to get my chance.

I just had to suffer through the season’s opening ball first, because Mother’s eyes had been on me since our arrival and would remain so until she was assured I was safely ensconced in the season’s activities.

With any luck at all, I’d make it through this season as I had the previous ones, without an engagement. Truth be told, I wasn’t against marriage, but I wanted someone adventurous. Someone open-minded, bold, and intelligent, like the author of the Holmes journals. He wrote of travel and a longing for more of it. His words convinced me that he’d loved his family, and held them dear, but balanced it with a desire to explore. It sometimes felt like reading a mirror of my own soul.

Someone like that could set my mind and my body on fire.

Completely scandalous. Utterly inappropriate.

I could imagine Mother’s face if she knew.

“Sorry, Mother, but I’ve fallen for the intelligent, well-spoken man who wrote about a life of ambition and adventure. Oh, who is he? A long-dead nobleman of Emrys. That shouldn’t complicate things too much, should it?”

The carriage came to a stop, and when I stepped out I was staring at the well-lit entrance hall of Swiltshire, where my best friend, Charlotte, resided.

At least the evening wouldn’t be a total loss.

CHAPTER 5

“Ambrose, Temple, Celia, Bram,” our mother called. I joined my brothers as the carriages moved behind us. They would be waiting when we were ready to return home. There would be no windswept rides on Pellix this evening.