Page 109 of The Wolf Queen’s Curse

I take a deep breath. “Everyone can feel terrible about what happened to Ann, but she doesn’t want that. She’s free, and she wants to forget. She wants to be the woman who survived. Not the victim who was rescued.”

Bishop squeezes my hand. “You’re right, of course. If Rufus is angry, then he is angry, and we’ll deal with it. But the important thing is providing support for Ann … while not letting her see pity.”

I kiss his cheek. “Thank you.”

THIRTY-EIGHT

Rufus isn’t angry. Maybe that will come, but for now, he’s something worse—he’s in shock. Thankfully, he’s not falling over himself to tell Ann he wishes he’d known, that he would have come back for her. He might feel that, but it seems he knows her well enough to say nothing. To trust, maybe, that she knows he would have.

When we reach the train station, he’s completely quiet. Perhaps “shock” is the wrong word, because it implies he’s unable to speak or act. He does act, just in silence. He takes the bags. He carries them inside, and if Ann notices he grabs hers first, that he takes the most care with it, she gives no sign. He keeps sneaking looks at her. Unreadable looks, as if he’s mentally adjusting everything he thought he knew.

And he is so careful not to let her see those looks, not to pay her too much attention or be too solicitous, that I could kiss him in gratitude. As we pass carts of food and trinkets, he slows more than once, eyeing something and then sneaking a glance at Ann. Considering buying her something. But he stops himself.

I understand that urge. It was the same one I had when I’d taken Ann to buy a new wardrobe. Here, have a pretty bow for your hair, have silken undergarments, have this fancy gown you have no place to wear. Take all the things. I’d known better, and so does he, and he only says he’ll get us a hamper packed for the train and then leaves us with our bags while Bishop and Doyle go to buy tickets.

Jesse gets first-class for himself and Doyle, while putting their wolves in third. We’d been planning to get second-class ourselves, so it didn’t seem as if we had money to burn. Bishop tells us later that he weighed the matter and said to Jesse, “Perhaps it would be nice to treat the ladies to a first-class compartment as well.” We really don’t want the Cambrian second-in-command knowing how much money we have. Nor do we want to seem as if we might have too little to actually hand over the textile mill.

Doyle and Jesse are in the compartment next to ours, but the compartments are large enough for six, and it doesn’t take long for Doyle to join us and happily accept food from our hamper. Bishop quietly excuses himself, and Doyle doesn’t even seem to notice, too intent on having lunch and good conversation, and we settle in for the journey.

Oliver did get our message. In fact, he meets us at the train station, along with a coach driven by Felix. It’s a rented coach, but it’s nicer than the one we had, and I suspect Oliver decided we needed to show Doyle and the Cambrians that we aren’t a ragtag bunch of defeated wolves. In any other circumstances, it’d be the correct move, but I don’t fail to note Jesse taking a good look at that coach, along with the horses drawing it—the pair from Trevelyan.

Any tension is thankfully broken by the warm welcome Rufus gets from Oliver and most of the others—most of the former Pack wolves knew him before he left, and he’d known “Bishop’s boys” before they joined the Albion Pack. The Cambrians pile into hired coaches and carts … after finding horses that don’t startle at the werewolf scents. Then we’re off.

Oliver has rented a farmhouse, and it’s similar to the one the Cambrians inhabited, in the sense that it’s a sprawling building with multiple additions, but if it was in rough shape when they arrived, they’ve rectified that. While Ann might grumble about them expecting her to do the housework, it’s obvious that Oliver set the wolves to cleaning and they did an excellent job. The house is overly large and drafty, and it has makeshift beds everywhere, but I can tell the Cambrian wolves are impressed, and maybe a little overwhelmed, like little boys afraid of getting muddy footprints on the clean floors.

Oliver has also prepared a proper feast, and the wolves dive in as if they haven’t eaten food in months. Or, more like, they haven’t eaten good food in months. Ann, Tabitha, and I take our meals upstairs. Tabitha has been alone with the wolves since Ann left, and while they have treated her like a spoiled little sister, she’s obviously happy to have us back.

As we eat, I overhear voices in another room on the second floor. One is Rufus, and I hurry out to see if there’s a problem. Then I realize who he’s arguing with—Harry—and I’m worried until Rufus calls him “Cousin” and I remember their relationship. It doesn’t sound like a fond family reunion, but from the way Rufus talked about Henry, it was never a fond family to begin with. I decide it’s none of my business and leave them to it.

From there, the evening proceeds as it might have at Trevelyan. The inner circle convenes with brandy to discuss strategy, while the wolves socialize. I’m invited to join that strategy meeting, but I decide it’s best if I don’t. If I were present, I’d be adding my opinion, which isn’t something Doyle or Jesse seems accustomed to. I spend the evening playing cards with Ann and Tabitha instead.

Oliver has made sure Bishop and I have our own room, which feels selfish when we’re the only ones not sharing with others, but Bishop needs a break from playing the confident young Alpha. Not that he outright admits he has doubts, but he makes a point of giving me instructions for what to do if anything goes wrong tomorrow.

When I dress in the morning, my outfit will include the money I got from Beatrice, secreted away on my person. If things go awry, I am to grab Ann and Tabitha and Felix and run. I should not go directly to Alfred, but hole up somewhere safe for a few days and then send Alfred a message so he can convene with us and turn over my aunt’s estate.

I could tell Bishop I won’t need any of this, because I’m not leaving his side. No matter how bad things get, I am in this to the end. I’ll give the money to Ann and pass along the instructions with a letter for Alfred to turn the estate over to her, as my cousin.

Maybe Bishop knows I won’t actually leave him. What matters is that he accepts my false assurances and only stresses how important it is that Tabitha and Felix are protected, being too young to properly consent to stay. I promise him they will be looked after, and then we curl up and slowly drift off to sleep.

We are returning to Trevelyan. We have loaded up the carts and the coaches, and we are making the journey back. I’m in a coach with Bishop, Julius, and Rufus, with Felix driving.

Once we’re within a mile of the estate, Julius rides ahead with Oliver and a couple of others to ensure we aren’t heading into an encampment of supernaturals.

If Julius’s group isn’t back in twenty minutes, Bishop and Rufus will go after them. And Bishop spends most of that time with his gaze fixed on his pocket watch.

When fifteen minutes have passed, Bishop starts looking out the window, and he exhales in relief even before I hear the hoofbeats.

The coach stops long enough for Julius to get back in and someone to take his horse.

“No one’s there,” he says, wiping his brow. “We went in the side lane. That gate was still shut and locked. We couldn’t smell anyone along the side road, and we took it all the way to the house. It’s hard to pick up scents with the stink of smoke, but we searched the area and then came back through the main gates.”

“Beryl retreated,” Bishop says. “Which doesn’t mean she’s leaving us alone. She’s just not wasting a battalion of supernaturals awaiting our return.”

“Because she’ll know when we come back,” Rufus says. “She’ll have eyes watching, and then she can decide what to do.”

“All right then. We approach and survey the situation. Then secure the estate and await her next move.”

Bishop has asked Felix to stop the coach a quarter mile from Trevelyan. We go on foot from there, with Julius and Rufus trailing at a polite distance. I grip Bishop’s hand as we walk along that road, round the corner, and see the house.