Page 94

She looked at him with a shade of her past fear lurking in her eyes, and it took great willpower not to take her in his arms and kiss the shadow away.

“Thank you,” he said instead. “I appreciate that. But it does leave us with an…unfinished problem.”

He glanced from Daphne to the triplets who were still lurking nearby with uncertain expressions.

“I’m very grateful you broke the enchantment when you did, but unfortunately it means we’ve lost our primary advantage. We no longer have any invisible forces.”

“But Jace doesn’t have many men either,” Rosalie said. “He only had four left—at least from what I saw in the woods. And the triplets injured two of them. I don’t think those two will be feeling well enough to fight anytime soon. So that just leaves Jace and two men. We outnumber him for once.”

“But we also don’t know where he is or what he’s planning.” Dimitri hesitated. “None of us believe this will be enough to make him give up, do we?”

All five of them shook their heads.

“He talks as if he thinks he’s entitled to the manor and its wealth,” Rosalie said regretfully. “I’m afraid he’s more likely to be angry than resigned.”

“Then we need to act quickly before he can hire more men,” Dimitri smiled, feeling a violent satisfaction at finally being released to search for Jace himself. “That’s twice now he’s abducted you. I don’t intend to leave him free to try it a third time.”

A flash of color flew past, and a parrot landed on Rosalie’s shoulder. She jerked backward in surprise, but it kept its grip.

“Intruders!” it squawked. “Foxes in the hen house! Locusts in the wheat!”

“We aren’t intruders,” Rosalie said in exasperation, but she was smiling fondly at the bird.

Dimitri frowned. “Are you sure it means us?”

An echoing bang rang across the garden—like a large door thudding closed. Dimitri didn’t wait to see the others’ reactions, taking off at full speed toward the manor doors. When he arrived, both of them were firmly closed.

He knew he had stumbled out of the doors at some point that morning, but he could barely remember it. All his memories from Rosalie’s absence were hazy. He looked toward Daphne. She was frowning.

“I definitely locked it,” she said. “You were too ill to think of it, so I took your key out of your pocket to do it.” She held it out to him. “I’d already given the master key ring to Vernon, so I had to use your key instead.”

“Why would you give the master ring to Vernon?” Rosalie demanded.

“Dimitri was staying here, and he already had a key,” Daphne explained. “So since we were splitting up, I thought each group should have keys. Of course, that was when I thought the boys were actually going to be with you…”

Dimitri tried to turn the key Daphne had just given him in the lock. It didn’t work.

He turned grimly to Vernon. “So where exactly is that second key ring?” he asked.

Vernon thrust his hands into his pockets only to go still, his face turning pale. He searched around more frantically but failed to produce any keys.

Rosalie groaned. “Were you the one who tackled me in the woods?”

“I didn’t tackle you!” he protested. “I just pulled you out of harm’s way.”

“And we both fell,” she said. “So I’m guessing that’s when you lost the keys.”

“Jace was there?” Dimitri asked, already knowing the answer.

Vernon nodded miserably. “I’m sorry.”

“So Jace found the keys you’d dropped in the forest,” Dimitri mused aloud. “He must have guessed what they were for and come straight here. And he conveniently found us all in the garden.” He sighed. “So he’s inside now, and he’s left his key in the lock to stop us using ours. Honestly, it could be worse. At least we know where he is now. I wonder if he’s thought to bar the other doors?”

“He might not have if he doesn’t need long,” Rosalie said. “His plan might be to wait until we circle the building trying other doors, and then he’ll escape back out the front door with whatever he’s stolen.”

Dimitri glanced at her. He wasn’t convinced Jace would be content with just stealing a few valuables. But even if he was, Dimitri didn’t intend to let him get away with it.

“This way.” He hurried along the front of the manor. “The door in the conservatory is closest. And Jace likely doesn’t know about it, so I doubt he’s secured it from the inside.”