Page 29 of The Rake is Taken
Being home was splendid and unbearable.
Julian perched on the edge of the desk, traced his finger along a jagged score in the wood. Subtlety wasn’t his strong suit. “Maybe French is part of your history. Why you picked up languages so quickly.”
“No, Jule.”
“We could hire an investigator. Bow Street has worked well for us in the past.”
Finn’s heartbeat kicked into a ferocious rhythm as the scant memories of his time in the orphanage, and before that, if he tried very, very hard to recall, coated him like a bracing winter mist. He looked to Julian, letting everything work its way to the forefront. Coloring his eyes, twisting his features. Of all his talents, and they were many, hiding his feelings wasn’t one of them. “The past is staying in the past. I can’t go there. I don’t want to go there. Not now, not ever.”
Julian waited the appropriate amount of time, letting silence smooth a coarse path, the best man Finn knew at not rushing in. “It doesn’t change anything with your family,thisfamily. That you want to know about the other one. Or need to. I know everything about my past, although I wish I didn’t. But it’s not a blank canvas. I know why I am the way I am, and in some respects, that brings solace. And grief.”
“I’d like to engage an investigator, actually.” At Julian’s surprised look, Finn rushed to add, “To look into what Rossby holds over Victoria’s father. And if they can’t find out, I’ll go directly to the source and steal the unquestionably captivating thoughts in the Grape’s mind.”
Julian blinked, clearly stunned. “You’d go that far for this woman?”
Finn clenched his jaw and looked away, to the window and the hint of yellow he could just make out in the distance. Victoria’s gown was a golden shimmer on the verdant lawn, the exact color of the buttercup that bounded the lake’s edge during summer. If he’d had her opera glasses handy, he would have taken a closer look.
She needs to ride again, Finn suddenly realized, the notion as bright as a friction match being struck in his mind. She’d been watching him these past mornings with longing and fear. He’d felt both emotions shimmering off of her, remnants from the accident with her brother. He could help her in this one small way. “The stable is well stocked, Jule, am I correct?”
Julian nodded, his gaze also going to the women on the lawn. “We have a new groom who’s a most talented clairvoyant. He’ll provide a suitable mount while telling you when you’re set to pass into the great beyond. Why, may I ask?”
Finn tapped the desk drawer holding her spectacles, marveling at his fierce urge to touch them. Thoughts from a maid on an upper floor were leaking in, the dreaded return of his gift. Victoria had moved far enough away to break their bond, and in a moment, he would tell Julian and watch him spark like a hot ember. “A gift for a friend,” he murmured, “just a gift for a friend.”
Victoria halted at the woodland boundary, the hum in her ears increasing in volume until it sounded like a train roaring down uneven tracks. Closing her eyes, she let the disturbance overpower her senses and shove everything else out. Her skin tingled as a feeling, aforce, rocked her where she stood. She was falling before she realized she’d lost her balance, landing on her hands and knees with a jarring thud.
Piper gasped and dropped beside her in an awkward half-kneel. The viscountess’s hands were covering hers as she murmured soft words of comfort. Ofhealing. A calming rush swept Victoria, lowering the muddled drone, the sensation of a knife scraping her skin until it was raw. A flash of perfect, wondrous ease.
“I’m fine,” she said in a hoarse voice she barely recognized. Forcing herself to a shaky sit, she wondered what, exactly, had happened. Shoving her hair from her eyes, she blinked into the bright sunlight. One moment she’d been recalling riding through fields like this with her brother, the next, she’d felt someone opening the door to her mind. An invasion she’d forcefully rejected, which had caused the world to tilt.
Finn. Sneaky, adorable scoundrel.
Piper groaned and flopped to her bottom next to Victoria. “Oh, goodness, I may not be able to get up.” She wrapped her arm around her protruding tummy and balanced her chin atop it. “This baby is getting too big for me to manage. You may have to summon the field cart to bring me back to the house.”
Victoria turned, horrified. “Are you well, Lady Beauchamp? I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have thought to tumble down here with me.”
“Piper, please. I’m fine. Fat, but fine.” Sprawling back in the grass with a sigh, she stacked her arm beneath her head. “And I love tumbling. Ask Julian.”
Victoria sputtered a laugh and waved her hand before her face, the wobble in her knees finally starting to retreat. If she waited a moment, she’d be able to stand. “You’re far from fat. I’d go with ungainly. Lovely but cumbersome?”
“Dashed if that doesn’t sound worse.”
“You were able to heal me,” Victoria murmured, recalling the tranquility Piper’s touch had brought, the instant stillness. “When I thought I blocked your gift.”
“I tried, but I didn’t know it got through. Though I can’t see your aura, which is most unusual, I must be able to partially reach you.” Piper plucked a cornflower from the ground and twirled it between her fingers. “Wait until we tell Julian. He’ll record about a thousand pages of notes in his excitement.”
Victoria laid back as well, grass tickling her cheek as she turned her head toward the viscountess. “Don’t tell Finn. About my fall, I mean. I felt him intrude, and when I pushed him out, the world just spun on its axis. For a second, it was like we were out of rhythm with each other, and I had to run to catch up. I wonder if I didn’t do my little parlor trick on myself, stealing time, just enough to recalibrate.”
“That makes sense, I suppose.”
“I don’t know how to explain it, but I feel…morehere. At Harbingdon. It’s like tiny abrasions on my skin. A prickly sensation, no, more a vibration. All these abilities flowing through me, leaving bits and pieces like flotsam caught on a branch in the river. I’m not sure how much control I have or that I even know how to channel this.” She shrugged her shoulder against the ground. “I don’t understand how I’ll be able to help anyone when I can’t help myself.”
“We’ll work on that. It’s going to take time. You’re powerful, and you don’t realize it.” Piper pointed with the cornflower to a hawk circling overhead. “Supernatural talents require exploration. There are no easy answers, often no answers at all. Julian is extremely focused on providing them through the chronology, but it’s not always that simple. There are so many variables that come into play. Which is frustrating if you want conclusive evidence, as my husband does, exhilarating if you consider life an adventure, as I do.”
“Opposites attract,” Victoria said, wondering how long she’d have to wait before Piper asked about the kiss. “You and Julian, I mean.”
“So, you plan to keep this little episode from Finn?” Piper asked when the silence had begun to chafe.
Here we go.