Page 18 of The Unseen Hour (The Unseen Hour Duology #1)

“ Y ou’re one of the doomed Holmes brothers?” I shouted, then clapped a hand over my mouth, aware how rude the reaction had been.

I still had my small bag slung over my shoulder, and I took it off, nesting it in the blanket in front of me.

Shock rolled through me, and I swallowed down the other emotion that threatened to push through: disappointment. For over a year, I’d been falling for the words of R. Holmes. Against all odds, one of the brothers was alive, but he was O.

I longed to ask about the other two, but if they weren’t here, that didn’t bode well.

Orion blinked.

“People know about us?”

I dropped my hands, nodding.

“Everyone knows of the three Holmes brothers. You all … well, you … during the first Unseen Hour, you …”

His face was impassive.

“We died. You can say it.”

If he was giving me leave to discuss it openly, I might as well ask after his siblings .

“Yes, that is the assumption, but only two bodies were ever found. And the last place people had seen you was in your home. At first, people thought you were murdered, but then, when the hour continued, people realized you’d been victims of it.

Since it was the first year of the Unseen Hour, you had no way of knowing the danger you were in, being out at midnight. ”

Orion scoffed.

“It was foolish for us to leave at that time of night, even if we didn't know the hour was coming. My brothers and I only left our home because of extenuating circumstances. Even then, only one of us made it far enough to go past the boundaries of the Holmes family estate. Me.”

“And your brothers?”

I held my breath.

Orion frowned, staring into the fire as he answered.

“Reginald and Remington are deceased. I’m the only one who made it here”—he gestured to himself—“like this.”

That settled it, then. The mysterious gentleman I’d found myself drawn to, more than any of the men I’d met at balls or while promenading or attending any number of mind-numbingly dull affairs in Emrys, was dead.

I hadn’t known R. Not really. I’d just been drawn to his words. But to Orion, he had been a brother, and judging by the way he scowled into the fire, the memory was still painful.

“I’m sorry. I’ve got a few brothers myself, and I can’t imagine being without them. I’m sure you all had your reasons for going out that night. After all, there were mysterious happenings going on at your estate—and had been for weeks before you disappeared.”

His eyes widened.

“People know about that as well?”

“Not everyone.” Truthfully, I wasn’t certain how much attention had been paid once it was decided the brothers were victims of the hour, or how much investigation had been done before that determination was made.

The only reason I knew more was because of R.

and his writing. Otherwise, I’d have heard of the three brothers who died during the first hour, when the Holmes family lost an entire generation of its house, and nothing more.

I wasn’t about to admit that I’d been snooping around his brother’s journal.

It was highly possible that learning their personal possessions had ended up on a dusty library shelf would be just salt in the wound.

A bolt of longing tore through me as I thought of the journal’s author, but this wasn’t the time to linger on fantasy.

“Most people just know you all died during the hour, and that your estate passed to a cousin whose side of the family still holds the estate to this day. There were some questions initially, about whether the missing brother—you—was involved in the demise of the other two. But that theory was quickly abandoned,” I assured him.

“Everyone assumes you were all three victims of the hour.”

“They’re not wrong to say that.”

“Our estate abuts yours,” I said, as a way of explaining my additional knowledge.

Here without his family for so long. My heart went out to him, but so did my curiosity.

I stood, leaving the satchel on the cot but keeping the blanket draped over my shoulders as I took a few steps across the small cottage to observe him closer. I walked in a circle around Orion, tilting my head as I took him in.

“Yes?”

“Well, if it’s not too impertinent to say … how are you still alive? It’s been nearly a hundred years. Shouldn’t you be dead?”

Orion winced and I bit my lip, regretting the harsh words. I wanted to know, but that didn’t excuse cruelty.

After all, I was in some mystical realm called the Ether.

Who was I to tell people whether they were dead or not?

Tact had never been my strong suit. I’d worked hard to fake it when necessary—during balls, for instance—but this entire episode had shaken me.

I was having a harder time feigning decorum than usual.

Orion laughed, but the sound fell flat.

“You don’t have to be worried about niceties with me.

This is my first social interaction in quite some time, so I’m just pleased to have someone to talk to.

I would be dead, if I aged like I did in Emrys, but the Ether doesn’t work like that.

There is no true passage of time here. You can track the days and feel time slipping by, but you remain the same.

Frozen bodies are left behind after the hour, and frozen is what I am here as well.

Stuck at twenty-seven for years. At least, that’s how it’s happened for me. I assume you’ll be similar.”

Orion stood, removing his cloak and hanging it on a wooden peg on the wall.

His outfit wouldn’t have given away his age. In his generation, materials for men were more embellished. Golden thread, bright colors. In my time the trend had reversed, with women tending to wear the vibrant colors and men’s outfits being more subdued.

Orion’s clothes were simple. Tan trousers, black boots, and a flowing cream shirt with the tie at the neck left open, revealing the very top of his chest.

Once again, I found myself staring without meaning to, this time at his broad chest. I cleared my throat as he moved back to his chair.

“And is that how it is for everyone else like you, everyone still alive in the Ether?”

“I’m the only one like me. Aside from you, that is. Everyone else down here is a Shade, except for Charon himself.”

“Oh.” I slumped back down onto the cot. My exhaustion caught up with me as I deflated.

Could I have been wrong?

Maybe my father was a victim of the hour. But he’d been following the Holmes journal, and he’d used Thipp’s. The Ether seemed like a big place.

“You could be wrong, though, right? There could be someone else? Maybe they’re hiding from Charon, like you’re helping me to do. Maybe they’re camouflaged in these woods, just like you, and you simply haven’t come across them.”

Orion flashed me what I took to be a sympathetic smile, one that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Perhaps,” he allowed, although his voice didn’t sound certain at all.

“The Ether is vast. It’s possible someone slipped my notice.

They could be in hiding. When I arrived here, I was a novelty.

Charon never intended for beings like us to exist. His Shades serve a purpose, and he only wanted the dead.

He’s since realized he can use me to his advantage, but my initial months here were … unpleasant.”

His eyes darkened as he spoke, reminding me of a storm building over the seas.

I was torn between wanting to know more about what had happened to him and the thought that maybe I didn’t want to hear it, if it was the fate that might await me.

I waited for the expression to fade before interjecting with an idea.

“If he has a use for us, should I have hidden? He rules this place, so it stands to reason he’s the one with the power to keep us here or return us. He’d also know all the Shades, right? Maybe he could help me find my?—”

“Charon helps only himself. Whether you realize it or not, you’ve stumbled into something much bigger than the lives of all of Emrys, or the other countries. This is a battle between gods. Trust me, you don’t want to be stuck in the middle. ”

“We were always taught that there were only two gods, Day and Death.”

Orion sighed.

“Emrys was wrong. Now, you’re bound to be weary after the night you’ve had.

You should get some rest.” He raised a hand before I could protest. “I will sleep on the floor, and I can assure you that you’re much safer here with me than you would be wandering about the Ether.

Shades aren’t the only thing Charon has around here.

You don’t want to meet some of his other creatures unprepared. ”

As if on cue, a cry rang through the night. It sounded like a cross between a wolf’s howl and a blood-curdling scream. I jumped and snapped my arms around myself.

“See what I mean? Now then, why don’t you get some rest. I have some more comfortable attire you could change into. Are ladies really wearing their own riding outfits with trousers now?”

He gestured to my borrowed outfit.

I gave a nervous smile, along with my admission.

“No, women are still relegated to uncomfortable dresses in an array of unfortunate colors and patterns. These are my brother’s clothes. He doesn’t know I have them. Well, I guess he might by now.”

“I’ll get you something else to?—”

“No, these are fine. I’ll be perfectly comfortable sleeping in these.”

It was a horrible idea, really. I was dingy and dirty from my journey through the fields and woods, but I couldn’t exactly ask the man to leave his own house, and no matter how terrible I was at behaving as a proper lady, I wasn’t willing to take my clothes off in front of a man I’d just met, no matter how helpful and handsome he might be.

Orion shrugged .

“Whatever you think, then.”

Even as I settled under the blankets on his cot, which was more comfortable than it first appeared, I would have guessed it would be impossible to sleep.

But I was wrong.

The exhaustion of being taken from Emrys to the Ether caught up to me, and I fell into a deep sleep without even dreams to disturb me.