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Sebastian followed Lady Nora down the hall and into a different hall, and finally into a small study along the back side of the manor. “Close the door, if you please,” she said, as she stepped toward the study’s tall, narrow windows.

He did, pulling it shut behind him. “Are you feeling better?”

“Please. I’m obviously not sick. I needed to do some investigating.” Nora was staring out the glass, at the gardens and manor grounds. “I saw you.”

Sebastian froze, still by the door. Seen him what? With Wesley ? “Lady Nora—”

“With the two strangers, one tall and one short, heading through the gardens toward the mausoleum.” She looked over her shoulder then, at him.

“I haven’t told anyone yet,” she said, her serious gaze on him.

“But I know those two are not among the guests. And I think you owe me an explanation of what you were doing and why they were here.”

Sebastian bit his lip. “We were searching for someone,” he finally admitted.

“I see,” Nora said lightly. “And did you find this someone ?”

Sebastian weighed his next words carefully. They still didn’t know her motives, or her relationship with Dr. Wright, whoever the doctor truly was. But they needed an ally and Sebastian’s gut continued to think he could trust her.

“No. But we think we know where we’ll find him.” Sebastian swallowed. “In a grave.”

Nora’s eyes widened. Her gaze flitted over his face, like she was weighing his expression. “You’re serious?” She frowned. “Who?”

“A man from my past, a murderer and a torturer that I knew in very unpleasant circumstances,” Sebastian said. “But we think he may have been murdered himself, and that his murder could mean something even worse to come.”

“My word.” Nora looked shocked. “But who—wait.”

Her eyes narrowed. Then she abruptly strode forward, and Sebastian had to hurriedly sidestep out of her way as she went up to the door behind him and grabbed the handle.

She yanked it open, revealing Geoffrey, whose eyes went almost comically wide.

“Mr. Collins.” Nora stepped back, her own eyes still narrowed. “Do you make a habit of listening at keyholes?”

Geoffrey raised his chin. “Apologies,” he said brusquely. “But sometimes needs must.”

“Really?” Nora said flatly. “And what necessitated spying on a private conversation?”

“The need for some bloody answers.” Geoffrey glanced down the hall, then back at Nora and Sebastian. “May I come in?”

Nora huffed, but stepped back, letting Geoffrey enter and shutting the door behind him. He still wore his hunting coat, and Sebastian could see his revolver clearly holstered on his hip.

“He’s armed,” Sebastian said quietly, to Nora.

“Armed and a damn good shot.” Geoffrey pointed at him. “Are you working with Lord Valemount?”

“ Me? ” Sebastian said. “Why would I be working with Valemount?”

“I’m sure I don’t know,” Geoffrey said, “but he took a shot at Wesley this morning.”

“He what?” Nora said in shock, as Sebastian stared at Geoffrey.

“Your uncle tried to murder my cousin this very morning, on our hunt.” Geoffrey stuck out his fist, then opened his fingers to reveal a bullet casing, resting in the palm of his hand.

“I found this in the exact spot Wesley had been standing,” he said.

“Valemount thought none of us were looking, but I saw him aim straight for Wesley’s head. I thought Wesley was dead .”

Nora had paled. “There must be some mistake.”

“No mistake,” Geoffrey said darkly. “I don’t know how Wesley managed to fall at exactly the right moment, but Lord Valemount tried to kill him and I will swear to that in any court of law.”

Nora covered her mouth. “What on earth is going on?” she said, as if to herself.

They didn’t have time to guess. “Come on.” Sebastian was already moving toward the door. “We have to go back to Wesley.”

* * *

The world slowly began to creep back in for Wesley, his head pounding, as nauseated and woozy as if he’d drunk three bottles of whiskey. He could hear voices as if from a distance. Two men, it sounded like, their voices edged with the echo of hard walls and floors with no carpet to soften them.

“He’s stirring,” one voice said.

“Finally.” The other voice was suddenly much closer. “It might interest you to know, Lord Fine, that one perk of pretending to be a doctor is one can fill one’s bag with all kinds of interesting items and no one thinks anything of it.”

Wesley managed to crack his eyes, and found his vision filled with Dr. Wright.

“Ethyl chloride,” Dr. Wright said. “A useful anesthetic, of course, but also quite potent when inhaled.”

Quite potent was an understatement. Wesley felt like he’d been flattened by a lorry, but he wasn’t going to give either of them the satisfaction of showing it. “What do you want?” he said, through clenched teeth.

It was dim, wherever they were, and what light there was was mostly yellowish, like a lantern’s. It was enough to see Dr. Wright as he looked over his shoulder. “Damn miracle you didn’t kill him too soon.”

“It was your bloody order for me to take the shot,” Lord Valemount said, as he stepped into view at Dr. Wright’s side.

“Well, obviously he can’t have the H6,” Dr. Wright said. “But never mind. He’ll be dead soon enough.”

Well, that didn’t bode well. And why the devil was a doctor giving orders to a duke?

He tried to shift, and found his arms were bound behind him, his ankles tied or chained together as well.

He seemed to be on a flat surface, hard as stone and cold enough to seep through his clothes, and the air was unpleasantly stale with the dampness of earth.

He tried to clear his throat. “You haven’t said what you want. ”

Dr. Wright and Lord Valemount paused their bickering and looked down at him.

A sliver of scant light came in from beyond their heads, illuminating a ceiling in ill repair, crumbling and buttressed with thick wood planks.

The wall beyond was riddled with recessed cubbies, each holding a coffin.

Was he underground, then? In a family crypt, perhaps, chained on top of some decaying Valemount’s sarcophagus?

Lord Valemount raised his arm, and Wesley was suddenly staring at the barrel of a revolver. But then Valemount turned the gun so that Wesley could see the grip. Set into the wood was a circular medallion, and it was glowing as if lit with lamplight.

“We have several questions for you, Fine,” Valemount said darkly. “But the first one is—how do you have de Leon magic?”

Wesley tore his gaze off the medallion and up to Valemount’s face.

“That shock looks real enough,” Dr. Wright said, gaze on Wesley’s face. “I think he actually didn’t know.”

Sebastian’s magic. It was with him . Fuck, of course it was—had it been with him all this time?

“De Leon must know about the relics,” Valemount said to Dr. Wright.

“Then the coward hid his magic in this hapless idiot.” He gestured to the glowing medallion set in the grip again.

“That’s why the medallion didn’t light up when I had it near de Leon before dinner last night, but here’s the magic now, in Fine, plain as day. ”

Wesley opened his mouth, a thousand possible lies on his tongue—

“Don’t waste our time pretending not to know what that means.

” Valemount tapped the medallion. “The original Duke of Valemount was a consummate hunter who even had his own tracking magic. That magic is in this relic, and I control it now. It’s like a hound—if I give it a scent, the magic can track it. ”

Wesley’s head was clearing, the anesthetic wearing off and adrenaline taking its place. But even with a clearer head, none of this was making sense. “How would you have de Leon magic to track?”

“Because of me.” Dr. Wright took off his glasses, tossing them carelessly to the side. “And my distant uncle’s curse that runs in my veins.”

* * *

Sebastian led the way to Wesley’s room, but found it empty as well. He frowned at the vacant space.

“Where did he go?” Geoffrey was also frowning.

“Somewhere else in the house, perhaps?” Nora offered.

Sebastian and Geoffrey both shook their heads. “Lord Fine is very smart, and he does not act rashly, ever,” Sebastian said. “He knew someone had tried to kill him. He said he would wait here.”

“Except he’s not here now,” Geoffrey pointed out.

Sebastian ran a hand through his hair. “There are people everywhere,” he said. “Staff and guests on every floor. Someone must have seen where he went.”

“Let’s just hope he’s not with Valemount,” Geoffrey said grimly.

Nora winced. “I can’t believe Uncle Louis would shoot at Lord Fine. I don’t understand why.”

Sebastian took her hand. “Lady Nora,” he said beseechingly, “I apologize, but I must ask you an awkward question. Dr. Wright, that we met on the ship—he is not really your doctor, is he?”

Nora winced. “No,” she said quietly. “He’s not.”

“And is he actually your uncle?” Sebastian asked carefully.

“You’re asking if Dr. Wright is Uncle Louis?

” Nora huffed a kind of laugh with a rough edge.

“No. He’s not my uncle .” She winced again.

“I swore to keep their secret. I was so happy at the news, I would have agreed to anything—I trusted they had a good reason for the lie, but I don’t want anyone to get hurt—”

“Tell me this then,” Sebastian said, worry for Wesley turning his stomach into knots. “If someone were to have taken Lord Fine from the house, how could they have gotten out unseen?”

Nora pointed down the hall. “The second-floor library has a priest hole hidden behind the northernmost bookshelf. There’s a secret catch at the back of the second shelf that conceals the stairs.

Obviously Valemounts aren’t hiding Catholic priests from Tudor raids anymore, but we still have the network of tunnels under the manor.

They split off and come up at various places throughout the estate, but the main shaft leads to the family crypt under the chapel ruins. But surely—”

“I’m going there.” Sebastian squeezed her hand. “The two men you saw me with might still be on this estate—might have gone to the graveyard by the chapel. They are my friends and if you trust me, you can trust them. Go to them and tell them what you told me, yes? And then meet me by the chapel.”

“I’m coming with you—” Geoffrey started.

Sebastian shook his head. He couldn’t let Wesley’s cousin or Lady Nora be put at risk, not if magic was involved.

“Stay with Lady Nora.” Wesley’s revolver was still sitting on the dresser where Wesley had set it not an hour ago.

Sebastian snatched it up. “Keep each other safe, and find my friends, please,” he said. “I’m going to find Wesley.”