“I know you do but do you perhaps have some explanation for saying it? We lesser mortals arrived here to break our fast after a pleasant night of dreaming of our favorite things such as food, especially lemon cakes, water, boats, fluffy clouds. We do not have”—he waited until she sat down and took the seat across from her—“the peek inside the planning room for our futures that you do.”
“She is angry. She means to destroy all you love and need.”
“That would be idiotic since she, whom I must assume is Augusta, is after getting her filthy hands on all I love and need.”
“Anger does not always make a person make sense. She needs to strike out. I think the manor and all that are safe as she does covet them very deeply and spends a lot of time dreaming on how much she would change to meet her horrific tastes in decorating.”
“How do you know they are horrific?”
“Ah, a good question.”
“Which would be an even better one if you would answer it.”
“I think when she had hold of me and was beating me, she and I, well, became connected in some odd way. I have been seeing her, a lot, doing things that rarely appear in my usual seeings. Such as her dreams of the crimes she would commit in making the manor more to her taste. If you can call that taste,” she muttered. “Maybe I bled on her a little or something.”
“Lily, you do see that I am trying to have my morning feast, do you not?”
She laughed. “It is no pleasure for me to have that witch in my head so much.”
“No, I can fully understand that. Is it ruining your ability to do what you usually do?”
When she did not answer, Simeon looked up from his food and saw that she was sitting very still, her eyes unfocused, and a little chill went over him. “Where is Frederick?” she asked, in that tone of voice that Simeon was learning to absolutely loathe, a flat tone utterly devoid of all the warmth and life that was Lilybet.
“He is walking the children to the tutor’s house,” answered George as he strolled in and went toward the food. “He does it every morning that they go there and then he is off every afternoon and walks them home. He would have done it yesterday but he wanted so badly to cook that he had one of the Pugh boys do it for him.”
“We have to go and walk him home,” Lilybet said as she drank down her cider and stood up.
“Why?” demanded George as he watched Simeon hastily fill his mouth with the last of his ham and stand up.
“We must do it now. Simeon!”
“Coming. I will explain later, Uncle George, as soon as she explains it all to me,” Simeon said, gave the man a quick pat on the back, and hurried after Lilybet.
Bened saw them rushing out the door and followed. “What is wrong?”
“Hell if I know,” said Simeon. “Lily says we have to walk Frederick home from the tutor’s house so we are off to do that.”
“I will join you.”
“Oh, that would be good,” Lilybet said, and smiled at Bened.
“Hey!” Simeon glared at her. “I am no weakling, you know.”
“I do but you have to admit Bened looks far more intimidating.”
Glancing at Bened, Simeon had to agree. Although he was having a little trouble catching his breath as they nearly ran along the path to the road, he asked Lilybet, “And we will be in need of someone intimidating?”
“Yes. I fear it is your aunt again.”
“She followed us here?”
“She knew you were coming here. She then thought on how much you care for your uncle.”
“Frederick is not my uncle.”
“But he is your uncle’s best friend, his love. It will crush him if something happens to Frederick.”
“Damn. Well, maybe we can end her here.”
Lilybet shook her head. “She is not here. She sent some hirelings. She is headed for Willow Hill.”
“Right at this moment, I am beginning to not care so much about what she is planning to do or has done. I want to shoot her down just for being such a nuisance.”
If Bened had not been so concerned for the amiable Frederick, he knew he would have smiled. He wondered if the two had yet noticed what was stirring between them. Then he saw the tutor’s house and Frederick walking out of the door. Just up the road from him were three men. He did not need any special gift to tell him they were the ones they were here to stop.
Lilybet ran straight for Frederick while Bened and Simeon went for the three men. Seeing the glint of a blade in one man’s hand, Bened called out to Simeon, “Knife!”
Bened got in front of Simeon and kicked the man in the face. He howled and clutched at his nose, which allowed Bened to disarm him. He then swung the man around to use him as a shield against a second knife-wielding man. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Frederick move Lilybet out of his way, grab the arm of the man trying to cut him, snap it, and then punch the screaming man three times in the face before letting the body drop to the ground. Frederick, he thought, could probably have taken care of himself.
“Nicely done,” he said as he walked up to the man and looked down at the one Frederick had punched.
“It certainly was.” Simeon frowned at Lilybet. “Makes me wonder why I had to interrupt my morning feast.”