“And Merry is?”
“My aunt. She be but a few years older than me but has had most of the raising of me. Me mother died when I was born. The countess let Merry join the household when I was but five or six.” Thomas shrugged. “I think the countess wanted Merry to help her keep a watch on you.”
“Why did Merry not do so? It appears that near everyone else within my household did so readily enough.”
“Merry is my aunt as I said. That makes her on my side. Ye and me are kin of a sort so that makes her on your side.”
“And she does not much like the countess either, I would wager,” said Olympia.
Thomas grinned. “Fair hates her.” He glanced at Brant. “Beggin’ your pardon for saying so, m’lord.”
“Pardon granted.”
Olympia stood beside Thomas and they both watched Brant walk over to the window that overlooked the garden. It was difficult to know what to say to the man. Her family had long suffered within the confines of shattered families but she did not think they had suffered anything akin to what Brant was suffering now. The ones who had turned their backs on her and others of her clan were the family members not of their blood. They were the ones born with no gift and no true understanding of the gifts even their own children were born with. Usually the rejection was brutal, but swift and clean. Olympia had no idea how to help a man whose own mother continually rejected him, undermined him, and disliked him. Since she suspected the woman did so mostly because she deeply resented Brant being the earl, perhaps even being his father’s son, there had to be the added frustration of knowing he could do nothing about it.
“I believe I shall go and see if young Merry needs help,” Olympia said after several moments of heavy silence and was not surprised when both Thomas and Brant turned to stare at her in shock.
“I thought you were a baroness,” said Thomas, ignoring Brant’s murmured disapproval of his outburst. “A baroness got no place in the kitchens.”
“She does if she wants to eat. Not everyone who carries about a title always has a full purse as well. Some have to learn to do the things others hire servants for. I will leave you two to see what else needs doing to sort this mess out or can be discovered about Lady Mallam’s many little intrusive machinations.”
Brant watched her stride out of the room and frowned when he heard her call for Pawl to come and help her and Enid. He had seen her large handsome footman Pawl but had no idea who Enid was. Just how many servants had she brought with her, he wondered. A not so gentle nudge of a small sharp elbow in his side pulled his attention back to young Thomas.
And there, standing at his side, was yet another problem Brant had to think about, although he hated to consider the boy in that way. Now that he took the time to closely study the boy he could see the familial resemblance. Their mutual father had clearly been a careless rogue who had left a strong mark on his offspring from both sides of the blanket.
“I have other relations to greet, do I?” he finally asked the boy.
“Aye, m’lord, you most certainly do,” Thomas replied. “Stables were their choice to work in.”
“How many are there?”
“Four. Used to be six up until a fortnight past.”
“What happened a fortnight ago?”
“Ted and Peter went away and the rest of us are fair certain they did not do so willingly.” Thomas started out of the room, waving for Brant to follow him. “It happens now and then, folk disappearing from the Mallam properties, but we never thought it would happen to any of us since we share Mallam blood.”
Brant grabbed the boy by one thin arm and yanked him to a halt. The brief look of fear on Thomas’s face stung him to the heart, but he ignored that pain. He also beat down the flare of angry insult that look stirred within him. Thomas would soon know that Brant was not the type to abuse a child in any way.
“What do you mean by folk disappearing?” he demanded and found that just asking the question was enough to make his stomach roll with dread.
“That they be here and then they be gone. Like Ted and Peter. Right here and hard at work one day with nary a word said about leaving, and then gone. Been a few gone missing from the village too, like my other aunt. S’truth, some thought it was your fault, m’lord. Thought you had taken the lads and lasses, but no more.”