Kitty saw Max’s nostrils flare, and quickly put her hand on his arm as she turned to her brother. “Hecate should not have been in that carriage, Edmund. It was borrowed—if you can call using someone else’s carriage without their permission borrowing—by Miller-James. If anyone should be lying on that couch, it should be me instead of Hecate. And Max would be…” She couldn’t say it, but the word dead hung in the air like a shadow. “And we don’t know yet that Max was definitely the target. Coaches look similar in the dark, don’t they?”
Simon sighed. “You have a point, Kitty. We don’t know enough to make assumptions.” He looked at Edmund. “I completely share your feelings, brother. But we must temper them with logic.”
Edmund ran a hand through his hair. “You’re right. No offense, Max.”
“None taken. I’d feel the same if it were my sister.”
Kitty felt it was safe enough to remove her hand. She was tired, so tired. Scared half to death by Hecate’s injuries, and now the burden of Max being a potential target—it was all taking its toll on a woman who was more accustomed to choosing gowns than dealing with disasters. “We need to plan what to do now,” she said.
Max glanced down at her. “Sit, Kitty.”
She sat and he brought her a brandy. “Thank you.” She sipped, the warming liquid bolstering the little strength she had left. Aware of the disapproving gaze of her brothers, she defiantly took another sip.
Edmund sighed. “Right then.” He turned to James. “You’ll be coming with us, James?”
“Yes, absolutely.” He narrowed his eyes. “I would think Hecate will need most of the space in the carriage, so it’s a good thing we have our mounts.”
“Should someone attend her? A maid? Kitty?” Simon looked at his sister.
She shook her head. “Simon, I love my sister to the ends of the earth. But I am not good at tending to the sick. I would spend half the journey sick myself with worry, and when we got to Ridlington any aspirations I might still have about nursing would be completely overrun by Rosaline, you know that. She’s so much better at organization than I am. Within a day I’d be back to the old pattern of doing nothing and trying to make it look like I was doing something.”
“You’re right, Kitty,” acknowledged Edmund. “But Ridlington is, and always will be, your home. You know that, don’t you? You are welcome there at any time, no matter the situation.” He cast a pointed look at Max.
“Understood, Baron.”
Edmund eased at Max’s response. “Good.”
Dal returned at that moment. “Sirs, forgive my intrusion.” He bowed over his steepled fingertips. “I have arranged a sling to hold Miss Hecate within the coach. I believe this will ease the journey so that she may not suffer any grievous harm while travelling.”
“Oh. Goodness.”
Kitty’s admiring exclamation was echoed in the faces of the others.
“Brilliant, man. Quite brilliant.” James nodded his approval.
“I would ask a great favor, sirs.” Dal lowered his eyes. “I would ask to be allowed to accompany Miss Hecate to the Ridlington Chase.”
“What?” Simon’s eyebrows rose. “I don’t think…”
“Simon, wait.” Kitty moved to Dal’s side. “Hecate has become very close to Dal and his family. I understand she has been teaching his niece and assisting his sister as she awaits the return of her husband from France. He’s a soldier in Wellington’s army…”
“Indeed sirs,” endorsed Dal. “We owe Miss Hecate so much. Nothing I could do for her would in any way equal what she has done for us.” He took a breath. “She protected my niece from an unpleasant incident without thought for her own well-being. For that alone, we owe her so much more than our gratitude.”
“That’s Hecate,” nodded Simon. “Always lending a hand.”
“One other thing, sirs.” Dal paused, looking at each of them, meeting their gazes squarely. “My people, my country…we accept and venerate those who are gifted above and beyond the ordinary.”
The silence was deafening.
“Miss Hecate is one such person; her abilities are, as I’m sure you are all aware, very unusual. And yet she has to hide them, to suppress them, if you will, while trying to live an ordinary life.” He sighed. “My sister and I have seen some of the strain this conflict imposes. But we are of the few who understand the nature of that strain. She can be herself around us. I would be there beside her when she wakes so she knows she can be herself then as well.”
Everyone took a moment or two to digest Dal’s impassioned soliloquy.
Finally, Kitty spoke. “I cannot presume to know what Hecate would wish, Dal, but I do know she values your friendship most highly. And I also know she would not be with us, alive, had it not been for her gift and your devotion.” She turned to Edmund. “There is nobody I would trust Hecate to more than Dal.”
Edmund winced. “I’m going to have a hell of a time explaining him to Rosaline.”
Simon chuckled. “No you won’t. Introduce them. Rosaline will see what’s what immediately.”
“I have to agree with Simon,” added James. “Plus the fact that Mr. Dal here found Hecate, and I’m still not clear on how that happened…” He raised an eyebrow at Dal, who remained silent. “All these things persuade me that he would be an excellent companion for Hecate on the journey. His strength will be useful if the ride is rough, and should she wake…having him there would set her mind at ease, I’m sure.”
And thus the matter of an attendant for Hecate was decided, and the process of taking her back to Ridlington was set in motion.
Kitty spent a moment wondering if this was some kind of nightmare from which she would wake any moment. But her hands were cold, and her tears harsh stings at the back of her eyes as she watched a still and pale Hecate, wrapped in warm blankets, carried out to the coach. She managed to touch her sister’s hand briefly. “Heal, darling. Take all the time you need, but come back to us, all right?” She dropped a quick kiss on one cool cheek.
Then they were saying their farewells, and the servants bustled to make sure all the provisions Max had ordered were loaded correctly.
Standing beside Max, Kitty observed but didn’t see. Her eyes blurred as she wondered if this was the last time she’d ever see Hecate. A tiny sob escaped, but Max heard it.
“Kitty?” He looked down at her. “You’re shaking. Come inside…”
Blindly she followed him, unable to contain her tears, staggering as her legs refused to hold her upright anymore.
“Oh sweetheart.” He caught her before she stumbled to the floor.
She barely heard his endearment, but felt his arms beneath her thighs and around her shoulders. The next thing she knew, she was sitting on his lap as he sat on the grand staircase. And he was cuddling her the way one would a distressed child.
The warmth, the touch of his arms and the sense of comfort—it overset her completely and she finally broke down, crying harsh sobs into his jacket. He rocked her, gently soothing her, murmuring things she couldn’t hear.
She was lost in the torrent of emotions that had finally overwhelmed her.
So she didn’t see Edmund return for his gloves, nor catch the widened eyes and amazed expression that crossed his face for a moment as he saw the master of the house cuddling and soothing his sobbing sister.