His Wicked Seduction novel Chapter 56

The rider from London arrived in the early evening, just in time to prevent everyone from going to dinner. Lucien took the note, and he and Cedric returned to his study to read it in privacy. Horatia and her sister lingered in the corridor outside. She thought it might involve news from his friends in London.

Pressed against the wooden door to eavesdrop, Horatia flinched when she heard Cedric curse. There was a heavy thud, as though something had hit the wall. Lucien muttered something she couldn't hear, then there was a growl from her brother before footsteps approached the door. Both Audrey and Horatia scampered back, hoping to conceal their feeble attempts at eavesdropping.

When the door opened, Horatia's stomach clenched as she saw Cedric's face shrouded by a mask of pain and barely controlled rage.

"What is it?" Audrey asked as she glanced between Cedric and Lucien.

"Charles sent some bad news," Lucien answered carefully. He glanced around, making sure that it was only the four of them. Horatia knew it must be a private League matter if he didn't wish for his brothers or anyone else to overhear.

"What happened?" Her throat constricted.

"Ashton was wounded when he and Godric were investigating the threats we overheard," Lucien said. "Someone shot him, but he'll be fine."

Horatia watched him closely. "That's not all, is it? You're not telling us everything." She'd been too afraid to ask her brother or Lucien, but she'd sensed there was more to this situation than either had let on. Were they all in more danger than she'd originally believed?

"I'm sorry. Someone killed Muff." Cedric's low sharp tone made Horatia flinch.

Audrey screamed. "No!"

"Waverly somehow managed to breach our home." Cedric's fists tightened as he spoke. "Someone killed Muff. They drowned him and left him in a tub at Charles's house."

"But why?" Audrey whimpered, tears threatening to spill over.

"Because he could. He wanted us to know our homes aren't safe. And he's succeeded. No one is going back until this is resolved." Cedric's tone was dark in a way that Horatia had never heard before.

"How do you know it was Waverly?" Horatia asked. Her voice cracked, but she got the words out.

Neither her brother nor Lucien replied for several long moments.

"We have no proof," Lucien said. "It's more of a feeling."

Cedric added his own dark thoughts. "He tried to drown Charles once. Now he's drowned a cat. It's obvious enough it's him."

There was a vengefulness in his brown eyes that frightened her. He was buried in a rage she understood all too well. She could barely think herself, the anger and grief churned to violence inside her.

Audrey threw herself at Cedric's chest and wept. Cedric folded her in his embrace.

"Take her to her room, Cedric," Lucien said. "I'll have dinner sent up."

Cedric nodded in silent thanks before leading Audrey, still sniffling, up to her bedchamber.

"Horatia?" Lucien was at her side now, weariness carved lines in his face. He'd always seemed confident and self-assured to her before, but his look now was entirely new to her. He appeared vulnerable.

A violent shudder shot through her at the thought. Who could be so cruel?

An explosion of panic and fear speared her through the chest. It wasn't just a way to hurt her family. It was a message, as her brother had said. He could get to any of them. She and her siblings weren't safe. No place was safe. He could always find them.

The vision of her parents dead in that coach flashed across her mind's eye just as the vision of a drowned cat, fur damp and body stiff merged with it. Her father's neck broken, her mother's pale pink lips coated with blood. Their bodies like a pair of broken marionettes abandoned by a child.

She'd touched them, her mother's cheek, her father's hand. But they'd been gone, and she couldn't bring them back.

Was her own life soon to be forfeit? Perhaps it was only a matter of days before hands would reach out of the shadows and snap her neck, leaving her lifeless body for Lucien or Cedric to find.

She struggled to breathe, but her gasping didn't help. There was only suffocating terror and pain.

"Horatia!" A soft cry, distant as the stars themselves.

Something yanked her up. She fought, screamed, bit, but she was so weak and cold that after a minute she had to yield. Noises intruded upon her numbed ears-the crash of wood, the scuffling of boots, the huff of breath. She felt cold softness beneath her. Horatia shifted uncomfortably while forcing her eyes open.

She was in a dark room, one she didn't recognize. The décor did not at all match that of Rochester Hall. A man huddled before the fireplace as he added few logs to the fresh burning kindling, stoking them with a poker. When he turned to face her, she saw it was Lucien.

Without a word, he came over to the bed where he'd set her down, and eased her onto her stomach. He dug his fingers underneath the neck of her gown and began plucking buttons out of their slips. His hands were hot, piercing against her cold flesh and Horatia winced.

"Does it hurt?"