Chapter 4
Evie pulled away the blindfold, her heart pumping wildly, her mouth dry. She twisted the scrap of black satin to hide her trembling hands. Belle had led her down a set of stairs, a right turn, and then another set of stairs, steep and slick. The air grew damp and moldy as they made their slow, careful descent. Their steps echoed all around Evie as she wondered how far down they would go. So, when she found she stood in the center of a large rounded cave, she wasn’t at all surprised.
Even though Evie had not been told their true identities, Belle had made her memorize the code names of all the Guardians and their placement around the arched table. Elder sat in the center before her, smiling down. She grinned back at Lord Malcolm Whitmore, brother to the Earl of Riverton. “Then welcome, Falcon. You may take the the empty chair between Ghost and Rogue.”
“Thank you,” Evie said, barely stopping herself from the curtsey in time, and turned to her right. She started to take a step, but stopped short, inhaling sharply. Lord Fielding? Here? This couldn’t be! But seeing the very man who had haunted her dreams since her childhood, she knew it to be true. Lord Fielding was Rogue.
Of course.
As her blood pumped hot and fast though her veins, Evie walked toward her seat, praying she wouldn’t stumble along the way. Her neck and face felt flush, and her vision swam a bit. Her plans of ridding Lord Fielding from her life forever just went up in flames. She rounded the corner of the table. God, he smelled nice. Always had. Sweet cloves and cherries. She would drink it in if she could.
Lord Bentwood, or Ghost, hopped up and held out her chair. Evie mumbled her thanks and sat before she fell over. Her skin tingled from Lord Fielding’s nearness. From the corner of her vision, she knew he studied her, eyes narrowed, brows puckered, lips set in a tight frown. Oh, for God’s sake, how was this ever going to work?
Lifting her gaze across the dim room, Evie noticed Belle looking at her, part bemused, part sympathetic. She would let her aunt have it later. Belle could have warned her or at the very least given her some small hint. Evie had poured her whole heart out in France, leaving nothing out, telling Belle all about her feelings and shattered hopes of ever having Lord Fielding love her. Her aunt had patted her hand and supplied her with plenty of handkerchiefs, and still the blasted woman had let her join the Guardians knowing he was a member.
Evie pressed her palms together in her lap and took a deep breath.
His voice floated into her left ear, low and soft, the whisper of a cello string. “We must talk. Tonight. After the meeting.”
Elder started to speak, sparing Evie from garbling out some sort of reply. Jeremy took her silence as consent and leaned back in his chair to listen to their leader.
This gave Evie some time to settle her nerves and think. The whole time in France, she worked on ways to escape Lord Fielding. She worked damned hard to pull him from her thoughts and her heart. Like removing shards of glass from her flesh, it had been incredibly difficult. Taking secret cases with Belle had been the perfect solution. If nothing else, it would be a huge and most welcome distraction.
So, what now?
Evie recalled her immense satisfaction when she brought the information about Lord Montague to Belle and Elder at the masque. How excited and pleased Elder sounded when she had brought him the knowledge others had been trying for years to obtain. She could still feel the rush of pride and the hum of energy as he invited her to tonight’s meeting to become a Guardian. How for two whole minutes, she forgot all about Lord Fielding, even though the rake had just kissed her. Suddenly, she could see a life without him, a new life without the pain of crushed dreams and dashed hopes.
But being near him for just a minute, feeling the heat of his body so close to hers, inhaling his clove and cherry scent, brought it all back in a rush of bruising clarity. Her skin tingled from hot to icy cold, and every dream she’d ever had of him came bursting through the dam of her carefully erected defenses. Defenses obviously as brittle as a stone through a spider’s web.
He shifted and Evie held her breath, waiting for…what? She didn’t know. For something to happen.
This was ridiculous. She couldn’t do this. She didn’t want to be around Lord Fielding. But wait, Belle worked in France. Evie took a slow, deep breath, and relaxed her stiff shoulders. She quit gripping her hands together and flexed her sore fingers. Her thought had always been to join Belle on her adventures in France. Perhaps if she could just get through the initiation process, she wouldn’t have to think of Lord Fielding again.
Elder’s words began to slowly wend their way through the fog of her despair. She threw her head back when her code name was mentioned and began to listen in earnest.
“And Falcon will assist.”
Lord Fielding sat forward, a sound of protest rumbling up his throat, but he bit back whatever he was about to say as Elder held up his hand. “She and your sister were childhood friends, Rogue. This is the perfect solution.”
What solution? Evie pursed her lips, wishing she had been paying better attention. Lord Fielding was already distracting her from her first mission. How could she ever be a successful spy in this condition? The first chance she got, she would speak to Belle, er, Siren and Elder about missions in France. She found she quite liked Paris.
Lord Fielding shook his head. “This involves my family and is something I can handle alone, Elder.”
Elder assessed Jeremy with narrowed eyes. Evie got the feeling the man was calculating and weighing things in his mind. Then, coming to some sort of conclusion, Elder sighed. “You and Montague aren’t close, Rogue. Didn’t you once tell me you avoided the man as much as possible? Your sudden interest may seem oddly suspicious. The decision stands.” He held up his hand again in anticipation of Lord Fielding’s further protest. “But if we can think of some way to have the two of you work together without arousing suspicion, I would be willing to concede that.”
Slowly, Lord Fielding turned to her. Evie couldn’t decide if she wanted to throw her arms around him or bash him over the head with a rock. And why did the scoundrel have to smell so nice? His eyes searched hers, and her insides turned to porridge. She parted her lips, and the hot-cold tingles migrated up and down her body. Nothing mattered but him and this moment. Somewhere in the cold, damp cave, water dripped a constant staccato. Evie shivered, certain that what happened in the next few seconds would seal her fate forever.
Holding her breath, she waited for Jeremy to stop staring so intently. Did he know how much it unnerved her? His eyes continued to delve into hers, assessing some internal workings as Elder had just done minutes ago. Evie couldn’t tear her gaze from him. And in that very instant, she knew she would always love him. No matter what she did with her life, she would never stop loving Jeremy Longwell, Lord Fielding.
“Is she ready for this, Siren?” Elder asked.
Evie tore her eyes from Lord Fielding and glanced to her aunt. A small smile lurked at the corners of Belle’s mouth. “Yes, she is ready.”
“Then it is decided. Falcon will seduce Lord Montague to extract—”
Even though Belle had warned her of missions like this, Evie felt sick with those words. However, it was not her voice that interrupted Elder.
“No!” Jeremy slashed his hand through the air. “I forbid this.”
Elder lifted his brows, a silent command for Lord Fielding to explain his protest as a rumble went through the other Guardians.
Lord Fielding rose from his chair and went to the center of the room. “This lady and I actually have a contract for marriage. I forbid her to be defiled in such a foul manner.”
Evie gasped as chatter broke out. The Guardians spoke with one another about what this meant to the mission and to two of its members. Her head swam and she pressed her fingers to her temples. She would not be able to take much more of this. Lord Fielding was using the marriage contract drawn up by their fathers—the very contract Lord Fielding had insisted six years ago was non-binding—to keep her from fulfilling her mission? Never mind she found seducing Lord Montague most distasteful, she found spending the rest of her life pining over Lord Fielding even more so.
On shaking legs, Evie stood. The room went instantly quiet. She turned to Elder, all eyes on her. “The contract drawn up by our fathers has already been publicly declared void by this man.” She nodded toward Lord Fielding. “Therefore, I am not bound to him. And since I am above my twenty-first year, have a small but comfortable inheritance left to me by my mother, I no longer need my brother’s guardianship.” She pursed her lips. “Not that Ash could use his role as guardian to stop me from doing anything.” Straightening her spine, Evie continued. “Elder, I accept the terms of this mission without reservation.”
Lord Fielding whipped his head around. Then tension in the air grew tight between them, like a bow drawn to its capacity. Everyone strained to catch every word. “No, you will not!”
Throwing her shoulders back, Evie turned to Elder. “Sir? Do I have the ability to accept for myself?”
“No, Evie, you do not!”
Several gasps went through the Guardians. Lord Fielding had not only used her real name, he was preventing her from accepting a mission, breaking two rules at once. Evie knew she had the ability to accept or deny missions without the interference from anyone. They were supposed to be equals, both male and female, titled and untitled.
Evie stepped around the table to stand before Lord Fielding. She lifted her head all the way back to look him in the eye. “You, my lord, have absolutely no right to stand here and direct my actions. When you declared our marriage contract void, you gave up any such rights over me forever.” She folded her arms. “Now stand aside and let me perform the mission I just accepted without further ineffectual objection from you.”
God, her heart was knocking something fierce behind her breastbone. Evie stood her ground, though, refusing to scamper away like a frightened field mouse. She would do whatever it took to get Lord Fielding out of her heart, even if it meant ripping him out herself.
He stared down at her, beautiful as an archangel. His green-gold eyes delving deep into hers. “No,” he said simply.
Evie turned to Elder, whose dark brows were raised, trying to reason why Lord Fielding acted the way he did. She could hardly explain it herself, other than believe he wanted to settle this mission himself. He had been working on this case for years. Perhaps, he couldn’t stand any assistance, especially assistance from a young novice who had gained more valuable information in minutes than he had in years. Put in that light, his objection made perfect sense.
Elder sat in his chair with a sigh, probably coming to the same conclusion. “Rogue, one of the reasons we chose Falcon is because you broke your betrothal to her. She is free to do this mission.”
Lord Fielding turned, drawing his brows slowly. “You are mistaken, Elder.”
“Explain, Rogue.”
Evie clasped her hands together. How long had she dreamed to hear an explanation? How many lonely nights had she fantasized about Jeremy knocking on her door and telling her the broken betrothal had been a terrible mistake? How ironic she now didn’t want to hear whatever he had to say. Or so, she was fervently trying to convince her clamoring heart was the case.
As Lord Fielding opened his mouth to speak, five heavy bangs thundered from the thick iron door and echoed around the room. Everyone turned to see who would dare interrupt a meeting. Elder nodded to Ghost to see who was at the door.
All eyes watched Ghost slide open the small window at eyelevel and take a message. With lips set in a grim line, Ghost delivered the note to Elder and resumed his seat.
Elder broke the seal, read the note, then sighed as he refolded the parchment. Everyone watched him, and Evie wondered if he were going to relay what was said in the message. Finally, after gaining a bit of composure he did.
In solemn tones, Elder spoke. “Dragon and Blade have been taken by Viper’s men.” He held up his hand when several Guardians began to throw questions at him. “We do not know where they are held, only that they are still alive.” Elder picked up the note and read it again. “We should get more information about them soon,” he said in a bleak tone.
Evie did not know Dragon or Blade, but from the worried looks on many of the faces around the table, she knew they were well liked. She also knew there was a possibility the men could divulge information with a certain amount of incentive. Belle had once said the right torture tactics made all the difference. Find the right method and something could slip out, even unintentionally. That meant Belle and all the other Guardians were in grave danger.
With a deep breath, Evie took a step forward. “It seems I must begin at once. With your leave, Elder?”
At his nod, she turned toward the door. But a hand reached out, his grip warm and firm on her upper arm. Evie could feel the heat of Lord Fielding’s touch clear down to her toes. “I won’t let you do this,” he said softly.
Evie shook his hand away. “You have no choice, Rogue. None whatsoever.”