“Perfect. It should be a simple matter to break in late at night and search their records and histories. Did you ask if he knew of a way to get rid of the thirteen?”
Drustan frowned. “Aye. Of a certain, I did. ’Twas one of the first things I asked. He indicated there was a way, but he didn’t know what it was. He overheard the Master of their Order, a man called Simon Barton-Drew, express concern that you might discover it. I assure you, I probed him thoroughly, but the man has no idea what the method is.”
“Then we need to find this Simon Barton-Drew, and I doona give a damn what harm we must do to him to discover what he knows.”
Chloe and Gwen nodded their agreement.
“So, when do we leave?” Gwen asked matter-of-factly.
Dageus and Drustan both skewered her with a glare.
“We doona,” Dageus said firmly.
“Oh, yes, we do,” Chloe rebutted immediately.
Dageus scowled. “There is no way we’re taking the two of you in there—”
“Then just take us to London with you,” Gwen said, managing to sound both soothing yet obdurate. “We’ll stay in a hotel nearby, but we will not remain here while you two go traipsing off into danger. This is not negotiable.”
Drustan shook his head. “Gwen, I willna have you takin’ risks with either yourself or our bairn, lass,” he said, his burr thickened by tension.
“And you should trust that I wouldn’t either,” Gwen said levelly. “I’m not going to let anything happen to our babies. Chloe and I will stay in the hotel, Drustan. We’re not stupid. I know there’s not much a woman as pregnant as I am could do when it comes to stealthily breaking in and searching. But you can’t leave us here. If you tried to, we’d only follow you. Take us with you, settle us safely in the hotel. You can’t shut us out. We’re part of it too. It would drive us both crazy sitting here and waiting.”
The debate went on for well over half an hour. But in the end, the women prevailed and the men reluctantly agreed to take them to London the following day.
“He’s back, Father, as is the woman,” Hugh Barton-Drew informed Simon, as he spoke softly into his cell phone. “We saw them return late last night.”
“Any idea where they were?” Simon asked.
“None.”
“And there’s still been no sighting of Trevor?”
“No. But we can’t get in the castle. Even if it weren’t warded, I’m not certain it would be safe to try,” he said quietly. Hushed tones were unnecessary, as far from the castle as he and his brother were, watching through binoculars, but Dageus MacKeltar made him uneasy. This Keltar castle, unlike the other one atop the mountain, was in a vast vale, and the surrounding forest-covered hills provided excellent cover. Still, he felt exposed. His brother had complained of the same sensation.
“Report in to me every two hours. I want to be kept apprised of every move they make,” Simon said.
• 25 •
It was late at night, long after everyone was asleep, that Dageus slipped stealthily from the castle.
The day had seemed to drag on endlessly, while he’d struggled to conceal from those he loved what he was planning. To keep his gaze mild, his impatience in check. It had worn him down, comporting himself as if he were in complete agreement, betraying no telltale sign, however minute, to the brother who knew him too well, that he had no intention of going along with the plan they’d spent the rainy afternoon meticulously formulating.
The plan wherein they would all go to London and all be in jeopardy.
During the latter part of the afternoon, while Chloe and Gwen had packed for their trip to London—the trip that was never going to happen—he’d gone down to the dungeon and interrogated the man from the sect of the Draghar himself. He’d used magic to ruthlessly strip the information from his mind, but as Drustan had assured him, although the man knew there was some way to re-imprison the thirteen and prevent the transformation, he did not know the specifics of it.
That a way definitely existed was enough to fill Dageus with a heady exhilaration, and a seething impatience to see it done now.
The four of them gathered for dinner in the great hall, and shortly thereafter, he swept Chloe back up to bed, where he made love to her until she collapsed, replete in his arms.
He’d held her then, savoring the feel of her in his arms for nearly another hour before he’d finally left their bed.
And now, as he stepped out into the night, he was ready. It was time to face the enemy and finish things for once and for all.