The Third Son (32 page)

Though it pained him greatly, he turned his mind over to all the reasons that Nicolai could very well be the villain. The first reason seemed almost silly, but he could hardly keep the ominous words of Akira from his mind. She had warned him of a viper and advised him that the viper was close to him. Could she have been referring to Nicolai? 

He also realized that Nicolai had left a few days before the rest of the family, an action that had seemed harmless at the time, but now Damien saw it as a strategic move. It would have placed Nicolai in a position to strike out at them. His residence at Largess Hall for the past several weeks would have been convenient as well.

If the crown were available to you, would you come home to claim it?
The question had seemed innocent enough when Nicolai had asked it, but now Damien wasn’t so sure. Was Nicolai trying to position himself to take the throne? With Adare and his sons out of the way, Nicolai’s father would take the crown
. U
pon his death, Nicolai would naturally be next in line.

Damien rose from behind his desk, his face grim. He left the library and headed for the kitchen. He found Jarvis there, sitting over his usual evening glass of sherry. He silently sat at the large oak table beside him and accepted an offered glass. Jarvis leaned back in his chair, his jacket removed, his cravat untied and the top button of his shirt undone. His wife, the head cook, and the kitchen servants had all gone to bed; they were alone. Jarvis sighed heavily.

“I heard,” he admitted to Damien, lifting his glass to his lips for a healthy swallow.

Damien laughed bitterly and took a large gulp as well. “Jarvis, I am old enough now to realize that you have been listening at keyholes in this place since well before I was born.”

Jarvis straightened his shoulders and pretended to be offended. “My dear boy, I never eavesdrop. I merely listen in on occasion.” He was suddenly very sober. “It is my duty to see after your welfare. After all that has happened today, I thought to wait nearby with a loaded pistol in case you needed me.”

Damien smiled at the trusty old butler. Of all people who resided within the walls of Largess Hall, Damien knew that Jarvis could be trusted. He could just imagine the somber, gray-haired man toting a pistol in the hall outside of his library. Though the image itself amused him, Damien knew for a fact that Jarvis could fire a pistol with deadly precision.

“What will you do now?” Jarvis asked, refilling each glass with the crystal decanter nearby.

“What would Lionus do?”

Jarvis chuckled

“You know,” he said, “I have watched you boys grow into men and I know as well as anyone that even though you and Lionus do not get along, you love each other. You, my dear boy, cannot seem to free yourself from a younger sibling’s desire to be like the elder. You admire and respect him, even if you do not like him very much. Now Lionus, he frets over you like a mother hen, trying his best to put a sober face upon his disapproval of yo
ur
actions. The tw
o
of you make quite a pair.”

Jarvis blinked and shook his head, circling back to the point.

“Your brother would objectively observe the facts.”

“I have done that!”

“And?”

“I have decided that Nicolai is a highly likely suspect, though it pains me to think that way. I can see no reason for him to commit such a heinous act. For God’s sake, I am thinking of accusing my own cousin of murdering my father! How can I do such a thing? The man is like my brother.”

Jarvis cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. “There is a reason for that, Your Grace.”

Damien lifted a brow at Jarvis, his curiosity at its peak. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Jarvis ran his hands through his thinning hair and sighed

“Your father may have told you of a great love in his past,” Jarvis began carefully, “one that he had to reluctantly give up in order to marry
Alexandra
.”

“Yes, father told me the story. He said his father had already arranged a marriage to mother and he was unable to convince him to allow him to marry the woman he loved.”

“Did he tell you that there was a child?”

Damien felt the beginnings of apprehension curling in his stomach. He had a feeling he knew where this story was headed. “No, he did not tell me that.”

Jarvis nodded. “He wouldn’t have. It is a little known secret, one that has been closely guarded. Your father knew that Margaret carried his child and begged his father to allow him to wed her. He did not want his first child to be born a bastard. Your grandfather would not be swayed. He forced your father into a union with your mother. Your father was devastated.”
He wasn’t content to just let her go on her way with his child, though. He did the only thing he could do to ensure a life for Margaret and a future for the child. He searched out your uncle, who had always had feelings for Margaret himself. He asked your uncle to marry Margaret and claim the child for his own and of course
,
he agreed. It was on that day that Nicolai Largess went from being your brother, to being your cousin.”

Damien could hardly believe he had never known this. Even now when he thought back, he realized his father had been infinitely interested in the details of his nephew’s life. He thought it had only been because Nicolai’s father had seemed so uninterested, but now Damien understood why. He also understood why Nicolai bore a stronger resemblance to Adare than Lionus, why he looked more like Damien’s twin than Serge.

“It all makes sense now,” said Damien, his fingers tightening around his glass. “The prisoners we executed told us that the masked man meant to right the wrongs committed against him. Nicolai must feel slighted because father gave him away and did not claim him as his legitimate heir.”

“Yes,” said Jarvis. “And by killing your father and all of you, he would be gaining the throne that he feels should have been his to begin with. So to repeat my earlier question, what do you intend to do now?”

Damien stood, his eyes cold and hard as flint. “It’s very simple Jarvis. The man has killed my father and viciously maimed my brothers. I intend to find him. I intend to kill him. As long as he lives, none of us
are
safe.” 

****

Davina slowly opened her eyes and found that one of them stung slightly with the effort. Her muscles ached and with every movement she had to stifle the urge to cry out in pain. Nicolai Largess had left her chambers while she slept and she was relieved.

She had known for some time that Damien’s cousin held an interest in her.
Davina
was not entirely uninterested in him, after all Nicolai was devastatingly handsome.
W
ho would pass up the chance to become the mistress of a prince? Davina had passed him over for his cousin and now it would seem fate had conspired to make her pay.

When Nicolai had approached her at the masquerade ball, Davina had thought to use him to make Damien jealous. Perhaps seeing her on the arm of another man would cause him to lose interest in Esmeralda and return to her. Of course
,
the ploy hadn’t worked and now Davina suffered at the hands of Damien’s cruel cousin.

The first time she’d taken him to her bed she had enjoyed it. She knew there were some men who liked to apply the strap to a woman’s behind and found that she herself liked a bit of rough play in the bedroom.
I
t soon became apparent that Nicolai was not the sort she’d thought he was. She soon realized that Nicolai gained pleasure from inflicting pain, from watching the fear he could cause to well up in her eyes. Before long
,
he began to ramble on for hours after rough sex, telling her of his plans to take the throne. He warned her that if she were a good girl, she could one day be the king’s mistress.

Davina had given no credence to Nicolai’s mad ramblings at first. She thought only of ways to escape him
b
ut he would not allow it. The man came and went from her townhouse as he pleased and seemed to know her every move. He attended every soiree she did and clung to her possessively as they mingled among the guests.

When news of Adare’s death had spread through the city, Davina had known Nicolai to be at fault. She also knew that if she told anyone what she knew, she would be killed. Nicolai had issued no such threat aloud, but then he didn’t have to

Now, hours after another bout of violent intercourse, Davina stepped gingerly from her bed. She pressed her hand against her throbbing temple.
Davina
had protested Nicolai’s rough treatment and had been rewarded with an open palm on the side of her head, thus her sensitive eye. She peered at her reflection in the mirror and found a nasty bruise.
Davina
sighed and pulled a silk dressing gown around her naked body. If she didn’t do something soon, Nicolai would either kill her or permanently disfigure her.

She cursed Damien for leaving her to this fate. Damn him for being swayed by another pair of pretty eyes and shapely legs!

Yet, angry as she was at him, she knew that the only way out of this predicament was to find a way back under his protection. She tapped her finger against her chin thoughtfully. It would not be enough to go to him with the evidence of his cousin’s abuse. Damien, gallant romantic that he was, would probably rush to her defense if he believed her, but that would be the end of it.

No, she thought, she needed a more permanent way to bind herself to Damien, to make him take her as his wife as she had always thought he would. Davina studied her reflection with a smile, an idea beginning to take shape in her mind. She stood and bellowed for Anne to bring her a pot of chocolate. She sat up most of the night planning.

****

Lionus was awake, though in a great amount of pain, when Damien arrived in his chambers the following morning. Isabelle, her face haggard and drawn, still wore the same gown she had worn the night before. She had spent the night at his bedside, just as he and Esmeralda had at Serge’s. They had talked most of the night, though they also took turns sleeping. Damien reassured her that his intentions were unchanged.

“No matter what the outcome, I will make you my wife,” he’d said resolutely, clutching her hand tightly in his. Their ship was setting sail without them and their new beginning was temporarily on hold, but Damien was more determined than ever to make it happen.

He had told of her of Nicolai’s treachery, once he had dispatched soldiers to comb the city for his cousin. Every citizen of Cardenas was to be questioned and Hensley Hall, where Nicolai lived with his father, was to be searched extensively. So far, Damien had received no word from the captain of the guard, but he waited patiently for news. He knew that they would find him, it was only a matter of time. Nicolai would not leave Cardenas without ensuring his victory over his brothers.

“Are you certain you will be able to go through with it?” she’d asked him when he informed her of his decision regarding Nicolai. “I know what he has done to you, to your family, but can you honestly say that you will kill him when given the chance?”

Her question had given him slight pause. His fury was great, yet he knew that taking Nicolai’s life would hurt him greatly. But it was a burden he was willing to bear.

He sent Esmeralda home a few hours after dawn, ordering her to rest before returning with Akira and the tonic she was preparing for Lionus.

Damien was relieved to find both brothers still alive in the morning, though they both hovered precariously on the brink. He stood beside Isabelle, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Have you had any chance to rest?”

She nodded, pulling her shawl more closely around her body. “He slept through most of the night and so I was able to doze off right here in this chair. The maids came a few hours ago to change his bandages. He is still bleeding heavily from the wound through his middle. I fear he has lost too much.”

“Stop talking about me as if I am not in the room,” Lionus managed weakly, his cobalt eyes swiveling in their direction. “I may have a hole through my middle, but I haven’t gone deaf.”

Isabelle was up and swiftly at his side, shoving a bowl of broth into his hands. “Drink this,” she said. Lionus drank obediently then allowed his head to fall back among the pillows. His face was ashen and pale and Damien feared, just as Isabelle, that he had lost too much blood.

“Nicolai-“Lionus croaked, his eyes widening when Damien approached his side.
   
   
Damien placed his hand on his brother’s uninjured shoulder.

“I know,” he said. “I have soldiers combing the city for him. He will not go unpunished, Lionus, I swear to you.”

Lionus raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You sent out soldiers?”

Damien shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea. I only thought to do what you would have done were you in my shoes.”

Lionus nodded, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. “For some reason I find myself strangely proud of you,” he said. Damien’s heart was immediately warmed. He could not think of a time when Lionus had said anything so nice to him.

“Serge?” Lionus questioned.