The Vanishing at Loxby Manor by Abigail Wilson (grave mercy .TXT) 📕

He squared his polished boots on the floor and secured the ribbons, offering me a quick glance before flicking the reins.The vehicle swayed into motion with a lurch, and I gripped the side of the carriage.

Piers’s curricle proved well-sprung, and as we rounded the front drive and began our way down the long road that led out ofLoxby, he seemed to relax at my side. The sun was balmy on my skin, and it took me all of three seconds before I found myselfdrifting back into the past—to the last time Piers and I went driving. I’d been so excited to have a few precious momentsalone with him, the chance to sit close, the delicious possibility of more.

I stared down at my lap. How much had changed since then. Today there was a good six inches between us—six inches of impenetrablehurt and shame, an invisible wall we would be fools to cross again. So why did every inch of my being want to do just that?

Piers caught me staring at the bench. “I must confess, I selected this carriage with the intent purpose of speaking with youalone.”

“Oh?” The spring wind was a fragrant one and bluebells littered the roadside. I breathed them in, hoping to control my heartrate. “I’m glad you did.”

He smiled, prodding the butterflies in my stomach to life.

Again I took a deep breath. “I have some things to tell you too, but you first.”

He stared down the road for a long second, a curious wrinkle to his brow. “I wouldn’t normally discuss such a topic with alady, but you were present at the, uh, challenge.”

“You mean of the duel with Lord Kendal.” I folded my hands in my lap, focusing my gaze on my fingers.

“Yes.” He slowed the horses so he could steal a glance at my face. “I’m sure the murder has kept him busy thus far. He wouldnot be so foolish to meet me with the authorities crawling all over Whitecaster Hall.”

“Then you still intend to—”

“See it through?” He sighed. “Certainly I do.”

“That’s not what I was going to say. I was simply wondering what the arrangements were going to be . . . What you had chosento use.”

He kept his focus on the road. “It shall be pistols, as I’ve heard Lord Kendal is deadly with a blade. Though I’ve trainedwith a sword, I would be hard-pressed to call my skills refined.”

“You always had your nose in a book, no time for anything else. You were busy preparing to apply for a fellowship in botany.”

A momentary pause. “You remember that?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

The curricle swayed as we rounded the corner, but Piers fell silent.

My mouth slipped open. “You never did apply, did you?”

He made no movement, but I knew my words had affected him. “Life took me on a very different journey.”

“It has a way of doing that.”

He ran the ribbons through his gloved fingers. “What I wanted to tell you is that I’ve gone ahead and sent my seconds to meetwith Lord Kendal’s. I hope to have this business over and done with as soon as we’re able to.”

“Who did you arrange to second you?”

“Avery of course, and Tony Shaw. It’s the best I could do on short notice.” He chuckled. “It’s not all that important really. I’m planning to delope.”

“And Lord Kendal, will he shoot into the air as well?”

“I doubt it.” Sarcasm tinted his voice.

“Then you simply plan to stand there and take the bullet?”

He shrugged. “What other choice do I have?” His fingers clenched the ribbons, then relaxed. “I just wanted you to know . . .in case something happened. I’ll need you to look after my father and mother. Avery will have a difficult time of it.”

“Don’t say that, Piers. I know you’ll come back.” The muscles in my back stiffened as I imagined Mrs. Cavanagh learning ofPiers’s injury or worse. Regardless of how she acted, it would devastate her. And me. I watched the trees as they passed byto keep my worries at bay.

“Speaking of your mother, I had a rather peculiar conversation with her today. She seemed relieved by Miles Lacy’s death.”

The carriage rattled onto the bridge over the River Sternway, the horses’ hooves echoing off the ancient stones. The oak treeswere larger here, stretching their gnarled branches over the bridge’s exit, their roots dipping deep into the hillside toproduce the massive plants.

The carriage was still shifting in the shadows when Piers turned to me. “My mother is a complicated creature. I will not claimto understand her, but I know she cares for Seline. Her thoughts become scattered when she’s nervous.”

“Or perhaps afraid?”

“Well, yes.”

The grove of trees broke at the base of a slight incline, and green grass lay as carpet over the slopes.

I leaned forward to see as far as I could across the horizon. “I’m anxious to see Grovesly again. We must be getting close.”

“The outer gates are just over that hill.”

There within the slight valley I caught a glimpse of Tony’s ancestral home. The redbricked structure graced the manicuredlawns like a perfectly planted flower, its vast white chimneys pointing to the heavens like petals and the entire affair mirroredon the surface of a motionless lake.

I smiled. “It’s just as beautiful as I remembered.”

Traversing the long drive took several minutes. Finally we coasted to a halt before the grand front entrance where a clusterof blue-liveried servants were prompt to meet us.

We alighted from the curricle and were shown through a small receiving area. Down a long hall and around the corner, we weredeposited in a salon of pale green walls and gilded moldings to await our host.

I wandered to the fireplace at the center of the long wall, running my fingers over the familiar intricate surround, whichdisplayed two female figurines, arms stretched upward to support the mantel.

It wasn’t long before Tony barreled into the room on the whiff of a laugh. He stopped just inside the door, turning to speakat the last second to someone behind him. “Tea and cake, if you please.”

He crossed the room, stopping but a few feet in front