Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Falcon lifted his head and met his gaze, lips flattening. “Your sister doesn’t need us to find her and save her. She’s more than capable of taking care of herself.”
And would likely geld them both if she realized what they were doing.
“Of course she is,” he agreed without a pause. “Doesn’t mean I’m not going to do as Mama wishes. Are you up for traipsing around in the cold with me?”
Falcon shoveled food into his mouth, a scowl etched on his features. “Do I have a choice?”
“No,” Bryn said easily. “Just giving you the chance to come across as magnanimous.”
An eye roll. “I’ve been that since the day we met, you arrogant prick.”
“I’m the grandson of a duke, what did you expect?”
“You to lord it over everyone you’re an earl. It’s okay to actually say those words, you know.”
Stretching out his legs beneath the large table, Bryn sighed heavily and shook his head. “This is why it’s so hard to mingle with the common people. I was trying to make it easy for you to understand.”
The gesture came from Falcon this time and Bryn smiled as he dug into the piping hot food with relish. They would eat then tackle the cold. He wasn’t positive he was going to find his sister in town. However, he had promised his mother he would look, so he would.
Chapter Two
“Are you sure about this?” Rosamunde whispered to the sketchy man beside her.
I was foolish to trust him.
She really had to be better with regards to who she put her trust and belief in. But when he’d told her there were two children being readied to be sold, she’d ignored any internal warning and had gone with him to do what she could to save them.
This part of town wasn’t for her. Dark. Seedy. Dangerous. Even in daylight she didn’t feel safe. Definitely not with the man she’d erroneously come with.
He scowled at her but didn’t say a word. His black mustache twitched and she was fairly certain that was because of the creatures living in it. Swallowing down her revulsion, she lifted her eyebrows as her father did when he expected to be answered.
It worked.
“Of course. The brats will be by here soon. They were lured with the promise of food.”
She understood that. Even if she didn’t look like she had missed any recent meals, she understood hunger.
“They better be.” She drenched those three words in as much haughtiness as she could manage.
One good thing about the freezing weather, it took her focus away from the fear trying to worm its way into her limbs. And her hunger. As they waited, she skimmed the area, taking it all in.
Sure her house wasn’t furnished with the newest and best furniture or trappings, however, she wasn’t hovering over a barrel for heat. People here had shoes that couldn’t even properly be called that, more like wrappings.
This was most likely going to be the last time she would be able to assist anyone. Before her father had gotten lost in his gambling lust and tossed away the family fortune early the previous year, she had saved her weekly stipend, which had left her with some money. Her parents hadn’t asked her for any after the first time when she’d said no.
Part of her felt guilty for lying but the rest of her didn’t. It was their job to care and protect her, not the other way around.
The wind kicked up, bringing with it the acrid stench of waste, coal, unwashed bodies and rotten food. Thankfully her scarf was around her mouth and nose to help temper the smell, but still, it wasn’t enough to stop her eyes from watering.
Shifting her feet, she adjusted a tiny bit to help ward the wind from slamming into her face.
“Where are they?” she questioned the man beside her.
“Keep your knickers on, lady. We don’t wear the fancy timepieces as people of your ilk do.”
People of her ilk? Really?
“I have other things to do today. People are expecting me.” That part wasn’t true, but maybe it would help her stay safer if the man with her thought so.
He lifted a hand and pointed. “There. They’re coming.”
Squinting again, she looked into the stinging wind and biting snow to see two children shuffling along the walk toward them. Heart breaking for them instantly, she took a step only to be hauled back by the man at her side.
“I think you be forgetting something, my lady.”
She winced at the pain radiating out from where he’d grabbed her and she glared at him. “You will get your money.”
His grin was anything but friendly. She could smell the rotting of his teeth and see the black covering the ones he had left.
“Now.”
She’d not bothered with a reticule, thinking it would be far too easy for someone to yank it off her and run with her coin. Reaching beneath her coat into a pocket—one she’d added—of her dress, she withdrew the amount for him and dropped it into his waiting hand. Then yanking free of his grip, she hurried across the street toward the children.