“Send over my wife, and I’ll send over Lord Drayton. Come on, let’s do this. I have other matters I need to tend to.”
Seth looked at Frances and nodded, and at once, the woman started walking along the gravel. As her footsteps faded away, those of Leo grew louder and louder, and just as Rose had, he fell into a run, and within a moment, Winnifred sobbed at their joyful reunion. Leo wrapped his arms around Winnie and lifted her in the air.
Seth noticed immediately how Rose looked at Leo. If he hadn’t already found their letters and discovered their secret, he certainly would have known that she loved him just by the way she directed her eyes at him. When Leo let go of Winnie, he smiled at Rose, and his love for her was written all over his face.
Movement from the other side of the graveled path drew his attention again. Elton lingered, one hand around Frances’s elbow and one around his daughter’s wrist. The expression on Frances’ face was one of utter terror. Seth wished he could rush toward them and free her from his grasp, but he knew he couldn’t.
Where were those Runners? The exchange was done, and now it was their time. He was about to turn to his group to hurry them back down the road and toward their carriage when Elton’s voice called out.
“Your Grace! I call this an exchange well done, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Elton, you got what you wanted. So what are you still doing here?” Seth replied, trying to buy time. Surely, Weston and Markham would make a move any moment now.
Elton shrugged, and the man that had arrived with him, one of his henchmen no doubt, shifted and withdrew an object from beneath his cape.
“What am I still doing here? Well, Your Grace. You are about to find out. You did not think you could break into my home, remove my family from under my roof, and get away with it? Did you?”
Anger brewed inside Seth as and his nostrils flared.
“May I remind you that you were the one who….”
Seth got no further. A deafening pistol shot ripped through the air.
He twisted to shield Winnie when his body exploded in pain, and the force of the lead ball connecting knocked him forward. His feet left the ground, the gravel sped toward him, and as the taste of blood filled his mouth, darkness swallowed him, and then—there was nothing.
Chapter 34
The room was entirely unfamiliar. When Seth attempted to push himself up, a sharp pain shot through his arm, sending him directly back into his pillows.
“Seth, be careful. You cannot put any pressure on your arm. You may hurt the wound.”
“My wound?” His head ached, and the entire world seemed foggy. But the outline of Winnifred became clear before him. “Winnie? What happened?”
She sat on the bed beside him and touched his hand.
“Elton shot you. He hit you in the arm. The force of the lead ball knocked you back, and your head connected with the ground. The physician said you likely have a concussion as well as a wound on your arm. Fortunately, the lead ball did not go through but only grazed the skin. He believes you will recover soon.”
The events of the previous night came back to him in a hazy manner. He remembered the movement before him as Elton raised the pistol to shoot him. He recalled the smell of the gunpowder that lingered in the air as he fell backward. Rose’s terrified face and…
“Rose. Where is Rose?”
“I am here.” Her voice alarmed him, for he could not see her, but then, she appeared by Winnifred’s side an instant later. She looked just as he remembered her. Her face pale, her eyes bright. It was almost as if she hadn’t been gone at all. She stood at his side and gently held on to his hand.
“They didn’t harm you, I trust?”
“They did not. The Roamers were a little rough sometimes, mostly when they moved us from place to place, but I wasn’t hurt. Physically, I was not harmed, but I was terrified the entire time because I didn’t know what would happen next. I will say Elton was the worst one. He would taunt us, ridicule us. He’s a nasty man.”
“Were you kept together? You and Leo, I mean? But Leo, how about him? Was he harmed? How did they treat him?
“Quite the same as Rose, I’m pleased to say.” Leo’s voice sounded from the other side of the room. A bright smile appeared on Seth’s face as his good friend stepped before him, looking entirely unharmed. He was thin, and there were dark circles under his eyes, but other than that, he seemed unscathed. He had even retained the mischievous sparkle in his eyes.
“Leo! At last!” Seth exclaimed as his friend wrapped his arms around Seth gently so as not to aggravate his wound further.
“I cannot tell you the ordeal we have gone through to find you.”
Rose shook her head. “We can. Winnifred has done a thorough job in filling us in on everything that has happened here over the past few weeks. And we, in turn, have told her everything that happened to us.”
“Which is to say, not much happened to us at all. However, I will say that we now know most of the flophouses and questionable taverns in St. Giles. We were moved almost daily. And after the mishap at Vauxhall Gardens, the accommodations only deteriorated.”
