“I’ll be back,” he told her. “I’ll be back very soon.”
He hurried out of the room, before he lost the will to let her go.
Chapter 38
“Where will he have gone?” Duncan asked. “Do you have any ideas?”
“We should start at Harlston Manor,” Thomas said.
“Do you really think he’ll be there?” Duncan asked, eyebrows lifting. “It seems a bit obvious. If I was on the run, I wouldn’t go to my own home.”
“Maybe that’s why he’ll be there,” Thomas pointed out. “Because he’ll assume we would never look for him there. And besides, if heisthere, he’ll feel safer, won’t he? He’ll have given his staff orders not to let us in.”
“But then how are we going to get in?” Duncan asked.
“I don’t know,” Thomas admitted. “But I do think it’s our best chance to find him. I’m going there. Are you coming?”
“Of course,” Duncan said. “You know I’m with you, wherever this takes us.”
Thomas paused, then turned to look at Duncan.
After what had been revealed about Henry, it felt a little bit difficult to put his full faith in his friend. He had been so certain that Henry was someone he could trust without question. Now he was less sure. He had been wrong about Henry. Could he possibly be wrong about Duncan, too?
What if he had a hand in it all?
“I know what you’re thinking,” Duncan said quietly.
“Do you?”
“We can’t let this break our trust,” Duncan said. “You and I have been friends for years, Thomas. We can’t let what Henry did ruin our friendship. And it so easily could. We’ve been betrayed, and we have every reason to feel cautious and mistrustful. But now more than ever, we need to stick together. We need to be there for one another.”
Thomas nodded. “You’re right,” he said.
“It might not be easy,” Duncan said. “But it’s necessary. Neither of us can afford to lose another friend. Besides, we want the same thing now.”
“For Lady Valeria to be happy.”
“That’s right. And for Henry to be brought to justice for his interference in her life.”
“Can we take some of your family’s horses? That will get us there more quickly than walking.”
“Of course,” Duncan said.
They made their way down to the stables, and the horses were soon saddled and ready to go. Thomas mounted his and urged it into a trot, with Duncan following behind.
When they reached the road, which was wide enough for them to ride side-by-side, Duncan pulled even with him. “What will you say to him if you find him?” he asked.
“I’ll make him confess his crimes,” Thomas said.
“How will you do that?”
“I don’t know,” Thomas admitted. “But I’ll find a way.”
“And if my mother is right? If hedoesturn violent?”
Thomas was silent for a moment. “Perhaps it’s better if I go in alone, until we can be certain that he isn’t going to do that.”
“Nonsense,” Duncan said. “I won’t have you facing him alone.”
