Olivian mostly repeated what the steward had said, though he looked markedly less put-together while doing it. Blood vessels laced his eyes. His hair appeared to have been combed with a fork—if it had been combed at all—and I marveled that he’d managed to mobilize the staff for Althea’s sake. Then I realized that, for him, her disappearance represented a tool gone missing from its toolbox. One less housemaid meant fewer hands to churn the butter, to gather the eggs and hang the washing on the line.
Olivian didn’t actuallycare. He just didn’t want the household’s manpower diminished.
“It goes without saying,” he said, “that if Althea failed to secure herself last night, her body might be somewhere on the grounds. Be prepared for that possibility.”
I winced. Olivian concluded by dividing the staff into pairs and instructing us on where to search.
“We’ll reconvene in two hours. If she’s not found—” Olivian faltered, and I followed his glare to an empty nook. I could practically see his wife’s ghost hovering. Taunting him.
But he seemed to have finished. Housemaids and stewards sorted into twos and drifted off.
“Well,” Kyven said. “You and I are to search the third floor, it seems.”
My jaw tightened. More alone time with him. Hurray. “Yup. Might as well get going.”
“Let’s. Because the sooner this is over, the sooner I can partake in some recovery bacon.”
I paused, my gaze narrowing. “Recovery bacon? And what exactly do you have to recover from, if the nightmares don’t affect you?”
“Oh, it’s nothing to do with last night.” He gave me a saucy smile. “More thatsomeonein this house is adept at working up my appetite, then leaving me wanting.”
I opened my mouth, then snapped it shut. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he was referring to the way I’d taunted him with that almost-kiss upstairs. “You deserved that.”
“Oh, I don’t dispute it. And I didn’t say I didn’t like it. Just that it left me...hungry.”
I turned my burning face away and headed out of the library. This man. With him, the upper hand always seemed to elude me.
On the third floor, Kyven and I searched the eastern corridor, room by room. I avoided his gaze the whole time, unwilling to brave another volley of flirting.
For his part, he gave the search an honest effort. Or seemed to, at least. He flipped the heavy drapes aside, coughing at the resulting billows of dust, then got on his knees and hunted beneath the beds.
No Althea. I couldn’t decide whether that heartened or discouraged me.
When we reached the end of the hall, we came to a locked door. Kyven jiggled the handle and frowned. “What’s in here?”
“You really don’t know?”
“No.” He blinked down at me. “Should I?”
I crossed my arms. This was the room his attendant had expressed such an interest in, right before I’d caught them whispering together. Except it turned out Vick wasn’t Kyven’s attendant, but...what? His subject? Underling? Certainly not his friend...their interactions had never been warm enough for that. And lately, Vick’s glares had grown even colder. “Well, Vick was dying to know all about it. Right before you two got all chatty together.”
Kyven’s brow furrowed.
“Do you know where Althea is?” I blurted, unable to help myself.
His expression didn’t flicker. “I imagine I do, given that anyone in their right mind would tire of these nightmares. Anyone wouldleave. I’m sure she’s far away, breathing a sigh of relief at never having to suffer another storm like last night’s.”
I cataloged his every word, every blink. “So you didn’t steal her?”
He snorted. “Hardly.”
“And you didn’t have Vick steal her? Use this room to hide her, maybe? Because he seemed dead-set on getting through this door.”
His look turned dubious. “If Vick has any interest in this room, it’s because he suspects it holds something of value. Just what are you accusing me of, exactly?”
I studied him for long moments, then pressed my palms to my eyes. Seven hells, I didn’t actually know. I only knew that this morning, my feelings had undergone some tectonic shift, transitioning toward trust, toward this bone-deep need tobelievehim.
Even now, a quiet certainty pulsed within me, a stillness that said I was safe with this man. Could I trust it?
