“You haven’t got the bollocks for it,” the man beneath him croaked. “They deserve to die; slowly and painfully for all the evil they have done.”
Leopold leaned closer until their faces were inches apart. “To think it comes to this. I’ll kill you if you harm the boy. I’ll make the old duke proud of the pain I’ll inflict on you.”
“Leopold, no,” Mercy cried out. This was getting out of hand.
“No, King Leopold, don’t kill me.” The man on the floor mocked. His head lifted. “You couldn’t kill me. You couldn’t kill your own brother.”
Brother? Mercy gaped at the stranger. Brother? Who was this? She put her hands on the floor to support herself.
“Oh, I could do that in a minute if you so much as twitch toward the boy.”
The doors burst open and Allen and Wilcox raced toward Leopold. They caught the stranger’s arms and legs and pinned him to the floor. That it took three men to hold him still alarmed Mercy. What would have happened to Edwin if Leopold had not come home before his brother?
Allen leaned down to stare at the stranger. “Bugger me, but that looks like...”
A look of disgust crossed Leopold’s face as he stood. “It is,” Leopold growled. “I’ll get something to tie him up with. Once he’s secure, I’ll decide what to do with him.”
Leopold destroyed the drapes getting the ties, but Mercy was beyond caring. While they wrestled the squirming brother into a chair and bound him to it, Mercy tried to make sense of it all. The stranger wasn’t really a stranger. He had called Leopold brother, which made this man either Oliver or Tobias Randall. Leopold’s long lost family. Mercy curled over in despair. All this time, and the danger had come from within their own family.
After much swearing, Leopold left his captive and lifted her from the floor. He held her in his arms, squeezed gently, and then guided her to a chair set at a distance from the struggling man.
Leopold’s skin was ashen. His dark eyes dim. Desolate. “I am so sorry. I will deal with him and then you will never have to see us again. I promise.”
Mercy caught his hand as his words sunk in. “Who is he?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “This is Tobias Randall, my soon to be dearly departed younger brother.”
Mercy clung to him. “You cannot harm him. Not after you’ve finally found him. Or he’s found you, in this case. Please, don’t do anything rash.”
“I’d like to know why the hell I can’t. Think of what he’s done to you. He’s shamed us all with his actions. I cannot expose the boy to the likes of him. I cannot take a risk with Edwin’s life even for the sake of my brother. We’ll be gone at first light.”
Her eyes filled and tears fell down her cheeks beyond her power to stop.
He brushed them away with his thumb. “Life will be better for you soon, sweetheart. I promise you that.”
Mercy shook her head. “It won’t be.”
“I don’t have any other choice.” Leopold left her, dragged a chair toward his brother and settled into it, sitting backward as he faced his errant brother. “What the hell do you think you’re doing here?”
A chilling smile curled Tobias’ lips. “Getting revenge for us. The duchy must fall to better hands.”
“Fool. The duchy is already in better hands. They are gone.”
“The boy is the last,” Tobias growled.
Mercy trembled at the hatred in his voice.
Leopold shook his head. “The boy is innocent of everything.”
“That will change. The evil is in their blood.”
A harsh bark of laughter left Leopold’s throat. “Not a possibility, although with this stunt, you leave me with doubts about our own purity. What gives you the right to terrify a woman?”
“Rosemary’s tender feelings weren’t spared. They dragged her away screaming blue murder. I never saw her again.”
Leopold’s head dropped low. Mercy wanted to go to him and give him what comfort she could, but she was a little afraid of Tobias Randall. She didn’t want to get too close just yet. “Tell me what happened that day.”
The pain that crossed Tobias’ face broke Mercy’s heart. Any animation that had been there before, even anger, had vanished behind a violent mask of desolation. He drew in a shuddering breath and met his brother’s gaze without flinching. “The carriage wheels broke, two of them at once, and we were pitched to the gutter. Rosemary and I scrambled out first, but Mama was hurt and couldn’t be moved. The grooms were dead on the ground. Papa sent Rosemary and I back to the last village we had passed to get help for our mother. He wasn’t strong enough to lift her out without causing her great pain. When we came back with the blacksmith, there were many horses surrounding the carriage, two men standing on top of it.”