“We’re being watched,” Bennet said, keeping his eyes trained behind them.
“You’d know better than I would,” Brax answered. “What do we do?”
Bennet took a quick glance forward. Up ahead there was a row of trees lining the street. “I use those trees to exit the carriage and follow the man following us.”
“And me?”
“Stay here. Make sure he keeps his attention focused on you.”
Brax gave a quick nod of agreement as the carriage entered the shade of the trees. Cracking the door open, Bennet waited until he was blocked from view by one of the large trunks and then slipped out of the vehicle as Brax grabbed the door and closed it.
Then, hiding behind the trunk, he circled the large tree to keep the other man from seeing him as he passed by. Andthen he stepped onto the busy sidewalk, following the man who assumed he was following Bennet.
The other man kept his eyes trained on the carriage, checking his watch several times. Why he did that, Bennet didn’t know. Unless there was a plan that involved a specific time?
His chest grew tight.
Was Brax in trouble?
How did he find out? He could overtake the man. Beat some answers out of him. Or he could continue to observe. But that was risky too. What if something happened to the duke in the meantime?
He growled in frustration as the man pulled out his pocket watch once again.
And then he broke off, starting down an alley. Bennet checked his watch. Half past twelve. What did that time mean?
He’d find out. Starting down the alley as well, he’d chosen his course of action. Whatever that man knew, Bennet would know it too.
And in the next five minutes.
As the clock struck twelve,Rebecca made her way to the library, Laurel walking next to her. The girl’s hands were clenched as she moved, a clear sign she was nervous.
Rebecca winced in sympathy. Whatever was wrong, hopefully she’d know soon enough.
A lovely breeze was coming in through the library’s open doors. Rebecca settled on a settee and Laurel on the one directly across from her. The girl’s head dipped as her hands once again clenched.
“I’m ready whenever you are,” Rebecca said, hoping to encourage the girl.
Laurel nodded, swallowing. “I know that you still lived near us when Daniella died.”
Daniella.
Rebecca winced again. Daniella had been her oldest friend, and the reason Rebecca and Dillan knew one another. Daniella had also been the first in a string of losses that had left Rebecca reeling. “I did. Her death was awful.”
Laurel nodded. “And you remember that she died saving me.”
“I do.”
Laurel had slipped into the water of the river that cut through the village. With the spring rains, it had been running high and fast, and her skirts had quickly pulled her down. It had been Daniella who had saved her little sister, but she’d sacrificed her own life to do so.
Laurel shivered. “For years, I didn’t remember much about that day. I hardly even remember falling in. But…” The girl shook her head as she bit her lip, causing the skin beneath her teeth to grow white. “Lately…”
Rebecca’s stomach clenched. “Lately what?”
“I have these dreams,” Laurel said, her dark brown eyes looking haunted.
Rebecca’s lips pressed together, her gut churning as she waited for Laurel to continue.
“In them, I see everything. First, I’m falling, and then I can barely keep my head above the surface. And when I finally come to…”