“Trust has already been broken,” Severine said simply. “If you wish to remain, I suppose you’ll earn it back.”
She combined the ground coffee with the water and then set about contentedly making fried eggs, bacon, fried green tomatoes, and toast while the cook barely held back shoving Severine aside and taking over. When Severine was finished, the cook gave her a nod of respect.
“Where did you learn to cook like that, Miss DuNoir?”
“The nuns aren’t ones to leave idle hands alone.” She served up the meal for herself, Lisette, and Mr. Brand.
Mr. Brand took his plate and the coffee carafe and carried both to a small room off of the kitchens. Severine and Lisette followed. When he had seated them, he took his own place and stated, “Miss DuNoir, I am concerned.”
Lisette’s low laugh was sufficient to show that the simple words weren’t enough for her. “There is…is…”
“Dark chicanery afoot,” Severine announced. “Someone tried to get into my rooms last night after drugging me.”
Mr. Brand’s curse was followed by an immediate apology, but Severine felt he rather put the right words on it.
“I thought at first it was for the keys you gave me,” Severine said, “but I was being simple and Lisette set me aright.”
“What do you think the goal is?”
Severine’s head tilted and then she said, “Perhaps Clive or Erik wished to compromise me so thoroughly they could force me to wed.”
Lisette snarled for Severine.
“Surely no.” Mr. Brand looked shocked and enraged at once.
“What would you have done if they succeeded?” Severine asked simply.
Mr. Brand started to reply and then paused. He set his coffee cup down. “I have—I—I suppose I might have been persuaded to believe your father would have pushed for a wedding. Only, he made me swear to let you make your own way, and…in the end…I think I would have let you refuse if you insisted.”
“They’d have made it known,” Lisette added. “Well known, so it would be harder to decline. Her grandmother would have been persuaded. Her relatives. She’d have been driven away or given in. Staying would be impossible. They’d make it so.”
“That can’t happen,” Mr. Brand said. “What do I have to give you, Miss Lisette, to prevent that from happening to Severine?”
Lisette frowned at Mr. Brand. “Nothing. I would do that for any woman. Let alone a friend.”
Severine rubbed her brow. “I think it’s more likely, however, that it was either Andre or Grandmère.”
“To what end?” Mr. Brand demanded.
“Power.” Severine added, “Money.”
“You think they killed your parents?” Lisette demanded. “His mother or her child?”
Severine shook her head, sipping her coffee until her mouth was full and then swallowing with a silent prayer that the coffee would overcome the effects of the drug. “If something happens to me, Andre would get everything. Wouldn’t he?”
Mr. Brand nodded, having confirmed with the lawyer. “If something were to happen to you, given you don’t have a will, the state would look at what was yours and give it to your closest relatives. You have but one brother. Your uncles and cousins are too far out of the line of inheritance. Your grandmother might have a claim, but her own heir is your brother, so what would that matter?”
“And, of course, Grandmère doesn’t need the money. She just needs things to continue as they are so she retains power.”
Lisette stared. “So there are two villains?”
Severine laughed. “Don’t confuse my family with yours, Lisette. Your grandmother didn’t throw out your mother, did she?”
Lisette shook her head.
“Your mother loved you, no matter what your father did, didn’t she?”
Lisette nodded.
“Your family—they’re what I always wanted. Mine?” Severine glanced at Mr. Brand and then sighed.
“Yours?” Lisette asked gently.
“It’s not a question of whether they’re villains. They’re all varying degrees of villainous, even Father. It’s whether they’re the one we’re looking for.”
Mr. Brand cursed again, but didn’t apologize. “Your father saved my life, Miss DuNoir.”
“I suppose even villains have their moments,” Severine said bluntly, looking out the window of the little room. Anubis was standing by while Kali and Persephone bulldozed each other over. Severine rose and uttered, “We really do need to find a way out.”
“And to stand together,” Lisette added.
“That too,” Severine agreed, smoothly.
Chapter Eleven
Severine exited the house with only the dogs. She found the rain had stopped, but the grass was soggy and the slope away from the house looked like it could be a river of mud. She stared towards her car just on the other side of the rising water and realized that someone had moved it.
The night hadn’t been kind to her car, and they would need to replace the front window and have dings and dents from falling branches removed from the paint. She started as she saw Mr. Thorne and Mr. Oliver walking up the drive.
“Good morrow,” Mr. Oliver called when they were close enough.
“Miss Severine,” Mr. Thorne said. “I am happy to see you are well again.”
She examined them as they approached. Tall and strong and entirely without suspicion. Was she being naive again? Seeing the best possible version of things? “Thank you.”
Should she apologize for her state the previous evening? Severine was tempted to do just that, but her pride refused to allow it. Mr. Oliver glanced at Mr. Thorne and the two friends seemed to have a private conversation.
“Miss DuNoir,” Mr. Thorne said, clearing his throat. “I am concerned.”
Severine lifted her brows and then glanced behind her. She pulled her black shoulder wrap around her body more tightly. “Are you?”
“You left your auto with your friend and climbed the hill in the dark?”
Severine nodded.
“Did you see anything?”
“The lights of the house. The flashes of lightning. The rain.”
“Nothing else? Another person?” Mr. Oliver asked this time. Her gaze turned to the tall, blonde man and she shook her head.
“There was darkness and rain and a storm. There could have been a battalion of men watching me and Lisette climb that hill, and I doubt
