Deadly Peril Read Online Free Page B

Midanich.”
    The old man selected a sugar lump with the silver tongs and dropped it into his coffee, choosing his words carefully as he stirred the liquid. “As I remember it, you barely escaped that country with your life. And I’ve never been able to prise much out of you about your three years there, other than you were imprisoned, and it was through the personal intervention of Midanich’s king—”
    “Margrave Leopold.”
    “ Him —that you were released and escaped across to Holland. At the time, you said nothin’ and nobody would get you to set foot in that God-forsaken place again. So I’m guessin’ returnin’ will be damned dangerous for you.”
    “Yes. It will be.”
    “And you tell me that Midanich is now in the midst of a civil war?”
    “Believe me, Uncle, civil war is the least of my worries about returning to Midanich.”
    The old man sat up. “And you’re still not goin’ to tell me what happened to you while you were there, are you?”
    “Best you don’t know,” Alec replied. “It would only disturb you. Thankfully I can’t tell you. I gave a verbal account upon my return, and not to Cobham, but to the Spymaster General Lord Shrewsbury. And then I didn’t tell him absolutely everything. I couldn’t. Parsons was also interviewed.” Alec smiled crookedly over his coffee cup. “I dare say he was damning of me. After all, he blames me for his expulsion from the country. A great loss of face for an ambassador. Though… I’m not sure what rankled him most: The fact he was expelled, or that he was imprisoned for two nights in the castle’s dungeons and thus kept from his dinner. At least he wasn’t tortured.”
    “And you were?”
    “Yes. I was given a—um—personal tour of Castle Herzfeld’s subterranean vaulted casements. There is a torture chamber complete with medieval implements. Bone-chillingly fascinating…”
    Plantagenet Halsey held his nephew’s gaze. “Let someone else play the hero.”
    “You don’t mean that. You know I must go.”
    The old man sighed and nodded. “Yes, of course you must.”
    A commotion beyond the dining room had uncle and nephew looking to the double doors. The next instant, the doors were thrown wide and two footmen stumbled to get out of the way of a determined little old lady in purple silks and strong perfume, her grey hair upswept and festooned with pearls and ribbons. It was Olivia, Duchess of Romney-St. Neots.
    “Y OUR G RACE , how lovely to see you this fine morn,” Plantagenet Halsey said jovially, rising to his feet, his arthritic knees making it slow going. “I just wish the occasion for your visit was a less worrisome one.”
    “Worrisome?” The Duchess pulled herself up short and glared at the old man, who had ended his salutation with a bow. “It’s not—it’s not— worrisome . It’s a—it’s a— catastrophe .”
    Alec stepped forward. “Of course it is,” he agreed soothingly, and took the hand the Duchess held out to him, and drew her closer, to kiss first her hand, and then her rouged cheek. “I won’t tell you not to worry. You must. But if it is any comfort, I have already begun preparations for my departure for Emden.”
    “Emden?”
    “Midanich’s largest port. I set sail at the end of the week.”
    “Oh, my dear boy, why is this happening?” the Duchess asked tearfully. “Why is my darling Emily in such a God-forsaken place? Why did Cosmo take her there? They were supposed to be going to Italy to see her mother! Do you think—I can hardly say it because it has kept me up every night since Cobham read me that horrid letter—But do you think—” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Do you think they are still— alive ?”
    Alec squeezed her hand, saying confidently, because he believed this much was true, “Yes. Yes, I do. And I mean to do everything in my power to bring them home safe. That is a promise.”
    The Duchess blinked tears away as she looked up into his blue eyes, and for the first