Wild Heart

  Henry swiped at the blood pouring from his nose. “He’s mad,” he shouted to the room.

  Leo jerked his cousin closer, frantic to know the truth. “What are you planning?”

  “It’s over, Cousin,” Henry sneered in a whisper, blood smeared across his right cheek. “You couldn’t save your Indian friend. You can’t save Miss Finch. And you sure as hell can’t save your reputation.”

  Anger and despair welled inside Leo, erupting in a roar of anguish that ripped from his throat. He slammed his fist into his cousin’s face again.

  “Help me,” Henry cried out, twisting from Leo’s grip.

  Suddenly, Leo felt claws dig into his shoulders. Faces flashed before his mind…angry…shouting in a language he didn’t understand. The whip hit his back over and over…He was pushed forward and fell hard onto the marble floor. The thump vibrated through his body and brought him back into reality.

  These were different faces that hovered over him, round and white…and horrified. “Let me go,” he roared, struggling against the arms that held him down.

  “Dear God, tie him up before he hurts someone else,” Henry cried, regaining his feet with the help of friends.

  “Tell me what you’ll do with her,” Leo demanded as they jerked him to his feet.

  “I don’t know what you’re speaking of.” Henry pressed a white handkerchief to his nose. “Insane. Mad, I tell you.”

  Leo elbowed a man in the gut, freeing himself. He lunged at his cousin. Gasps rang out, and he was pulled back once more. “He’s going to kill her.”

  “What do you speak of?” he heard one man snap.

  “What should we do with him?” another asked.

  “He’s ruining the ball,” Lady Pool shrieked, her pale face hovering before him.

  “Not safe in my own home.”

  Leo spun around and grabbed Lord Pool by the collar. “You don’t understand—he’s going to kill her.”

  “Dear God,” the man cried out, swatting his hands away.

  Growling in frustration, Leo pushed them aside and started toward the doors. Ella, he had to get to Ella. She was alone. Vulnerable. All this time he thought he was the target.

  “Don’t let him leave—who knows what he’ll do,” Henry’s voice echoed shrill across the room.

  Before Leo could reach the doors, hands dug into his shoulders…his arms…pulling at him…tugging at him…holding him back.

  “What should we do?” a man asked.

  “Lock him up until my grandfather arrives,” Henry said.

  Lord Pool’s head bobbed amongst a crowd of horrified onlookers. “My cellar.”

  In a jerk, he was pulled down a long hall, away from the guests. “Where are you taking me?” Leo threw his arm wide and hit one of the men in the stomach.

  “Damn it, hold him still! Strong as an ox.”

  More arms, more hands clutched at him…dragging him up stairs and down a yet another hall, so fast the doors and furniture blurred before him.

  “You don’t understand—her life’s in danger!” Merda! How could he get them to realize?

  “Rubbish, pure rubbish, he’s gone over the bend,” Henry’s voice rang out. “Insane. You heard the rumors.”

  “He’s mad, he is,” another man said.

  “How could he not be? Raised in a jungle for God’s sake, no more than a heathen.”

  They pulled him down a dark set of stairs. “Unhand me…I’ll leave your party, I’ll never return.” The men lapsed into silence and hesitated. “Please,” Leo pressured, looking into every one of their shadowed faces, so many he knew his situation was hopeless.

  “He’s lying. Dear God, do not fall for his deceit.” Henry’s voice rang out. “Since he’s returned he’s attacked innocent men and his own family. He’s insane; how could he not be?”

  They mumbled their agreement and jerked him down…down steps into a cold cellar. “He’ll be fine for now,” Lord Pool said. “It’s best we lock him in here until Lord Roberts arrives or the constable.”

  They wretched open a large wooden door.

  “Her life is in danger. He’s lying—they’ll kill her!” he cried out, desperate to make them understand, still clinging to the hope that they would.

  They pushed him into the room. Leo fell to the ground, his knees slamming on rough stone floor. He stumbled to his feet and shot toward the entrance. The door slammed shut in his face. Leo threw his body against the wooden panel.

  “He’ll kill her!” he cried out, pounding his fist against the solid oak.

  Lord Pool’s face appeared in the small window. “We’ll bring you food, blankets. We’ll try to get you help, young man.”

  Leo clutched the bars of the small window. “He’s lying!”

  The man shook his head and walked away. Footsteps faded down the hall.

  “No!” Leo cried out.

  Henry’s face appeared in the window. A slow, easy smile spread across his lips. “She’ll go fast, when the time comes.”

  The room began to spin as rage and hopelessness rushed through him. “Why, dear God? Why harm her?”

  Henry shrugged as if it were all so easy to understand. “She has the map. She’ll talk when she realizes her life is in jeopardy. Besides that, you’ve told her everything, haven’t you?”

  His stomach churned as realization rushed through him in a sea of burning guilt. He’d been right all along. Because of him, Ella would die. “She doesn’t have the map. Doesn’t know anything about it. Merda, is this all for money?”

  “Even kings have died for money and power, my cousin.”

  Leo’s knees gave out and he slumped to the cold ground.

  “Leo,” Henry sighed. “Did you honestly think Grandfather would let you run the estate he’s worked so hard to build? You’re barely more than an animal.”

  Leo didn’t bother to answer. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore.

  Henry chuckled. “It’s not about loyalty…It’s about continuing the family line. And you are tainted.”

  Perhaps he was tainted. After all, he’d lost every single person he loved.

  “Know this, my dear cousin.” Henry stepped closer to the window. “My father’s name was Henry, but his friends called him Will.”

  “Will,” Leo whispered. The one named he’d heard shouted at the camp before his parents were murdered.

  “Why do you suppose grandfather omitted that?”

  Shock pierced his very core. Leo roared and lunged at the door.

  Henry stepped back, his laughter echoing down the hall as he disappeared up the stairs.

  Swimming and running were much easier when one wasn’t wearing multiple layers of clothing. Gasping for breath, Ella pushed through the gate and stumbled to the front door of Fran’s cottage, leaving behind a wet trail in the dirt. She pounded on the bright blue panel. Rapid footsteps echoed through the house, and the door squeaked open.

  “What is it?”

  “Fran, it’s me, Ella.”

  “Oh, thank God.” She threw the door wide and tugged Ella inside. She’d barely made it over the threshold, when Fran slammed the door shut and locked it. Her friend was back to looking pale, her body trembling.

  “Dear Lord, what ’appened to you?”

  Ella brushed a wet lock of hair behind her ear. “Doesn’t matter. Please, keep me in suspense no longer. What is it? What’s happened? Are you sick again?”

  She shook her head. “Come, I’ll show you.” The woman hustled toward the back of the cottage and disappeared into a room.

  Ella rushed after her friend, leaving a trail of water in her wake. “Fran, what is it?” she called out as she pushed the bedchamber door wide and slipped inside. Near the hearth, Fran poured tea into a cup. Her gaze swept the room and landed on the form huddled under a blanket on the bed.

  “Please, Fran,” Ella begged, “Tell me what has happened.”

  “Oh, Ella. I’ve been waiting for your return. I wasn’t sure if you’d get the note. Do y
ou realize Lord Roberts has the entire place surrounded?”

  Exhaustion swept through her, and it was all she could do not to sink into a chair. “Yes, I’m quite aware. It was practically impossible for me to sneak here. Fran, what’s going on?” Ella made her way to the bed. Just above the blanket she could make out dark hair spread across a white pillowcase. “Who is that? What’s happened?”

  “Your man’s friend.”

  Ella shook her head, confused. “My man?” She leaned closer to see tanned skin, narrow face. Ella stepped back and sucked in a breath. It was Akshay, although he was barely noticeable with his face covered in dark purple bruises. His dark lashes fluttered up revealing familiar black eyes.

  “Akshay? You live?” Ella whispered. “What happened to you?”

  “Men,” he rasped out.

  Fran gripped her upper arm and pulled her away from the bed. “Oh, Ella, when he stumbled into the ’ouse…I about fainted. He was attacked in the woods, and he came ’ere. He wouldn’t let me send a note to the estate. Every time I mentioned it, he got real upset.”

  Ella sighed and moved back to the bed. Gingerly, she touched his arm.

  “Henry,” he whispered.

  Tears burned her eyes, and she nodded. “I know.”

  “You know?” Fran asked.

  “I overheard Lord Roberts.” She choked on a sob and sank onto the edge of a chair. “Oh, Fran, it’s terrible. He knows everything. Lord Roberts knew all along what happened to Akshay.”

  Fran gasped, her hand covering her mouth. “We thought Henry, but never the lord. I spread word around the village that Akshay was found dead and was buried.”

  Ella nodded, smiling for the first time. People always underestimated Fran. But she didn’t have time to dwell on the townsfolk and whether they believed her story. She had to save Leo.

  “Akshay, look at me. I need you to do something.” She pulled the journal, dampened from her wet skirts, from her pocket and prayed the writing had not been ruined. “Please, I must know what this says.”

  Fran brought the lantern closer. “Is that your uncle’s journal?”

  Ella nodded. “I think the answers to the attacks are in this book.”

  Akshay swallowed hard and narrowed his eyes, focusing on the scrawl. “When the lotus and Brahma come together, so shall the keeper be revealed.”

  Ella slipped the journal back into her pocket. “Who is Brahma?”

  “Your necklace,” Akshay whispered.

  She shouldn’t have been surprised he knew about her necklace, but she was. “And the lotus?”

  He closed his eyes. “Leo has the lotus.”

  “Does he know?”

  But Akshay didn’t respond. Fran pressed her hand to his forehead.

  “How bad is he?” Ella asked. She couldn’t seem to stop her body from trembling, even when she crossed her arms over her chest. A cold had settled into her bones a cold that seemed to be taking over her very soul.

  “Bad. I think he has some cracked ribs and a broken arm.”

  Ella choked on a sob, shaking her head. “Leo. His life’s in danger.”

  Fran rested her hand on Ella’s shoulder. “Surely you don’t mean Lord Roberts will turn on his grandson.”

  If the man still lived. “I mean that exactly, Fran. If not him, Henry.”

  “But how will you ’elp? Where will you go?”

  “Lady Buckley.”

  Fran stepped back as if the mere mention of the woman’s name would conjure her. “No, surely not.”

  “Franny, she’s the only person who can offer any assistance, who has money and connections to help.”

  Fran sighed. “Fine. I’ll get you dry clothing. But Ella, I do ’ope you are right about Lady Buckley. I ’ope she can ’elp.”

  “So do I, Fran. So do I.”

  The constant drip from the ceiling was Leo’s only companion. Over and over, he listened to the sound…focused on that noise and pushed aside the memories of a past life…chained in a prison similar to this one in India…a whip lashing across his back, burning the flesh from his bones until he thought he’d go mad. Perhaps madness had already found its way into his brain. Perhaps his days with Ella had merely been a dream.

  For hours, he’d beat his fists against the door, until hands bloodied; then he’d collapsed into a pile on the stone ground. Sitting against the wall with his knees pulled up, he rested his head in his hands, barely cringing when the contact stung his raw skin.

  But every time he closed his eyes, scenes flashed through his mind. Ella, waiting for his return. Ella being killed by the very men she trusted. Ella, his love, his heart and soul. Helplessness washed over him and tore a roar of pain from his throat. The animalistic sound echoed across the stone walls, and he half-expected monkeys to scream back in response. It couldn’t be over. She couldn’t be dead. Surely he’d feel her death—surely his soul would have withered and died with her.

  He slammed his fists onto the stone floor, and pain shot up his arms. No, she still lived. He clung to that hope, and a rush of strength made him stumble to his feet. He’d break the bloody door down splinter by splinter if he must. He gripped the bars on the door and pulled. They didn’t move. Groaning, he rested his head on the cool metal. His cousin couldn’t win.

  A soft thud rent the air. Leo stiffened, straining to hear. Had he imaged the noise, or were they finally coming for him? The soft thump of footsteps echoed down the stone corridor. Leo jerked back into the shadows. With his back pressed against the damp, chill rock, he waited…waited for his captors to enter his prison. He heard the screech of metal against metal. The door creaked open, and a tall, dark shadow appeared in the opening.

  Leo tensed, his fingers curled at his side. His heart raced in his chest, and adrenaline pumped through his veins. He’d have this one chance to escape. The man stepped inside, and Leo lunged. As if sensing his presence, the intruder turned right before Leo landed on him. Solid mass hit solid mass, coming together in a thud of grunts. They fell to the floor, and Leo didn’t hesitate to slam his fist into the man’s gut.

  “Stop, damn it,” the man snapped.

  Leo lifted his arm, his fist poised above the man’s face.

  “I’m here to help you.” It was an American accent the man growled in.

  Leo stilled and narrowed his eyes. In the dim light, he could just make out the man’s features. The man from the ball who’d watched him dance. “Talk.”

  “Mind getting off me first? This is cozy and all, but really.”

  Leo pushed away from the stranger and stood, his body poised between the man and the door. He should bolt while he could, but for some reason he hesitated.

  The man stood, dusting off his trousers. “I’m Archie’s son.”

  Shock held Leo immobile. “Colin.”

  The man grinned, his teeth flashing white in the dim light. “Yep.”

  Leo shook his head. “How? How’d you find me? What do you know?”

  “I’ve been watching you for some time now, both you and Ella.”

  Leo sank against the wall. “What—”

  “All in good time, my friend.”

  Leo stood there, too shocked to move. But as he studied the man before him, even in the dim light, he could see the similarities. “He talked about you often.”

  Colin’s grin fell. “Yeah, well, he also mentioned you a few times in his letters home.”

  Leo raked his hair back from his face, still too confused to think rationally. “I don’t understand.”

  “Come on.” Colin swept past him and out the door. “I’ll explain on the way.”

  Leo followed, swallowing hard as he stepped into the hall.

  Free. He was free to find Ella. “We must get to my grandfather’s estate.”

  “I know.” They slipped down the dark corridor, the air chill and damp. Not a sound resounded from above, the household fast asleep.

  “After your…well…your little show you put on upstairs, the ball ended early.”
/>
  “How’d you open the door?” Leo whispered as they made their way up the steps. A dark form took shape, curled on the hallway floor. A body, Leo realized.

  Colin stepped over the unconscious man. “Picked the lock. You’d be amazed what a person can learn when they’re left destitute.”

  He wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. Surely Archie hadn’t left his wife and child with no means of support. “What happened there?”

  “The man?”

  Leo nodded.

  “He’s the one sent to kill you and make it look like an accident.”

  Leo clenched his jaw, ice forming around his heart. Merda, he’d go back to the estate, rescue Ella, and then kill Henry.

  Arrogantly, as if he belonged in the bloody house and had no fear of being caught, Colin swept toward the front door. “My father sent his journal to Ella a couple days before the attack. He survived long enough to send me a letter explaining everything.”

  He threw the front door wide, and they rushed outside. The wretched air, thick with stench from the Thames, was a welcome relief. The morning was too early for even the fishmongers selling their wares, and an unnatural hush settled over the city.

  “Explain what?” Leo demanded as Archie’s son hailed a lone carriage.

  Colin turned to him. “That together, only you and Ella hold the key.”

  Chapter 23

  The sudden slowing jerked Ella into consciousness. Straw poked at odd angles into her back, and she groaned, pushing herself up to brush the hay from her hair.

  “Here, miss,” the driver called out.

  Like bony fingers, black branches arched against a star-filled sky. Dizzy with exhaustion, she pressed her hand to her head and slipped from the back of the open wagon.

  “You sure you’re well, miss?”

  Ella glanced at the old man, hunched over the reins, his features barely visible in the night light.

  “Yes…yes, I’m fine.” She pasted a smile upon her lips. “Thank you for the ride. You have no idea how much this means to me.”