A Reluctant Companion (37 page)

The girl looked younger than Madison and knocked into a vase when she called out to her, sending the ceramic shattering to the floor. “Oh, no,” she wailed. “I just started, and they’re going to fire me.”

Madison shook her head, bending over as best she could with her bump to help pick up the pieces. “No one even has to know.”

The girl gave her a tremulous smile. “Thank you, ma’am.”

Madison shrugged. “No problem. Maybe you can help me? You said you just started. Do you know where everyone’s quarters are?”

She nodded, looking unsure. “Yes, but—”

Flashing a bright smile, she deliberately interrupted before the maid could question her. “Excellent. And you have keys?”

“Well, a master key.” She frowned.

“That’s good news.” Not giving the girl a chance to argue, Madison threaded her arm through hers. “What’s your name?”

“Stacy.”

“Well, Stacy, I need you to show me where Aidan Hiller’s room is.” She tugged lightly to encourage the girl to move.

Stacy walked alongside her, leading her up to the second floor, to a room at the end of the hall. She lifted her hand to knock, but Madison intercepted it. “That’s okay, Stacy. I know he’s gone. I just have to nip inside to pick up something.” Holding out her hand, she said, “I need to borrow the master key for a second.”

The maid regarded her uncertainly, her dark eyes full of doubt. “I don’t think—”

“Yes, don’t.” She kept her tone friendly, but with an edge. “You do know who I am, don’t you?”

Stacy nodded, looking fearful.

Since she didn’t want to threaten her, she settled for enticement. “Then you know I can make sure you have a job for a long time. Would that be helpful for your circumstances?”

“Yes, miss. I have a child and two siblings to care for.”

She grimaced, patting the other girl’s hand. “I’m sorry.” She really was, since the other woman was so young to have so many responsibilities. “You do me a favor, and I’ll certainly do one for you. Is it a deal?” After a second’s hesitation, Stacy slipped her hand into the pocket of her apron to produce a heavy brass key. Madison used it to unlock the door before slipping it back to the other girl. “Thank you, Stacy. You’d better get back to your cleaning now—and don’t worry about the vase.”

“Thanks, Miss Cole.” Still looking nervous and unsure, casting a couple of glances over her shoulder, she turned and slowly walked away.

Madison hoped she wouldn’t be troublesome or confess to someone. If so, she would accept the consequences for persuading the maid. Of course, if her suspicions were accurate, her minor act of breaking in would pale in comparison to what Aidan might have done, and still intended to do.

Nerves made her stomach flutter as if it were home to a colony of butterflies as she slipped inside the room, closing the door quietly behind her with a click. After fumbling for a moment, she found a switch that turned on a single lamp on the nightstand. The light was dim, so she went to the window to open the curtains. It was a sunny day, though cold, and the sunshine provided ample illumination.

The room was modest, with just a bed, dresser, nightstand, armoire, chair, and fireplace, along with another door she presumed led to a bathroom. Starting with the nightstand made sense, because it was the smallest area to search. She flipped through the contents of the drawer, finding nothing of interest.

Next, she went to the armoire, opening the doors. His uniforms hung on one side, and several shelves lined the other section. She rifled through toiletries, underwear, and shoes before finding a stack of papers. Pulling them out, Madison scanned them quickly, finding most related to his duties as Tiernan’s second-in-command.

As she put those back, a small clear plastic frame caught her attention. It was worn and scratched with age, so it must have predated The End. No company had existed with the capability to manufacture plastic for decades. It wasn’t the picture frame that caught her attention. Rather, it was the two painted portraits inside. One was of a handsome man who strongly resembled Aidan, but she swore had traces of Tiernan too—especially the warmth in his brown eyes. The other painting made her heart stutter as she stared at the countenance of a younger Catherine Archer than the one captured on the large canvas in Tiernan’s study. Either she had been a bit gentler than, or the artist had been generous, because she looked softer. Her eyes sparkled a bit without the hint of coldness.

Staring at the small portrait, she nodded, all her doubts quelled. Aidan was clearly her son. Otherwise, why would he have a portrait of her? After the way his mother had treated him, she wondered why he’d want one, but experienced a pang at the thought of never knowing her mother. Not knowing what she had looked like would have been awful. To know she had sent her away would have been unbearable, but she imagined there still would have been curiosity about her mother. Aidan must have felt the same way.

She was debating about whether to take the pictures as proof, or just tell Tiernan what she’d found, when she heard the door click. Her heart leapt into her throat, and she hurried to close the armoire while searching for a place to hide. The bathroom offered the only option, and she rushed toward it as the main door opened.

A stifled curse left her when she opened the door to find a brick wall. What the hell? Why have a door opening to a brick wall?

“It used to be a bathroom,” said Aidan conversationally. “Joseph Archer was a bit eccentric and had a lot of unused rooms bricked off. He claimed it would reduce heating costs. There’s a shared bathroom down the hall.”

Swallowing thickly, she turned slowly, not sure how to reply or even begin to justify her reasons for being here. “Uh…”

He smiled, and it was full of gentleness. “It’s okay. I know why you’re here.”

Madison couldn’t look away from the crossbow at his side. “Uh…”

Aidan glanced down at it before setting it on the nightstand. “I’m not going to shoot you, Madison.”

Relief surged through her. She had been wrong. Not about him being the missing twin, she was sure, but he clearly wasn’t the one who had killed Joan.

Shaking his head, he said, “No, then they’d know it was me. It has to look like rebels.”

Ice water coursed through her veins at his words, and she took a step back without thinking, running right into the brick wall. Her mind searched for a way out, but all she could think of was to keep him talking. Maybe Tiernan would come looking for him if she could delay Aidan long enough.

As though he’d read her thoughts, he said, “It has to be now. You know everything, and Tiernan’s not due back for a couple of hours.” Genuine regret seemed to shine from his warm green eyes, so much kinder than his mother’s. “I never wanted to hurt you.”

“Then don’t.” She cleared her throat. “You’re Tiernan’s brother, aren’t you?”

Aidan nodded once, his mouth twisting. “I’m the disposable spare.”

She winced. “That was Catherine. Tiernan had nothing to do with that. You have no reason to hate him.”

He looked honestly puzzled. “Why do you think I hate him? He’s my best friend, and I love him.”

Blinking, she said, “You tried to kill him.”

He sighed. “No, I didn’t. I knew he’d take the side entrance. The bombing was necessary to encourage him to look for the rebels.”

“You killed Cleo.” She couldn’t keep the anger from her tone, though she really didn’t want to enrage the man standing between her and the exit.

“That was an accident. I liked her.” He shrugged. “She wasn’t supposed to be there.”

“So you’re just absolved?”

He frowned. “I know exactly what I’ve done, and what my tally is, Madison. Cleo’s blood is on my hands.”

“But why? If you love Tiernan, why are you doing all this?”

Aidan lifted a brow, as though he couldn’t understand her confusion. “Because he has everything, and half of it should be mine.” He took a step closer to the bed as he began unbuttoning his jacket. “I came to find him with the intention of telling him who I was, but the timing was never right.”

“He would have welcomed you,” she said with utmost confidence.

He shrugged. “Perhaps, or maybe he would have been threatened by me. How was I to know he didn’t feel the same way as our mother, that I was a potential rival, not a brother?” Dropping the jacket on the bed, he started rolling the cuffs of his shirt to his elbow. “I thought I’d get to know him first, to let him see I wasn’t a threat, but…”

“But?” she probed after a moment of silence, wondering why he was disrobing somewhat. He certainly didn’t give off a perverse sexual vibe, as though he planned to rape her. A chilling thought made her cringe. Was it to keep blood off his clothes?

His unfocused gaze cleared as he looked at her again. “Things changed. I saw what he had, and I became bitter. Angry. Resentful.” Shaking his head, he said, “Of my own brother. By the time I knew I could safely tell Tiernan who I was, I couldn’t anymore. I let my desire to have what he has overtake me. Can you understand that, Madison?”

She nodded, willing to agree to anything to keep him talking, though she really could understand his feelings to a certain extent. Just not to the extent that led him to betrayal and murder. “So, what did you do?”

Aidan took a couple of steps closer, but stopped. Was he toying with her? “I selected a contingent of loyal troops and began stealing rations and generating ill-will toward Tiernan’s leadership. A rebel group formed, and he started pursuing them, making the problem worse.”

A glimmer of comprehension came to her. “And you’re going to be the hero who deposes Tiernan and rights things for the people?”

He inclined his head. “That is the plan. Or, it was, until Briggs got involved. He decided to assassinate Tiernan, but only after making him suffer.” Aidan sighed. “I couldn’t allow that, but I also couldn’t risk Tiernan taking him alive and accidentally discovering something that made him suspicious of my plan. Distraction was the best technique, so I ‘found’ the journal you’d been keeping.”

Anger surged through her again. “You bastard.”

He nodded. “I absolutely am, dear Madison. I was also sloppy, with limited time, and made several factual errors. When Tiernan really studied the book, he soon realized your beautiful hand didn’t pen it.”

“Still, it served its purpose,” she said blandly, though rage was making her blood boil. “You managed to keep us apart and him in turmoil until Briggs was almost out of the picture.”

“Yes, though I was surprised he tortured him for information.” Aidan shook his head. “That was so unlike Tiernan.”

“Why Joan?” She sniffed back tears. “I don’t understand. She had already told me.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know how much she knew about me. I’ve never met her, but she might have information I didn’t know about. Again, I couldn’t take the chance.”

She compressed her lips. “So, you slipped away while I was telling Tiernan she needed to tell him something.”

He nodded. “I heard enough to guess what she was going to reveal.” His eyes softened. “Congratulations on the twins, by the way. I wish I could let you have them, but they’re the next heirs. I just can’t—”

“Take the chance,” she said sourly. “You don’t want to leave any competition around, in case the people turn to them when they’re older.”

“Yes, you’re very clever, Madison.” He looked regretful. “Too clever. I hadn’t planned to make another move just yet. I was hoping to arrange an accident for you in the next few months. It’s so much neater to deal with it before they’re born.”

He was a monster, but his flashes of humanity hid it well—and made him all the more chilling. “Either way, Tiernan will be destroyed. If you love him, how can you do this to him?”

He didn’t answer for a long moment. “I’m in too deeply now, Madison. There’s no turning back. I’ve gone far enough to lose his trust if he finds out what I’ve done, but not quite to where I could take his place without a civil war. I’ve thought about stopping, but I can’t.”

She held out a pleading hand. “You can. You have to. Think what you’re doing to him. He’s your brother, Aidan.”

“And my biggest rival.” He spoke with bitterness, and a touch of dark amusement. “I guess Catherine was right.”