Page 82 of Ties of Legacy

As soon as they were mostly out of earshot, Avery turned on Elliot.

“What happened back there?” she asked in hushed tones. “The lamp wasn’t that far away, and yet you seemed excessively weak. You looked like you were about to die!”

Elliot blinked, looking disappointed. What had he been expecting her to say? Or hadn’t he been expecting her to say anything at all? Had he thought she might throw herself into his arms?

A flush rose up her cheeks, but she managed to keep her expression calm and expectant as she waited for his answer.

“It was thrown through the air,” he said, “and then kicked by multiple feet. Did it get damaged? I don’t know for sure if that would affect the bond, but after what happened when the brass was melted down by the smith…”

He was still talking when someone burst from the trees and sprinted the final few steps to reach them. Avery turned toward the newcomer but hadn’t gotten a proper view of him before he snatched the lamp from her unsuspecting hand and retreated again.

She tried to reach for it, but it was gone from her grasp before she had properly realized what was happening.

The thief didn’t go far, however, stopping several yards away—far enough to be safe from their immediate reach, but close enough to converse. Avery gasped. It was Rene.

Her abductor had followed them all the way to Bolivere, and now he had the lamp. What was he doing there?

“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I don’t think I’d believe it,” Rene said wonderingly, staring from the lamp to Elliot.

Avery gulped audibly. What exactly had Rene seen? She tried to remember what she’d just said and what he might have observed.

“The person in the shadows was you?” Elliot asked disbelievingly. “You were there at the cave mouth, watching the battle?”

“No,” Rene said with a disturbing smile, “I was watching you.”

Avery’s flush receded, leaving her pale. Rene had seen what none of the archers had noticed. He had seen Elliot weaken and then seen him regain his strength when Avery brought the lamp to him. And then her own words had confirmed it.

She was going to be sick.

Elliot gripped her arm, pulling her slightly to the side and behind him, as if to shield her from Rene.

“I don’t know what you think you saw,” he said in a creditable imitation of nonchalance, although Avery could feel the tension in his arm. “But I want no more of your nonsense than my father did. Don’t think I’ll give you clemency just because you’re my uncle.”

Avery’s jaw dropped. Rene was Elliot’s uncle? Why had he never mentioned that?

“Sorry,” Elliot whispered as if on cue, although he didn’t take his gaze from Rene. “I only just discovered it myself yesterday.”

For some reason his reassurance comforted her. He had been keeping secrets about his past, but he hadn’t been concealing a known connection with her abductors.

The smile on Rene’s face didn’t falter, however.

“Clemency?” He laughed. “I think it will be me granting you clemency, not the other way around. If I feel like it, of course. And only if you do what I tell you. Whatever I tell you.”

“Do I need to speak even more plainly?” Elliot asked, his voice steady although his hand trembled. “You are not welcome here. It’s time for you to leave.”

“Oh, really?” Rene raised his eyebrows. “I can leave if you like, but I think I’ll take this lamp with me. Its purpose in Bolivere has been served now, so you can’t begrudge me something so small.”

He started backing up, his eyes still on Elliot. Avery felt the tremble in Elliot’s hand spread through his body, and she cried out involuntarily.

“No! Stop! Don’t go any further.”

“So, it is like that,” Rene almost purred, making Avery bite down on her tongue.

She should have kept her mouth shut. But, on the other hand, if he’d kept retreating, he would have seen the truth with his own eyes soon enough. Elliot’s mother was a deeply flawed woman, but she had been right about the risk of someone discovering his secret.

“Don’t worry, nephew,” Rene said. “I’ll let you stay close to me. And in return, you’ll finally let me back into my childhood home. I could kill you, of course, but that Corbett has made it clear he’ll go to any lengths to keep me from taking my brother’s place. I’m told my brother’s public repudiation of me would give grounds for a legal challenge to the inheritance. I might be mired in legal challenges for years. This way will be much better. No one can protest your inheritance, or any orders you may chooseto issue—including the reinstatement of your uncle. The town will soon see how inseparable we’ve become, and they’ll have to accept me eventually.”

He gave an oily smile that told Avery exactly what he intended to do with Elliot when that day eventually came.

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