Page 25 of Once a Villain
Joan turned and turned, but there wasn’t anywheretorun. She was horribly reminded of the time she’d disturbed an anthill and insects had boiled from the ground. People were everywhere.
A wave of fear ran through Joan. Was Edmund Oliver here, among the searchers?
They say there’s somethingwrongwith the head of the Oliver family, the guard had said earlier tonight. Joan had only met Edmund twice, but she’d clocked it too; he’d looked down at her, eyes cold, like she was an insect he’d wanted to pull the wings from.
And what would he be likehere, in thisworld, unfettered by any rules but his own? What was he going to do to them?
A man in a security uniform pushed through the crowd.
Joan tensed, ready to fight, but the man stopped in his tracks, shock washing over his face.
“My lord Oliver?” he said. “What are you doing here?”
Joan tracked his gaze to Aaron, whose mouth had fallen open.
“My lord Oliver,” the man said, addressing Aaron again. He visibly pulled himself together. “My apologies for the reception. We weren’t expecting you back so early.” Over his shoulder, he called: “Have the servants ready the lord’s room! Tell them the head of the family is home!”
Eight
Aaron blinked once, twice, disbelief all over his face. Joan realized her own mouth was still open, and closed it with a snap. Aaron was the head of the Oliver family in this timeline?
The security guys glanced at each other; one was already frowning. Aaron clearly wasn’t acting liketheirAaron, and any second now, they’d start to question why.
Joan felt Nick shift closer to her. She could almost read his mind. They were going to have to fight more than a dozen people to get out of here. Joan braced herself.
But then Aaron shook himself slightly, his back stiffening and his beautiful face chilling into an icy facade. In a blink, he’d transformed into a different person, the tilt of his head authoritative and casually dangerous. “Now, what’s all this fuss about?” he said, his voice silk.
Joan suppressed a gasp. He’d soundedexactlylike his father. Her own heart was too loud in the silence. Could anyone else hear it? Could they hear her unsteady breaths? She glanced behind her, and realized she was stillhalf expecting Edmund to shoulder his way forward and claim his rightful place. But there was no one behind them except uniformed security. The lawn and landscaped woodland sprawled into the distance.
Joan met Nick’s gaze. His mouth twisted:Are we out of dangeror not?Joan shook her head slightly. She didn’t know.
Aaron smoothed down his suit jacket. It wasn’t necessary. His clothes were neat, even the shirt that Joan had bunched in her fists back at the inn. She bit her lip. Right now, Aaron seemed nothing like the guy who’d held her so gently in that bedroom.
One of the men stepped forward. “I—I apologize. I ordered the search, and I take full responsibility for intruding on your—”
“You thought that there were trespassers,” Aaron interrupted.
“Yes, my lord,” the man said. He had gray eyes like Aaron’s, and his uniform was black wool with polished silver buttons. Mermaids were etched into the silver.
“Then the search was necessary,” Aaron said. The man closed his eyes for a moment, his relief evident. “You did well to detect us so quickly.”
“Yes, my lord,” the man breathed. “Thank you, my lord.”
It’s very likely that we have counterparts here, Aaron had said earlier. Joan hadn’t imaginedthis, though—Aaron in charge of the formidable Oliver family. In the previous timeline, he’d been despised by his family and disinherited by his father.
“If there’s nothing else... ,” the head of the security team said. He waited for Aaron’s slight nod. “We’ll leave you with Geoffrey, my lord.”
The uniformed officers dispersed as quickly as they’d appeared. Within moments, Joan, Aaron, and Nick were alone with a man in a beautiful gray suit, a mermaid embroideredon the pocket—the only sign that he was in uniform too. Joan guessed he was Aaron’s valet.
Behind the man’s back, Nick rolled his shoulders, and Aaron grimaced slightly, letting his own tension show. Joan was weirdly relieved to seeherAaron for a moment, like a glint of sunshine through a curtain crack.
Then the glint was gone, and Aaron’s face was the ruthless prince again. He was emulating his father, Joan knew, but the cruelty in his expression was uncanny. He lookedexactlylike the icy aristocrat she’d assumed he was when they’d first met.
The valet stepped closer.Geoffrey, the security officer had called him. Joan recognized him then. He’d once been Edmund’s heir—the boy who’d replaced Aaron after Aaron had been stripped of his inheritance. This Geoffrey was older, a pallid man of about twenty with near-white hair.
“You have guests?” he said to Aaron. He aimed a beam of light at Nick’s face, at Joan’s. Joan blinked in the sudden glare, barely registering that Geoffrey’s eyes had widened. “A human and a half-human?”
“Is that a problem?” Aaron asked.
