Brahm approached the carriage as Hannah skipped down the steps. He whisked her into his arms and squeezed until she squeaked. “How did you know we needed a ride?”

She pounded his back until he released her. Glaring at him, she smoothed wrinkles from her bodice. “You know we were monitoring railway communications. If something went wrong, I wanted to know immediately. Good thing I did, too, because apparently something did go wrong.”

Brahm stepped aside, faced me, and winked. “We had it under control, didn’t we, Liesl?”

I huffed. “Something like that.”

He swept his hand toward me. “Hannah, let me introduce you to my friend Liesl and her companions, Niffin and Malita.”

Hannah glanced at my friends again. Niffin nodded. Malita merely offered a flat stare, obviously apathetic to Hannah’s grandeur.

“It’s a pleasure.” I bobbed a curtsey.

“Liesl, is it?” She strode closer, studying me with piercing blue eyes the same dark shade as a late-evening sky.

I wondered how this game was supposed to go. It appeared she was pretending not to know me, but who among us didn’t know my true identity? The only ones here besides Hannah, Brahm, and my two closest friends were the uniformed members of Hannah’s retinue. Like statues, they sat astride their horses, grim faced and unmoving, their gazes all focused on our surroundings. Were they not to be trusted? “Yes, my lady.”

Hannah’s lips quirked. Her nostrils flared. “You look tired.” She flicked her fingers, beckoning. “Come. Sit with me inside. A friend of my brother’s is a friend of all Schulzes.”

“What about my friends?” I motioned to Niffin and Malita.

“They have a horse. Let them ride.”

I put a little steel into my tone. “I don’t go anywhere without them.”

“They’re welcome to join us.” She rolled her eyes. “But there’s no room in the carriage for more. They’ll dine with us, and they’ll have a private room in my house, of course.”

Following her up the steps into the carriage, I wondered how much of her condescension was an act and how much of it was real. Bram took a seat beside me on a padded bench covered in gold velvet. Hannah sat across from us in the center of her own bench. Her thin smile and the way she looked down her nose suggested she enjoyed lording over the rest of us. Perhaps her condescension wasn’t an act at all. I started to regret her involvement and, more importantly, her money.

Don’t be so quick to judge, Grandfather said. You didn’t much care for Princess Karolina when you first met her, and look how that relationship turned out. Besides, you don’t have to like her. You simply need to find out if you can work with her.

Begrudgingly, I agreed. I’d also given Brahm a chance to prove himself, and it seemed he was a reliable fellow. Hannah deserved at least as much deference.

The carriage set off with a jolt, and Hannah snickered when I latched onto Brahm’s arm for balance. Releasing him, I muttered an apology under my breath and drew aside the curtain to peer out the window.

“So,” she said, “you’re the one.”

“The one what?” I released the curtain, and it fell with a soft swish.

Her eyebrow twitched. “The one Gideon made all the fuss about.”

“I don’t know what Gideon’s said to you.”

Brahm snorted. “He didn’t say much. It’s not his way. But he didn’t have to. It’s in the way he says your name. The look on his face when he talks about you.”

A small spark flared in my chest. What was it? Longing? Jealousy? Suspicion? “When did you last see Gideon?”

“We’ve corresponded with him plenty. I received a letter from him last week.”

“That’s not what I asked. If you haven’t seen him, how did he send you a message?”

“My solicitor was on business in Inselgrau,” Hannah said. “Gideon contacted him there, in Braddock, just before my agent was scheduled to return.”

“So you haven’t recently seen him?” The thought that Gideon might have returned to the Continent and visited Hannah instead of coming to see me piqued a sort of jealous response I’d never admit to anyone, especially not the condescending girl sitting across from me.

“The last time I actually laid eyes on him was just before Daeg’s big ceremony.” She studied her nails, picking at a cuticle. “The one designed to take your birthright and give it to Aodan. Gideon was looking for his father. I told him where to find him.”

I perked up. “You know Gideon and his family that well?”

“Sure.” She hitched up a shoulder and dropped it. “We’re all members of Lord Daeg’s Dead Wives Club.”

Brahm’s breath caught. He shot his sister a dark look. “Not funny, Hannah.”

I’d always wondered what happened when Gideon went out looking for his father the night we’d arrived at Daeg’s castle. Remembering how naïve and clueless I’d been brought instant heat to my cheeks. Gideon had come so close to betraying me. So painfully close. The memory of it still hurt. “Where was his father? Gideon’s, I mean.”

Hannah grinned like a cat that had dropped its paw on the end of a mouse’s tail. The mouse thought it had gotten away but found out too late it was wrong. “It’s a rather long story, but we have time to tell it... if you really want to hear it.”

She had me by the tail. Might as well let her think she had me trapped. “I do, Hannah. I really do.”

Chapter 8

The First Meeting of Lord Daeg’s Dead Wives Club

When the butler escorted the visitor into Hannah’s sitting room, she’d never suspected that guest would be Gideon Faust. The surprise of his presence left her speechless. She hadn’t seen in him in at least three years, and during that time he’d shed the last traces of childhood. There he stood, as broad shouldered as a man and taller than most. His hair was longer, too—the color of dark honey streaked with sunlight. His manner was stern and hard like a soldier’s or that of one of the guards Brahm had hired to follow her wherever she went.

Hannah’s blood turned hot. Her pulse quickened.

She never forgot the boy Gideon had been before he left for Inselgrau—the boy for whom she’d harbored an intense infatuation. She remembered feeling sorry for him when Daeg took him into his home. She knew Daeg had trained Gideon to be his agent, his spy, and as much as she wanted to judge him for it, she also knew the power of Daeg’s influence. She and Brahm had almost succumbed to Daeg’s manipulations. If their mother hadn’t died when she did, his corruption might have rotted them both from the inside out.

But nothing about Gideon looked corrupted or sullied.

In fact, quite the opposite.

Brahm seemed less astounded by Gideon’s presence. While Hannah stood silently evaluating her guest, her brother strode across their sitting room’s elegant carpets, hand outstretched. “Gideon, welcome.” The two young men clasped hands. “I had no idea you were back in Dreutch.”

Gideon’s brow puckered. His lips pursed. “Why do I suspect that isn’t quite true?”

Brahm gave him a lopsided grin. “Because you know us too well.”

“You two always seemed to know what was happening the moment it happened. Sometimes even before it happened. So I suspect you know why I’m back.”

“There’s been quite a commotion at Daeg’s castle tonight. Some excitement over a special guest.” Brahm flicked an eyebrow. “A visitor from Inselgrau?”

Gideon merely grunted.

“It’s true then.” Hannah blinked and shook off her stupor. “The Stormbournes have returned to their homeland.” Her lip curled. “Daeg must be beside himself.”

Gideon glanced at her. Again, he said nothing, and his expression remained impassive. Something about him seemed troubled, though. Yet anyone who had spent more than a few minutes in Daeg’s presence would seem that way.