Treasured

36)

Wren

"Wren, come with me, please," Eddie addressed me, holding out his hand.

I rose from my seat in the gallery room, careful not to rouse Robin who had fallen asleep against my legs. Thankfully I managed to slip away without waking him from his slumbers, obediently following Eddie. He offered me his arm, bearing my weight and patiently guiding me to his office.

Sir John, to my surprise, was waiting for us, comfortably lounging in a chair before the grand desk Eddie usually occupied.

"Ah! There you are!" Sir John exclaimed. "I was beginning to think I was forgotten."

"Wren although handicapped, is hardly impolite, Johnny. And you seem to have lost any semblance of patience in your arsenal of virtues," Eddie dryly stated. "Now, let me tell Wren what has happened and what we have learned."

Eddie lowered me into a chair, knowing that I had been fairly intolerant of touch over the last few days. Once he had settled into his own seat, Eddie looked at me. His eyes looked tired, yet...oddly hopeful. I could only guess at what he and Sir John had been up to, but I prayed with all my soul that it was good news.

"Wren, my darling...I should have asked your permission, I admit that. However, Sir John is someone I trust more than anyone in the world. He is my brother, my blood, but more than that, he is loyal and protective. That being said...I disclosed everything I knew about the man in black to him, hoping he may have some way to find out more information for us."

I flinched, drawing back into the chair as though it would hide me. The assassin was a hard subject to broach. Anger, pain, and hatred burned in the recesses of my soul, slowly licking up any fuel in it's path and growing larger by the second. The amount of loathing...the indescribable disgust that held for that...thing, I could not explain.

That Eddie had broken my confidence with so little thought...that he had not asked my opinion or my permission...it shook me. Objectively I knew that he had my best interest at heart. I knew that he had done the same thing when he told my other lovers...

But it stung. Perhaps it was because I was so vulnerable as it was. That they would discuss my affairs without my presence or blessing...

"Wren?" Eddie sounded concerned.

I blinked, but swallowed my emotions down. I had never been in control...it shouldn't bother me. I would be fine.

What happened?

"Well, I...I'm a...pirate of sorts, Wren," Sir John revealed. "Because of this, I have connections to the underworld. I have contacts who know people, you know?"

I shouldn't have been surprised, but I supposed it made sense. Sir John didn't strike me as a fancy guy, but adventure was stamped on his essence just as surely as his name was John Price.

"So, I contacted someone I know, and tried to get information on your family. See, I figured that the best way to find out who this assassin is, was finding out why someone wanted you dead."

So far I was following pretty well. Sir John wasn't one for fancy words or flowery conversation. He was more direct, and that saved both time and temper.

"One of my associates found out a few things. For one, your parents married young, and without the blessing of your mother's family. However, your father's family supported the decision, and gave him $10,000 as a wedding gift. Your father was rather business minded and put his money in some upstart companies. One of them was a shipping yard, another was a tobacco plantation, and the third was in a lumber mill. He made a lot of money quite quickly.