The Final Storm

06. Secret Agreement

"A little chat?" Adaira gave me an innocent smile that I didn't buy for an instant. "So sorry, but I don't have time right now. I've got something urgent to take care of, so if you'll excuse me..."

My hands closed around her wrists like iron manacles. "And pray tell, what might that 'something urgent' be? Running to India to search for your beau, mayhap?"

"Um...I have no idea what you mean."

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the letter she had left behind at her father's house to tell us exactly where she was going and what she was about to do. "Indeed?"

"Err...Right. Now I suddenly remember!"

"Indeed."

"Stop that! It's weird how much you sound like my brother."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Now, young lady..." Menacingly, I cracked my knuckles. "Tell me exactly where you've been and what you've been up to."

"Or what? You're not my mother!"

"...or I'll tell your mother you tried to volunteer for the military in men's clothes."

She paled. "You wouldn't!"

In answer, I only smiled.

"Fine!" Grumbling, Adaira leaned back in her armchair, took a deep breath—and then she began. During the next half hour or so, she told me everything. How she had set out on her own. How she had tried to reach her goal in various ways, but had never succeeded. The more she spoke, the more intense her voice became until, at the very end, she sounded nearly desperate.

"I...I have to find him, Lilly. If my father catches up to me and gets his hands on me..." A shudder travelled through her body. "I don't even want to think about it! The kind of man he would try and force me to marry... I won't let that happen! But, as far as I can see, there is only one way to get out of it: to marry someone of my own choosing. And there is only one man I would ever choose." Meeting my eyes with her own, Adaira grabbed hold of my hands. "I have to go find him, Lilly. Please, help me. Help me get to India."

"Um..." Feeling my ears go red, I cleared my throat. "There might be a slight problem with that."

"Problem?" My dear sister-in-law's eyes narrowed, and suddenly I was the one feeling guilty. Which wasn't fair, because this totally was my husband's fault!

"Lilly?" Leaning forward, she pinned me to the spot with that patented intense Ambrose stare. "Lilly, what aren't you telling me?"

This wasn't how this was supposed to go! She was the one who had run away from home. That meant she was at fault, right? What was I feeling guilty for?!

"Um... it's nothing, Adaira dear! Nothing, except..."

"Except what?"

"Err, well..." The red shade of my ears darkened further. "It's like this..."

And I spilled the beans. Probably the peas and carrots, as well. I told her everything that had happened, and she took it very well—up until we reached the part where I told her what kind of shitstorm was about to break loose in India, right over a certain captain's head.

"Is...is that so?" Adaira swallowed.

"Afraid, so, Adaira."

"And this happened because...?"

"Ah, ehem..." I cleared my throat and, without hesitation, threw my husband under the bus. "That would be your brother's fault."

Adaira's eyes turned into slits. "What?!"