Falling Back In Time (Old Version)

De Quincey's Plans

They were still in the drawing room when Jem and I reentered the room. Charlotte was pacing, Tessa was glaring at Will, and Henry was messing with something on his lap. Jessamine was nowhere to be found, but I didn’t really expect her to hang around for that long anyways.

“So, according to Nate, de Quincey held him prisoner just so he could write the letters to Tessa to get her here to London. Once Tessa was here, Nate was the insurance that kept Tessa listening to the Dark Sisters and training with them.”

“Okay, but how did Nate even know that Tessa was alive? She couldn’t send letters out to him and how did Tessa even know that Nate was alive in retrospect if they’d had no contact?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at Tessa.

“They had my brother’s ring. I know that wasn’t proof that he was still alive, but it was the only thing I had to hang onto. I had to believe that he was alive.”

“But that still doesn’t explain Nate.” I pressed. “If he didn’t know you were alive after the letters were sent, why did he keep agreeing to de Quincey’s demands?”

Tessa gave me a fixated glare. “And what would you have done?”

“Me?” I asked her, snorting. “I would have fought till my last breath, because that’s how I was raised.”

Tessa crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes even more. “Nate and I weren’t raised to be fighters. We weren’t trained in a thousand different ways to kill people and demons.”

“That still doesn’t explain why he didn’t fight for his freedom. If he didn’t have proof that you were alive, why stay and comply with everything they did to him?”

“Because I knew Tessa was alive,” Nate reentered the room, and it took all of my strength to not spring at him and demand what he was hiding from us. “The Dark Sisters sent progress reports every day, telling how she was doing, so I always knew how she was doing and whether she was alive or not.”

“How she was doing?” I nearly laughed. “She was locked in a creepy house and practically tortured by two very disturbing warlocks. It seems like you actually gave a damn about what they were doing to your sister.”

I saw something dark flash in his eyes, before false hurt overshadowed it, he opened his mouth to speak, but Tessa spoke first. “What exactly are you accusing my brother of? What on earth could he have done that could have made a difference?”

“He could have been less of an idiot,” I said, with a simple shrug of my shoulders.

“Like any sibling you have doesn’t make mistakes?”

“My brother Sebastian may be morally deficient, but he’s not an idiot. Did he make mistakes, sure. Would he have let me be captured and tortured? No, not unless it was him doing to torturing and kidnapping.”

“Okay, that’s enough, both of you,” Charlotte said, coming to stand in between the both of us. “Bickering isn’t going to solve anything.” She turned to Nate, “Do you remember any of the plans de Quincey had?”