The Kingdom of Night (Book 3)

Eight - An Untold Mystery

Emma

Hannah and I staggered home, shaken by the encounter. That was the first time I'd ever seen that man, but something told me he was dangerous. My Earth-Elemental instincts must have known before anything else did. I'd never even feared for my life the way I had coming face-to-face with him.

Mum checked us immediately for injury when she saw us trailing up to the front door. Our faces must have been completely bloodless for her to know what had happened even without us having to say anything. Papa was angry, I could tell–but he wouldn't say anything in front of Hannah. Instead he waited until Mum took her into the sitting room to have a strong cup of tea and a lie-down.

'Tell me exactly what happened, Emma,' he said, marching me to his study. I'd never been allowed to go in there, and I was surprised to find it was completely ordinary-looking. 'No reason to beat about the bush now.'

I began to recount the whole thing, and midway through, Mum entered and leaned against the desk near Papa. At one point, she made to get up, probably to give me a comforting hand or a word. Papa didn't let her get far, hand closing around her wrist and pulling her back.

'Let her finish, Charlotte,' he said, voice stern.

Mum's green eyes narrowed, but she didn't protest.

But as I finished, Papa stood from his chair and ran both hands over his face. His gold signet ring flashed from his finger, making me blink the spots out of my eyes.

'Wittenberg has no business going near our daughters,' he said finally.

'Is that him?' I said, eager to learn anything about our history with him. It'd intrigued me ever since George had eavesdropped on him on the train.

'Yes,' Papa said tightly, dropping his hands and approaching me, grasping my shoulders. His unusual bronze-coloured eyes were now a dark reddish gold–a dying fire. 'You are not to let him near you, understand?'

'Henry...' Mum started, but Papa raised a hand for silence.

'He is not to be trusted, no matter what he says to you. If his so-called promise from years ago has suddenly been broken, there is no telling what else he is willing to do. And now that we are at war with the Germans again, you cannot trust anyone.'

'Your father and I only want you to be safe, Emmy,' said Mum, joining Papa and tucking some hair behind my ear. 'Wittenberg and his ilk have plagued every generation of our family, and something terrible has come out of it every time.'

'Did he say why he was here?' Papa asked, his severe expression receding just a fraction.

I wanted to say that he was after Al. He'd mentioned her and the purity of her blood. It made me shudder to think that he could easily take it. My sister hadn't the slightest idea what he looked like. But I said none of that–instead I said, 'No.'

'Typical,' Papa grumbled. 'I'd better go ring the Order, Lottie. Tell them what's going on.'

'Good idea,' Mum answered, reaching back and squeezing his hand. 'We'll go in and explain to Hannah, after everything's sorted.'

'Better be quick about it,' Papa said. 'Might just choose to forget the whole thing.'

'Which would not be a terrible loss,' Mum said. 'She's going to be getting much more of where that came from if she decides to be George's girl for the long term.'

'Then she had better get used to the idea.' Papa's scowl deepened.

'I wouldn't count on it,' Mum said, to his back, but he either didn't hear or chose not to.