The Secrets of Roan Island

25. Noah

25

Noah

“ S he’s gone,” I lie, glancing at my brothers, who look at me with varying levels of disbelief. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to pull this off. I’m not very good at lying.

“What?” Hammish stands up behind his overly large desk. His office is a study in contrasts. Old and new. The old wooden desk that used to be my grandsire’s, but then a lamp that seems to be all the rage in the colonies, its new technology hissing with steam and clicking with gears to keep it lit. There are articles about our father framed on the wall, evidence of his need for adoration, and mirrors in gilt frames. The chairs and sofa are new, the red fabric sleek and adorned with interesting folds and tufts with golden buttons. On a shelf, there’s an old hourglass he likes to flip—often as he devises some new torture—and next to it a clock that chimes when a gear produces dancing animals that race on a track to mark the hours. All ostentatious, like the man himself.

He called us all to his study when Ruby hadn’t shown up to meet him for their appointed tea time this morning. Hopefully she’s still asleep. Warmth radiates through my core as I recall how thoroughly I exhausted her.

“Where is she, Noah?” My father’s voice is as cold as the wind whipping across the lake.

“She must have left with everyone else this morning.” I keep my voice even and my gaze steady. “I went to find her, and her room was empty. The events of last night were probably too much for her.”

Without warning, Hammish sweeps everything from the desk in his study with a loud roar. I glance at Jafeth and Shemaiah, who look at me with matching consternation, equally surprised by our father’s excessive emotion. I thought his intention with Ruby was to distract her from her research on missing women, maybe give her something new from our library to focus on in her next paper. But his anger now shows I was wrong.

Fists slam into his disheveled desk as he leans forward. “I told you to keep an eye on her!”

Everything, every word, movement, motive suddenly snaps into focus, like I’ve slipped on translation goggles that decipher his every move. From the beginning, he invited her to stay through Solstice. He never intended Ruby to leave. It was always his plan to keep her.

He wants her for himself. He wants a strong, intelligent woman to turn at Winter Solstice. If she dies from the venom, then her research stops, and if she lives she’ll be his. He wins either way.

The truth is written in his posture, his expression, and my stomach sours as bile climbs my throat.

I’m a fool.

Hammish stalks around his desk, heedless of the mess he’s made, papers crinkling and glass cracking under his shoes, until he stops directly in front of me. Keen eyes study mine. “I saw the way you looked at her last night. You wouldn’t let her leave. Not without tasting her first.”

He’s seen too much. I need to play this carefully. “I did taste her.”

“And?”

“Subpar.” I swallow, hating to speak of Ruby as anything less than the indelible goddess that she is. “She didn’t live up to her scent, so I left her to find a… less prudish meal.”

His eyes narrow. I tense, expecting the assault of pain at any moment. Instead, he walks to the bookshelf, right to the hourglass, then stops, his back to us.

I imagine overpowering him, imagine what it would feel like to strip him of his lifeforce, but it’s impossible. He’s sniffed us out every time we’ve tried. The power to control us is too excessive to fight and even if we could, he has another, more motivating insurance policy that keeps us cautious.

Hammish whirls, and Jafeth crumples to the ground, gritting his teeth against the pain.

“Miss Rose wanted funding. I’ve been dangling our meeting in front of her for weeks. She wouldn’t miss our tea. Tell me the truth, Noah.”

Jafeth arches his back, pain hissing through his teeth, his face red with the exertion of fighting it.

My hearts burst with guilt wanting to come clean to save my brother, but I can’t. I won’t. For Ruby. “I told you. I went to find her, and she wasn’t there.”

“Lies!” Hammish roars.

Shemaiah seizes, grunting with agony. As he crumples to the ground, his eyes meet mine, and I see the defiance there.

“I will hurt them worse if you don’t tell me the truth.”

“You’ll hurt them regardless,” I snap, hating him. “Even if I knew where she was, it wouldn't change this. You’d do it anyway.”

Pain cuts me from head to toe. I cry out, dropping to my knees. Then it’s gone just as quickly, and I’m left panting on the floor, my brothers still writhing. “What do I have to gain by lying?” I huff. “Check her room.”

“Mrs. Darning already did and her things were gone.” He brushes off my statement as if it doesn’t matter whether her things are here or not. He’s right to not take it as proof. I packed her belongings the second Ruby was asleep, before the party had even ended.

“I promise you, Noah,” Hammish says, leaning down to meet my eye. “When I find her and bring her back, if I discover you aided her, I will break you, just like I am going to break your brothers.”

Shemaiah screams at the first crack of his bones.