His cousin met his eye before his lip curled, and it was all Kade could do to yell at Hadley to get out of the way.
Hadley staggered backwards, her entire body on fire as she slammed into the wall, too filled with shock to even contemplate she’d initiated a kiss that would have landed her in precisely the kind of trouble she was trying to avoid. What is wrong with me?
Carl and Kade grappled on the floor, barely visible in the dark as they wrestled each other while Carl spat obscenities at Kade. “I knew it, you bloody bast—"
Before he could finish the insult, Kade smashed his palm into Carl’s chin, twisting his torso so he could flip Carl over on his back and pin his arms by lying on his chest.
His voice was ragged as he leant heavily onto his cousin. “Give it up, alright? Just calm down before you get us all kicked out of here.”
Carl spat a few more curses, writhing under Kade as he fought to get loose. “Get off me.”
Hadley skirted around them and closed the door before anyone heard them. Carl grunted, his face red as Kade pushed off him and jumped to his feet, holding a hand up to Carl as he got to his feet. “Calm down.”
Carl staggered slightly, his breath uneven as his gaze flicked to her. “This is why you weren’t interested? You’re sleeping with him?”
Hadley sucked in a sharp breath, her hands trembling as an agitated Kade answered. “Not that it’s any of your business, but we haven’t slept together.”
Carl squinted at them, disbelief on his face before he staggered backwards until he collapsed into a chair, a puzzled expression on his face as he looked at Kade. “You actually made a move on a chick. Bloody hell.”
Kade nodded slowly, his voice strained as he spoke. “Can we change the subject?”
Carl’s eyebrows knitted together as he stared at the floor where Kade’s knives lay. “That’s why Cester made even more rules?”
Kade nodded, though Carl wasn’t looking at him, too busy staring at the discarded daggers on the floor.
He leaned back in his chair, knocking his head against the wall as he stared at them. “So what now? Get married? Live happily ever after? Have little baby Stormers?”
Hadley’s cheeks flushed, glad the light was too poor for Kade to see her embarrassment. “There’s Thomas—" Kade began.
At the mention of Thomas, Carl’s head jerked in her direction. “That’s why I came to find you; he’s asking for you; the gardener and Amy’s mum took the other one to a different room.”
Hadley’s heart jolted in her chest, her feet already moving towards the door, when Kade’s hand snagged hers, a pained look on his face as he squeezed her fingers. “Withdrawal is rough. He’s not going to be happy to be sober.”
Dread crashed through her as she nodded before shooting a glance at Carl. “Please don’t fight. You’re family.”
Carl frowned at her as she paused in the doorway, light pouring in from the hallway, illuminating Carl’s face. He shrugged. “Go on then; I think it’s time I came clean anyway.”
Hadley didn’t waste any more time before dashing across the hall. As she twisted the door handle open, she caught the worry in Kade’s voice. “Come clean about what?”
All thoughts of Kade disappeared when she spotted Thomas, his face slack but eyes more focused than she’d seen.
Gerty got to her feet. “Where have you been, Missy? He’s been asking for you, and someone called Clarissa.”
Hadley flinched as Amy gave her a pained look, guilt flowing through her as she took a seat beside Thomas. He needed me, and I was too busy giving in to my own selfish desires.
Thomas must be a wreck. His girlfriend Clarissa was long gone, one of the first to die when sickness began to take their friends. That he should mention her name now didn’t bode well of his state of mind.
To confirm her thoughts, he peered at her as though not quite seeing her, his voice a croak as he spoke. “Clarissa? I gotta go away for a bit.”
Hadley’s eyes flooded, but she held back the tears, instead taking Thomas’s hands in hers. “It’s me, Tom; why are you going away?”
Thomas blinked, then a small smile lit his washed-out face as though he were pleased. “I got a job; then we can get married.”
Hadley’s breath seized in her chest. Thomas thought she was his dead girlfriend. “Did they come to the house?”
Thomas’s smile disappeared, his forehead knotting before a dark look crossed his face. Luna whined softly from her spot on the floor and cocked her head at Thomas.
He spoke so softly she almost missed the significance of the words. “It’s a good job, like your da said I needed. The Stormer said I’d make enough to keep you.”
Stormer?
Hadley held her breath, squeezing Thomas’s hands as she forced the question out. “What was his name? The Stormer who came for you?”
Thomas squinted at her as though trying to bring her into focus, before he stared past her shoulder to a spot on the wall.
He carried on staring blankly until Carl and Kade stepped inside, just in time to hear the words that pulled the breath from her chest in a rush.
“Cester,” Thomas whispered. “Captain Cester.”
Chapter Eight
Kade slumped in his chair, the sound of rain trickling down the pane not soothing his nerves or combating his unease. He barely registered the stomping footsteps as Carl returned from the privy.
Carl slouched in the chair, a half frown, half sneer on his face. “You don’t believe it, do you?”
Kade blew out a breath and reached for the coffee Amy had brought in, his shoulders bunched in knots from the lack of sleep and the after-effects of a day riddled with more action than he’d seen in a few months. “I told you last night. It doesn’t make any sense. Not really.”
Carl yawned, looking decidedly worse for his binge. Even if it had gotten them what they needed, Carl had probably taken it a little too far; but because he’d gotten plastered and they trusted him, they now had a plan of action to call their own. Even if it means leaving Hadley behind.
Carl took a sip of his coffee, cradling it in his hands. “But still. We need to check it out.”
Kade nodded vaguely, unwilling to discuss his doubts with his hung-over cousin. It didn’t make sense, and if he didn’t already have questions that needed answering, he’d probably find it easier to dismiss. But Cester had already lied to him. And it was becoming more and more apparent the Cester Hamlin he’d come to know over two years wasn’t quite the upstanding person he claimed to be.
His stomach constricted as he considered Meg alone at the Retreat with his captain. How could Cester be so morally uptight about certain things but lie so easily about others?
At best, it branded him a hypocrite, and at worst it meant he might be lying about numerous things, none of which made Kade feel any better about being so far away from his sister.
But there was nothing to be done now. Everything was already in play. In an hour they would meet the two men who’d take them to what he had to assume was the Southern Stormer camp they’d already been heading towards.
Coincidence or luck, he didn’t care as long as they got to the bottom of it—as long as he got both Hadley and Thomas back to the Retreat in once piece and could find the answers he sought.
Carl winced and gripped his head. “Why did you let me drink that tar last night?”
Kade smothered a smile. “You did a good job though, eh? They’re happy to take us back instead of Thomas and what was his name?”
Carl’s face scrunched up as he searched for the name, which apparently hadn’t made any impact on him either. “Dan? Dave? Something that starts with a D.”
Kade downed the coffee, pulling himself slowly to his feet. “I need to go check on Thomas and Hadley. Gerty said she needs some of the opium to wean him off, but I’m thinking Ben’s stuff might be a safer bet since the hermit’s seems to be laced with something else?”
Carl nodded before he flinched and groaned as he
got to his feet. “I reckon. Maybe something from Amaria? I’ll go get Ben’s from the saddlebags, and I’ll make sure the horses are tacked.”
Kade cocked his head, his eyes narrowing at the lack of complaining coming from his cousin. His weary mind didn’t have to think for long as Carl checked his reflection in the mirror on the wall. “Let me guess, you’re offering to sort the horses so you can see Amy before we head out?”
Carl shrugged, the ghost of a smile playing at his lips. “She was pretty happy to hang out with me last night.”
Kade snorted and shook his head. “You fell asleep in your chair when she was putting more oil in the lamps.”
Carl pulled a face before opening the door, calling over his shoulder as he stepped out into the hall. “Hadley still sleeping?”
Kade nodded, a sour taste in his mouth at the mention of the cause of their fight. But if Carl was bothered, he wasn’t showing it, leaving Kade to worry he’d forgotten a little too much about what had happened last night. “I’ll wake her when we’re going to leave. No sense disturbing her.”
Carl nodded vaguely, his attention diverted as he spied Amy coming up the stairs with a plate of food in her hands. He grinned at her. “That for me?”
Amy frowned and stepped around him, her eyes on the room at the end of the corridor. “No, ‘tis for Gerty and Hadley; they stayed up half the night with Thomas and Luke while you two slept it off.”
A jolt of guilt struck him at the chastisement. He’d only left Hadley when she’d insisted, and he’d been forced to drag a jovial Carl back to his own room.
Technically he was giving up his room to Thomas. He’d barely managed to get any sleep at all, with Carl snoring and him thinking about what had nearly happened between him and Hadley. He’d also been worrying about Thomas’s condition and whether Cester really was running an unsavoury sideline business.
Carl’s eyes shot to him, and they shared a nod at learning the correct name. “Right. Thomas and Luke.”
Amy shook her head and turned so she as facing Kade. “Me ma says you can have the three rooms for the next two weeks if you pay before you go.”
Kade’s smile was too tight as she walked away from them and stopped to knock lightly on Hadley’s door.
Carl stepped a little closer, his brow knotted as they both watched Amy slip inside and close the door. “You’re paying?”
Kade flushed a little, not sure he wanted to reopen what they’d settled last night. “Who else is going to pay?”
Kade braced himself for ridicule as Carl slapped a hand on his back. “You don’t do things by halves, do you, cuz?”
His cousin laughed so hard, he buckled over, his chuckles resounding around the hallway. Kade bore it stoically and glared as Carl straightened to wipe tears away from his eyes. “I mean, you do realise there are hundreds of girls out there? You don’t need to settle on the first one dumb enough to like you, right?”
Kade folded his arms over his chest and continued glaring while Carl mocked him. “Cester’s going to kill you if he finds out you were in her bedroom.”
Kade’s jaw worked, refraining to tell him Cester had already caught them once. “It wasn’t like that; she was upset.”
Carl tried to nod sagely, but the smirk on his face spoiled the effect. “Whatever you say, cuz, and don’t worry. I think Cester’s probably going to more interested in why someone is pretending to be him anyway.”
Kade nodded and blew out a puff of air and decided to drop it. If he hadn’t noted the genuine bitterness in Carl’s tone when he finally admitted Rose had had enough and dumped him, he probably would have been less inclined to tolerance.
But whether he admitted it in the cold hard light of morning, last night Carl had proven he did in fact realise he’d lost a great girl.
If he wanted to pretend he didn’t care, that was his business. But he knew if Meg were here, she’d be pushing for Carl to go see Rose and apologise—another thing on Kade’s every growing mental, to-do list. Top priority, whether he liked it or not, had to be finding out who hired Jax, and who was taking boys like Thomas. They were so close now; he just needed all the stars to align, and maybe, just maybe, get back to the Retreat before the wedding happened.
His veins fired as Hadley opened her door and made to move towards them, Luna at her heels.
He lowered his voice as Carl smirked at him. “Go tack the horses; I’ll be down in a minute.”
At the sight of Amy closing the door behind Hadley, Carl’s smirk switched to an easy smile. “I’m just going to tack the horses, but I can’t remember where I put the saddles?”
Amy frowned at him, rolling her eyes as she passed by him, pausing at the top of the stairs. “They’re where you left them, you great plonker.”
They disappeared down the stairs, Carl full of flattery as their voices faded away. Kade’s heart rate sped as Hadley stood, an awkward expression on her drawn face.
He blew out another sigh and motioned to the stairs. “I need to go, but everything is set. You and Thomas can stay here for the next few weeks—”
Hadley’s voice wavered as she interrupted him, crossing the distance. “I’ll be here waiting, Thomas will be well, and you can meet him properly.”
Kade’s forehead creased. Did she really think it would be that easy? For either of them?
Hadley titled her head a fraction, a coy smile touching her lips. “Be safe, Stormer Kade.”
Kade stepped forwards, and she met him with a teary hug that lingered until he couldn’t bear it any longer. His body ached to draw her away to her room again, but his mind was already shifting into Stormer preparation mode.
He pulled back enough to catch the moisture in her eyes; his hands cradled her chin as he kissed her softly, his throat thickening as he reluctantly pulled away.
With his eyes holding hers, he dug in his pocket before pulling out a handful of coins. His hands trembled as he unfurled her clenched fist and placed the coins inside, closing her fingers over them. “In case you need anything else while I’m gone.”
Hadley bit her lip, her eyes flooding with tears that caused every muscle to tense as he drew away. The pressure in his chest grew as left her standing at the top of the stairs.
With his stomach tied in painful knots, he tried in vain to shake off the sting at being forced to walk away from the sweetest girl he’d ever met.
His scowl grew as heavy as the weight crushing his chest as he descended the stairs. To distract himself, he went in search of Carl, hoping that for once his cousin was behaving himself.
Three days later.
Hadley’s stomach turned as the sound of Thomas retching filtered through the walls. Luna whined softly at her feet, her constant companion in the days since Kade and Carl had left.
Despite Gerty assuring her he was over the worst, Thomas was wracked by chills, complaining of his body aching; in the fleeting moments he did recognise her, he seemed angry rather than pleased she were here.
He’d become so irate with her that Amy’s mother, Justine, had insisted she step outside, and two local farmers had tied her wild-eyed, fuming brother to the bed, out of fear he would attack her.
She’d barely slept since Kade left, and her sense of hopelessness grew as Thomas fought their attempts every step of the way. Worse than the rages he flew into were the heart-breaking pleas for more of the vile drug his body craved.
If the brother she knew and loved still lurked inside, he was well hidden under a bitter, angry and violent man who hated the very sight of her.
From in the hallway where she hid from the despair tearing through her and the torture of seeing her brother in so much pain, Hadley exhaled slowly and shook away the tears burning her gritty eyes.
The door beside her opened, and Amy stepped out, carrying a wooden bucket in her hand. Hadley frowned at her. “When did you go in?”
Amy shrugged as if being in the same room with Thomas wasn’t an issue. “I think you were in the privy. I’m not that bothe
red by sickness. Me ma says I should’ve been a healer, and he shouldn’t be alone.”
Guilt swelled as she nodded and took a step towards the door, Luna twisted around her feet in preparation, but Amy shook her head. “He’s sleeping, and you should probably take a kip too.”
Hadley sagged against the wall and nodded. “You’re all being so nice to me, to both of us.”
Amy smiled and gestured to Hadley’s room. “I’ll deal with this; how about I go make a pot ‘a tea and bring it up for you?”
Hadley nodded weakly, too tired to protest. Amy shooed her across the hall, and Hadley reluctantly accepted she was too exhausted to be of much use.
She untied her boots and managed to place them beside her bed before lying down and relaxing her aching muscles into the soft mattress.
Her thoughts drifting about, scattered as she tried to pick a single one to focus on; strangely she started thinking about the other boy, Luke, who seemed even sicker than Thomas. He was so sick that he’d not eaten anything, and he couldn’t keep even a little water down for long. Gerty was worried, worried the boy had something else wrong with him.
Hadley stared up at a water stain on the ceiling and chewed on her lip as she tried not to cry. She was sick of herself. Sick of her weakness. Sick of the drug that had destroyed her brother and stolen him from her. Sick of the rot that seemed to fill the world.
What kind of a person could do that? Take boys, make them promises, then feed them a horrible poison until they couldn’t function without it?
A sob caught in her throat as she turned to look outside. The muted light edged through the warped window pane as she contemplated what kind of a man would order such a thing. The kind of man Kade is trying to find.
Hadley blew out a long sigh. Too many questions buzzed around her addled mind. What if it was Cester? Was it even possible?
She was still caught in her tangled thoughts when Amy knocked and poked her head through the crack in the door, the last of the sunlight falling on her bright red curls. “I made some camomile tea; Ma says it might help you have a wee sleep.”
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