Bloodline (Whyborne & Griffin Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

“Perhaps.” Then he grew sober. “Just please
be—”
    “Careful,” I finished for him. “I know, I know.” How could I
not? It was all he ever said concerning sorcery. I’d even kept my investigation
into the lines of arcane power a secret from him, because he’d surely find some
way to construe it as dangerous.
    “Your sister,” he said. “What can you tell me about her?”
    I was grateful for the change of subject, although uncertain
what to say. “She’s a year my senior,” I began. “But she always seemed much
older.”
    “Was she close to Heliabel?”
    “No.” I shook my head. “Mother never regained her health
after I was born. Many society ladies attend closely to their daughters’
upbringing, in hopes of making a good match later. Mother lacked the strength
to do so. Ordinarily, I suppose Guinevere would have been the one expected
remain with Mother and keep her company when the family went on holiday, or to
church, or outings at the park. But as Guinevere was the picture of health, and
I the sickly child, it fell to me instead.”
    “I’m having trouble picturing Niles raising a daughter,”
Griffin admitted.
    I shrugged. “He bought her whatever clothing or jewelry she
wished, arranged respectable company whenever she wanted to go visiting her
friends, and made certain she had the best tutors available. Even from
childhood, she always had a crowd of other society daughters around her.
Emulating her, for the most part. She was always the fashionable one, the beautiful
one, and all the other girls wanted her favor.”
    “I see.” A saloon door opened, the scarf of light spilling
out to touch Griffin’s face, revealing a thoughtful look.
    I eyed him uncertainly. “Do you find her beautiful?”
    Griffin’s mouth shifted into a grin. “She looks a great deal
like you, actually. You both have Heliabel’s eyes and mouth. Although your hair
is entirely your own.”
    I scowled and automatically touched my hair, which generally
stood up in spikes and refused to be tamed by any hair tonic created by man.
“How lucky for me,” I muttered.
    “And for me.” He shot me a wink.
    My cheeks warmed. He did rather enjoy running his fingers
through it, or clutching at the short locks while beneath me.
    I hastily diverted my thoughts, before my trousers grew too tight.
“I don’t know how Guinevere will react to your presence,” I cautioned him. “I
assume she’s taken a private room. If so, I’ll go in and speak to her first. If
she truly wishes my help, she’ll just have to accept you are part of the
agreement.”
    Griffin nodded. “This saloon…is it the sort of place she
would know about?”
    “I wouldn’t have known about it, at least not while I
lived in Whyborne House,” I said ruefully. “Although Guinevere wasn’t as
sheltered as everyone thought—I once found a book of, er, etchings a
friend had lent her.”
    “Rather explicit, I take it?” Griffin asked with a chuckle.
    “To say the least.” At the time, I’d been half shocked and
half aroused. “But youthful curiosity is entirely different from being familiar
with the less savory parts of town. Enjoying unchaperoned outings with youths
of the same social standing while in Newport is one thing. Consorting with the
sorts of persons we’re like to find near the docks is quite another. Stanford
might have come slumming, though. Perhaps she asked him?”
    “Perhaps,” Griffin murmured, but I could tell the detail
still troubled him.
    The saloon was indeed ramshackle, even for its kind. Close
to the wharf, it mainly served sailors and fishermen, and appeared every bit as
weather-beaten and rough as its clientele. Grime coated its windows so
thoroughly it was impossible to see inside. Only a faint glow escaped to show
there was any life within at all.
    The door hinges shrieked, apparently never having had oil
set to them. The architecture suggested it dated from the end of the last
century. It had probably never seen a