They entered the house through the kitchen, which was empty. Rick crossed the room quickly, but paused when he noticed that Elsie was not with him. He turned back and saw her standing by the door. Suddenly, she darted forward and grabbed a handful of his coat to tug him toward the corner of the room.

“Elsie, what—?”

She flapped one arm frantically to shush him. “There are people here!”

The house had been so quiet on his last visit here that he wouldn’t be surprised to find it empty. Elsie had been tense since they reached the garden outside, but this was a bit much.

Just as he opened his mouth to reassure her, he heard a voice he didn’t recognize come from further inside the house. It was muffled, but the accent didn’t sound at all like someone from Windermere.

A woman who sounded much closer and clearer said, “Right away, sirs,” then entered the kitchen. It was the same maid who had led Rick to Henry before. She didn’t notice Rick and Elsie immediately, then jumped when she did. She yelped, but not loud enough for anyone outside the room to hear.

The maid looked fearfully at Rick. “Why have you brought her here?” she asked. She sounded reproachful, like Rick had wronged her.

Rick bristled a bit at her attitude. “You don’t sound pleased,” he said.

“Well, Henry hasn’t had a moment’s rest in weeks,” she sniffed. “The poor man doesn’t need all this trouble.”

“Lord Henry,” Rick corrected. The maid flushed and mumbled an apology.

Elsie paid them no mind. She was staring intently at the wall, in the direction of where Rick could faintly hear the intruders moving down the hall. Her head was cocked to the side.

Rick rolled his eyes at the sight. Like mother like daughter, he thought.

“Is my brother here?” Rick asked the maid.

“No, sir. He disappeared after those men barged in.” That got Elsie’s attention. She looked crestfallen.

“And who are they?”

“They haven’t said, sir.”

“Did Henry say anything? Do you know what these men might want?”

“Not a word.” Rick cursed, but the maid continued, “But… Lord Henry was in the library when they came.”

Might as well start there. Rick kept an ear out for the men who were searching the house and told Elsie to stay behind him. They made it to the library without incident, but Rick could hear them coming closer.

“How did the bastard manage to slip away?” One of them asked.

“Because your sword couldn’t block the chair he swung at you,” said another.

“What are you on about? I never saw him.”

One of the men scoffed. “Never saw him coming, more like.”

“Look at the size of the welt on his head, Jimmy. No wonder he doesn’t remember.”

In the library, the book Henry had been reading laid closed in front of the same chair Henry had occupied two weeks earlier. Rick made a beeline for it.

The cover read, “Dissolution of Elven Domain.” Rick flipped it open and found an unfinished letter bookmarking a page. The paper was folded haphazardly, and Rick had to unstick it from itself where the ink had bonded to both sides. It looked as if Henry had hastily hidden the letter in the middle of writing it. It was addressed to Marquess Julian.

Rick grabbed the letter and shoved it in his pocket. Henry’s signet ring lied next to the inkwell. Rick rolled his eyes. Of all things, Henry left that for the looters to make off with? Forgers were not a problem they needed right now. He pocketed the ring just as a large man with a sword on his belt entered the room. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Rick.

Elsie, again, hadn’t followed Rick far into the room. She was within arm’s reach of the other man. Rick reached for his knife, cursing his niece’s habit of lingering near doors.

The man opened his mouth to shout, but all that came out was a strangled noise. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fell to the ground. He slumped sideways, and Elsie had to jump back to avoid getting taken down with him.

Elsie frowned down at the body, but didn’t back away any farther.

Did she kill him?

Elsie looked at the door, then at Rick. “They’re coming back,” she said.

He could think about it later. Rick grabbed the book and and hurried to the door, skirting around the body on the floor. Rick didn’t have time to check if he was breathing, and he didn’t really want to know. He took Elsie’s hand and ran. They were spotted just reached a turn that would have hidden them.

“Oi!” one of the men shouted, then a few seconds later, “Jimmy? He got Jimmy!”

Rick and Elsie kept running until they reached the foyer. Rick pushed toward Elsie toward a ring of couches and armchairs and whispered, “Hide!” then waited next to the door, just out of sight of their pursuer, who ran through a moment later.

Rick tackled him, kicking the back of knee to make him crumple to the floor. Rick landed on top of him and twisted both of his arms into a hold at his back.

“Who sent?” Rick asked, a second too soon. Rick hadn’t gotten a good enough look at his face to know if he’d recognize him, but his uniform marked him as one of Count Seymour’s men.

The man groaned. “Count Seymour,” he said. He turned his head and squinted at Rick through the corner of his eye. “Wait, who are you?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Looking for Lord Henry. The count thought he might try something, but he ran off. Don’t know where.”

The count may very well have been right, but then what tipped him off? These men couldn’t have beaten them here unless they were sent before Elsie went missing.

Rick weighed the pros and cons of choking him out and just booking it. Knocking him out would get them a few minutes’ head start at best, and an eternity at worst.

The man beneath him started to struggle. “What—You’ve got the bloody girl with you?”

Rick looked up and saw that Elsie had come out of her hiding place and approached them.

The man hissed, “Stay away from me!” and nearly broke free of Rick’s hold.

“Elsie, get back,” Rick ordered, but she ignored him.

She stooped over them and reached out to brush the man’s hair away from his face. The man went limp, and his head smacked the floor so hard that Rick winced.

Rick released his grip and stood. “What did you do?” He asked.

Elsie smiled up at him. “I told him to sleep,” she said proudly. She took his hand and pulled him toward the door. “Are we going to look for Papa?”

Rick had planned to hand Elsie off and be done with it. He should have been on his way to the capital now—alone. The unconscious man on the floor had seen them, both of them. Rick was pretty sure another one—Jimmy—was dead. They though they had not recognized Rick, a simple description could go far, and the maid would probably talk anyway. Yes, they were going to look for Henry.