“Pair?” Alex echoed dully.
Viktor sighed. “Surely we don’t have to explain the birds and bees to you, do we?”
“No!” Alex’s cheeks burned. “But you make it sound as if Verity was a mail-order bride. It’s not like that. None of it is like that. We…we love each other.”
Julien stifled back a sigh. “Of course. Yes. How fortunate you must be, falling in love with the one other animal in your cage.”
“Julien!” I snapped, aghast.
He raked his fingers through his hair, mussing it. “You’ve no idea how exhausting I find his thoughts, Miss Thaumas.”
“Then why don’t you leave us for a moment,” I said, keeping my voice firm. It was not a question.
With a groan, Julien walked away, taking the boardwalk toward the water’s edge. Viktor followed, snickering. Alex waited until he was out of range before speaking.
“I don’t understand what’s happening, Verity.” His eyes were fixed on something in the distance. “I have brothers? And Father…Those things they’re saying…that you’re saying…those horrible things…”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ve wanted to tell you—for days I’ve wanted to tell you but…you’ve heard everything now. It sounds mad. And then they showed up…” I paused, my stomach churning.
Fat tears of gratitude fell down my cheeks as he slipped one hand around mine.
“I want to say I don’t believe it, but there they are, proof that something isn’t right, proof Father is hiding something.” He glanced at Viktor and Julien, who now sat on a fallen log, studiously trying to appear as though they weren’t watching us. A slow hiss escaped through his teeth. “And Mother…those are her sons. She couldn’t not know of them.”
“Just because she knows part of the story doesn’t mean she knows it all,” I said, trying to salvage any hope of finding a silver lining in this storm breaking over us.
Alex let out a painful laugh.
“Julien and Viktor want to go to the authorities. With everything we found in the study last night, they’ll have to imprison him.” I wasn’t sure if I meant it as a piece of information or a warning.
Reluctantly, he nodded.
“I’m so sorry,” I said in a rush. “I…I can’t imagine how you’re feeling right now.”
“Disgusted,” he allowed. “Heartsick. Betrayed. I…” He ran his fingers over his face. “I don’t know what to think. What to feel. Who to trust.” He stared at his brothers for a long moment. “I don’t…I don’t think Mother knew about…about the others.”
I bit my lip. “I’m sure the police will—”
“No,” he said firmly. “I don’t want her finding out like that. From strangers. Strangers who think her guilty of all…of all that. Verity, you can’t truly believe she would have stayed here, stayed with Father, if she’d known.”
“No,” I admitted, pushing back the memory that I’d feared she’d killed Constance herself.
He nodded, relieved.
“So what do you want to do?”
He sighed. “There must be a way we can find out what she knows before they…before they tell everyone.” His gaze lingered on Viktor uneasily.
“We could get her away from the house. Talk with her. We’re supposed to go into town tomorrow,” I mentioned slowly. My hands twisted into a tangle so tight my fingers tingled. “My last dress fitting.”
Alex’s eyebrows rose hopefully. “Do you think…do you think you could try to see what she knows? What she’ll admit to?”
“Don’t you want to confront her yourself? Hear what she has to say?”
“Father would think it odd if I were to come with you for a dress fitting…and she might be more open, more honest with you.” He took my hands in his, rubbing the feeling back into my fingers. “Please, Verity.”
I paused, unsure of how to go about uncovering such a well-kept secret, but Alex looked so painfully vulnerable, I couldn’t say no. “I…I’ll try.”
For a long, silent moment, we watched the waves dance across the pond.
“Brothers,” he finally said with wonder. “I have brothers.”
“Perhaps we should go over and get to know them more.”
Alex nodded but didn’t move. I stayed in place, willing to wait for as long as he needed.
“I feel as if I’m on the precipice of a cliff,” he murmured, keeping a careful eye on them. “The ground is starting to give way and it’s already too late to do anything. If I push myself back, it will just cause the plunge to happen sooner. But staying in place won’t save me either.”
“Then we fall together,” I promised.
“I’m sorry about before. I didn’t mean to suggest there’s something wrong with you. I just…This has caught me so completely unaware. I wish you had told me about it sooner. I don’t want us to ever keep secrets from one another.”
“I was worried what you’d think. It sounds mad.”
“The world is full of madness,” he responded, his eyes resting uneasily on his pair of brothers. “And if what they say is true…it’s far worse than I ever would have guessed.” He glanced at me. “It must be terrifying to see.”
“It is,” I said, recalling Kosamaras, her black tears, her gray fangs. Then I thought of Hanna, her cups of tea, her warm embraces. “And it isn’t. I’ll tell you more about it. I’ll tell you everything, I promise. Just…”
“After,” he supplied, then let out a laugh absent of amusement.
I brought his hand up to press a kiss across his knuckles. From his spot down the hill, Viktor watched on with dark, hooded eyes.
Alex was watching too. “I suppose we shouldn’t keep them waiting any longer. Shall we?”
Nodding, I followed after him.
* * *
“You’re going to talk to Dauphine?” Julien summarized after Alex and I had told the brothers our plan.
We were on the banks of the pond, Julien and Viktor still sitting on the fallen log while I stood next to Alex and his chair. A horse creature towered over us, its mane made up of fiery swirls. Gigantic scorpion-like pinchers jutted from its chest and a forked tongue slithered down, just feet above Viktor’s head.
I nodded. “We need to find out how much she knows. What exactly it is she’s culpable of.”
“And then?” Alex asked, looking back and forth between the two boys for a plan.
“And then we make them pay,” Viktor snarled.
“And then we go to the authorities,” Julien said, overriding his brother’s theatrical bloodlust. “We go into Bloem. We show them the evidence. They’ll have to search the house. They’ll find the jars. And whatever remains in the hedge maze.”
“And what comes after that?” Alex persisted. “If Father is imprisoned…when he is…he’ll no longer be duke. Will you stay here?”
“I doubt it,” Julien said.
“But you’re the oldest, apparently,” Alex murmured.