"I don't know. There are a number of questions to be answered. Among other things we must learn if there was any connection between Jeremy and Ringcross."
"You seem hesitant, Sebastian. What is wrong?"
He glanced back over his shoulder. "The question I am asking myself tonight is whether or not I wish to continue this investigation."
"I thought that might be it," Prudence said sympathetically. "I can certainly comprehend your reluctance to investigate a member of your own family."
Sebastian's mouth curved humorlessly. "Do not mistake me, madam. It is no concern of mine if Jeremy gets himself arrested for murder."
Prudence was shocked. "How can you say that? He is your cousin."
"So? Do you think that the scandal involved in having a Fleetwood arrested would bother me? Not bloody likely. It might be rather amusing."
"Sebastian, we're talking about murder here."
"Yes, we are, are we not?" Sebastian's smile could only be described as feral. "It would be interesting to watch that bitch Drucilla and the rest of my charming relatives get a taste of Society's brutal tongues."
"Sebastian, that kind of gossip would devastate that side of the family."
"Quite possibly. If Jeremy is arrested for murder, his mother would no doubt be banished from the ton. Society would turn its back on her just as it turned its back on my parents. It would be a most appropriate sort of justice."
Prudence shivered. "You cannot mean that."
"You think not?" The gold band on Sebastian's finger glinted in the candlelight as he continued to pet Lucifer.
"You are the head of the family, Sebastian," Prudence said very steadily. "You will do whatever is necessary to protect it."
He reached for her without any warning. He caught hold of her shoulders and held her still in front of him. "This family," he said through set teeth, "consists of you and me and whatever children we may be fortunate enough to have. I do not give a damn if all of the rest of those incredibly boring Fleetwoods hang."
"You cannot mean that. One cannot dismiss one's relatives simply because they are unpleasant or insufficiently amusing."
"I assure you that the Fleetwoods had no difficulty at all dismissing my parents out of hand."
Prudence framed his hard face between her palms. "Is it revenge you seek, then, my lord? If that is the case, why have you not already taken it?"
Sebastian's hands tightened on her. "You think I have not dreamed of doing so?"
"I don't understand. Your friend Mr. Sutton explained to me that you have it within your power to cut off funds to the rest of the family or even to get them all banished from Society. If you feel so strongly about punishing the rest of the Fleetwoods, why did you not exercise your power over them when you first came into the title?"
Sebastian's eyes gleamed. "Do not doubt for one instant that I will exercise all of the power I hold over my relatives if they ever push me too far. But until then they are safe, although they do not know it."
"Why are they safe?"
"Because I am bound by a promise. A promise I made to my mother as she lay dying."
Prudence was stricken. "I thought your parents and brother were killed in that fall of rock you told me about."
"I received word early in the evening of what had happened up in the mountains." Sebastian's voice was very distant. "I took a group of men from the village and went in search of my family. We reached the pass at midnight. We set up lanterns and started to dig through the fallen rocks and debris."
"Dear God, Sebastian."
"It was so cold, Prue. And there was a heavy fog. I will never forget the damned fog. We found them just before dawn. My brother first. Then my father. They were both dead. My mother was still barely alive. She lived until sunrise."
"I am so sorry," Prudence whispered. "I did not mean to resurrect such tragic memories."
"You may as well hear it all now. I have told no other living soul that the Fleetwoods are safe from me because with her dying breath my mother pleaded their cause."
"Your mother asked you not to take revenge against them?"
"She knew that someday I would inherit the title. And she guessed that when I did, I would use the power it would give me to punish the rest of the family for what they had done to my father and to her. She did not want that to happen. She said the family had been torn apart long enough."
"Your mother sounds as if she was a very kind and compassionate woman."
"She was. But I am neither kind nor compassionate and I confess there have been times when the temptation to ruin the Fleetwoods in a variety of interesting ways has been almost irresistible."
Prudence searched his grim face. "I can imagine."
"Unfortunately, the oath I gave my mother has restrained me as effectively as an iron chain. ‘Give me your word of honor that you will not cause the Fleetwoods any harm for what they did to us,' she said. She was dying. So I gave her my word. At the time it did not seem such a great thing. I had other, more important vengeance on my mind."
"What other vengeance?"
Sebastian's face was set in stark, inscrutable lines. "My only goal that day was to find the bandits who had been responsible for the rockfall. I was not thinking about Fleetwoods when I buried my family in those damn mountains. I was thinking about slitting the throats of those who had killed them."
Prudence stared at him. "You went after the bandits yourself?"
"I took some of the men from the village with me. They were willing to help. They had suffered enough from the bandits, themselves. What they had lacked was a leader who could provide a plan of action."
"You provided the leadership and the plan?"
"Yes." Sebastian moved away from her. He went back to the window and stared out into the darkness. "It took me less than a week to come up with a way to lure the bandits into the trap. They all perished in it, every last one of them. I killed their leader myself."
"Oh, Sebastian."
His hand clenched the edge of the windowsill. "I told him precisely why he was dying as he lay bleeding to death at my feet."
Prudence went over to Sebastian and wrapped her arms around him from behind. She leaned her head against his shoulder. "It was not your fault. Your father was an explorer. Journeys in wild lands involve great risks."
Sebastian said nothing.
"It is not your fault that he took that mountain pass, Sebastian. Your father was an experienced traveler. He chose to cross those mountains. He obviously assumed it was safe to do so. It was your father who made the tragic mistake, not you."
Sebastian still did not respond.
Prudence pressed herself closer to him. It seemed to her that he felt very cold. She had no more words. All she could do was share her warmth with him.
She held him tightly for a long time.
After a while she was aware that some of the tension had left Sebastian. He touched one of her hands that was clasped around his waist.
"Now you know the reason why I have never taken real vengeance against the Fleetwoods," he said quietly.
"I see. But Sebastian, what will you do about the investigation? Surely you will not walk away from it."
"No," he said. "I admit that I am curious now. I want to learn the answers."
"I knew it," Prudence said with satisfaction. "I knew you could not just abandon the case."
"But I have not yet decided what I will do with the answers that I discover," he added softly.
"Sebastian."
"Calm yourself, Prue. I will not turn the evidence against Jeremy over to Bow Street. That would be a violation of my oath to my mother. But neither am I under any obligation to protect Jeremy if Bow Street discovers its own evidence."
Prudence eyed him uneasily. "This sounds like another of your cat-and-mouse games that everyone says you enjoy playing with the Fleet-woods."