Three years ago...

Ralph watched as the beautiful lady in blue moved stealthily through the stream of gowns and suits. He knew he ought to try to follow faster but instead he paused and stared at her with awe. There was something about her that was beyond enchanting.

She moved not gracefully like the other ladies, but fast and certain—almost alert.

Which made it more so exciting.

Ralph smiled to himself. He was certain she saw him and he was quite sure she knew he was watching.

She was trying to escape.

But not fast enough, he thought as he started to move.

*****

Alex could not believe that she had expected to be warmly welcomed when she began her journey to Whiston.

Whyever did she think that Ysabella and Emma's brothers would want to offer her a seat and listen to her words?

She ought to have known better. This was a shame!

To be tied down and shoved into his brother's carriage, to be ordered to be silent for nearly an hour as they traveled to another estate, was torture. She could hear her cousins laughing at her fate by the time Ralph Everard pulled her out of the carriage and into this estate which did not look as grand as Whiston.

In fact, she thought it dreary.

Unlike Whiston, Beechworth did not have a plantation. It did not have its own hole, thus the lighting was shamefully lacking. Or perhaps he liked it that way?

A footman followed them up the second landing, to the east wing and into a large bedchamber.

Alex knew they would not be using the bed. She did not fear it. The bloody bastard did not even recognize her. He did not have the same hunger and enchanted look in his eyes many years past.

In his eyes now, she was a bandit who could be lying to him to extort money. Or worse, he might consider her amongst his many enemies for it would not be truly surprising if Ralph Everard had any.

Considering what she knew about his family, Alex was certain that the Forest Lady was an integral part of something that concerned the entire Everards. And if that were so, she was somewhat willing to be a part of it.

But not this way. Not while she was tied and treated like a bloody prisoner.

She would give the man a few minutes, but if he was to ever prolong this charade, she would have to find a way to attack him again.

He led her to a chair while the footman closed the door behind them, leaving the two of them behind.

Alex slumped into the chair while her hands slowly worked at the knots behind her.

Ralph stood before her, intimidating and fearless. If she knew him any less, she might be shaking with fear. But she knew enough about him to meet his gaze with equal measure of stubbornness and pride.

"From the start," he said without elaborating on his order.

Alex sighed. "I found Forest Lady—"

"Who?"

"Forest Lady, guv," she said. "I told ye, I dinna know her name, see? She deserved one so I call her Forest Lady."

He stared at her for a moment, his emerald green eyes studying her intently. He nodded but said, "Start from before you found her. Where were you? What were you doing and why did you end up in the Dark Forest?"

"Ack," Alex half-groaned, half-whined. "I was runnin' away."

"From?"

"Guards."

His bristled jaw stretched into a knowing smile. He scoffed. "Of course. Who else?" She shot him a darting look. "Which part of the Town are you from? Which bandit group?"

She shook her head. "Nae, I'm not tellin' ye, guv."

He shrugged. "Very well, then, why were you running from the Guards?"

She let out a mocking gasp. "I was runnin' away from a bloody ball 'cos my fairy godmother said me gown's gonna turn back into rags and me mice friends are—"

"Bloody hell, bandit, enough with the mockery!" he gritted out.

Alex rolled her eyes. "Then stop askin' stupid questions, Guard! Ye know why bandits run from Guards."

"You robbed another carriage."

"Nae, we tried te robbed 'em."

His face contorted in disbelief. "The bloody Guards."

She sighed. "Blame me bleedin', useless cousins, guv. They pick the carriages, not me."

He brushed the topic off with a wave of his hand. "So you were running from the Guards."

"Aye."

"And you went into the Dark Forest to hide."

"I might've, aye."

He frowned again. "Might have?"

"If I was plannin' to hide in the Dark Forest, I would'na tell ye! Do ye think me stupid to reveal me hidin' place?"

"Then let us say you were just passing by the Dark Forest," he said, his face clearly painting a dying patience.

She shrugged again. "I might've, aye." When impatience flickered across his eyes, she wryly added, "Look 'ere, guv. Ye wanna know where I found her. I found her in the Dark Forest. She was runnin' away from someone, see?"

"Who?"

"I'll give ye their names if I know, guv, which I don't. Are you sure yer a Guard? Yer sisters must've misinformed me."

He drew in a long breath, his attempt to be patient. Alex, on the other hand, was being successful with her struggle with the binds.

"Now tell me exactly how you found her."

"I looked 'round when I heard a noise and found her on the ground. I went te her and realized she was bleedin' from the back. She was shot, guv." She saw him close his eyes. "And she started talkin', see. She said te help her and the other woman and her baby. And she wanted me te find Nicholas Everard."

His eyes opened and this time he seemed more composed. Bloody hell, he was still handsome. "What other woman?"

She shook her head. "That's all she was able te say before she lost her life in me arms."

Ralph Everard began to pace in front of her. "What did you do after that?"

"I mounted her on top of me horse."

He raised his brows expectantly. "And?"

"More Guards arrived and found me. Chased me and I was forced te go back into the forest te hide. I waited until they left, those bleedin' idiots. Bringing a lamp into the Dark Forest, that they did!"

"But the animals would have—"

"That's what precisely what happened, guv! As I said, bleedin' idiots."

Ralph rolled his eyes. Alex suddenly grew curious as she watched him continue pacing in the middle of the room. "Who was she?"

He shook his head. "No one." He was obviously lying. He paused and looked at her again. "And where did you take her after?"

"Home, 'cors."

"And where is home?"

"Somewhere where Guards are bein' ripped to pieces, that's where," she snapped.

He easily ignored her statement this time. "What did you do with the body?"

"Burned it," she said with a shrug. "She deserved a burnin' ritual."

She did not expect the fury that erupted in his face. "You burned it!"

"Ye dinna expect us to eat that woman, didya?"

His face reddened further. "There could have been evidence!"

Alex stared at him, stupefied. "Pardon me, guv, but I'm no Guard. I'm a bleedin' bandit whose first thought was give the poor woman her well-deserved ritual. Who would've thought to give her body a bleedin' inspection! 'Twas filled with wounds and bruises, guv. She had suffered enough." When he merely cursed under his breath, Alex scoffed in disbelief. "She's not as important to ye as I've first thought, is she?"

Something crossed his eyes. Was it guilt? Alex could not exactly point out for he immediately replaced it with indifference.

"Are you certain she did not tell you where the other woman was? The one she spoke of?"

It did not take a while before Alex finally made a conclusion. And she gasped further in incredulity and she did not cover her contempt when she said, "Oh God, ye only want the other woman!"

"No, I want—"

"Ye don't even care about the babe, do ye, guv? Ye want the other woman! Why?"

*****

Ralph Everard opened his mouth to reply but Alex suddenly jumped to her feet, glaring at him.

"Bleedin' hell! She's the bride, isn't she? The one mentioned on the Herald. The one who ran away. But she dinna run away, did she? Who would run away from an Everard, eh?"

He blinked, quite surprised that a bandit bothered to read the Herald.

Alex walked toward him and dug her finger into his chest, her eyes blazing with anger. "Ye care only fer yer brother's bride. Ye dinna care about the child!"

Ralph opened his mouth again but Alex walked away and whirled around, her hands on her hips.

The sight of her made him snap back to the present and he suddenly jumped to get a hold of her when he realized she had successfully unbound herself.

Bloody tarnation!

But before he could reach her, she had lifted the chair over her head with both hands, her eyes narrowed. "Don't make me attack ye, guv. 'Tis gettin' tedious."

Ralph's jaw dropped in disbelief. His mind was currently torn between alarm and amusement. Alarm for he knew she could do worse with that chair; amusement because she looked like a bloody pretty child incapable of such great strength.

He was certain he hated bandits, but he was not one to not agree that this one was bloody entertaining, if not threatening.

"You are impossible," he said, giving up. He walked to the door and she turned, following him with a curious look on her face, the chair still over her head.

"Yer not goin' te fight me?" she asked.

Ralph shook his head. "No," he said, pulling the door open. And then a triumphant smile broke his lips. "Because yer lock in here, ye bleedin' bandit!" He then slipped through the door and closed it before the chair crashed against the hard wood when she flung it across the room with the intent to kill him. "Do be sure to be a good girl, eh?" he cried at the door, copying her tone. "I'll be back soon and when I do, be sure te be ready fer more questions!"

"You bleedin' bastard! Ye'll pay fer this!" she shouted from inside the chamber.

Ralph shrugged and turned. Then his face turned serious as she bounded down the corridor and down the stairs.

"Do not go anywhere near that chamber," he ordered his footman as he rushed across his hallway.

He ought to go to Margaret fast.

*****

Alex waited until her fury mellowed down and she was able to think clearly.

It was wrong to have allowed Ralph Everard to take her here. She ought to have escaped out of the carriage. Or better yet, she ought to have just ridden on the horse she allowed to escape from the stable in Whiston!

Looking around and having tried the door, she realized that the only way for her to escape was through a bloody window.

She went to one and realized it was facing a stone wall. She walked to the other one and realized it was directly looking down on the grounds. She looked ahead and found that it was not too far from the entrance to the driveway of the estate.

Should she risk it?

As she formulated her plan, she heard a very familiar sound and her head snapped up. Narrowing her eyes, Alex saw a familiar black form galloping back and forth outside the estate. She smiled.

Ah, my wise friend.

Perfect!

She simply needed to make a rope then!

*****

His older sister, Margaret, fell back into her winged chair before Ralph could even finish what he was saying. Her face had gone white and her hands shook as she placed her fingers over her lips in shock.

Her husband, Lord Cole Devitt, stood by her side although he stayed silent, as shocked as his wife.

"Are you quite certain?" Margaret shakily asked.

Ralph sighed. "I cannot entirely place by faith on the bandit, of course, but that is what I was told. The story seems rather believable, do you not agree?"

Margaret's eyes were already filled with unshed tears. "She is dead."

Her husband placed a hand on her shoulder. "It is not your fault, Meg."

She shook her head. "It is! It is when I was the one who told the League about her and the child!"

"And she would have died sooner if you did not."

"No! She would have disappeared to another town like she always did. She would have taken another name and she would still be alive!"

"She went with the League willingly, Meg."

The tears finally fell as Margaret stood to her feet. "She went because she was threatened. She went because her child was taken. She went because she was promised safety from Osegod!" She turned away and wiped her eyes. Cole and Ralph stood helplessly as they waited for Margaret to compose herself. "They were taken away from right under the League's noses and merely months later she is dead." When she turned, her face looked determined. "And the child?"

Ralph shrugged. "She did ask for help. I assume that if the bandit's story is true, then Sophia was kept in the same place where Aurora and her child were." He looked into his sister's eyes. The tears were still there, but so was the strong woman she had become. She was not a member of the League of Founders if she would crumble in despair over what she had done.

But Ralph also knew that it could be worse. The despair could be worse. His sister may not show it, but he could merely wonder how much she was struggling inside. Margaret had always been an expert on hiding her personal struggles.

"And if it were true that Aurora and the child had been with Sophia, then we need no further doubt as to the identity of the person behind our sister-in-law's disappearance." When Margaret simply stared at him, lost in her own thoughts, Ralph stepped forward. He met Cole's eyes. If there was anyone who could console his sister now, it would be her husband.

Cole turned to her wife. "Meg, the child could still be alive."

"How can we be certain? He had been hunting Aurora for years because of the child, Cole! If not for the child, that woman would not have gone through what she did!" Margaret asked, turning frantic again. "And how does that change the fact that we did this to them? I did this to them!"

Cole sighed. "Mayhap it is best you leave us be for a while, Ralph."

But Ralph did not move. He waited until his sister composed herself. She squared her shoulders and took the courage to look at him. "How is Nick?" was her question.

She was asking whether or not he told Nicholas for it was their brother who had always disagreed on what Margaret did to Aurora and it seemed that it had always bothered their sister. "He does not know about Aurora, but he is not very well. This news shall not do him good." She nodded and a tear fell from her eye. "Which is why we must find Sophia, Maggie. And we cannot do so if you bury yourself in guilt." His sister's jaw clenched. "Aurora did what she did to protect her child. You did what you did to protect us all. If someone is to carry the blame, then it should be all of us. But furthermore, it is Osegod. At the very least do keep that in mind."

Margaret stiffly nodded. "I shall make inquiries."

Ralph nodded. "Please do so. I cannot trust anyone in the Guards at the moment after what happened."

Cole frowned. "How so?"

"It is too much of a coincidence, do you not think? The bandit said the Guards were inside a carriage when they tried to rob it." When Margaret simply frowned, he said, "No Guards rode on carriages when they venture outside their respective stations." He placed his hands in the pockets of his breeches. "And when the bandit attempted to carry Aurora from the Dark Forest, more Guards came chasing." He watched realization fall on husband and wife. "And when the bandit came to Whiston to deliver Aurora's message, the Guards appeared."

Cole drew in a long breath. "Why were they traveling in a carriage as far as the Dark Forest?"

"And why did they bother to follow the bandit?" Margaret added.

Ralph smiled. "The answer lies with the bandit, who else?"

*****

As Ralph strode up the stairs, he asked the butler, "Where is she?"

"Still inside the chamber, my lord. We kept our distance as you ordered."

Good.

He made a sharp turn to the east wing up to the bedchamber where he locked the bandit.

He waited until the butler managed to unlock the door.

When it swung open, he saw the remnants of the chair she threw earlier on the floor. But there was no remnant of a bloody bandit.

He sharply turned to the butler who stammered, "I-I swear we did not—"

"Bloody tarnation!" Ralph shouted as he found a makeshift rope out of bedclothes and curtain cords tied on one post of the bed. He followed its trail through the window and down. Lying on the windowsill was a note.

Bye, guv!

"Bloody tarnation!"