Sophia could hardly believe what she heard.

Nicholas must have seen her reaction for he said, "Do not start fantasizing that I am taking you to Whiston for myself, Sophia, for you will be there as a prisoner."

"Prisoner? Of whom, my lord? Yours?"

Sophia did not appreciate that she would have to deal with this along with worrying over Marcus.

"Of the Guards."

She arched a brow. "I was not aware you have grown a fancy for the service, my lord. You have said so yourself that you are not cut for such profession."

"Unless you have better things to say, do cease talking about things you believe you know about me." Warning filled his words. "You do not know what I am capable of, Sophia. You have not seen that side of me."

"The part that is willing to turn his back on anything for family?" she could not help but ask. "That is why you are taking me with you. You believe that I know everything about Osegod. You believe still that he is after your family and that I am a part of that plan."

He made certain she heard his feign sigh of relief. "Perhaps there is advantage to having been a fool to tell you everything. I no longer have to explain why you are not going back to Rock'oles."

Sophia turned her head away, pretending to be looking out the window when all she could see was darkness and a glint of light here and there. "I do wish you did not have to tell me everything," she quietly murmured.

"What did you say?" Nicholas asked, his every word stinging.

"Nothing, my lord," she said, realizing the tears were safely caged now and that she could carry on a long conversation with Nicholas without fearing to appear like a total fool and have him think she was merely acting.

For some, tears were a great powerful weapon, but for people who were expected to use them to manipulate, it was merely a subject for mockery and she was tired of his mockery for now. Now when her brother was in potential danger.

"You were saying something," he insisted.

"I was talking to myself."

"And what was that you spoke of?"

"As I have said, my lord, I was talking to myself."

"And as I have asked, what was it that you spoke of?"

"My conversations with myself are private," she snapped. Marcus could be out there somewhere dying and this man sitting across from her was wasting her time and energy because he hated her.

"You think you can lighten the mood by a witty quip?" he asked.

"My only desire at this moment, my lord, is to be back in Rock'oles. And if you know what is right, you will take me there. I am sure your driver has not forgotten where it is located."

Nicholas let the sound of the carriage wheels reign around them for a while before he uttered, "If you know what is right, Sophia, you will tell me everything."

"I have been telling you naught but the truth. You simply do not accept it for it does not suit your fancy." She gave Aabha a caress when the dog whimpered beside her. "Now, if you still wish to take me to Whiston, I cannot stop you for how can a blind woman ever find her way home from a place she had never been to before? But know, my lord, that you shall not get anything about Osegod from me for I have none to offer. Dare not think that taking me prisoner shall make me an obedient slave. I have been through worse."

"And you truly think I cannot provide you the same treatment you claim to have suffered in the past?"

Her eyes flickered toward him and found that she was still blind despite the burning anger inside her. One would have thought it would pave the way for even a slight vision. "Will you force yourself on me then? Strip me of my clothes and tie me to the bed? Strangle me with your bare hands while you ram yourself inside me until you are satisfied? And then you shall forget you have chained me and return three days later when you do remember that you have chained an animal to a bed?" Sophia could not help but scathingly throw each word across the carriage. "Or mayhap you are also thinking of sharing me with your friends?" She lifted her chin, caring not that the tears were absent, that the love she felt for him was taking a respite, replaced by the cruelty of their reality. "Otherwise, yes, I claim to believe you will not come close to the men who came before you. But should you wish to hear advice, do be free to find my uncle."

A very long and tense silence followed her monologue, but when Nicholas said in a low voice, "I could never forgive myself should I ever touch you again, Sophia," she realized words hurt far more than all the things she endured. But he would never know that for he no longer believed her.

Perhaps it was best to keep her silence after all.

*****

He was staring at her as she ate. They were inside a small room in a tavern in Haywood. Nicholas decided to take the longer route back to Whiston for he can no longer trust Sophia when she said she had never ventured anywhere outside Rock'oles.

Many things could have happened in a year. Durley could have taken her everywhere. Or she knew every corner of the Town all along. He could never know.

"You wish to ask more questions?" she asked as she wiped her lips with a napkin. "You have been staring at me for too long."

Nicholas blinked and cleared his throat.

No matter how he tried to take the images out of his mind, Nicholas could not completely do so. For as much as he hated Sophia, he cared enough that the thought of her having suffered the exact way she claimed almost made him want to shout an order to the carriage driver to drive them straight to her uncle. And when he was face to face with the man, he would wrap his hands around the man's throat without reservation.

He shook his head. Now was not the time to entertain pity. She may have beguiled him once with her play of innocent seduction, but he knew better now than to trust her when she was either being coy or haughty.

"Allow me to set one thing straight, Sophia," he said, leaning against his chair and crossing his arm over his chest in an attempt to act calm. She looked ravishing in the faint light of the room, her skin almost a hypnotizing hue of golden brown. "You do not speak unless I require you to. You answer my questions with total honesty and should I sense a sign of a lie, you will never set foot in Rock'oles ever again. You will not be missed in that place, I tell you, my dear. You will be gone forever and your dear Durley will not be able to do anything should he ever feel inclined to."

She slowly blinked as though she was in a trance and it infuriated him. He could not decide which he liked better: her sharp tongue in the carriage or her subservient act at the moment.

"Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Now," he said, "I want you to recall everything you know about any plans Durley and Osegod is concocting. Why did Durley suddenly disappear?"

She shook her head. "I have told you, my lord, I know nothing of their plans. I only know of the slave trade but that too I do no longer have any inside knowledge of."

"What does that entail?"

She shrugged and her gaze slanted away from him. "That I no longer serve as a messenger."

He cocked his head to the side. "Why do I find that hard to believe?"

Her eyes flashed with frustration but she quickly covered it with a sigh to calm herself. "After the ambush a year ago, I was freed of my task."

Nicholas' brows snapped. "Why?"

She shook her head and shrugged. "I simply was."

"You are lying."

"No, merely not mentioning unnecessary details."

Nicholas realized he did not know what happened to her after he left. What had become of her after that night? Why was she stripped of her task?

"Any detail is necessary. Tell me why you no longer serve as a messenger."

She smiled at him. "I found a different hobby."

Nicholas gaped at her. "A hobby?"

"Yes."

"And you think I will believe that Durley allowed you to do naught but spend your time on a bloody hobby?"

"It is a rather productive one, my lord. He likes the business side of it."

He stiffened. "You resorted to seducing more men, I see."

She simply shrugged and sighed. She stood from the table and found her way to the bed, stumbling once when her leg bumped against her bag. "I will not attempt to escape, my lord, and in return I wish for you to do me one favor."

Nicholas waited without a word.

"Should you receive word of Marc—Lord Durley's whereabouts or condition, I ask that you relay it to me."

Nicholas scoffed. "For all I know, Sophia, Durley's disappearance is merely a part of a plan to divert everyone's attention. Why would I tell you anything when I can simply wait until he comes for you?"

She stiffened at the foot of the bed.

"That is, of course, if he comes for you." He stood and walked to the door. "Your dog is sleeping with me in my room tonight. A precaution should you change your mind and escape."

*****

"Perhaps you do not know anything after all," Nicholas said the next day as they continued on their journey to Whiston.

He lay on bed awake all night, thinking of a way to make her spill everything she knew. Forcing it out of her did not work, but provocation might.

She moved her head, a gesture he knew too well as a sign that she was listening.

"Mayhap you are telling the truth that you don't know anything. Mayhap you are truly just a pawn in this game."

He watched as she drew in a deep breath. "Perhaps I am a pawn, my lord—a very important one."

Nicholas arched a brow. "Truly? You think too highly of yourself? Durley left you to be attacked."

She allowed a mocking smile and Nicholas gritted his teeth. What did that mean?

"Lord Durley will never leave me alone. If there is anyone I can trust to do anything for my safety, it is him. He will come for me."

Was she provoking him in return? Because it was almost working. Bloody tarnation!

"You mean to say because he is afraid you will tell me everything?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Would you care to elaborate? We have the entire day in this carriage. I can spare the whole of it to hear your words of love for the man."

Sophia just shook her head as though she found their conversation a bore.

"I will humor you," he insisted, wheedling her to speak. "Why do you believe your Lord Durley will do anything to come and rescue you?"

He saw her hand ball into a fist over her dress. It was only then that he realized she had missed a button in front. It was a new gown, after all. She had needed help getting dressed that morning and he did naught but yell at her to be fast. He shook his head and focused his gaze on her face. That, too, was a total mistake for he saw the play of too many emotions on her face.

Brushing aside the pity that was slowly overwhelming him, he focused on his advantage at that precise moment.

If he only knew, he would have made a mockery of her relationship with Durley earlier on to extract this reaction from her.

Bloody hell, she was in love with Durley! Why had he not thought of using that against her? He, of all people, had experienced what the emotion could push one to do or surrender to.

"You are devoted to him enough to have suffered the ton's ire in Theobald?" he coaxed further, watching her struggle to remain calm.

Her jaw tightened and she gritted out, "You might have forgotten, Nicholas, that I am blind. I do not see the stares and it is easier to ignore the whispers."

The sound of his name from her lips brought back memories which he immediately blocked away for they were of no use now.

"But you cannot say that you do not find them a bother. He paraded you for everyone else to gawk on, Sophia. For a woman who had a big role in the successful ambush of the Guards, you are not stupid and you know what the ton thinks of you. But you endured it, didn't you? All for the sake of your dear Lord Durley enjoying his time with his old friend, Osegod. You will do anything for him like he would for you." He laced his last statement with as much sarcasm he could muster.

Her eye twitch at the mention of Osegod's name. "Osegod is not Lord Durley's friend," she bit out. "He never was."

The intensity of her tone, the hatred laced in each word, made Nicholas frown.

And although she could not see it, he let out a sneer so as to collect the tone he desired for her to hear with his next words. "And you? What are you to Durley?" He clucked his tongue. "Ah, of course, the one who warms his bed at night and does all his bidding during the day?"

Finally he saw the full blast of her anger as she snapped her head toward him and glared. At that moment, he nearly thought she could see him clearly, see all the lies and insecurities he buried behind his tough façade.

Her nostrils flared with fury as she growled, "Enough of the filthy insinuations, my lord."

Nicholas forced out a mocking chuckle. "Come now, Sophia, you and I both know you are very skilled in bed. I have had my sample—"

"He is my brother, you bastard. Marcus is my brother!"