The next two days felt longer than any week they both had ever lived through. Even longer than when they were running from Crane’s n. At least during those tis, they could fight, plan, run. But now all they do could was wait.
Alina spent her afternoons with the won from sewing circle like everything was normal. They kept teasing her about their marriage and Alina kept deflecting. But her mind kept drifting back to Holloway’s words. Every ti soone older walked past her, she found herself wondering:
How long have they been at Ravenmoor? Could it be them?
Austin was the sa as well. He attended etings, reviewed reports, doing all the work a duke must do. But at night, when they were alone in the room, he would sit at his desk with old ledgers and docunts spread around him. He kept reading the sa docunts over and over, looking for sothing he might have missed.
"I keep looking at everyone differently now," Alina said on the first evening.
"So do I," he replied.
"I hate suspecting people I’ve lived with for months."
"Just one more day," Austin said. "And we’ll have the na."
The next day, Alina visited Cecily. She brought her favourite honeycake and played chess. But Alina kept making mistakes.
"You’re distracted today," Cecily observed.
"Just tired."
"You’re a terrible liar."
Alina wanted to tell her that tomorrow they might finally know the na of the person who tried to kill her. And with that she could finally step outside and be free after five years. But she stopped herself. She didn’t want to give Cecily hope unless they had a na. She knew false hope could hurt worse when it failed.
"I love you, Cecily," she said suddenly.
Cecily raised her brows.
"Well...I wasn’t expecting you to say that over a ga of chess."
Alina smiled.
"I just wanted to," she replied.
"I love you too," Cecily said. "Now can you please focus on the ga?"
"Get ready to lose then!"
On the third day, Austin and Alina rode back to Holloway’s village. The journey this ti felt shorter, but much heavier.
Finally they reached the cottage and knocked at the door. But the door was already open. They stepped inside and found Holloway sitting at a small wooden table with papers spread in front of him.
His daughter was nowhere to be seen. He had managed to send her away.
Instead of greeting them, Holloway pushed the papers towards Austin.
"I’ve written everything I rember in these papers," he said.
Austin glanced at the papers.
"And the na?" he asked without reading them.
"Before I tell you the na, you need to understand sothing," he sighed. "That person wasn’t always what they are right now. When your father was alive, they believed they were helping won by moving won from difficult hos to better ones."
"But that’s not true," Austin argued.
"Yes," he nodded. "It was business. And by the ti they realized that, they were already too deep. The network doesn’t let people go. You either serve it or else it destroys you."
"Who is that person?" Austin asked.
"You trust him," Holloway replied. "He helped your father design the network. When your father died, he took over the Ravenmoor side of the operation."
"Who?" Austin asked again, his voice becoming impatient.
"Lord Ashby."
The sa Lord Ashby who sat in the library every day. The sa man who had been the first person to speak gently to Alina when she arrived. The sa man who had guided her toward the eastern territory books. The man who had seed to know things about her that no one else did.
They both froze.
"It’s impossible," Austin muttered. "How can it be? Lord Ashby is one of the most loyal nobles of Ravenmoor."
"I know it must be difficult for you to believe it. But it’s true," Holloway replied. "The person working with your father and the one who goes by M.Voss is Lord Ashby."
For a few minutes, they both just stared at Holloway as if they hadn’t heard the words correctly.
Lord Ashby was the man who had taught him history as a child. The man who was there for him at every mont of his life and the man whom Austin trusted blindly.
Beside him, Alina had gone pale. mories rushed through her mind one after another. The first conversation in the library, the books Ashby had guided her toward, the advice and the warm smiles.
She had thought he was kind and actually cared for her like his daughter but she had been wrong. He wasn’t helping her. He was managing her.
Soon, their disbelief turned into anger and anger turned into betrayal.
"The fire," Austin murmured. "Is he responsible for the fire as well?"
"I believe so," Holloway replied. "The unusual paynts before Cecily’s fire were made from Ashby’s access to the accounts."
"Why Cecily?" Austin shouted. "She was a child. Why would he want her dead?"
"I’m sorry. But I don’t know the details," Holloway replied.
Austin stood up.
"It’s ti. It’s ti for him to pay for his cris, for every life he had ruined, and for every lie he had hidden behind his warm smile."
"Be careful, Your Grace," Holloway said. "He is not as kind and innocent as he seems. The fact that he had been running this operation for decades with no one having any idea about it...tells you how dangerous he actually is."
They left the cottage soon after. The ride back to Ravenmoor was unexpectedly quiet. They didn’t know what to say anymore. Austin for years had been trying to find the person responsible for the fire. He had a lot of suspects. But Lord Ashby wasn’t in the list. Not even in his thoughts.
Lord Ashby wasn’t just any random noble after all. The more Austin thought about it, the worse it felt.
"Do you think he knows about Cecily?" Austin asked. "That she is alive?"
"Honestly...after this revelation I don’t know what’s true and what’s not anymore. Lord Ashby was the first person I trusted in Ravenmoor." Alina replied.
"For five years, I searched for the man who ruined my sister’s life," Austin said after a minute, his grip tightening around the reins. "I never imagined I’d been shaking his hand every single day."
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