His Wicked Embrace novel Chapter 11

With a sly grin, he exited his chambers and called for a footman to fill the bath again. He also found one of the upstairs maids, a girl named Eva, to tend to Zehra for now while they searched for a proper maid.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs and entered his study, he skidded to a halt. Someone was sitting at his desk, looking over some papers. Avery looked up, and his expression was filled with disappointment, just as he'd expected.

"How the bloody hell did you get in here? MacTavish would've sent for me."

Avery scoffed. "Not likely, brother. If old MacTavish had heard me, I would not be fit for my duties."

Lawrence crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for his little brother, a damned spy of all things, to start lecturing him on morality.

"Well?" Avery asked expectantly, still seated at Lawrence's desk. The position of control had been put in Avery's favor, and Lawrence didn't like it one bit.

"Well, what?" he snapped back. Lord, sometimes Avery behaved just like their father. He was the only Russell child out of the entire brood who took after him. It made Avery their mother's favorite.

"Well, where is she? Your slave?"

"What slave?" Lawrence said. He saw no point in making this easy for him.

"The one you paid seven thousand bloody pounds for! That slave!" Avery's last two words dripped with a quiet outrage that shocked Lawrence. Lawrence was a bit of a bounder, he knew. Arguably the worst-behaved of the siblings now that Lucien had settled down. But surely Avery didn't honestly think he would actually stoop to buying a slave?

"She's not a slave," Lawrence growled. "I saved her. Your damned men arrived late-the blasted auction had already started. I couldn't let any of those men take her away. She would've been..." He refused to complete the sentence.

Avery's anger seemed to ebb. "Wonderful. So you took her to the Bow Street offices after you secured her safety?"

"No, but wait-"

Avery was on his feet and already on top of Lawrence. Avery shoved his brother hard against the wall.

"Where is she?" Avery bellowed.

The ease with which he had been subdued reminded Lawrence just how dangerous an agent of the Crown could be. He wasn't used to seeing this side of his brother, but after a moment of shock he recovered.

"Get your bloody hands off me or so help me-"

"You'll what?" Avery challenged, menace layering every word. Again, Lawrence was struck by this change in his brother's tone. He was like a damned vengeful god.

"Avery, what the devil is the matter with you? You know I'd never hurt a woman or..."

Avery hissed but let go of him and stepped back so he could pace the length of the study.

"I'm sorry, Lawrence. It's just...after what I've been through last night..." Avery's face changed, sorrow carved in his features. "We found bodies floating in the harbor. That was in part what caused our delay. They must have been the ones who died before the ship docked. The tides at the port have been washing them in. I can't close my eyes without imagining those poor women in their final hours..."

Grief and rage mixed in Avery's eyes as he focused again on Lawrence. For the first time, Lawrence allowed himself to feel the depth of the awfulness of what had happened to Zehra. The things she must've seen, things she must have suffered. His stomach turned. It had been worse than he'd even imagined.