Chapter 26

Alex wasn"t certain who was more horrified in the telling of the forged letter, himself or Sean, but by the time they reached the docks it was pushed from his mind entirely.

Seeing the truth for himself—the India Rose sat proudly within the harbor—out of the window, all he could think about was getting the resources to remove himself from his role as the devil lord for good.

Once he had his freedom, he would go to the ends of the earth to discover where Emmaline had gotten to. She was a wayward soul just as he was, likely she had just wandered off to find somewhere quiet to think. He even pictured her in his mother"s garden having dozed off against the willow tree where she liked to sit.

It was comforting and it gave him the energy he needed to throw himself from the carriage immediately upon its stopping.

"You there!" he called, recognizing one of the men already unloading the ship. "Where is your captain?"

But he never caught the answer as Lorraine—hanging out of the carriage—yelled, "Alex, look!"

Following his sister"s finger through the usual crowd upon the dock, Alex"s skin crawled. Making their way from person to person, their faces pale, were three of the Moreau siblings. He recognized Jane well from her visits to the house, the brothers less so.

But their family ties were all unmistakable as they all looked alike and they all looked quite panicked indeed, flitting from dock worker to dock worker with what appeared to be handheld painted portraits, one a locket, the others a pocket portrait.

"Stay here!" Alex ordered his sister before he growled at Sean, "Watch her!"

Then, Alex began to make his way through the crowd. "Make way! Make way!"

He shoved several men out of the way, shouldering an old fish monger. Another man turned on him, looking as if he were about to start a confrontation. His eyes widened and he backed off upon seeing Alex"s face. His scars were at least useful for some things.

"Lady Jane!" Alex called when he got closer.

As if she recognized his voice, the young woman turned, relief washing over her. Alex didn"t think he had ever seen a woman so pleased to see him. "Your Grace!"

The two met at the very center of the crowd and when Jane reached for him, Alex instinctively took hold of her hands to help steady her. She was shaking terribly.

"What is the matter?"

Jane"s face turned gray then as if there was no blood left in her. "Where is Emmaline? Is she with you?" She looked around Alex, her gaze filling with hope.

He shook his head. "I had hoped she might be with you."

"Oh, Your Grace," Jane cried, and Alex felt his heart shattering. "Someone has taken her!"

"Who? Jane? Who has taken her?" Alex demanded, shaking the woman out of sheer desperation.

The woman shook her head. "I do not know. He wore a mask."

Bile rose in Alex"s throat. It was then that her brothers joined them, almost the spitting image of each other.

"I saw him from my bedroom window. He was a huge beast of a man. Bald and frightening," the younger of the two, Victor, explained. Jane nodded in agreement.

"Did you see him?" Alex asked, turning to Sebastian. His gut was already giving him a good sense of the man Victor described.

Sebastian shook his head even as Jane whimpered, "He smelled terrible, like he hadn"t washed in weeks."

And that, in Alex"s mind, confirmed his suspicions. Suddenly, everything started to add up. It had been Frederick who handed him Emmaline"s note, Frederick who had told him to let her go, Frederick's man Tiny who had taken her.

"Where is your father?" Alex demanded. Their faces then did not give him much hope.

"We had hoped to find him here," Sebastian said.

"Have you seen him?" Jane asked anxiously. Alex shook his head.

"All of you, come with me," he ordered, gripping Jane by the arm to bring her back the way he had come. The others didn"t seem stupid enough to order that he unhand their sister, and instead they scurried after her, the crowd parting like the red sea.

"Your Grace, where are we going?" Jane whimpered.

"You, Lady Jane, will be escorted home by my man and my sister," Alex said in earshot of the both of them as he shoved Jane toward the carriage. He did not have time for arguments. The devil was upon him and this time his aggression was real.

He turned to Victor and Sebastian and said, "The two of you are coming with me."

The nervous looks that passed between the brothers told Alex one thing; they would do exactly as he told them.