Today's Reading

"What's his name?"

Howe grumbled and gave one firm shake of his head. "The dog, man. What's the dog's name?"

"How the bleedin' 'ell should I know?"

The debate in Drake's mind took only a moment. As soon as he considered Helen's opinion on the matter, there was no question.

He turned and sprinted through the house and out the back again. The dog snapped its head up and looked shocked to see him.

"I may not have solved the case tonight, but I can get you a decent meal."

He used a rock to bash the lock that kept the dog tethered to the townhouse's wall and then walked him through the townhouse by the broken chain. The hound hunched low as he walked, as if trying to be furtive, fearful of whatever lurked within the pristine walls.

"You won't ever see him again," Drake told the dog. "I can promise you that much."


CHAPTER ONE

The Prince family's townhouse near Mayfair,
London October 6, 1896

"I'm sorry, little sister."

The words came while Alexandra Prince was in the midst of packing. Or rather the tornado of it. Never having ventured much further than the city, she'd had no idea what to bring and most of the clothes she owned lay strewn across her bed.

But it was all for nothing. There'd be no journey.

Her brother sounded genuinely forlorn, but it didn't dull the sting. Didn't make her chest feel any less hollow.

"Mr. Van Arsdale only wants Eve and me, and his letter didn't arrive until today."

Allie kept quiet, pressing her lips together. Her heart ached—a real searing pain in the center of her chest—and she knew that the moment she said anything, she'd cry. Then Dom would feel worse and try to comfort her. And she couldn't think of anything she wanted less than pity.

"You know how long it takes for post from America." Dominic flicked the letter against his palm as if annoyed with the single sheet of thick linen stationery. "Why the hell couldn't he have sent a telegram?"

"It's all right, Dom." She forced the four words out and a tear immediately slipped down her cheek, warm and unwanted. She swiped it away quickly.

"Eve and I wanted you to join us. Do not doubt that." The edges of his mouth curled in a grimace and his jaw tensed the way it always did when frustration bore down on him. He cast his gaze over her clothing-strewn bed, and she thought she caught a glassy look in his eyes.

Allie turned her back on him because her own tears wouldn't stop now that they'd started.

"I'll see you in the morning, and we can talk about the other matter," he finally said softly. "Please know how sorry we both are."

"I know."

Once he'd gone, Allie slumped onto her bed, not caring if she crushed her new traveling dress. Pressing a fist to her mouth, she tried to hold in the frustration welling up, but it did nothing to stem the tears. A good cry and she could move past this. It wasn't as if it was a great surprise.

They were going, and she was staying behind. That was how it had always been.

She'd been foolish to believe it could be otherwise, even if Eveline and Dominic had been eager to bring her on this expedition. Mr. Van Arsdale, the American collector financing their venture, had no reason to include her. She had no expertise in Viking antiquities. Or Anglo-Saxon ones for that matter.

He'd hired the two Princes best suited to the expedition.

And once again, Allie didn't quite fit, and that was familiar at least. She'd long felt that she didn't fit in her famous family.

Oh, she had no doubt of her siblings' love. Nor her mother and father's while they were alive. Her mother had been quite doting. And in the long line of their history, the Princes were known for the solidity of their familial bonds.

But they were also known for their exploits, and that's where Allie came up short.
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