Love And Honour (Book 2)

Chapter XXVII

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Hunter pulls his hood up over his head, encasing his face in darkness as he slips through the manor bathed in fresh morning light. He stops outside of Gethin's room and pushes. A disgruntled frown grows on his face. He turns the door handle but it jolts to a halt before it can completely rotate. Hunter glances up and down the hall and kneels down. Hopefully this lock will not be as complicated as the locks in the dungeons. He fiddles around and hears a little click. He takes another quick look down the hall and listens out for footsteps. No one is nearby. He turns the handle and this time he is able to slip within. He locks it behind him in case anyone decides they need to test the doors.

Then he stands up and looks around the room. The curtains are open and as much as Hunter wants to close them, he cannot. It may just raise the alert if someone knew they were previously open and see they are not from outside. He will just have to avoid allowing his figure to be seen. He moves over to the chest of drawers and pulls them all out. He places them all on the bed. Rummaging through, he finds nothing of any interest. Just clothes and a few trinkets. Hunter sighs after checking the sixth draw.

This is getting him nowhere.

Surely Gavriel could have asked around. He could have asked so many more questions without seeming suspicious. And yet he asked Hunter to do it. Told Hunter he must. Surely, he thinks, he could have looked through his own brother's possessions; he would have noticed anything out of place. Hunter does not even know what he should be looking for. There is not going to be a sign that reads evidence, whether towards a guilty or innocent verdict.

The clothes are no longer folded neatly but crumpled and thrust back into the drawers. Hunter knows he should clear up his presence but he is tired and highly irritated. He kneels by the drawers and looks inside the hollow wooden frame, now empty of its purpose. A bound leather book is right at the back and Hunter stretches his arm in and retrieves it. Turning it over in his hands there is nothing unusual about it. It looks like any other book. But it was hidden. That is strange.

To hide it the drawers must have been pulled out. This is not somewhere most would think to look. Hunter only did so that he was thorough. He weighs it in his hand, his lips thinning out as he presses them together. Half of him did not wish to find anything. Half of him thinks that Gethin is guilty. Half of him knows that he is innocent. All of him wants him to be guilty. If Gethin is guilty then Logan is completely safe. If he is not...

If he is not guilty then Logan could be at risk.

It would be all Hunter's fault.

Hunter's arguing mind has him completely and utterly occupied, his back to the door. He does not hear someone kneel down and pick the lock. He does not hear them succeed, much quicker than he did. The door slowly opens. Then it closes, not making a sound. Then the door is once again locked. The open window is noted and avoided.

Hunter thumbs the pages and closes his eyes, a long sigh falling from his mouth. Finally deciding he flips open the first page and sees messy slanted writing. There is a date at the top. It dates back several years. Hunter flips through until he reaches one dating back a month. It has been written hastily and it only gets worse down the page. Hunter groans and considers whether he really needs to decipher it. He could just hand it over to Gavriel. He could take it from there. However, he would always be wondering. Could he really trust Gavriel to do the right thing? He could need this as assurance.

Hunter slips it into his cloak and turns. He frowns. Something does not seem right. His eyes drift across the room. Nothing has been moved. But yet his gut warns him that something has changed. The door is shut and Hunter quickly checks it. Still locked. His skin prickles. Now he is sure he is being watched. His hand slips inside his cloak and hovers over his favourite dagger. Sharp, deadly and extremely thin it is. They would not feel it going in but the moment he withdrew it they would suffer. He hesitates. What if it is just one of the maids?