This house had stood on this land for two and a half centuries. He suspected that the sacred grove had been here just as long as had the other gardens, groves, and orchards. There must be records somewhere.

  Orion settled behind his father's desk and began rifling through the drawers, and found nothing but ledgers, parchment, quill tips, ink…nothing of significance that offered any answers. Settling back into the worn leather chair, he studied the room, then the books on the shelves. “There have to be records. Or secrets hidden away here somewhere,” he mumbled to himself.

  Would they even be in here or was the information he needed secreted away with his mother and aunts?

  “The vault!”

  Orion stood so suddenly that he suffered a moment of dizziness then took the lamp from the desk, strode out of the library, and down the long corridor until he reached the end of the hall. Slowly, he opened the door and stared down into the dark abyss. One could not venture below without lighting the torches along the wall or taking a lamp. As a child he had been too scared to go down alone, afraid that the stairs led down to Tartarus and would be filled with torment and suffering, but also wondering if there were Titans imprisoned below.

  Their ancestors had come from Greece, and each child had been taught the history of what others considered mythology. By the time Orion was ten, it did not seem unreasonable that their family could have a staircase that led to Tartarus, though his cousin Simon Cardwell hoped to find dragons.

  Then, one night when all the families were in residence, and each boy was feeling brave, the cousins decided to journey below. They were armed with lanterns and swords as they crept down the stairs. Once they had reached the bottom, the boys carefully made their way to the center of the room, formed a circle with their backs to the others, lifted their lanterns and held out their swords ready to slay anything that may try to harm them. They were also overwhelmingly disappointed.

  “Wine!” Damon exclaimed. “This is where they keep wine?”

  There had been, and Orion assumed there still was, a rather impressive amount of wine housed on shelves in a vault that seemed to run rather deep.

  “But what is in there?” Pierce asked.

  They had all turned and noted another arched entry. Except this one was filled with metal, including the metal door. Pierce approached and tried to open it, but it was locked.

  For years they speculated on what could be behind that door and each time they were at Nightshade Manor on holiday, they tried to enter at least once, but were never successful. Eventually they gave up and until tonight, Orion had nearly forgotten about its existence.

  He didn’t know for certain but was confident that the answers he sought were behind that metal door.

  He lifted the lamp and slowly made his way down the stairs and into what he and his male relatives had decided to call a crypt because it was a much better name than cellar or underground room. Though arguments had been made to keep referring to it as a dungeon.

  Orion crossed the expanse until he stood before the metal door.

  He had asked their father about the room when he was younger and was told that only the most precious of items and secrets were kept within the vault and that he and the others were too young to have access. Father had promised that one day, when they were older, he may grant them entrance. But every time they asked, they were still too young.

  Orion wondered if his father would claim the same now even though he was a gentleman of five and twenty.

  He stepped forward and tried to open the door. As he suspected, it was locked.

  Orion assumed that his father, the head of the Drakos family, held the key. As it was his brother, Pierce, who would one day inherit, it was likely he’d also be the one making certain that nobody else ever entered the vault.

  Orion returned to the stairs and marched back up, determined to find that blasted key. It must be in the library.

  Once again, he rifled through his father's desk. Looking in every drawer, underneath each ledger and piece of paper, hoping to find a false bottom or secret compartment. He then searched the bookcases, but there was no key to be found.

  Where would his father keep it? Was it in his set of rooms and with his personal belongings?

  Would Pierce know where it was? Once again, Orion strode out of the library and went in search of his older brother, who he found in the billiards room with their twin cousins Ajax and Ares Norcott. Orion did not want to let on that he was there for any specific information. Instead, he wandered in casually, poured himself a glass of brandy, settled into one of the chairs and watched the game. As cousins often do, they bickered, taunted, joked, and competed. Orion held his questions until the game was finished and the three settled into the chairs beside him.

  He shook his head and smiled. “Remember how we used to sneak down into the crypt and try to get into the vault.” He chuckled. “I was just thinking about that tonight. Have any of you been in there?”

  “Simon still hopes there are dragons inside,” Ares laughed.

  “I asked Father once,” Pierce said. “He told me that the key would not come to me.”

  Orion frowned. “You are the heir. Who would it go to?”

  “Maybe they lost it. This place is centuries old,” Ajax suggested.

  “He told me that it was for the Custodian of Nightshade and that we’d all learn who that was when the time came.”

  “Custodian of Nightshade?” Orion, Ajax, and Ares questioned at the same time.

  Pierce’s bemused chuckle accompanied a shrug.

  Bloody hell. The crypt was now even more cryptic, but Orion was not deterred. He would find a way in, or he’d return to Nina and learn the truth she insisted on keeping from him.

  “He came here again,” Cassian accused when he entered their cottage.

  Nina wanted to deny the truth but would not lie to her brother. Instead, she said nothing.

  “I saw him leave the grotto by rowboat. He barely made it out before the high tide completely covered the entry.”

  He should not use the grotto to visit her. It was too dangerous.

  She shouldn’t meet Orion at all.

  “What did he want?”

  “He has questions,” she answered. “He wants to know who I am, where I came from, where I live, and he saw the others.”

  Cassian gasped. “What did you tell him?”

  “Only my first name and nothing else.”

  “If he returns send him from here.”

  Nina stared at her brother with the concerns of the others weighing on her. “Is he so dangerous?”

  The corners of Cassian’s eyes crinkled with humor. “Dangerous? Orion?” he nearly snorted as if the very idea was absurd.

  “The dryads fear what happened in the past, back in Greece, to others like them.”

  “Those were gods and men who only saw beautiful nymphs. They did not see that they were also women. Or perhaps, they were so cold and selfish that it didn’t matter.”

  “That could not happen any longer?” she asked.

  Cassian sank down into a chair. “I wish I could assure you that men no longer act in such a barbaric and dishonorable manner, but they exist to this day, though not in polite Society. Nor is it as prevalent as in the days of old where gods, minor gods and men lacking moral character seemed to inhabit Greece.”

  Nina’s stomach tightened. She’d been so curious to know the world beyond the grove. Maybe it was safer here.

  “I can promise you that anyone of the Drakos line would never harm a woman, especially one under their protection as those in the grove are.”

  She had to trust Cassian in this. Thus, she could trust Orion. Except she had been forbidden from telling him anything.

  Her world was so small and had been since she was a child. It was the very reason she read every single book Cassian brought to her. It was the only way to learn anything. Sometimes she read for knowledge. Other times she read fictional stories and pretended she was somewhere else.

  Most of the time it did not bother her to be here and that her only friends were dryads and nereids. Other times, such as tonight, her heart ached with loneliness. She wasn’t like the others, content to remain among the trees or in the sea.

  Did she want Orion to return because she was lonely?

  She’d hope for the daughters to visit, but they had been cordial and polite when they came with their mothers, so Nina did not expect to see them again, which added to the heaviness of the isolation that seemed to weigh on her heart.

  Oh, she should have sent Nephele away. She should have never spied on the wedding, and she should have never spoken to Orion because it made her long for things that she could never have—a life outside of the grove, or at least, friends besides those who lived here.

  “Nina, what is wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she lied.

  “Nothing does not cause tears to form,” Cassian observed gently.

  She hadn’t even been aware that she was nearly crying. “This too shall pass,” she said and left before her brother could question her further and made her way to her chamber where she shut the door and then fell onto the bed.

  She sniffed and wiped her eyes. She would not fall into self-pity but be grateful for what she did have. She had her brother, a home, food, clothing, and she wasn’t so totally alone in the sacred grove and if not for the dryads, she would be dead.

  Yes, Nina lectured herself. She should be thankful and not hope for the impossible.

  Orion would be back. Of that she was certain. But she’d also need to not let her emotions and loneliness guide her response to him. She may only be a curiosity to him, and she must treat him the same, even if he was the most beautiful man she had ever seen.

  Six

  It was almost too easy, but when his mother, aunts and cousins decided to go into Bocka Morrow for a day of shopping and a light meal at the Mermaid’s Kiss, Orion knew that he’d be able to sneak away. Nina was far too intriguing to ignore or forget.

  She even visited him again in his dreams last night, and as before, she was just out of reach. Orion wished he understood what it meant.

  The grove was silent when he reached the other side of the boxwoods, and a slight breeze blew from the sea. Leaves fluttered and it was almost as if the trees were whispering. He shook his head at the fanciful thoughts. As a boy, he would have imagined ghosts and such. But in truth, it was a breezy day and rustling leaves could almost sound like quiet voices.

  He stepped through the bluebells carefully, not wanting to crush the delicate flowers, then through another clump of trees until he reached the clearing and looked up at the temple built to honor Gaia.

  As he had hoped, Nina was there. She sat on a step near the water, the sunlight brightening her red hair that curled about her shoulders. She was reading as she had been before and today she wore a skirt of green and pink stripes, a bright pink ribbon tied beneath her breasts and against a bodice of dark green. He would have rather she’d been wearing the corset with her shoulders bare, but also knew that such was not proper.

  Orion paused for a moment and studied her. Yesterday she’d worn bright yellow and turquoise. She said that she fashioned her own clothing and it appeared she picked the boldest and brightest of the fabric from the gowns his mother provided.

  Though not at all fashionable, Orion preferred her dressed in this manner and not what he was used to while going about in Society. It was fresh, eclectic, and original.

  Nina straightened and a moment later turned her head and saw him. Her smile was hesitant as she closed the book, set it aside and slowly stood. Orion dearly hoped that she wasn’t going to disappear again. “Please, stay.”

  She bit the corner of her bottom lip and grasped her skirts before nodding.

  Orion kept his approach unhurried and steady, still afraid that she’d flee if he moved too quickly.

  With each step, she seemed to relax until she no longer grasped her skirts and her shoulders had dropped by the time he climbed the steps to the temple.

  He glanced down at the book beside her bare foot.

  Did she ever wear shoes? Did it really matter?

  “What are you reading?”

  “Histoire critique de magnétism animal by Joseph-Philippe-François Deleuze.”

  Orion had been expecting her to answer with the title of a fictional novel, not a book on the history of animal magnetism written in French. “You speak French?” he asked.

  “Oui,” she answered quietly.

  Perhaps Cassian had taught her, or she learned from a governess.

  Orion frowned. What did Cassian have to do with the grove and why was he familiar to all who lived within? If the women had known him since he was a boy, then it was likely Nina knew him as well.

  Orion shook the thoughts from his head. He was not here to discuss Cassian.

  “Is this topic of special interest?” It was an odd book for a female no matter what the language.

  “Not particularly. I enjoy reading and will read every book available.”

  Even though she lived in the grove, she must at least leave. Otherwise, where would she get books? Though, he could not imagine her walking into the village dressed as she was. Then again, Bocka Morrow wasn’t exactly London, and very little surprised the residents.

  “Who are you, Nina and where did you come from?”

  Disappointment settled as Nina sighed and he feared that she would continue to hold her secrets.

  “I am not supposed to tell you anything.”

  “So you have said.”

  “But you will continue to return until I do, will you not?”

  “Yes, and possibly even after.”

  The corners of her mouth tipped, and she glanced down.

  Maybe Nina wished him to visit as much as he wanted to come here.

  “Very well. I will tell you what you wish to know.”

  Everyone was going to be angry, but Nina no longer cared.

  After taking a deep breath, she settled on the top marble step and waited for Orion to sit beside her.

  The trees rustled as if a strong wind had swept in from the sea, but there was no wind. Her friends were trying to hush her, but Nina was no longer going to hold her tongue. Silence brought heartache and she longed for a friend, who just happened to be Orion Drakos. Had she not dreamt of him again last night, his reaching out to her, perhaps she would have kept her silence, but Nina suspected the dreams were from her really wishing to confide in someone who had not known her since childhood.

  “If I were English, I would be Lady Nina Jourdain. My brother would be, and I suppose still is, a comte, which if he were English would be an earl ~ Seigneur or Lord de Rohan. The estate is gone…all is gone. He is simply Cassian Jourdain, and I am Nina Jourdain of no significance.”

  Nina glanced at Orion out of the corner of her eye. As she anticipated, the information was a surprise as he simply stared at her, slack-jawed.

  “Cassian is your brother?”

  She nodded.

  “I do not understand. He lives with my cousins—the Cardwells. I have known him since he arrived here, but just recently met you.”

  She knew Orion would have even more questions. “It is easier if I just tell you from the beginning. Where we came from and how I came to be here.”

  “Please do.”

  Nina took another deep breath and began to tell him what little she could remember and what had been told to her by Cassian. “Cassian and I were born in a château in the Loire Valley. We had vineyards and even though our father was a comte, he was not political. He lived a quiet life and away from Versailles and Paris. Yet, that did not matter. He was wealthy and an aristocrat.”

  Nina swallowed and wished that she didn’t possess some of her memories, just the happier ones with her family.

  “My mother had been raised in Vannes and my father had a good friend there. When the danger came…the Terror…we had to flee in the middle of the night.” Maybe he already knew the story. “Did Cassian tell your parents already?”

  “I am not certain how much they know, but we were told that he was traveling on a ship from France that went down in the storm and not to tease him about hoping to find his mother among the mermaids.”

  Nina couldn’t help but smile. “When Mother used to take us to visit her parents, we would walk along the shore to look for mermaids. She had grown up hearing stories of mermaid sightings.” Nina had only been four, but that memory was so clear. One of the last happy memories. Then fear. “When it got scary, we had to hide in Vannes until we could find a ship. Father left me, Mother and Cassian in a small, dark room along the docks but he never returned. She told us that Father was hiding with the mermaids and that they were keeping him safe. She also promised that if ever something were to happen to either one of them that they’d be safe with the mermaids.”

  Nina didn’t like to think of those nightmarish days and sometimes wished she’d been too young to remember. But because of the significance, and terror, those memories remained when she could barely recall her childhood home.

  “When we first arrived here, I thought that I had finally seen mermaids, but learned that they were nereids instead.”

  A warm hand closed over hers and Nina was surprised by the comfort she experienced from such a small gesture.

  “They are not so different, and I have wondered if they are not the same, simply called differently depending on where a person is from,” he reasoned. “Though I have yet to see either a mermaid or a nereid, unfortunately.”

  How was that even possible when he had spent so many years of his youth at Nightshade Manor?

  “You also do not need to tell me any more if you do not wish to,” Orion added.

  “You wanted to know,” she reminded him.

  “Not if it brings you pain.”

  “Whether I speak it or think it, the pain is still there. I was just surprised at how strong it came back with the memories.”

  “It is no longer necessary that I know the details. I know how Cassian came to be here.”