“The pleasure was mine, Sir Richard. Your son saved me a week’s work,” he added with a laugh. “Madame,” he said then nodded to me.
I inclined my head to him, then the three of us headed away from the stones, back toward the auto.
“Well done,” I told Jericho. “However did you know where to dig?”
“It was easy,” Jericho told me.
“Easy? How?”
“I could smell the bones in the earth,” he explained simply. “I just…dug them up.”
At that, I looked at Lionheart. After a moment, we both laughed.
“Well, I think you’ve earned another lemonade,” Lionheart told the boy.
“And more peanuts?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Yay,” Jericho called merrily then ran off ahead of us.
Lionheart extended his arm to me. “Well, wife, we’re headed to Glastonbury?”
I chuckled. “So we are, husband.”
“And why is that?”
I nodded. “Let’s just say I have a hunch.”
“Then I guess we’d better follow it.”
“Clemeny?” Jericho called. He was standing at the vendor’s cart once more. “Clemeny, the man needs money,” he yelled then looked at Lionheart. “Please.”
I giggled then turned to Lionheart. “You really are doing a wonderful job with him. He was a broken child when I found him.”
Lionheart sighed. “It isn’t easy, but I’m trying. I care for the boy. Much more than I ever thought I could.”
“Well, you are lion-hearted, after all,” I said with a grin.
“Clemeny!” Jericho called again. The child’s hunger outweighed his patience. It was a trouble I understood well.
Lionheart squeezed my hand. He turned toward Jericho. “Patience and manners, Jericho. My wife and I are coming,” he said, winking at me.
At that moment, I thought my heart might burst with joy.
Chapter 11: Abbey House
We left the ancient monolith in Salisbury and headed to Glastonbury. Jericho fell asleep in the back along the way.
“What do you expect to find?” Lionheart asked me.
“I’m not sure. Once, long ago, you asked me if I had ever gone to the summer country. Do you remember?”
Lionheart nodded.
“Why did you ask me that?”
“Creeping around as long as I have—as you never forget to remind me—one encounters other preternaturals. Long ago, when I was searching for the grail, I met a woman who had the same light and a similar flowery scent that you have. I encountered her, albeit briefly, at the ruins of a castle in the Westlands.”
“Who was she? What was she? Was she human?”
Lionheart shook his head. “I don’t know. She was there and gone. But the magic that surrounded her filled the air with the strange perfume that encapsulates you.”
“Strange?”
“Unusual.”
“Unusual?”
“Divine.”
“Ah, that’s better.”
Lionheart grinned, but then his expression turned serious. “You must be cautious. I believe you have some hopes pinned on what you may find. Am I right?”
He was. Buried below my interest in solving my case, my desire to protect Victoria and the realm, was my hope that seeking out the druids would finally provide me with some answers about myself.
“Yes.”
“There is a reason the Red Capes do not intermingle with the druids. Your desire for answers could put you at risk.”
“I’m not worried. After all, I have a werewolf at my side. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“They could shoot me with a silver bullet and haul you off to the Otherworld.”
“Are you always so grim?”
“That’s why I’m still alive.”
“Well, I’ll keep your warning in mind.”
“You know, it seems rather counterintuitive to go to the ruins of an Abbey in search of druids.”
“We’re not going to Glastonbury Abbey.”
“Then where are we going, Agent Louvel?”
“I think…I think we’re going to Avalon.”
* * *
It was already dusk when the ruins atop Glastonbury Tor came into sight. The sunset soaked the sky with hues of magenta, orange, and deep purple. The moment I saw the place, my whole body started to buzz. There was a strange ringing in my ears that I couldn’t shake.
Lionhead gazed at me.
“Are you all right?”
No.
“Yes.”
“Liar.”
“I just… Do you feel anything?”
Lionheart looked thoughtful. “Yes,” he said simply.
He turned the auto down a narrow drive that wound around the Tor.
“Where are you going?”
“Abbey House,” Lionheart said.
“Abbey House?”
He nodded. “You are in luck, Agent Louvel. Your new beau is of wide acquaintance.”
I grinned. My new beau.
As we drove down the road, a nervous feeling rocked my stomach. I felt the urgent need to do…something. But what? Anxiety made me shift in my seat. Soon, a manor appeared on the horizon. Lionheart pulled the auto up to the front.
“I’ll be but a moment,” he said, then slipped out and went to the door.
I watched as the butler appeared in the doorframe, silhouetted by golden light from within the manor.
“Where are we?” Jericho asked groggily. He’d been sleeping for most of the ride, the explorer’s cap still on his head.
“Glastonbury,” I told him.
He yawned tiredly.
I reached back, pulled off the hat, then smoothed down his wispy blond hair, which was jutting out in all directions. I set the cap on his head once more.
“Lord, I’m hungry,” he said as he rubbed his eyes. “Will Sir Richard get us something to eat? Who is that man he’s talking to?”
A second man had appeared at the door. This gentleman was just a slip of a thing, wearing spectacles that were too big for his face. The man clapped Lionheart on the back, and the two headed our way, the butler following behind.
“I don’t know.”
“Which part? The food or the man?”
“Neither.”
Jericho chuckled. “You’re funny.”
The butler hurried ahead and opened the door. I tipped my chin to Jericho, motioning for him to follow me out of the auto.
“Thank you,” I told the butler then took Jericho’s hand.
“Sir, may I present Agent Clemeny Louvel. And this is my ward, Jericho. Clemeny, this is John Fry Reeves, a fellow antiquarian.”
“Mister Reeves,” I said, giving the man a polite curtsey.
“I scolded Sir Richard for not letting me know he was coming,” the elderly man told me. “I have some papers for you, Sir Richard. I was planning to pack them up and send them on to you at King’s College.”
“I apologize. It was an impromptu trip. Agent Louvel is working on a case that led her here.”
“Agent Louvel, you say,” the old man said, eyeing me over. He nodded thoughtfully. “Rude Mechanicals business, I suppose. How did you get yourself mixed up with them?”
“Agent Louvel is very persuasive.”
He chuckled softly. “I bet,” he said, raising then lowering his eyebrows. “And this is your ward. Jericho, you said?” he said, bending to examine the boy who gripped my hand a little more tightly and took half a step behind me.
“Yes,” Lionheart replied. “Jericho, please say hello to Mister Reeves.”
“Hello, Mister Reeves,” Jericho said shyly.
I pitied Jericho. He had lived a life sheltered away from the world. Ever since he’d come to London from the Fens, his life had been nothing but change. Lionheart had the double task of raising a lycan, but also helping a child acclimate to the world outside the swamps. It was no easy task. I’d done my best to help where I could. I never missed a day, stopping in to see the boy. Afwyn had handed the child to me, making me promise to watch over him. My heart went out to the boy. I knew what it felt like to be an orphan. But more than that, I cared for the child.