The scent of Penrhyn. The scent of home.
The crowd outside made him brace for the familiar sick haze. He felt Charis’s loving concern as she slid her arm around his waist.
But when he surveyed the welcoming faces turned toward him, he was only aware of open sky and clear air, the breeze against his skin, Charis’s enticing warmth pressed to his side.
Had his wife spoken more truly than she realized? Was he finally free?
The shock was too much.
He staggered. His sight narrowed to a single beam of light.
“Gideon, what is it?” Charis’s hold tightened. As ever, her touch anchored him. His shaking arm twined around her slender shoulders, and he fought not to lean on her as his legs threatened to fold beneath him.
The wave of light-headedness passed, leaving him lost, bewildered. What had happened? Since Rangapindhi he’d been unable to endure people around him. So many defense mechanisms had become second nature.
Yet today he needed none of them.
His whirling mind struggled to make sense of it all. Now he thought about it, the demons should have tormented him long before this. Yet they’d been remarkably silent. Felix and Hubert’s kidnapping hadn’t sparked an attack. Nor, more significantly, had captivity in the dark tunnel.
But he’d been blisteringly angry when they took him. With the brothers and more, with himself, for placing his wife in danger.
The anger had passed, and still there were no screaming ghosts in his head. He stared at the villagers. He looked past them to Sir John Holland and the militia, surrounding a shackled Hubert. Then he sought and found the two men who had stood by him through so much. Tulliver watched expressionlessly from Akash’s side. Akash’s gaze as he surveyed Gideon and Charis was steady and unsurprised.
He knew the signs of Gideon’s illness better than anyone. Gideon was sure he wouldn’t have survived the worst attacks without Akash’s arcane medical knowledge. What did his friend make of this abrupt change?
Then, with another shock, Gideon remembered that Akash had touched him without hesitation in the mine.
“You know, I think I’m all right,” he said in a thick voice to Charis, who stared up at him with shining eyes. Did she too guess what had happened?
His dreams had been so humble yet so out of reach. Had heaven relented after all his pain? It seemed beyond belief.
“I need to talk to Hubert,” Charis said quietly. “He shouldn’t learn about Felix from a stranger.”
“That’s a consideration the cur hardly warrants,” Gideon said grimly. She was so strong. If she hadn’t been, she’d have given up on her husband weeks ago.
“Nevertheless, I must do it.”
Reluctantly, Gideon released her, immediately missing her nearness. He watched as she crossed to where a chained and guarded Hubert waited in sullen, fulminating silence. Even with Hubert shackled, Gideon fought the illogical urge to drag her back into his arms, where she was safe. Would this instinct to protect her ever fade? Not while he breathed.
Across the open area, Hubert let loose a broken groan. The bulky brute swiftly went from surly resistance to utter collapse. Tears poured down his face. Charis said something, and placed a hand on his shoulder. He accepted her comfort, much as he didn’t deserve it. Gideon felt another surge of admiration for his wife’s generosity. If the decision were left to him, he’d let the bastard suffer.
Sir John approached, smiling, extending his hand. Dazed, Gideon returned the handshake. How simple the gesture was. Only a day ago, it would have been a painful ordeal.
“Sir Gideon, rum doings indeed. I can’t say how pleased I am to find you unharmed.”
“Thank you, Sir John.” Astonishment and wonder still gripped Gideon. The change was too sudden for him to trust although with every minute, it became more likely that the impossible had occurred.
“I take it the other villain is incapacitated inside the mine?”
Gideon forced himself to concentrate on immediate matters. So difficult when unfamiliar happiness bubbled up like a new stream. He gave the magistrate a short recounting of events from when he’d discovered Charis in Winchester.
Akash joined them. When Gideon performed introductions, Sir John, to give him credit, displayed only a moment’s confusion at meeting Akash Stamford, the new Viscount Cranbourne.
“What happens now?” Gideon kept an eye on Charis and the distraught Hubert.
“We’ll take Lord Burkett to London for trial. You’ll likely be called to appear.” Sir John looked tired and troubled. “I can’t see him escaping the noose. If you’ll come with me now, we can…”
Akash smoothly interrupted. “I’ll start the formalities. Sir Gideon was held overnight. His lady has ridden through a storm and managed no sleep since. Let the Trevithicks go home.”