“How did you make yourself look so thick?” Alex poked his finger into his twin’s chest and found it pillowy soft.
“Padded vest,” Con told him proudly. “I have lifts in my shoes as well. I would have liked to make myself shorter, but that’s a trifle difficult.”
“I daresay. I hope you realize you look like an utter fool.”
“I know.” Con grinned. “Watch this.” He picked up his cane and, giving a sharp twist to the head, pulled the gold knob from the cane, revealing a slender knife extending from it.
“A hidden stiletto.” Alex’s eyes lit up. Alex might be somewhat more staid than Con, but he was not immune to the lure of secret daggers.
“Cunning, isn’t it?” Con handed the weapon to his brother. “And though you wouldn’t think so, it provides a good grip. I found it in the attic a couple of months ago.”
“At Broughton House?” Alex turned it over in his hand, examining it.
“Yes, I was up there with the Littles.”
Alex knew he referred to their sister Kyria’s twins, Allison and Jason, who, since Constantine and Alexander had been given the nickname the Greats, were often referred to as the Littles.
“It was Jason found it, but Allie discovered the secret to opening it—she’s a bloodthirsty little thing, have you noticed? I had a devil of a time persuading her she couldn’t keep it.”
“Well, you know her father.” Alex shrugged. “Next she’ll be brandishing a pistol.”
“Terrifying thought.”
“Do you expect trouble at this place you’re going? Will you need a dagger?”
“Not really.” Con sighed. “I’m relatively sure he’s swindling his believers—easy to persuade someone to hand over all their worldly goods when they think they’ll be transported up to heaven in a few months. But I haven’t seen any sign that he’s gotten physical. Still, I like to be prepared.”
Alex grinned as he handed back the knife. “Especially if it involves a clever trick.”
“Of course.” Con fitted the weapon back into its slot. “Care to come with me?”
Alex felt a twinge of longing. He and Con had shared many an adventure. It was only the past few years, when Alex had been studying at the Architectural Association and then practicing in his field, that Alex had stayed behind more and more, only helping out now and then with Con’s investigations.
“No,” he said reluctantly. “Better not. I have work to do on the plans for Blackburn’s country house. And I have…I don’t know, I just have a feeling I should be here.”
“What do you mean?” Con set aside the cane and fixed his searching gaze on his twin. “Is something wrong?”
“No…maybe. I don’t know.” Alex grimaced.
“You had a premonition?”
“Not exactly. I’m not like Anna. I don’t see what’s going to happen.” Alex folded his arms. He never liked talking about his “gift,” as Con saw it—or his “curse,” as Alex was more likely to consider it. “I’ve been very out of sorts since I woke up. Restless. It’s probably nothing, just some residue from a dream.”
“You had another nightmare.” Con was the only one whom Alex had ever told about his bad dreams.
“I suppose. I don’t really remember it. I just woke up feeling…” He shrugged. Even with his twin, Alex hated to reveal the bone-deep fear that invaded him in these dreams, the paralyzing sensation of powerlessness. It was a form of weakness he hated in himself. “The thing was…it was something like the way you and I feel when the other is in trouble. But different somehow. I’m positive it wasn’t about you. But I’ve never had that feeling about any of our other siblings.”
“Do you think your ability is growing? Improving?” Con asked almost eagerly.
“I sincerely hope not,” Alex retorted. “I’ll go mad if I receive signals every time a Moreland gets into trouble.”
“True. Theo’s girls alone would be enough to keep you busy night and day.”
Alex grinned, but quickly turned serious again. “I wanted to ask if you had ever felt that way. If you sensed things about the others.”
“No.” Con looked vaguely wistful. “You know me—I haven’t a smidgen of talent. I mean, other than twin speak.” He looked thoughtful. “If you think something’s wrong, perhaps I should postpone my trip.”
“No. Don’t be absurd.” Alex shook his head. “I’m sure I’m staring at shadows.”
“But these dreams…”
“You put more credence in my dreams than I do.”
“We all know Morelands have significant dreams…except for me, of course. Think of Reed dreaming Anna was in danger, or the things Kyria saw in her dreams.”
“I’ve never had a significant dream in my life. They’re just nightmares. I’ve had them since we were thirteen.”
“Yes, but those stopped years ago. It’s only been recently that you’ve been dreaming about being locked up again. There must be a reason.”
“Probably the squab I had for supper last night,” Alex said lightly.
Con snorted, but he dropped the subject. That was one of the best things about being a twin—one didn’t have to pretend, and the other knew without having to ask.
“I’d better be on my way,” Con said, picking up his cane and the small traveling case on the floor beside the desk. “My train leaves at two, and I don’t want to miss it.”
With a grin and a twirl of his bowler, he popped the hat onto his head and left. Alex, a smile lingering on his lips, perched on the edge of Con’s desk, long legs stretched out in front of him, and thought about his dreams.
He didn’t recall the one last night, but he’d had enough of them the past few weeks to know what transpired in it. He was always lying on a narrow bed in a dark, cramped room, alone and not knowing where he was, and gripped by a cold, numbing fear.
The nightmares had started after the time he and Con had visited Winterset, their brother Reed’s home in the country, when the two of them, out walking with Reed’s future wife, Anna, had come across a farmer who had been killed. Both he and Con had been shaken by the sight, but Alex was the one who had lost his breakfast. Alex had returned to the house to bring Reed’s help, while Con had stayed with Anna by the body. He had never admitted to anyone, even Con, how relieved he’d been to get away from the bloody remains.
Oddly, though, the nightmares that had disturbed him in the weeks afterward had not been of the dead farmer, but of the time almost two years earlier when Alex had been kidnapped and held prisoner in a small dark room.
He had been scared at the time, of course, but he was used enough to getting in and out of scrapes—though it was more frightening, admittedly, when Con wasn’t there to share the experience. Alex had kept his wits and managed to escape, and in the end, Kyria and Rafe and the others had come to his rescue. It had been an exciting story to tell and he’d basked in Con’s envy of his adventure, but then, after his experience at Winterset, he had begun to dream about it again.