She wondered how long he had been standing there. More importantly, just how much of her conversation with Joseph had he overheard. Someone investigating an old tragedy the authorities had already ruled an accident was not something could simply be expined away.

  More so when the accident they were investigating was of a ducal household. Even if her family was a retively new noble house in this world of connections, they had still been given the title and the woes that went with it.

  “What are you doing here?” She may be happy to see him, but that didn’t make his sudden appearances any less unnerving. More so since she hadn’t even sensed him near.

  Raiden grins at her, even as he fidgets slightly in pce. Eileen sighs, and decides to change booths. Joseph had already left so she had no need for the one she was in. As she moved into the seat in front of him, she noted that there was a slight sting of alcohol in the air.

  Her eyes narrowed on his face then. He didn’t look too drunk, but she’d already seen him almost delirious under the influence. Her head tilted to the side as she observed him with a renewed interest.

  Hmm. Dited eyes, but only slightly. The skin at his neck had a slight flush, but not one associated with those who were heavily under the influence. Her gaze stayed on him, subtly swapping his cup with water and lifting the cup in her hand to her nose.

  “What are you doing?” Gray eyes look at her in interest and a slight under gze of curiosity.

  Sniff. Her nose crinkled slightly at the sting of the more concentrated scent. Slight undertones of cinnamon. Whisky. And a strong one by the smell of it. Her eyes flickered up to meet his and narrowed again.

  “Why are you drinking so early in the morning?”

  Raiden raised a brow. “By all technicality, it’s near noon.”

  “Which is still far too early in the day to be drinking such strong spirits,” she pointed out. “Especially since the st time I encountered you drinking, you were barely able to stay upright.”

  Apparently it was a common enough experience for his so called friends to leave him to it. Eileen still did not feel comfortable with the fact, but evidence of him drinking in broad daylight made her even more uncomfortable. She was starting to suspect it might be a problem.

  “That was…different,” he says shamelessly like it isn’t more than a little concerning.

  There are many things Eileen would like to say to that. Many different words to convey just how stupid she found that reasoning. How utterly dangerous it was to do so. But then the sound of the pub’s inhabitants getting more rowdy reached her ears and she set them aside.

  Sighing, she ran a hand down her face. “Very well,” she tells him, “I will put aside this topic for now.” A pause. “You have yet to answer my question.”

  Raiden looked at her for a moment. A single beat. And then a mischievous grin spread across his lips. “I heard you were here, and thought you might want company.”

  Now, she was the one raising her brow at him. She leaned back in her seat, an arm going out to pour some water into her gss as she organised her thoughts. Her gaze remained on him as she did so.

  “You heard I was here?” Clink. The gss bottle settled back on the table. “From who?”

  Ignoring the obvious implications of his word and the ck of shame he said them with, she wondered who he’d heard this from. More importantly how had they known where she was. KiranKnightwoodmay have been around for a few weeks at parties, but it was Lenora Divine who walked around in the daytime.

  “A friend,” the grinning man says. Her eyes almost twitch at the flippant tone, only kept at bay by her resolve.

  “And who would this friend be?” She tilted her head to the side, lifting up thewhiskeygss slightly in question. “Are you having me followed Raiden Redthorn?”

  Amusement dances in those grey eyes now. He shakes his head, lifting his own gss now. Eileen takes great pleasure in the way they widen in surprise at as he sips only to find water. It seems he’d forgotten that aspect.

  Shaking her head, she waited for him to reply. Pushing for an answer was moreRaiden’sspeed after all. An odd mix of fondness and annoyance went through her at the thought that she dutifully ignored.

  The man himself narrows his eyes at her but continues to drink the water as if he knew what it was all along. The stubborn bastard, she thinks fondly. However, she is pleased he’s drinking some water.

  Him being inebriated may be helpful under the circumstances, but not at the cost of his health.

  “I wouldn’t want to give them away,” Raiden answers, setting the gss down. “I suspect you’d cover your tracks more if I did.” A wry smile. “And I can hardly reveal the name of the benefactor who told me where the elusive Kiran Knightwood was.”

  “Elusive?”

  Eileen suspects he’s being vague just to be petty. Which she supposes she does deserve in part since they’d hardly contacted each other.

  “Of course,” he lifts the gss up in an almost salute. “How else am I to describe a man who vanished into thin air?”

  She has to try very hard not to roll her eyes then. She sees what this is about. “Is this about the lunch?” She shakes her head lightly, “I admit I’ve been busy, but you could have always messaged me.”

  “You didn’t.” The words come out smooth enough, but the slight pout on his face gives him away. Oh my. He really is sulking about this.

  “Yes well,” she starts, stifling a ugh. “I had expected to run into you ter.” A pause. “I apologise. I should have followed up on it.” She tilts her head to the side. “Still. Were you waiting for me to message you first?”

  The sudden way he goes still is answer enough. Eileen stifles another sigh, resisting the urge to run a hand through her hair in frustration. Just what kind of friends had this man had? Where exactly did this odd insecurity come from.

  “If you’d messaged me,” she tells him slowly, “I would have answered.”

  He blinks. “You would?” Gods. The vulnerability in those two words hit her like daggers to the heart.

  “I would,” she confirms softly. Then because this moment feels far too fragile for her liking and they’re in public, she gives him a slightly teasing smile. “Whatever happened to that oversized confidence of yours?”

  “It’s not oversized,” he protests. Then he perks up. “I have every confidence you’ll be a part of my club eventually. After all,” a wry grin, “Who wouldn’t want to be part of a Redthorn project?”

  Eileen’s answer is a quirked brow and a pointed gnce. He must read the bemusement in her gaze. Raiden huffs a short ugh and shakes his head slightly.

  “Right,” he says softly. “Anyhow,” he continues in a cheery voice, the smile not quite meeting his eyes. Eileen’s brows rise as he hesitates for a moment. For someone who didn’t hesitate often, that was downright suspicious.

  “William told me I’d find you here.”

  That answered none of her questions. “How did he know?” William Sheffield was not the sort of man who’d be able to hide in pin sight. Or someone with enough connections to hire any viable spies.

  Raiden shrugs. “A man saw you walk in who was acquainted with Will and he thought I would want to know.”

  Eileen sighs, thoughts coming to a screeching halt. Mere coincidence then. Good. She’d thought she’d need to get Miles to do another background check for a moment. Although…That still was not a bad idea.

  “Which you did,” she murmured wryly.

  “I did,” he says although no confirmation is needed. He’s here, isn’t he?

  As reassuring as the slight expnation was, it still didn’t tell her how much he’d overheard. A spark of annoyance also fluttered through her. Had she really been so caught up that she hadn’t noticed him enter?

  Grandpa would never let her hear the end of it if he knew. The mere thought of the old man sent phantom aches through her body.There’dbe no end to the training drills. And that wasn’t even mentioning the hellish teasing from Damien.

  Eileen would never let them know. “How long have you been here?” She tried for a casual tone, but the grin she got back told her she didn’t entirely succeed. Well hell. She really was of her game today.

  “Long enough to overhear the fascinating conversation you were having.” He leans forward, head resting in the palms of his hands. “Speaking of which, is there a reason you’re investigating the Devencrux fire, Kiran?”

  Sheer will keeps her from flinching at the question. Every bit of training she had ever went through was needed to keep her from panicking at the words. Breathe, the voice of reason in her head told her, this is your friend.

  Except it wasn’t. Not exactly. Raiden Redthorn was Kiran’s friend. Possibly Lenora’s. He had nothing at all to do with Eileen Devencrux and there was every chance he never would.

  Are those identities not simply parts of you? Are you not Kiran right now.

  Pesky voice of reason. The words were true enough that they broke through the momentary panic with a sense of crity. She sighs. Right. He might not know the entire truth, but he was still her friend

  “There is,” she tells him. She can hardly deny it when he’s practically caught her in the scene of the crime so to speak.

  A sip of water settles the coil of dread in her stomach. It isn’t going to be enough, she knows. It’s hardly an expnation of what he has overheard. The cool feel of it slipping down her throat is a welcome balm to her nerves.

  Raiden smiles slightly, the curiosity in his gaze sharpening. “Which is?” He leans in further, which is slightly amusing all things considered.

  Yet another reason he and Ay would make great friends. They had simir propensities to attach to anything of interest. Again, she wasn’t certain whether that was a good or bad thing for her.

  Only, how was she to answer this question? Hmm…

  “Surely you’ve heard about Bridget Devencrux?” Eileen leans closer as she asks him the question, hyper aware of any prying eyes. She has already failed to notice a person listening in once today, there will not be a second person.

  Raiden frowns. “Yes. What about her?” The frown deepens. “What does she have to do with you?”

  Eileen gives him a bnk look. “She was aKnightwoodby blood. In a way, that made the Devencrux my family.” The way being in the most literal sense.

  “You want to investigate them because of a distant retion?”Raiden’sbrows lift, but he says the words in the same hushed whisper she used. “And why would you even feel the need to investigate an accident?”

  Distant retion…If only he knew. But he couldn’t.

  She shrugs a shoulder instead, feigning a distance she’ll never feel. “Family is family.” A pause. “Besides why are you so sure it was an accident?”

  Raiden gives her a bnk stare. “I’ve seen the article written about the investigation conducted at the scene. There was no signs of foul py at the scene or the interviews.”

  “Really?” She meets his gaze with a raised brow. “You find nothing strange about every personnel being sent away? For a fire to spread through the entire home, burning it to the ground? Nothing out of pce when a family known for their military somehow forgets to check for fire hazards?”

  No one had managed to find the source of fire, but the article had gleefully talked about her family’s apparent negligence to reduce the risks. It made her want to grind her teeth even thinking about it.

  Raiden blinked. “I’ll admit that sounds suspicious when put together,” he says slowly. “However-”

  “You overheard my conversation,” she points out. “Did you hear the part about the notes as well?”

  “I…no?” He lifts his head up from his hands to rub one sheepishly over the back of his neck. “I’ll admit, I was slightly distracted near the end.”

  The whiskey he means. Hmm. She motions for him to come closer, a finger going to cover her lips to convey the importance of discretion. Raiden Redthorn complies easily, leaning forward so she can whisper into his ear.

  “Apparently everyone on the site was given a note by the lord and dy to leave for the day. All at once and at the same time.” She pauses for effect. “A first and not something they’d ever done before. Doesn’t that seem suspicious to you?”

  Raiden pulls back with thinned lips, indecision warring in his noticeably widened eyes. “That does seem very suspicious. His gaze wanders down to his cup, staying there for a moment before flickering back up to meet hers. “You’re sure about this? You really believe something is an amiss?”

  “I’m positive.”

  Her earlier doubts have dissipated entirely. She knows her family. She knows her home. Even at ten years old, she knew they weren’t supposed to take anything fmmable inside. Knew to check every fire and fire stone to makes sure it wouldn’t light.

  Eileen hardly believes the people her grandfather and parents had hired would not know these things. It was not an accident. She’ll say the words as many times as it will take for him to believe her.

  Somewhere along the way, it started to matter to her. She hopes that even without knowing the extent of Kiran Knightwood’s investment in this, he’ll believe her. Because if he didn’t…

  Well, she’d learn to get over it. However, she wasn’t certain how well she’d be able to deal with the hurt. It was too te. She was already starting to get attached to this absolute disaster of a man.

  Raiden Redthorn searches her gaze for a moment before he nods. “Alright,” he murmurs. “I believe you.” He pauses, a grin spreading over his lips that Eileen does not trust. “And I want to help.”

  She blinks. “What?”

  Although he’s not resting his head in his palms this time, the expression is no less excited. Raiden is almost buzzing with energy as he fshes that grin towards her.

  “If there is a conspiracy,” he says, leaning forward, “Then I want to help you investigate it.”