The rocks and water took his chuckle and distorted it. “You don’t know half as much as you think you do, luv. Now. Do as I say, and I won’t have to kill either of you. Turn around. Slowly. Hands where I can see them.”

Mabena’s muscles coiled as they turned back to face the opening. They could make a run for it, scamper over the rocks and back to the boat.

Casek half-turned his face. And murmured in Cornish, “Do as he says.”

“But—”

“I can’t risk losing you, Benna. Not again. Not for good.” She’d never heard his voice so low and tight. His words drifted back to English. “No more lives. It’s not worth it.”

“See, and on that”—Lorne must have prodded at Casek, given his quiet grunt—“we’ll just have to disagree.”

27

Libby sneaked one more peek around the crumbling stone wall, willing Mabena to appear as she was supposed to do. It didn’t seem right to be here without her, keeping a lookout for her instead of the tourists she’d been charged with watching for and dissuading from coming up the path through the heather.

Though how she was meant to do that she still wasn’t certain. She’d breathed a sigh of relief when the mist had rolled in thicker instead of burning off. With a bit of luck, it would keep holiday-goers inside for a few hours.

“Stop fretting.” Bram slid an arm around her shoulders and gave them a squeeze. “Moon is fine. No doubt she’s just whiling the day away with her beau.”

Oliver’s brows looked every bit as pinched as hers felt, and had ever since she arrived at his door without his cousin. He finished rolling up his sleeves and bent to pick up the gardener’s shovel he’d brought with him. “I’m inclined to agree with the worry. Casek always tends school business on Saturday mornings and would never miss a day of work.”

Bram lowered his arm. “I know you’re friends, Tremayne—”

“Ha!” Beth strode by them into the center of the ruins, turning a circle with the map held up before her. “If my brother has an enemy, it’s Casek Wearne. They may have declared a truce for Mabena’s sake, but a few days of not threatening to sock each other in the nose does not a friend make.”

Oliver rolled his eyes. “I have missed your optimistic outlook, Elizabeth Grace. Thank you for your vote of confidence in my ability to make peace.”