Chapter 13 Echoes of Betrayal

COLE

I gazed down at the golden crest resting on the center of my desk. The embossment gleamed in the candlelight, its rich hue standing out from the ivory countertop and I felt my lips settle into a frown of discontent.

I had recognized the crest immediately when I first spotted it at the House of Crawford. It was unmistakable- an image of a griffin spreading its wings, talons clamped around a rose.

As I stared down at it, discontent turned to frustration.

This crest had belonged to my brother Jack’s soldiers.

And it had been found on two attackers who attempted to kill me the night we arrived at Lord Crawford’s.

None of it made any sense at all. I had been invited to Crawford’s wedding personally, only to be met with attempted violence and a mystery I had yet to solve.

A year had passed since the war ended, but the memories haunted me almost every night. My dreams were all nightmares now, each more vivid and brutal than the next. No matter how much soothing tea I forced down, no mat