Free Secrets of the Highwayman by Sara Mackenzie Page A

the very uneasy feeling that her adventure with the Raven was far from over.
    Nathaniel had climbed over a stock gate farther down the garden wall. He’d enjoyed listening to Melanie calling for him and letting her think he could vanish at will. As soon as they were back in her own time, she’d begun to get far too bossy, and he wanted to regain some of the upper hand. He’d every intention of rejoining her inside the grounds, but a man had come up toher, and they’d begun to talk. So Nathaniel had taken himself off, an intruder in his own home.
    Now he wandered disconsolately through the park, kicking at fallen branches and piles of rotting undergrowth. It was a mess, and he was frustrated that everything he had loved and valued had come to this. Surely there was an easier way to change history than persuading Melanie Jones to help him?
    “No, there isn’t. It’s the only way.”
    The voice came from above him. Nathaniel halted and looked up cautiously. A large eagle sat on the branch of a tree, gazing down at him with strange blue predatory eyes above a curved yellow beak.
    “Your Majesty?”
    The bird flapped its wings, and there was a flash of red. “You tricked her into letting you through the stone, my Raven. That wasn’t very fair. She’s not a fool, you know. She’ll be wary of you next time you ask for her help.”
    “I had no choice. I don’t have enough time for subtleties, as you well know. Besides, I knew I could bring her around later.”
    “I hope so, for your sake.”
    There was silence; the park had gone quiet. Maybe the queen had that effect on all creatures, great and small.
    “Is all of this my fault?” he asked, and she seemed to understand that he meant the extinction of his family name as well as the deterioration of Ravenswood.
    “Everything that happens is linked,” the eagle said.
    “You said that Melanie will help me understand myenemy and defeat him,” Nathaniel reminded her. “When we were watching the dancing, Pengorren knew she was there. He sensed her. How could that be, Your Majesty?”
    “So many questions!”
    “I wouldn’t feel comfortable if I was bringing Melanie into danger.”
    The eagle sighed. “Very commendable.”
    “Not really, I am merely preserving my manhood. Melanie Jones seems well able to take care of herself, and if she knew I was using her as some sort of bait”—he glanced inquiringly at the eagle—“she would remove my balls.”
    The bird chuckled in a most disturbing way. “What a pair you make, you as smooth as crème brûlée and she as prickly as a thistle.”
    “Hmm, a French dessert and a Scottish weed. You see, we’re completely incompatible.” But he smiled. “I have an idea, Your Majesty. Perhaps you could find me another woman, one who isn’t quite as difficult to get along with.”
    The eagle spread its wings. “Don’t try and cozen me, Nathaniel!” it shrieked. “Do as you are told or suffer the consequences.”
    “But—”
    “I must go. Remember this, you do not have long, Nathaniel. Don’t waste too much time being charming.”
    “But, Your Majesty!” he shouted, as she flew away.
    She was gone.
    He was filled with unaccustomed gloom. Despite what he’d said to the queen, he didn’t believe Melaniewas capable of saving herself from Pengorren. The last thing he wanted was someone else to rescue in the limited time he had to succeed. And what, pray, was her contribution to his redemption going to be? A good telling off? He might as well go back to the between-worlds right now and await his fate.
    That’s right, Nathaniel, you’d like to give up and die, that’s your way out, isn’t it, when things get tricky? Except that I need you. You’re my pathway to a new life.
    Startled, he turned around, but there was nothing and no one, only the dappled shadows thrown by the trees. The voice was inside his head, a memory from those confused and pain-ridden days in Spain after he was wounded. Now it triggered inside