Seduction & Scandal by Charlotte Featherstone

seeking any further answers.”
    â€œShe doesn’t care for me.”
    Sussex sounded hurt—and defeated. Oddly, Black found he relished the knowledge. Misery did love company, for his desire for Isabella was just as hopeless as Sussex’s for Lucy.
    â€œShe is only playing at the supernatural, Sussex. It’s in vogue, after all, and Lucy Ashton is a forerunner in society. It is innocent curiosity and a cure for interminable boredom. Trust me, the girl hasn’t stumbled upon anything.”
    â€œOh?” Sussex reached into his jacket pocket, then tossed something into the air, which Black caught. Uncurling his fingers, he studied the gold coin that sat in the palm of his hand.
    Facing up was the image of laurel leaves and a lyre. On the other side was a six-pointed star with the words TheHouse of Orpheus imprinted around the coin. Frowning, he stared at the image, wondering where he had seen it before. There was something very familiar about it.
    â€œStill think we have nothing to worry about?” Sussex snapped. “I told you back in Yorkshire that someone was after the chalice and pendant. I could feel it.”
    Black looked up sharply. “What is this?”
    â€œI found it in Lucy Ashton’s reticule. So, you tell me, is it nothing to be concerned about?”
    Black had no desire to question why the blazes Sussex was snooping in Lucy’s purse, but he was curious about the coin, and its ominous nature.
    â€œI’ve seen this before—not in the past, but recently,” he murmured. “The image has been modified, but only slightly.”
    â€œSo you remember the House of Orpheus, and its rogue leader?”
    How could he not? Sussex’s and Alynwick’s fathers, not to mention his own father, had been the ones to shut down the club that had been created to mirror the old Hellfire Club of the last century. The leader had been a rogue Mason, but more importantly, he had been one of them . He had been the fourth Templar—the one whose ancestor had ambushed the other three while they lay sleeping before they left the holy city after stealing the artifacts. He’d been killed, or so they thought. All three Templars had believed their secret safe, buried with the body of the fourth. But then, after discovering the House of Orpheus, their fathers had been confronted with the fact that there was someone else out there, someone who knew of them and what they protected—and the prophesized powers they contained. Someone had wanted the artifacts twenty years ago—and someone wanted them now. Perhaps they even had them in their possession.
    â€œOur fathers put an end to the infamous cult years ago. It cannot be the same one.”
    â€œDamn you, Black, because you wish it to be so doesn’t mean it is. Whether you want to believe it or not, the club has been resurrected. Along with the coin, I found a piece of paper. On it was written, ‘Now you have died and now you have come into being. O thrice happy one, on this same day. Tell Persephone that Orpheus has released you.’”
    Black froze. “That was the initiation rite.”
    â€œIndeed. Someone knows of us—there are too many similarities to be a coincidence.”
    â€œWho?” Black growled. “Who could have learned of the club and resurrected it? Who could know of the relics besides us—or the fact that the catacombs beneath the Masonic lodge lead to the crypts of the Templar church? Our fathers made certain its existence was kept secret. Perhaps this new House of Orpheus has no connection to the relics.”
    â€œThat is the answer we must discover.” Sussex’s eyes grew unreadable. “We must take every precaution, Black. No one can learn of us, or what our families are responsible for.”
    Black tossed the coin back to Sussex. “You think Lucy is involved, don’t you?” And dear God, if Lucy was involved, there was every