Merciless Reason by Oisin McGann Read Free Book Online

last known him, Gerald had been making headway with his research into intelligent particles. It was an area of study Nate now knew could lead to disaster.
    â€œHe is guardian to your son and is consorting with Elizabeth, the child’s mother,” Clancy told his master. “Because you are missing and your son is Heir, Gerald has been able to take control of the family, and the Company with it. Your cousin has proved himself to be a ruthlessly efficient opponent to anyone who stands against him. He is effectively the Patriarch, and he is not shy about wielding that power. He has reintroduced the Rules of Ascension. There have been several murders in the last three years.
    â€œAnd he has not forgotten about you, sir. He too has sent people out in search of you. Teams of assassins have been hunting you since he seized power in the house.”
    â€œMmm,” Nate mumbled. “That would explain those chaps who attacked me in Natal, in Cape Town. Their approach was a bit too professional for a gang of local muggers. Tenacious buggers. Barely escaped with my life.”
    â€œYes, sir. And they will not have been the only ones hunting you,” Clancy agreed. “But they are merely a sideline. Your sister-in-law keeps me informed with regular letters. Miss Daisy says the schemes Gerald has set in motion across the country and beyond have created even more enemies. The rebels are talking about revolution … I suppose they always talk about revolution, but this time they may well be serious. The government, the Crown, even the Irish people are saying Gerald is insane, sir, but I fear that he is not.”
    There were many times when Nate had wished he could have spoken to Daisy, but the feeling had been especially strong recently. He wished he could apologize for leaving her and Tatty alone in that house. To tell her he had stayed away for everyone’s sake. That he’d stayed away despite what he felt for her now. But he had decided it would be simpler if he was dead to them—gone forever.
    â€œWhat about his research?” he asked in a low voice. “Is he still working with the engimals, with the intelligent particles?”
    â€œWith single-minded devotion,” Clancy replied. “And on an unprecedented scale. His control of the Company seems steered by his need to learn their secrets.”
    Nate lowered his head into his hands and let out a guttural string of curses. Damn Gerald, curse him and the rest of the rotten-souled blackguards who helped to make him what he was. Nate pushed breath out through his teeth. He could never get away from them. No matter how hard he tried, his accursed family always dragged him back in.
    â€œI have kept all of the letters, so that you may read them yourself,” Clancy continued. “As well as a selection of the Irish newspapers from the last couple of years. I have chartered a ship that will carry us to Cork.”
    â€œYou seem very confident that I’ll be returning with you,” Nate muttered.
    â€œNo, sir,” Clancy said to him. “I only pray that you do. It is now the sole purpose of my life—and I will spend the rest of that life trying to convince you to rejoin your family.”
    â€œGood God, Clancy!” Nate sighed. “There’s no escaping them, is there? I’d have an easier time shaking off the plague.”
    â€œPerhaps, sir,” Clancy agreed. “Though I suspect many of your relatives will welcome your return with the same enthusiasm that they would greet that famous disease. Should I take this to mean you will be coming home, sir?”
    â€œI suppose so.” Nate climbed stiffly to his feet, a resigned expression on his face. “But only if you curb that insolent tone of yours.”
    â€œI can assure you, your Grace, that from this moment on, I will address you with all the respect due to a man of your rank.”
    As the manservant stood up from his seat, the basset