Fox Boy and I searched for clothes while Torgrin tied Bethel to the now-vacant chair.
When we reached the smaller rooms, I saw what had happened to the rest of our soldiers.Goodwin’s men had left their bodies in a back room.I was so stupid not to have realised that no-one was guarding the corridor or the main door when I had rushed back here.
I took a moment to check all of our men, but none were alive.
I was done with ballgowns and raided Torgrin’s clothes, knowing his would fit me best.Fox Boy averted his eyes as I began stripping off in front of him.There was no time for modesty.I put on the borrowed breeches but then had to enlist the young man’s help.I covered my breasts as best as I could as he tied the dressing almost as well as Torgrin had, and he carefully helped me put one of Torgrin’s black shirts on.Fox Boy got an eyeful when I raised my arms so he could slip the top over my head.I caught him staring at my now-covered breasts, and he mumbled an immediate apology.
‘What’s your name, Fox Boy?’I slowly put my boots back on, mindful of my wound.
‘Finn,’ he said, sounding surprised I had asked.
‘You have terrible taste in women, Finn.’
‘Don’t I know it.’He threw up his hands.‘I’m screwed.I can’t stay here.The king will find out what I’ve done.You’ll probably kill me, or the scary scar-faced man will.And you know what the worst part is?’
I gathered some things from my room and chucked them into a bag.‘What?’I was only half-listening to him as he followed me around like a lost puppy.
‘I bloody liked her.I liked her a lot.’
I stopped to face him.‘Look, Finn, we all make mistakes, and Bethel has a history of manipulating men.’
He grimaced.
‘You can come with us, but you better not make any more stupid mistakes because I really will kill you.’I was serious.I wanted to trust him, and my gut told me I could, but I needed to make it clear what would happen if he put my friends’ lives at risk.
He gulped.‘I get it.No more mistakes.’
‘Good.We understand each other?’
He nodded.‘I would rather fight my way out of here with you lot on my side than wait for the hangman’s noose.’
‘Then let’s get going, shall we?’
My swords, bow and armour were still with Nightmare, as having them in a lady-in-waiting’s room would have been too risky.I put on my winter cloak.It had a hood to cover my face, and it easily hid the borrowed sword I strapped around my hips.Finn also armed himself and found a cloak to wear.
Torgrin had finished securing Bethel, and I couldn’t help but feel satisfied when I saw the red mark on her face in the shape of my hand.I should have used the Darkness on her traitorous face to make the mark permanent, but I could not do that to Lord Warwick.
We returned to the others.Rhett was sitting up in a chair.He had lost a lot of blood, and though he wasn’t knocking on the door to the underworld anymore, there was no way he could ride a horse on his own.Tomas was stable, but his worry for Rhett was hard to watch.
‘I need to know what happened tonight,’ I said, moving through corpses to get to the two men who had last seen Cillian.
CHAPTER 32
Tomas looked exhausted, but he nodded, knowing this was coming.‘Everything seemed to go according to plan.They let us in after Cillian explained we were there to take Queen Yaris to the king.We didn’t know that she had died earlier that day.’Tomas sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.‘There were half-a-dozen soldiers in the main room – more than we would have liked, but they ignored us.The door to the dungeon corridor was already open, which should have warned us now that I look back.’Tomas looked at Rhett, who put his hand on Tomas’ knee with great effort.‘Cillian went in first and headed to the cell that you’d said was the queen’s,’ Tomas said to Torgrin, who had come to stand beside me.Finn was close by listening too.‘When we were all in that passage, they arrived behind us.It was a dogfight, and they had us trapped.’
‘What happened to Cillian?’The pounding of my heart reverberated through my chest as I imagined the three of them fighting for their lives trapped in that narrow passage.
‘Rhett was badly hurt, and I took a blade to the shoulder.Cillian yelled for us to get back to the door while he fought off most of the soldiers alone with his hammer and fists.We wouldn’t havemade it out if Cillian hadn’t done what he did.’Tomas looked at me sorrowfully.
‘What?’I whispered.
Torgrin’s warm hand found mine, and he squeezed it gently.
‘He was right behind us in the passageway.’Tomas shook his head and looked down at the ground between his feet as if he could see the scene playing out there.‘He said, “Get Caris out of the city – they know.”Then he closed the door and locked himself in with the soldiers.’
‘No!’I cried.
‘I tried, Caris.I banged on that door, but there was nothing I could do!’His eyes begged me for forgiveness.‘Rhett and I came here to warn you all, but it was too late.Goodwin was waiting for us.’
