Kit released me to raise his hands in surrender. “It’s Kit Koesters and Penwell Oliver. We’ve just returned from our Oath.”
“We know who you are,” one of the men called back.
No mouths to see moving meant no way to know who had spoken. But it sounded like someone in front of us.
A frown twisted Kit’s features. “Then what’s the problem?” he asked.
“You’ve been reported lost,” the voice boomed back. “Captured by the militia.”
“Reported?” I squeaked, too quietly for anyone but Kit to hear. “By who?”
No sooner had I spoken than did the answer become clear. Anders, of course, covering his crime with an excuse as to why we hadn’t returned. Clearly, he hoped we never would.
Kit’s arms dropped, and his hands fisted at his sides. “Well, that’s obviously not true?—”
“You’ll be taken in for questioning,” the voice said.
“About what?” Kit snapped. His head whipped around those who encircled us, his eyes narrow.
“No one escapes the militia,” the voice growled. “You know that as well as I do. So, you can come quietly, or wewilluse force.”
I remembered our first arrival in Ashpoint—rather our first approach. We’d been tackled to the ground and tied up, then dragged to the Ossuary and treated like criminals. I was eager to avoid the same treatment now.
Stepping forward, I broke away from Kit and held up my hands. Kit must have done the same because, within seconds, wewere being led quickly toward the city gate. With a man on each of our elbows and one masked fellow leading the charge, we cut a wide path along the snowy road.
I stumbled once, then twice, and was jerked upright roughly enough that Kit snapped.
“By the gods, it isn’t a race.”
Our escorts didn’t slow or stop yanking me to my feet after every misstep all the way through the front gate and to the Ossuary in the center of town. The building seemed to soar into the darkening gray sky, and I strained to see if I could spot the window of Merrick’s chambers. Specifically, I wondered if I would see him there, looking out, terribly amused by this whole thing.
I didn’t spot him or much of anything before we were led through the wide wooden doors and into the atrium.
Regardless of the reason for our visit to this building, I was grateful for a reprieve from the cutting wind and to be walking on something besides powder and ice. Still, my boots were caked with the stuff, and I slipped on the steps as we were hurried toward the second level. I went down on both knees and hissed at the jarring pain.
The man on my left hauled me up and pulled me to his face as he shouted, “Look here, you?—”
Kit surged up from behind me and knocked the man’s hand off my arm.
“If you won’t help him, let me,” he said and squeezed in next to me.
I shook my head. The motion made my whole body wobble. “I-I don’t need help, Kit. I just…”
“Up the stairs, but no further,” another one of the men said. “Can’t have you two scheming and collaborating to deceive us.”
Kit grumbled as he looped his arm around me. “Don’t worry,” he whispered, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “We’ll talkto Levitt and get this cleared up. I’ll have you home and in bed tonight. I swear it.”
The mention of the Right Hand and the slow, arduous climb made me assume we were headed to Levitt’s chambers. We’d come peacefully, after all and, as well as I likely knew these men, they knew me. They knew Kit. There was no reason for harsh treatment or punishment, or for them to grab us and pry us apart the moment we set foot on the second floor.
“Where are you taking us?” Kit demanded.
“For questioning,” one of the men holding me replied.
We went down a hall lined with barred doors. Glancing into the rooms beyond found them mostly empty, and each sparsely furnished with a mat on the floor and a wooden bucket in the corner. They were prison cells. Our proximity to them, and the way our escorts stopped in the middle of the hall, made my heart race.
I had been panting all day, but my rasping breaths came quicker now. Fast enough that they caught in my throat and drove out a cough, then two, and more after that until I was doubled over and hacking until my eyes watered.
“Where’s Levitt?” I heard Kit bark. “I want to speak with him!”
