Silently, she murmured her thanks to Charlie, and his doggedness in ensuring she learned this skill. Then she was on her feet.
A quick search of the room revealed no knives, guns, or objects she could use as a weapon. She crept to the window, silently unlatching it and pushing it open. Poking her head out, she noted that the room faced the back of the house with a wide terrace below, where a lone guard marched back and forth, a musket laying on his shoulder.
It took him three minutes to walk from beneath her window to the other side of the terrace and back again.
Ivy grew up the wall. She gripped it and tugged. The old growth held firmly to the side of the house. At least there was some benefit to the fact that the Mowbray’s had lived here for generations.
Twenty feet stretched between the window and the terrace.
She took off her shoes, set them on the floor, then hiked up her skirts and climbed through the open window. Her gaze firmly on the sentry below, she gripped the ivy’s twisting vine, and carefully positioned her feet on the thickest parts of the plant.
Jessica held her breath and kept as still as possible as the armed guard walked directly beneath her. Fortunately, he didn’t look up, never expecting that she might free herself and attempt an escape.
Pivoting on his boot heel, he marched back toward the other end of the terrace.
She climbed quickly, trying not to rustle the ivy and alert the sentry. When she was halfway down the side of the house, she debated jumping the rest of the distance, but that would make too much noise. She continued her downward climb, her attention always fixed toward the guard. One minute passed. In another minute, he’d turn and start back in her direction.
Jessica hurried the rest of the way down, still cautious about shaking the foliage she clung to. At last, her feet touched the terrace. Without her shoes, she managed to silently sprint across the veranda before vaulting over the railing.
She landed in a crouch in a garden. At least, she thought it might be a garden. Night had fallen and covered everything in darkness. Yet she could make out the rigid shapes of topiaries and ruthlessly pruned hedges, and thorny rosebushes plucked at her clothing as she darted down a path.
Just beyond the garden’s boundaries, the forest loomed. It formed a thick dark wall, black against the indigo night sky. Once, the woods frightened her, but Ezra, Tej, and Rhys had made it safer than any other place.
Though it wasn’t a full moon, it still cast far too much light for her liking. One of the sentries might spot her.
Her breath heaving, she ran from the garden, and plunged into the woods.
12
Without any sense of direction, she ran. Branches whipped against her face and she struggled to stay on her feet in this unfamiliar territory. Here, at least, she was grateful for the moonlight. In total darkness, she would have been utterly lost and could hurt herself tripping over roots or falling into ravines. She made out enough of the terrain to remain upright.
Where she headed, she didn’t know. All that mattered was getting away from Mowbray’s estate.
Night animals went silent as she sped between trees and around fallen logs. To her ears, she sounded like a heavy dray being dragged through the woods, graceless and deafening. Though her lack of shoes kept her somewhat quieter, it also meant that every rock and thorn pierced through her stockings and into the soles of her feet. She gritted her teeth against the pain.
There were no sounds of pursuit, no crashing of boots through the forest, but she wouldn’t permit herself any sense of relief. Not until she’d placed miles between her and the baronet and Guardians.
Finding Ezra, Tej, and Rhys was paramount. She had to warn them. Keep them away from Mowbray’s estate. They’d never be able to defeat the Guardians, whose ranks vastly outnumbered theirs. But how to locate them, when she’d been taken miles from where she’d last seen them, that seemed an impossible task.
She slammed into something hard and unyielding, knocking the breath from her. Then a pair of arms wrapped around her. She found herself pinned to a solid surface.
A hand covered her mouth.
She thrashed. The Guardians wouldn’t recapture her, not without a hell of a fight.
Jessica kicked and did her best to wrench her arms free from their prison, but whoever held her dodged her blows and only held her tighter with a strength that seemed inhuman.
She wouldn’t let them take her again.
“Be at ease, Lady Vixen,” a familiar voice murmured in her ear.
She sagged, letting her head drop against what she realized was Ezra’s chest. The hand eased away from her mouth, and another voice behind her said in soft admiration, “There’s our jewel.”
Tej. It had been his hand covering her mouth while Ezra had held her. But then Tej was beside her, tipping her chin up, brushing her lips with his own.
He angled her head, and then Ezra’s mouth found hers, kissing her with searching intent. And then someone else was there, on her other side, and she was kissed again by a pair of full lips. Rhys.
“Are you alright?” Rhys demanded.
