Page 67 of When the Duke Met His Match

He glanced between the two men who waited anxiously with mutual confusion on their faces. As light whisps of vapor seeped from his lips, Wright finally spoke.

“You have precisely five minutes to tell me everything you know.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

ODETTE

Footsteps in the hall forced Odette’s eyes open from her place in bed, wrapped up in the warm blankets. They drew closer until the doorknob rattled, and candlelight from outside the room flooded in.

She released her tense breath the moment Theophilus and Eric came in with their shoulders slumped. Sitting up urgently, concern flooded her chest.

They walked in as if they had lost everything, and she pulled herself away from the bed. “What happened?”

Theophilus wore his defeat plainly, and he dropped himself onto the mattress in her place. He ran a hand through his neatly combed hair. “We told Wright everything, yet he couldn’t find it in himself to trust us.”

“He has always been a stubborn old man,” Eric chided, moving over to his small cot on the floor. Fortunately for him, he didn’t have a bounty on his head and seemed to take the news much better than Theophilus could.

Ignoring him, Odette could only focus on the fact that they were indeed with her and not locked up in prison. While he hadn’t been wanted for the same things as she was, he was still considered a fugitive and had gone straight to the people who placed that bounty.

“And yet he let you go,” she murmured, uncertain of what that meant.

With another exasperated breath, he added, “The man practically raised me. He would never hurt me intentionally.”

“But he could have. He could’ve arrested you.”

“That’s something he reminded me of as well,” Theophilus said. “There must still be a beating heart in that old chest of his.” He forced himself to be more serious then. “We were counting on his help, along with that of the whole English army, but now there’s no telling what will happen. At the very least, now Wright knows and can act accordingly.”

“But if the king is assassinated due to Wright’s distrust in you, we won’t have the chance to clear our names,” Odette returned, pacing a small distance in front of him. “What are we to do now?”

“We will go forth with the plan and hope the lieutenant does the right thing. At the very least, he doesn’t know we planned to sneak in and monitor the situation for ourselves. We will have a slim chance of defending the king on our own, but there isn’t much else we can do.”

While it wasn’t the most reassuring response, Odette knew his chances of convincing Wright were slim, considering his unsavory status with the crown. It was a long shot to begin with, and it wasn’t much of a change from the original plan.

At least she had the time to prepare.

“Then you’re going to need this,” she said, gliding over to the small writing desk to retrieve a satchel she had brought from her family’s home. She untied it and pulled out a pile of clothes.

Theophilus stood then and approached her, looking down at the trousers and cravats in her grasp. His face contorted with confusion. “Where did you get these?”

She refrained from speaking at first with a sheepish expression and carefully placed the garments back inside the satchel.

He blinked at her in shock. “Tell me you didn’t leave this room, Odette.”

He threw his hands up when she didn’t deny it and exclaimed, “You know how wrong that could have ended for you. I specifically told you to stay here and sleep so that you wouldn’t put yourself in harm’s way. Where did you go?”

Chest rising and falling carefully, she tried to not let the guilt consume her. “I will tell you, but you must promise to not get angry with me.”

He softened his gaze with a sigh and silently motioned for her to speak.

Once he calmed himself down again, she averted her eyes and cleared her throat. “I went to visit my parents and asked them for their help. They sent me with the clothing.”

Theophilus sucked in a breath and gestured to the satchel. “You shouldn’t have taken that risk! We could have gotten garments somewhere else without you running off on your own.”

“And where do you propose we would find clothing suitable for a ball?” she questioned him, folding her arms over her chest. She gave him an accusatory look.

“I don’t know, but I do know we would have come up with something,” he exclaimed, scrubbing a hand down his face.

Clearly uncomfortable with the tension in the room, Eric slowly rose from his cot and moved toward the door. He met her frustrated gaze and motioned toward the hall. “It would be a shame to waste the night without a refreshing drink,” he murmured nervously. “I’ll leave you two to it, then.”