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“But what if he’s done something to the Vicountess? I need to find out.”
“No, you don’t. You’ll leave this up to us now. And you’ll stay in your room while we do.”
“But you don’t understand. I think the baron has put the viscountess in an attic room and locked the door so she can’t leave. Like I said, they had a terrible fight a few nights ago, and then he left afterward, and her room is empty now too, and I think she may be upstairs in that attic. It has a brand new padlock on the door. If we can rescue her, then everyone will know what a horrible person he is, and we can tell the king. If we go now to look for her, maybe we can find her and then get away down the mountain before the baron comes back home.”
“What about the soldiers in the courtyard? How will we dodge them?” Asher asked.
Wyatt gave him an exasperated glare. “Wait a minute. My omega isn’t dodging anybody. We’ll handle the soldiers, though we might need a small diversion to get the horses out of the stables.”
Brandon interrupted this time. “Are you crazy? You’re not actually contemplating this, are you?”
“Not with my omega, no. He can stay with you while we go up to search this room he’s talking about and look for the Vicountess. After all, if she’s here somewhere, we can’t just leave her.”
“Agreed,” Asher said, nodding.
“But I need to get Darcy clear of this house and keep him safe.”
As they’d continued talking, I’d been already putting on my clothes, but I stopped what I was doing and looked up at Wyatt. “If you think you’re stashing me somewhere, then you’re crazy. I’m in this thing too, you know.”
Wyatt shook his head. “Darcy, if the baron is gone, then now is the time for us to try and find the Vicountess and get out of here. We can regroup down the mountain, contact Harrison and come back after this bastard later.”
“So, you go ahead, and I’ll try to make some kind of diversion to distract the soldiers in the courtyard.”
Asher and Wyatt looked at each other incredulously. “Have you hit your head?” Wyatt said. “We already told you that’s not happening. Now take us upstairs and you can take Brandon to your room to rest while we search. Wait for us there and we’ll find the Vicountess if she’s here and come for the two of you.”
I didn’t see any way of convincing him because he really was such a stubborn ass, so I took them up the shadowy, nasty steps to the scullery, and I even let him hold my hand all the way, but it was dark, after all, and let’s not forget—rats.
The house was silent as we crept upward out of that cellar, and I took that as a good sign. I felt like it was now or never for searching the baron’s bedroom for the attic key, and I told Wyatt as much when we made it to the scullery. The whole household was quiet and still sleeping.
“With any luck, I can be in and out of the baron’s bedroom, with no one ever being the wiser in a few minutes,” I told Wyatt, still thinking I could convince him. “Hopefully, I’ll find the key and then I can come for you. We can all check out the attic room, just to ease our minds. Then if the Vicountess isn’t there, we can leave. We can make it to the stables and get the horses and get out of here.”
That’s what I meant to say, anyway, but as soon as I opened my mouth, Wyatt clamped his hand over it and hissed in my ear. “Be quiet. There is no ‘we.’ Point me in the direction of the main staircase and then get the hell up to your room and lock the door. Take Brandon with you, and we’ll be back for the two of you after we search.”
He pulled his hand off my mouth, turned me around to face the servants’ stairs and gave me a little push, mouthing the word,“Go,”at me when I turned to give him a dirty look.
I still gave him the fiercest expression I could muster, which simply bounced right off him, and took Brandon’s arm to help him climb up to my room at the top of the stairs. On the way up, I looked long and hard at a small door near the top. Recently in my explorations, I’d discovered this old servant’s door that was a shortcut from the servant’s quarters and led to a short corridor and then over to the main part of the house. It actually came out on the second floor landing. I wondered briefly what Wyatt and Asher would do if I suddenly popped out that door and then decided I probably didn’t want to know.
By the time we got to my room, Brandon looked even paler and more exhausted than before, so I led him over to my bed and got him to lie down. I covered him with my blanket and the old quilts I still had, because even though it was warm up here, he was shaking some.
“Just try to rest,” I told him, and he nodded and then closed his eyes.
As for me, I started to pace. It was still not long past one o’clock in the morning, even though it seemed much later. I opened my door and stood at the top of the stairs, listening, but I couldn’t hear a thing. Then suddenly, from the courtyard, I heard a commotion of horses and what sounded like a carriage. I flew to the window and to my horror, I saw the baron’s fancy coach pulling around to the front steps. All I could think of was warning Wyatt and Asher that the baron was back at the castle. I immediately ran out of the room and made it to the passageway between the servant’s part of the castle and the main hall. It was pitch dark on the upper landing, and I stopped for a moment, listening.
All I could hear was the sound of my heart pounding.
I hurried down the hallway to the stairs that led to the attic as fast as I could, hoping Wyatt and Asher were still up there somewhere, and I could warn them before the baron climbed the stairs. If I could find them in time, we might still have a chance to escape and at least make it to the Wild Woods.
When I reached the top of the stairs, I whispered Wyatt’s name, but there was no reply. The hallway was as silent as a tomb. I turned to go, because the padlock was still on the door, and I knew they either hadn’t been able to get it off or they hadn’t even made it up to this floor yet. Maybe they were still searching the lower floors, thinking they had time before the baron returned home.
Just as I started down, I heard heavy, plodding footsteps coming slowly up, passing the second floor and still climbing up. Was the baron coming to check on his prisoner?
As silently as I could, I backed away, sliding into the shadowy darkness of the upper floor landing. I crept quietly as I could to the end of the narrow passageway and flattened myself against the wall, partially hidden, I hoped, by a large pedestal, holding a bust of some Greek philosopher or other.
I heard the baron come to the door and heard his key slide into the lock. The door creaked ominously as it opened to him. I still heard nothing coming from that room—no conversation, no piteous cries, not even the sounds of someone moving around, nothing. And thankfully, no sudden outcry from Wyatt and Asher either. Though I knew they couldn’t have been inside that room since the padlock was intact, a small part of me was still scared to death, afraid they might have found some other way inside it, and they’d been discovered.
A cold, whispering draft came drifting toward me there in my hiding place against the wall, touched by an odd odor, which could only be caught now and then. It soon faded after a moment or two into the stronger smell of incense and heavy spices, like someone was trying to cover up something. I was wildly curious as to what was in that room, and I grew careless, leaning forward to try and see inside and making the terrible mistake of leaning a little hard on the old pedestal holding the bust. The damn thing fell over with a loud clatter to the floor, the bust shattering into a hundred pieces.
For a moment, I was frozen in place. Then I came to my senses and tried to run, right past the open doorway and down the stairs, which was the only way out. My arm was seized in a punishing grip before I made it to the top step.
