Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
They stopped before a sagging tent stitched from scraps of wool and canvas. Brother Edmund hesitated, then drew back the flap.
“He’s in there,” he said. “But I warn you—he’s not well.”
Knox stepped inside without a word. Dru followed, her heart tight in her chest.
The stink of old blood, urine, and damp earth hung heavily in the air. On a mat of straw lay a figure barely recognizable—Cleric Freen, the man who forced a marriage between them. Now he looked like a ruin of himself. His robe was filthy, his face a map of bruises, one eye swollen shut, the other dull with pain. A strip of cloth bound one arm to his chest, crusted with dried blood.
When he turned toward them, his good eye flickered wide in surprise, narrowed with something that looked far too close to fear.
“You…” he rasped. “What are you doing here?”
“We came for answers,” Knox said, his voice low and controlled. “You’re going to give them to us.”
Freen made a pained sound and turned his face away. “I’ve nothing to say to either of you.”
Knox took a step forward. “Try again.”
Brother Edmund touched his arm. “He’s injured. Whatever you’re hoping for—”
“I said we came for answers,” Knox repeated, more sharply this time, ignoring Brother Edmund. “About Autumn. You made it known that you have information about her.”
A monk entered. “You are needed, Brother Edmund.”
Brother Edmund looked at Knox. “This may be a tent, my son, but it is still the Lord’s house, please behave decently.”
As soon as the tent flap closed behind him, Dru stepped forward, her voice calm but edged in steel. “Why you, Freen? What do you suddenly know about Autumn?”
“Leave and bother me no more,” he muttered.
His evasiveness hit like a slap. Dru exchanged a look with Knox. The cleric hadn’t asked about them. Hadn’t asked how they were. He wanted nothing more than to avoid them.
“What game are you playing?” Dru asked quietly. “You’re hiding something.”
Freen gave a bitter laugh, then winced, the movement pulling at bruised ribs. “I’ve nothing left to play. I nearly lost my life the day the mercenaries stopped me along my travels and beat me half to death.”
Knox didn’t move. “And yet you’re still breathing.”
That stopped Freen cold.
His lips parted, but no sound came. The silence swelled, thick and ugly.
Dru stepped closer. “They didn’t kill you. They wanted to know about Autumn—and they didn’t kill you. Why?”
Freen’s eye darted to the side. “I— They had no reason to—”
“Nay,” Knox said, stepping in now, looming over the man. “They spared you. Why? What did you tell them?”
“I did what I had to!” Freen shouted suddenly, flinching as though from an unseen blow. “I had no choice.”
“What did you do?” Knox demanded.
Freen slumped, deflating before their eyes. His voice, when it came, was ragged. “I gave them a name.” He stared at Dru with something close to desperation. “I thought… I thought it would be enough to save myself. You are a waif. No past. No kin. You have nothing.”
Knox stepped forward. “She has me. A husband and you knew that since you wed us.”
“You told them I was Autumn,” Dru said, unable to move, her words barely audible. He had revealed her secret without even realizing it.
“I did what was best,” Freen said, no remorse in his voice.
“You condemned another to save yourself is what’s best?” Knox’s fists clenched, and for a moment, it looked as though he would strike the man.
Dru grabbed his arm. “Don’t. He’s not worth it.”
Knox stared at him, teeth gritted, chest rising and falling with slow, dangerous breaths. That he, a man of the cloth, cared nothing for the danger he caused Dru infuriated him. He wanted to rip him apart with his bare hands.
“You will rescind that claim,” Knox ordered.
“Nay,” he said anxiously. “They will find me and kill me for lying.”
“Better you than my wife,” Knox snapped, doing his best not to strangle the cleric.
Brother Edmund returned, his glance going straight to Knox. “There is a message for you from Lord Torrance.”
Dru felt her life unraveling at a rapid pace and sensed that fate had a hand in it. She turned as soon as she felt her husband’s hand close around hers and hugged it tight. It was a reminder that she wasn’t alone, and it was also a reminder of the danger he was in, for being her husband.
“Your day of reckoning will come, Freen, since you refuse to repent. It’s the fires of hell that awaits you. A fitting punishment.”
Knox stepped out of the tent with Dru and got a second shock this morning. He expected to see a single warrior waiting for him with a message. Instead, all but one of a dozen of Lord Torrance’s warriors sat atop their horses.
The one warrior standing stepped forward. “Lord Torrance summons you. We will escort you to him.”