a wicked knife from the intriguing sash around her middle. She turned the handle and stepped back, using her fingertips to slowly open the door.
Cora’s gaze met Catherine’s across the short distance and she raised a staying finger. Catherine nodded and held her breath as the agent slipped into the too-silent room. She had no intention of lingering in the corridor while the other woman put her life in danger. After three full seconds, she inched her body around the open doorway until she found herself facing Castle Dragonthorpe. Her mother’s shoulder bumped into hers.
The two of them stood side by side, shaking with fear but determined to save their girl, the one who brought sunshine into their lives each and every day.
Castle Dragonthorpe yawned before them, occupying half the common room. The other half consisted of a school desk, a small bookcase, and an assortment of more feminine toys littering the floor. Two doors framed the common room, the right one an entrance to her daughter’s bedchamber and the left one spilling into the nurse’s small chamber, which was currently occupied by Sophie’s faux governess.
Cora was nowhere in sight.
Foregoing the nurse’s chamber, Catherine veered right, her mother at her heels.
“Mrs. Ashcroft,” Cora yelled from Sophie’s room. “Come quickly.”
Blood fired through her veins. Catherine barreled across the short distance and skidded to a halt inside her daughter’s bedchamber. “What?”
An answer was unnecessary, for the pool of blood at her daughter’s bedside said it all. Terror gurgled up into the back of her throat, and Catherine released it in one long never-ending breath.
Twenty-three
Teddy closed the barn door, exhausted to the bone. Guinevere and Gypsy had made a right mess out of their stalls while he was away. And if that wasn’t enough, one of the sheep had managed to wedge its head in between the rungs of an old cartwheel, forcing Teddy to chase the bleating animal all around the barnyard. He hadn’t been gentle when he popped the wheel off the blighter’s head.
Lifting his arms high above his shoulders, he stretched his aching muscles before turning toward the dark, shadow-ridden lane. He didn’t care much for this part, although given the same choice—play with Sophie Ashcroft or finish his chores on time—he would make the same decision again. Being the focus of her pretty smile all day was worth every hair-raising step he was about to take.
Not for the first time, Teddy regretted his family’s reduced circumstances, as his mother liked to call their lack of funds. According to his parents, they once lived in a grand house like Winter’s Hollow and had scads of servants seeing to their every need. Teddy recalled only small glimpses of their former life, yet it was enough to make him yearn for more than their single-room cottage and meager table fare.
Especially now that his mama was sick. Money would pay for a doctor and medicine to make her better. Money would allow them to hire servants to see to her comfort while he and Papa were at work. Money would mean he could go home tonight and melt into a plump, warm bed, rather than having to fix dinner for his papa and care for his mama.
Night sounds closed in around him, growing louder with every meter he distanced himself from the barn. The sunny day had given way to a partly cloudy night, and at times, Teddy could barely see the hard-packed road beneath his feet. Hunching his shoulders, he shoved his hands in his pockets and wrapped his fingers around the wooden piece Sophie had given him. He drew comfort from the small, solid piece of Dragonthorpe. Even still, he picked up his pace, not daring to look left or right for fear of encountering a pair of bright eyes.
Had it not been for the distinctive jingle of a horse’s harness, Teddy might have toddled right into the back of the motionless carriage. As it was, he’d stopped not six feet away. Fear flashed like a frigid breeze across his flesh before plunging beneath the surface to lock around his pounding heart.
Some instinct urged him to hide. Ducking low, he scrabbled for the knee-high weeds along the side of the lane and crouched there. From this position, he could make out the carriage’s black-as-night panels and carved trimmings. Four matching bay horses stood quietly at the lead, their driver faced forward in the same state of readiness.
Readiness for what?
Teddy glanced down the lane, from where he had just come, but the