around his chest. One of the knights scraped a whetstone against his dagger. Two others gambled with small wooden dice. Some slept but most just waited out the day.
Birdsong sounded overhead, and Ransom found himself envying them their freedom. He’d held his water so long everything inside him ached. It was wise just to relieve himself and deal with the stink. But the thought made him so angry he rebelled, determined to hold out.
Despair brooded in his heart. He thought about the cold look Lady Alix had given him while he spoke to Benedict. Surely Claire would pay for his freedom, but the offer would never be accepted. Alix wanted to break him, to seduce his mind and his heart, to crush his spirit until he yielded to her dominion.
What confused him was that the Fountain had not warned him away from the mission. He’d felt nothing but a small prickle of unease. Well, he’d done his duty and ended up in bonds. He doubted Benedict knew, or that he would have taken part in such trickery. That it had happened after Ransom was dismissed indicated this was Estian’s plot.
Why had the Fountain forsaken him? Why had it allowed him to stumble into bondage when he should be trying to save his king?
He found himself recalling what he’d been told after the scabbard healed his battle injuries. The scion of King Andrew will be reborn through an heir of the Argentines. They will try to kill the heir. You are all that stands in the way.
What did that mean, exactly? Did Estian intend to kill all the Argentines? He was allied with Benedict at the moment, but he could just as easily turn on him. That would leave just Jon-Landon and Goff’s son, Andrew.
A prickle of unease shot through Ransom’s heart. He’d promised the king that he would look after Goff’s son. If he were in bondage, he could not do so. In fact, Alix would be able to mingle among the Argentines without anyone discerning her presence. His heart began to quiver with dread.
He pressed against the ropes that bound his chest, straining with all his might. The knight scouring his blade stopped and looked at Ransom as if he were daft. Then he shook his head and resumed what he was doing. No power flooded into Ransom. No rushing water filled his ears. And still he continued trying. After several more failed attempts, he sagged back against the tree, exhausted and sore. His effort had created a little slack in the rope, and it settled farther down his chest. The knots were all behind the tree, so he had no way of working them loose.
Please help me, he thought in desperation. He didn’t want to go back to Kerjean, to be at Alix’s mercy. To listen to her honeyed words as she tried to persuade him to change sides. His recollections of his time there made him even more certain Alix’s power was not as she had said. There was something about her that twisted a man’s heart, and he didn’t want to feel his love for Claire wrenched away from him.
Please, he thought in the silent halls of his mind. He yearned to hear an answer, to receive assurance that the fate he dreaded would not be forced on him.
But he heard nothing but his own troubled thoughts. And so he summoned up memories of Claire. The sound of her voice, the color of her hair, her strength and wit. Everything he had been given had been stripped away suddenly. Again. But he had her love and admiration, and that was what mattered most.
It wasn’t a groundless worry. Word arrived at the palace that Ransom is being held prisoner at Beestone castle. A writ of safe conduct was granted, only to be violated by that treacherous son of Devon. Word has also come that Duke Ashel has fallen ill. He’s sent his eldest son to lead the knights of his duchy, but the father’s experience is sorely needed. Other nobles who were ordered to bring forces to Kingfountain have made excuses as to why they cannot come. These are desperate hours. Benedict is coming and brings with him a host of mercenaries as well as Occitanian forces. The king is readying his men and will march westward to meet him. This time, he brings his youngest son with him. If Devon wins, I presume he will name Jon-Landon his heir. After such treason, I do not think