Besotted (The Fairest Maidens #3) - Jody Hedlund Page 0,57

Jorg. My friend wouldn’t feel the need to sneak in the way this intruder had.

I crept back to the chamber door, unsheathing my knife as I did so. Perhaps whoever had come for Aurora had left a small contingency behind. And perhaps even now they were waiting to capture me.

I paused and heard only the wavering hoohoo of a tawny owl somewhere on the edge of the clearing.

Had I been mistaken about the squeaking floor?

As soon as the question flittered through my mind, a thump sounded from the other room.

I tensed. I had to be careful so I didn’t find myself in Queen Margery’s clutches and end up useless to Aurora if she was in trouble.

“Kresten?” Someone whispered my name. A man.

“Chester?” I whispered in response.

“No, ’tis I, Vilmar.”

“Vilmar?” All caution fled, replaced by irritation. I pushed away from the wall and stomped into the main living area, my knife still at the ready in case I was walking into a trap.

The faint light coming in the open front door revealed Vilmar’s stocky, broad-shouldered frame at the center of the room near the table.

“What are you doing here?” My whisper was tinged with my frustration at not finding Aurora along with the fact that if she’d been here, I would have put her in grave danger by leading my brother right to her.

“We followed you here. Or I should say Ty picked up your trail.” Standing beside him was Vilmar’s scribe, the short, olive-skinned man who’d sat with us earlier at Walter’s. I’d sensed then, as I did now, that there was more to Ty than mere appearances gave away. Clearly, he was an exceptional tracker if he’d found my trail through the darkness to the secret passageway.

“I can see that you followed me. But why?”

“I think you know why.”

I stiffened and my fingers tightened around my knife. I’d never harm my brother, but I wanted to punch him. Hard. “And what if you’ve been followed by Queen Margery’s spies?”

“We’re alone. We made sure of it.”

“You shouldn’t have come.”

“And maybe you should allow her to decide whether she wants to help destroy the one person who has hunted her down her entire life and who even now seeks to rip out her heart and use it to make gold.”

I shuddered at the very thought. “I won’t give her the choice. Not if I can help it.”

“You know that even when she ascends to Mercia’s throne, Queen Margery will continue to fight her. She’ll find a way to slay Aurora either from within or without.”

“I won’t let it happen.” A quiet desperation settled in me.

“If ’twas so easy to keep Queen Margery from destroying Aurora, then why did she need to hide all these years?”

I searched for an answer but couldn’t find one.

“You don’t know Queen Margery the way I do. She’s a wicked woman and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.”

I once again felt the chill of a room that hadn’t been heated in a while. Though the familiar scents of Aunt Idony’s herbs wafted aloft, the tantalizing aromas of Aunt Elspeth’s tarts and custards and other baked goods were no longer here.

“Once Aurora realizes we have an opportunity to put an end to Queen Margery’s reign of terror, she’ll agree to our plan. I assure you.”

I sheathed my knife. “No. Leave her out of it.”

Vilmar fell silent. I could feel him studying me through the darkness.

I spun before he could find what he was looking for. I bounded toward the ladder and climbed up, knowing what I’d discover even before I saw the empty dormer. Aunt Elspeth and Aunt Idony had left too.

If they’d all been captured, I’d see signs of a struggle. But everything was in as much order or more than it had always been. I could only hope Chester had learned of the danger and orchestrated their escape while he still could.

As I descended, Vilmar and Ty were talking to each other and at my appearance stopped.

“From everything Ty sees,” Vilmar said, “he guesses they left yesterday.”

“That’s my guess too.” Though I’d longed to see Aurora tonight, I was relieved she wouldn’t hear Vilmar’s plea for help.

“We can try to track her—”

“No.”

“Ty might be able to pick up her trail—”

“No!” The one word encapsulated all my anger. “I want you and Mikkel to stay away from her. I mean it.”

Vilmar held himself rigid.

They didn’t know Aurora the way I did. She was too inexperienced and innocent to take a stand against so great