to the door, then Leigh slid inside first. Royce reached down, helping Reid into the stables.
“Is anyone else here?” she asked, dropping the shield. Her throat stung from all the smoke she’d inhaled.
“Duke Ellington is here,” Royce replied as he kept watch at the door.
“Harlan and Idina?”
“Not yet.”
If anything happened to her friends, Reid would be devastated. What could she do to help?
Leigh’s shoulders started shaking, and Reid realized the woman was crying. She wrapped her arms around Leigh, despite not being close to her. “I’m sure Idina will be fine.”
She wiped her eyes. “I don’t understand how Eldon can do this. How can he be so cruel?”
Even though Eldon seemed the likely culprit, they didn’t have proof he was involved in tonight’s events.
“They’re coming,” Royce announced.
A minute later, Idina and Harlan stumbled inside. “Sorry,” Harlan said. “We ended up on the wrong side, and we had to sneak around the corner to get to the door.”
Reid released Leigh, waving Idina over. Idina hugged her mother while assuring her everything would be okay.
Peering outside, Reid scanned the area for Dexter, Ackley, and Gordon. A chair protruded from a window as someone started to climb out.
Duke Ellington rubbed his face. “There should be some bows and arrows in the back room.”
“I’ll fetch them,” Royce said. He returned with two bows and a couple dozen arrows.
Reid took one of the bows, then nocked an arrow. She didn’t know what she was aiming at. A person? Movement?
An arrow sailed through the air, landing on the underside of the chair just as Ackley jumped to the ground, causing him to stumble. He held the chair in front of his body as he regained his footing. Once steadied, he moved toward the stables. Another arrow shot through the air, this one landing toward the top of the chair’s seat, much too close to Ackley’s head for Reid’s liking. Based upon the way the arrow stuck out of the chair, Reid determined the general direction it had been shot from.
Holding the bow like Markis had shown her, she aimed for where she thought the archer was. She had to either draw the person out or distract him enough so Ackley and the others could get safely to the stables.
“Idina,” Reid said as she prepared to shoot. “Come up with a plan. We don’t want someone setting the stables on fire.”
Reid released the arrow. It sailed toward the trees. She hoped she didn’t accidentally strike one of her father’s soldiers.
“There’s a ladder in the back,” the duke said. “It’ll take you to the loft where there’s a small lookout. You’ll be able to see if anyone is approaching.”
“Mother,” Idina said, “I need you to go up there and keep watch. If anyone besides Ackley, Gordon, or Dexter approaches, holler. Can you do that?”
“Yes.” The tears were gone, and Leigh’s voice sounded stronger.
Reid nocked another arrow and shot again, unable to see where it landed. Her fingers stung from pulling the heavy string back. Loading arrow after arrow, she shot again and again until Ackley reached the stables.
“Where’s Dexter and Gordon?” she demanded, scanning the area surrounding the castle.
“We made a slight change to the plan,” Ackley said after he dropped the chair, breathing heavily. “When’d you learn to shoot?”
“I’ve always known how to shoot, but in Axian, I learned how to hit.”
He laughed. “Well, that is a handy skill to have.”
Reid remained perched in the doorway, which was only cracked a couple of inches, the loaded bow at the ready. “What’s the new plan?” She continued to scan the area.
“I was the bait.”
“Explain.” She lowered the bow, not sure she wanted to know what her husband and Gordon were up to.
“I came out the window with the chair, keeping the archer’s focus on me so the other two could escape out a back window. They are going north about a mile and then looping around, hoping to come up behind the archer and take him by surprise.”
“Whose idiotic idea was that?”
He smiled sheepishly.
She whacked his shoulder. “Why?”
“We need to discover who wants us dead.”
Reid shook her head, focusing again on the land surrounding her home. She couldn’t actually look at the castle, which now had flames licking out of the windows. Everything she owned was burning—her father’s books, her treasured weapons, her sister’s dresses. It would be ashes by morning. A deep pain stabbed at her chest. She shoved it away—now was not the time to feel. It was the time to act.
“What are you thinking?” Idina