Hidden Knights (Knights of the Realm #3) - Jennifer Anne Davis Page 0,43
nausea as it pressed against the bony shoulder of the man carrying her. She couldn’t even think straight in this position. A light mist covered the ground. The sky—at least what Reid could see of it upside down—was a dull gray, the crisp air cold. How long had it been since she’d been abducted?
Even though her wrists were bound together, she pressed her hands against the man’s back, trying to steady herself so she wouldn’t be jostled so much. After what felt like several hours, the sun started to set, the sky darkening.
The man carrying her finally stopped. “We can’t follow standard protocol,” he said. “Let’s set up a perimeter fifty feet out.”
Reid peered around him, trying to see who he was talking too. She counted eleven men, plus the one holding her, so twelve in total. They broke into three groups, each heading in a different direction.
When the man finally set Reid on her feet, she swayed and collapsed on the ground, her head pounding, her throat raw. One of the men handed her a piece of bread. She grabbed it, devouring the food. When she finished, he handed her a sack of water, which she drained dry.
Once her stomach had sustenance, she was able to start thinking clearly. Why couldn’t these men use standard protocol? Who were they? And what did they want with her? Reid observed the four men, immediately recognizing them as belonging to the unit of Knights in Gordon’s army—the men Ackley was in charge of.
Reid wanted to pull her sleeve up to reveal her tattoo, proving she was a Knight. However, her wrists were bound together, preventing her from doing so. Instead, she said, “Why did the Knights kidnap me?”
The four men stilled. Then one jumped to his feet, withdrew a strip of fabric, and tied it around Reid’s head, fully covering her mouth. She rolled her eyes.
He squatted in front of her, then reached out, gently pushing a strand of hair away from her face. “You’re safe. That’s all you need to know. Nobody here is going to hurt you.” He stood, then walked away.
A cold chill slid over Reid’s body. The way the man had touched her felt intimate. She wasn’t used to feeling vulnerable. Instead of arguing and making a scene, she remained quiet, choosing to listen instead of fight—at least for now. Once she knew why the Knights had taken her, she would decide how to proceed.
After the men ate, three went to sleep while one remained on watch, a sword in hand. Not having many options, Reid laid down, trying to get comfortable. It was impossible to with a gag around her mouth and her hands and feet bound.
In the darkness, she tried to think rationally. Why would the Knights abduct her? Ackley was in charge of these men. However, he hadn’t given the order to kidnap her. Which meant these men were following someone else’s orders. Anna, perhaps? To complicate matters, the men who’d drugged the Ellington soldiers and set fire to Reid’s castle hadn’t had the mark of a Knight. So who were those men and why had they destroyed her home? Why had they been trying to kill Reid and her friends? Were those men working with the Knights or independently? Maybe that was the reason the Knights had intervened—they were trying to keep Reid safe? If that were the case, why the bindings and the gag?
Well, one thing was for certain, ever since she married Dexter, nothing had gone the way Reid thought it would.
She must have dozed off, because she startled awake, the sky still dark. Remaining still, she tried to figure out what had awoken her.
“Any concerns?” a man whispered.
“No, nothing. It’s been quiet during my watch.”
“Good. I’ll be glad when we reach the stables tomorrow where the horses are stashed. Then we can travel faster.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been to our headquarters.”
“Don’t you think it’s strange she tasked twelve Knights with this assignment?”
It was quiet for several minutes.
“Maybe she just wants her daughter protected.”
Reid realized Anna had tasked these men with bringing her to the Knights’ headquarters. But why?
“What I don’t understand is why we took her from Ackley. Why not work with him?”
There was a shuffling noise as the man who’d been on watch laid down. “I heard she said she needs Prince Dexter controlled. Something about him being a liability and the way to keep him in line is through her.”