Hidden Knights (Knights of the Realm #3) - Jennifer Anne Davis Page 0,44
evened out as he fell asleep. Unable to sleep herself, Reid decided to get to work. Since there was one man on watch, she had to be as quiet as possible. Moving slowly, she used her shoulders to shove the gag away from her mouth. After ripping off a piece of fabric from her tunic, she raised it, using her teeth to tear it into smaller pieces. Tomorrow, she’d leave a trail.
The next morning, the group rejoined the others shortly before sunrise. Once again, a soldier threw Reid over his shoulders like a sack of flour. Only today, she didn’t mind. It afforded her the opportunity to drop pieces of fabric, hoping Dexter would be able to track her. The task seemed futile—the Knights probably had too far of a head start. Nevertheless, doing so gave Reid hope.
Just before sunset, they reached a small town, the group stopping on the outskirts. Two of the twelve men went into the town to inquire after the horses. Reid sat, leaning against a tree. Her stomach growled, her head throbbing from being upside down for so long.
“I feel bad we’re doing this behind Ackley’s back,” one man mumbled. “It doesn’t seem right. He’s always been our leader.”
“I agree,” another replied. “And you know Ackley—when he gets mad, he turns into a beast.”
Reid recalled the couple of times she’d seen Ackley kill. He fought like a panther and killed without remorse. When the mercenaries attacked them in the middle of the night, he’d slaughtered them all without hesitation. He was so different from Dexter, who let the Melenians get away when Colbert had been struck by the knife. Of course, Ackley had been trained by the Knights to be an assassin.
Reid’s skin prickled. Something was wrong. Sitting up, she scanned the area, trying to figure out the cause for her unease.
“It’s taking too long,” one of the Knights said.
“We’ll give them five more minutes. If they’re not back by then, you two will go check on them.”
Reid’s wrists were tied together, her hair knotted from traveling upside down for two days and sleeping on the ground, and she had a gag around her mouth. Dread filled her. If Ackley saw her like this, he would strike down every single one of these Knights.
The pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place as Harlow’s words came back to haunt Reid. What was Anna’s end goal? Anna wanted to destroy the Winston family and control Marsden through Reid. The Knights were a stumbling block because they took an oath to protect the kingdom—not support Anna’s warped agenda. Which meant Anna didn’t want the Knights to take Reid to their headquarters so she could control Dexter. No, she wanted Ackley to think Reid was in danger, so he’d kill the Knights for her.
Reid tried warning the men, but the gag made her words unintelligible.
“I think she’s trying to tell us something,” one of the Knights said.
One of the men squatted before her, looking into her panic-stricken eyes. He reached forward, gently pushing the gag down so she could speak clearly.
“This is a set up,” she said, tears filling her eyes.
The man remained in front of Reid. “Why do you say that?”
What if she were wrong? When she opened her mouth to speak, the man in front of her collapsed.
Chapter Ten
Reid jumped, fearing a dagger struck him. She didn’t see anything protruding from his body. One by one, the men around her fell to the ground.
Ackley stepped around a tree trunk, examining the scene. “Are you okay?”
“Did you kill them?” she demanded.
“Why do you ask?”
“They’re your Knights.”
“Yes, I know.” His face remained unreadable.
“There are two more. They went into town.”
He nodded. “Dexter is dealing with them.”
Dexter was there?
Ackley knelt before her. “Because these men are Knights, I’m assuming they did not harm you?”
“I’m fine.”
He cut her bindings. “Don’t want Dexter to see this. He might change his mind.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He insisted we not kill them.” He stood, pulling Reid up along with him.
“So these men aren’t dead?” Relief filled her.
“No.” Ackley rubbed his forehead. “I wanted to kill them, but Dexter convinced me otherwise.”
A hundred different questions came to mind. Before Reid could voice any, Ackley must have sensed her confusion because he chuckled. “As we tracked you, Dexter thought this may be a setup. I wasn’t so sure. However, I had two days with Dexter where I had no choice but to hear him out. We argued. A lot. In the end, we compromised.”