I were trembling.
“Marian, my dear niece, you know very well how I play this game, don’t you? You see, I understand that there must be certain negotiations, and well, I like to start the game off right.”
He took two long steps from me, past Rob, and he plunged the knife into David’s throat.
CHAPTER
I screamed. Blood bubbled fast up David’s throat, and his eyes were wide like he didn’t know what had happened. Like he were frozen and couldn’t move or stop his death from flying swift in. Just like John.
And then Prince John pulled the knife out, and David’s body collapsed like someone pulled out whatever made him upright.
Prince John stepped in front of Rob, and I weren’t sure if I were screaming or crying or all at once. Men had their hands on me to keep me still, and Rob’s hand grabbed for mine, the only thing that calmed me. Rob were very still, looking at Prince John, not breaking his gaze.
“Tell me where the money is,” Prince John said. “Tell me how you got it out and where it’s gone.”
“We won’t tell you that,” Rob said. “Because you’ll use it to kill Richard.”
“Yes, I will,” Prince John said. “This is my country, and whether it’s today or sometime in the next year, when you have fat little children, when you think you’re safe, I’ll see you dead. I’ll see you both dead.”
I drew a shaking breath, tears streaking down my face. “Not tonight. You need us to tell you where the money is. And if you harm one, the other won’t tell.”
“Hm,” he said. “Or maybe, like your little outlaw said, you won’t tell me anyway. Because your faith in my brother’s right is so strong, is that it?”
“I’ve never met my father,” I told him. “I only know that you should never be allowed to be king.”
“Well,” he said. “You may be right. But nobody cares what a stupid, bastard girl thinks. So let’s make this interesting, shall we? I’ll give you until dawn to tell me where the money is. And then I’ll kill him. I’ll hang him from that tree,” he said, pointing. “So you can watch. So you can remember every detail and take it to your grave. And then I’ll kill you too,” he promised.
I shivered.
“And do you know why I’ll hang him?” Prince John said, coming close to my ear. “Because you’re the weak one. You will break, like you sacrificed me for him moments ago. You will tell me rather than have his death on your soul, won’t you?”
My eyes flicked up to his. “If you kill him, I won’t say a word. And if you kill me, Richard will be safe, and he will return, and he will flay the skin from your bones.”
His eyes narrowed. “Let’s find out, shall we?”
They brought us up in the tower. It had once been a royal residence, but my father had long been rebuilding it to be the strongest prison in the land. The rooms bore the rich signs of their royal past, but also the locks of their future.
They didn’t touch me. They left me in a room all night long, alone, and listening to sounds that could have only been Rob. Grunts, short, clipped yells, and then silence. Every so often a man would come to my door and ask where the money were. I never answered, and then the sounds from Rob would start over again.
Once, my eyelids slipped closed, and I saw David behind my eyes, lying dead on the grass. Then the grass changed to snow, and the body changed to John. My eyes snapped open, and for a moment, I gasped for breath, and the vision still burned in my eyes, but it were Rob’s body lying crumpled on the ground.
My hands shook, but I folded them in prayer, asking God to protect David like I couldn’t in life, to keep John out of trouble, and to protect Rob. It were damned little, but it were all I could do.
The sky had begun to turn blue, the first herald of dawn, and I hadn’t heard anything from Rob in a long while.
My heart were drumming in my chest, steady and hard, and it made my whole body shake.
The door opened, and Prince John came in. He grabbed my arm, hauling me up. “Tell me—” He stopped, cocking his head. “Actually, I rather hope you won’t tell me. I’m very much looking forward to killing you both.”
“Where is he?” I demanded.
He pushed me out the open door, and I saw another door hanging open down the hall. A knight tied my hands, and Prince John led me down the stairs to stand in the open doorway. Rob were on a horse, being led to the tree, and the rope tied round his neck were thrown over a thick branch. He were bruised and bloody, and water pushed into my eyes and my heart ached.
I looked toward the gate. The pounding weren’t my heart now; it were the gates.
“Yes,” he said. “We have visitors. Which means we need to make this very quick, Marian. Tell me where the money is, right now, or I will hang him. Hangings kill people in one of two ways, did you know that?”