Fate's Ransom(The First Argentines #4)

“I’ll make him go down into the well to fetch it, I will!” snarled a man’s voice, one he immediately recognized as the Espion Aldous. “Maybe you’ll drown. You little rake—owww!”

Princess Léanore screamed.

Blood pounded in Ransom’s ears as he ran toward the sound. He came around the corner and saw the scene unfold in a flash. The princess was running toward him, her eyes wet with tears. When she saw him, a look of relief dawned on her face. Aldous had Devon by the collar, and they were both by one of the garden wells. It didn’t lead to the cistern, for it was lower down the slope from the castle proper. Aldous was pressing his other hand, where there were some flaming-red teeth marks on his skin, to his mouth. Willem’s face was contorted in rage, and he was beating his small fists into Aldous’s back, but the blows were having no effect on the larger man.

“Lord Ransom!” Léanore gasped. “Help! Help!”

Aldous growled and shoved Willem in the face, knocking him down, and then continued to wrestle Devon to the edge of the well. Aldous’s stringy hair a mess, his long nose dripping, he used his greater power to bend the boy toward the mouth of the well.

Ransom sprinted the final steps. Aldous turned on hearing his approach, and then his eyes widened with shock at seeing the boys’ father coming at him.

Aldous immediately released Devon and backed away. “Hold there, Lord Ransom, let me expl—”

Ransom caught him by the front of his shirt and continued to push him backward to the nearest tree. Aldous collided with it, his eyes blinking with panic. His huge nostrils flared. Ransom brought his forearm into Aldous’s chin, easily overpowering the smaller man, but he sensed danger as the Espion drew a dagger and suddenly pressed the tip against his ribs.

“It’s not what you think,” Aldous said tightly, his breath coming in quick bursts.

Ransom thought of Drew Argentine’s death, and the beast inside his chest snarled to get out. With his free hand, he grabbed Aldous’s wrist and squeezed and twisted until pain bulged in the Espion’s eyes and he dropped the dagger onto the grass. Willem and Devon came to stand by their father, their eyes full of wrath at their tormentor.

Aldous grimaced. Fear shone in his eyes now that he had been disarmed. “Let me go, Lord Ransom. You don’t want this.”

He very much wanted to wring the Espion’s neck with his bare hands. “They’re children,” he chided huskily, so angry he was ready to kill.

Aldous didn’t seem to care. He didn’t look guilty, only fearful for his life. “Release me.”

“Or what?”

“There are other Espion nearby. I’ll call out to them. Someone might get hurt if Bodkin finds out.” His eyes flashed with animosity.

Ransom was tempted to haul Aldous to the edge of the well and pitch him headfirst down the shaft. The fall might kill him.

At that moment he didn’t really care. The pressure he’d been feeling had reached a breaking point. What if he’d come too late? What if the man had pitched Devon down the well, as he’d clearly planned? What if he’d been killed?

He didn’t know what to do, but his children were both all right. If anything, Aldous had been injured more by the confrontation. Beyond that, he didn’t wish to display more violence in front of his boys now that the danger had passed. Taking a deep breath, Ransom released the man’s wrist and stepped away from him. Aldous massaged his lower arm and sidled away from the tree, keeping his eyes fixed on Ransom’s face, like a fox backing away from a wolf that had recently held it in his jaws.

“They dropped something of mine into the well,” Aldous said scathingly. “I’m going to get some people to fetch it out. They may be children, but they’re nasty ones.”

“Say no more,” Ransom declared. “Or I’ll break your jaw next.”

Aldous flashed a menacing look at the two boys, who met his ill intent with defiance, hands on hips. The Espion left his dagger, and his dignity, and fled the garden swiftly.

Léanore came up sniffling. “I told you we shouldn’t have done it,” she sobbed. She looked at Ransom guiltily. “It’s our fault.”

“Hush!” Devon said to her, but it was too late.

Ransom cocked his head to one side. “What did you throw in the well?”

Willem looked chagrined. “A bit of iron from the forge.”

Devon threw up his hands. “You’re going to tell him everything?”

“We got caught, Dev,” said Willem. “Show him.”

Léanore sniffled again. “I knew it would end badly. I knew it.”

“It was a good plan—it worked,” Devon said. “We just didn’t count on how angry he’d get.” He fished into his pocket and pulled out a key. It had a star emblazoned on the end.

Ransom closed his eyes. Nothing excused Aldous’s reaction, but the boys had started it. He looked at Devon in disappointment. “That’s a key to the Star Chamber.” It was the room Lord Longmont had turned into the headquarters of the Espion in the palace. He’d engraved stars on the ceiling to add to its mystique. Only the most trusted Espion were allowed there.

“I know,” Willem said sheepishly. “It’s the only place in the palace we haven’t been in . . . yet.”

Léanore spoke up. “We took a used bit of iron scrap to try and make a key, but that didn’t work. Then Devon said he could steal Aldous’s key and pretend to throw it into the well.” She was trembling but seemed relieved to be telling the truth at last.

“So you tossed the scrap into the well instead to make it convincing?” Ransom asked. He was impressed by their resourcefulness but alarmed by the extravagance of their deception.

“It needed to sound like a key as it slid down the stone,” Devon said with a guilty look.

“Give it to me,” Ransom said, holding out his hand. Devon handed it over, his cheeks flushing with shame.

Ransom pocketed it. “You must take care. The people who run the Espion now are dangerous men,” he said. “They’re not like Sir Simon.” He dropped down to his knee and pulled his children close. They hugged him, and he looked over Devon’s shoulder and saw Léanore staring at him as if she, too, wanted a hug.

She was Jon-Landon’s daughter, but that wasn’t her fault. He gestured with his palm to come closer, and she smiled in relief and hugged him and Devon.

“I have some bad news to share, boys,” he said with a sigh.

“What is it, Papa?” Willem asked worriedly.

“I’ll tell you later,” he said. “What you did today was not honorable. I need to think of a punishment first.”

His sons pulled back and looked at each other.

“Very well, Father,” Willem said somberly. He looked like he was bracing for the worst.

“I’m glad none of us ended up in the well,” Léanore said. “Do I get a punishment too?”

“I’m going to tell the queen,” Ransom said. “That is for her to decide.”

She bowed her head and looked genuinely regretful.

Devon was still wrestling with his feelings. “I’m sorry, Papa.”

“Let me think on it. Go play in the kitchen. I’ll come for you later.”

The three children nodded, and they walked away together. He looked down at the grass and saw the dagger he’d wrenched from Aldous’s hand. Stooping, he picked it up and turned the blade over in his palm. Then, clenching it in his fist, he slammed it into the tree, blade first. He walked to the well and sat down at the edge, grateful he hadn’t let his anger overcome him. Although Aldous had overreacted, and violently at that, his children had been in the wrong. Now that he knew the full story, he felt less threatened by what had just happened.

Had he broken Aldous’s wrist? It would have been so easy to have done worse. His magic bubbled soothingly inside of him, but he didn’t feel worthy of it at that moment. He sensed someone approaching and turned his neck to see Cecily heading toward the well.

When she reached him, she looked over at the tree and saw the dagger plunged into the bark. “Well, at least you didn’t pin Aldous there with it. I don’t think he’s strong enough to have pulled it out.”

Ransom felt so weary, he could barely summon a smile. “Are more Espion coming?”

“There’s a lost key in the well, or so I’ve heard,” she said.