How to Tame a Beast in Seven Days (The Embraced #1)

Willem’s eyes darted about, then he licked his lips. “Th-there are two more? I-I don’t remember—”

“Not a problem. I know exactly how to jolt your memory.” Leo slowly removed a glove. “Perhaps you have heard about me?”

Willem’s eyes bulged. “You’re the B-b-b-”

“Damn.” Nevis affected a shudder. “I’d better leave before the lightning bolts start.”

“Hmm.” Brody swallowed his food. “So scary.”

“Please!” Willem dropped to his knees. “Don’t hurt me! I think one of them is a soldier. That’s all I know. Please, my wife and children will be murdered if the duke and his daughter don’t die. Please help me!”

Leo exchanged a glance with his friends as he tugged his glove back on. “Are you saying your family is being held hostage to force your cooperation?”

“Yes! I’ve never killed before. I’m a poor farmer.”

Leo sighed. He wouldn’t be surprised if Uncle Fred had actually done something this despicable. “Where is your family being held?”

“Our farm. It’s about a two-hour ride north from here. Can you help me?”

“I can’t make any promises until I check out your story,” Leo told him. “Nevis, take a troop of men to his farm. If his family is being held hostage, rescue them and bring them back here.”

“Oh, thank you, my lord!” Willem cried.

Leo gave him a stern look. “This doesn’t mean you are forgiven. You attempted murder, and you will pay for that. The duke is your lord and master. You should have informed him immediately what was happening.”

Willem hung his head. “Yes, my lord.”

“And if this is a trap my men are riding into, you will suffer for that, too,” Leo warned him.

While Nevis asked the man for directions to his farm, Leo wandered over to the desk where Brody was sitting.

“Have you learned anything new?” Leo helped himself to a piece of cheese off the tray of food. “Any clues who the other two assassins could be?”

“I’m betting on a soldier and the young priest, but we have no way of confirming that until they do something.” Brody gave him a wry look. “How did the duel go? I assume you won.”

“Aye. The captain has been banished.” Unfortunately, Leo couldn’t banish the seeds of doubt that Bougaire had planted.

“I was surprised yesterday when you made your presence known. I thought the plan was for you to pretend to be delayed so the assassins would make their move.”

Leo sighed. “That was the plan, but after the attempt on Tatiana’s life, I couldn’t bear to sit back and do nothing. She’s my betrothed, my responsibility.”

“Ah. So you’re smitten with her already?”

Leo considered physically wiping the smirk off Brody’s face. “Have you noticed anything else about her that seems … off?”

Brody shook his head. “Haven’t seen her much since yesterday. I’ve been guarding the entrance of the tower while she’s up in her room.” His eyes glinted with humor. “Apparently, you’ve seen her more than I have. I heard some guards were knocked unconscious when a mysterious stranger sneaked into her room to be alone with her.”

Leo shrugged. “A simple security check, nothing more.”

“Right. Well, the guards never reported it. They were too embarrassed by how easily you breached their defenses—or was it her defenses?”

Leo gave him a pointed look. “Watch how you talk about my betrothed.”

Brody grinned. “Oh, you’re smitten all right.” He tilted his head, considering. “All I’ve heard lately is that she talks to herself quite a bit. The guards think it odd, but we already know she talks to spirits. And I’ve heard that the tower is haunted. Last night she ran from her room, yelling, Wait!”

And then she’d run at the wall, reaching for something. Or someone. Leo took a deep breath. No wonder she’d refused to tell him why she was on the wall walk. She didn’t want to admit she was talking to dead people. “There must be a ghost she’s anxious to talk to.” Her mother?

Another thought occurred to Leo. “If the tower is haunted, then that must be why she went there the night Willem stabbed her pillows.”

Brody nodded. “She was hoping to talk to the resident ghost.”

Nevis sauntered over and grabbed a small loaf of bread off Brody’s plate. “I’ll be going now.”

“Be careful. It could be a trap,” Leo warned him. “And have your men dress as a band of thieves. We can’t attack the king’s guards as soldiers. Uncle Fred would take it as a rebellion.”

“Got it.” Nevis strode from the room as the jailer came in with another tray of food and bottle of wine.

“Thanks.” Brody opened the bottle and took a long drink.

“The duke wants to see your lordship in his library,” the jailer told Leo.

“Very well.” Leo grabbed a grape off the tray and popped it into his mouth. “Post additional guards and be extra vigilant. The other two assassins might consider our prisoner a liability.”

The jailer nodded. “Yes, my lord.”

*

Luciana dipped her quill into the ink bottle as she considered what to write next. Luckily, she already had paper and ink since Jensen had delivered them to her tower room the night before. She hadn’t needed to write to Leo after all, but this evening she had to compose a letter for her sisters. Tomorrow morning at dawn, she was supposed to place the bottle with the new letter on the rock offshore. Then the seals would deliver it to Maeve.

After the duel, her father had invited her to a midday meal with him, the general, and Leo. She’d declined. After Leo’s confession last night of wanting to bed her, she felt too flustered to be in his presence. How could she sit calmly beside him and eat a meal when her stomach was fluttering and her mind was racing with questions? Was she really falling in love? How could her heart be filled with longing for a man whose touch could kill her?