“My profound apologies.” Geddes didn’t sound sorry at all. “It was a torturous night for me, too.”
Alex didn’t really care. Now that Sage was safe, he had work to do, staging everything for this evening. “If that’s all you have, then we’ll see you in a few hours for your next check.”
Geddes nodded and turned to go. Alex looked to Casseck and the lieutenant called the ranks to attention for dismissal. They hadn’t made any announcements this morning. Every man knew his part and where to go.
“Oh, Captain.” Geddes turned back. “I almost forgot. I found something you lost.” He dug around in his jacket, muttering, “It’s in here somewhere.”
Alex gritted his teeth while Geddes searched. The captain had waited for precisely that moment to inconvenience as many people as possible. The rain was soaking into Alex’s jacket, and he knew every man standing there had water dripping down his neck.
“Ah, here it is.”
There was no way Geddes could have lost an object that big in his jacket for a full minute—
No.
Sweet Spirit, NO.
Geddes held up a black-handled dagger for all to see. The gold initials in the hilt were covered in grime.
Alex’s knees began to buckle, but Cass was already grabbing his elbow and propping him up. “Steady,” his friend whispered.
He locked his legs in place as Geddes took a step toward him, offering the knife to him with a smile. Rain ran in dark trails down the blade as the grime washed away.
Rivulets of red.
Blood.
71
ALEX BARELY MADE it to his room before vomiting into the bucket Charlie had used yesterday.
How many hours had he sat outside, smug and content? How many hours had she been dead while he thought she was safe? While he smiled and shaved and ate like nothing was wrong?
Another wave hit him and he sobbed through it, not caring if Casseck and Gramwell and Charlie saw how weak he was, because nothing mattered now except that Sage was dead. She was dead, and it was his fault, and he wanted to die, too.
Eventually the heaving stopped, though it went long past the point his stomach emptied. A damp cloth appeared in front of his face, and when he made no effort to take it, Casseck wiped the snot and spit and vomit away for him. Alex was sitting on the floor between his cot and Charlie’s, and he leaned back against his.
“I killed her,” he whispered.
“No,” said Cass firmly. “This isn’t your fault.”
Alex shook his head and reached for his face before realizing he still held the dagger in his hand. He eased his fingers open—the muscles were cramped from gripping it so hard, and the design of the hilt had pressed into his flesh deep enough to bruise. Reddish-brown blood had collected in the lines of his palm.
Her blood on his hands.
He lunged for the bucket again and heaved nothing for another five minutes.
Alex wiped his own face this time, and Cass offered him a cup of water. Charlie hovered in the background with a worried expression. “Are you getting sick, too?” the boy asked.
“No, I’m just…” Alex trailed off as a new emotion began to unfurl.
He would kill them all.
It wasn’t until Casseck said “What?” that he realized he’d said it aloud.
“I’m going to kill them,” he said. “The duke, Geddes, and every man who stands between me and them.”
Cass shook his head. “If he surrenders, you can’t.”
The rage inside was building, and he warmed his soul on the fire. “Watch me.”
“He has rights and privileges by law. It could ruin your career, land you in prison.”
“I don’t care.” Alex pushed to his feet.
There was a knock on the outer door and Sergeant Porter stuck his head in the meeting room. “Beggin’ your pardon, sirs, but Mistress Rodelle is here asking for you.”
Alex pulled the door closed on the room and the foul-smelling bucket and gestured for Porter to let her in. Casseck whispered some task for Charlie, and the boy slipped out as the matchmaker entered. Her blue eyes blazed in anger as she shook out her wet skirt.
“Where is she?”
“Mistress Rodelle—”
“I’m not a fool. She spent the night here. I’ve allowed you to use my apprentice for your spying, but I’ll not let you make a—”
“She’s dead.”
The matchmaker froze midsentence, every bit of color draining from her face. “She’s what?”
“Dead.” Every time Alex said the word he felt calmer. “She was caught making an escape that would have brought reinforcements here several days sooner.”
“But … are you sure?”
“Yes.” Alex gripped the dagger in his hand. “I’m sure.”
“You saw her?” the woman pressed.
For the first time, Alex faltered. “No.”
“Is it possible she’s alive somewhere?”
But Geddes would have taunted him differently if they had her. He would have said—
It was a torturous night for me, too.
Alex swayed and grabbed the edge of the table to steady himself. The knife clattered onto the table, and he sank into the chair he’d sat in all night, waiting while she’d been … “I don’t know.”
“Alive or dead, she’s in the keep,” said Casseck. “The dungeons or the infirmary or D’Amiran’s private chambers.”
“Or a void,” said Gramwell, speaking for the first time. “There were areas within the keep we couldn’t account for. They could be support columns or secret rooms or passages.”
“We’re accelerating everything,” said Alex. “I’m not waiting for nightfall.” Darkness was to be their ally, but time was the enemy. “Can we be ready by the noon meal? Everyone will be headed to the Great Hall anyway, so half the work of herding them there will be done.”
Cass nodded. The matchmaker gaped at them. “I thought we were just going to leave as though nothing was wrong. You sound as if you’ve planned to take over.”
Alex looked up to her. “We have. It turns out your ladies are what the duke was after in the first place.”
Realization dawned on her lined face, and she sat down hard in a chair of her own. “Spirit above, all those marriages of the past two years … he was binding half of Crescera to him.”
“And now he’ll take the rest,” Alex finished. “Sage figured it out.”
Mistress Rodelle smiled weakly. “Of course she did.”
“Which is all the more reason we’re going to find her.” Every instinct Alex had screamed to charge in now, to tear down the keep brick by brick. But no, he had to wait until the time was right, until everything was in place. He clenched his fists to keep his arms from shaking.
Patience.
“We have a few hours before we can act,” Alex said. “In that time I want to find out where she is and if she’s alive.”
Casseck nodded to the dagger on the table. “That was about making you want to find out. He’ll be expecting it. Anyone who snoops will be caught.”
“I have an idea who to send,” said Gramwell.