D’Amiran would make him choose.
Alex could have help if he got in the sitting room. He’d be on his own in the bedchamber.
He settled the rope so it would hang next to the sitting room window, and began climbing down, bracing his feet against the wall.
83
ALEX KICKED AWAY from the wall to swing in with more force. As he crashed through the window, the duke leapt up from where he straddled over Charlie. Alex scrambled to his feet and drew his sword as D’Amiran yanked Charlie up and held the boy tight with an arm hooked around his neck. Charlie had been gagged and his hands tied together, but his feet were free. He kicked wildly until the duke jabbed a knife in his back. “Enough.”
Charlie gave a muffled cry and let his legs dangle. Alex watched in torment as tears streaked down Charlie’s dirty cheeks, his brother silently begging forgiveness for being caught like this. Smoke drifted in from the crack under the door. Gram’s fire was taking. From the smell, he’d added alcohol to help.
Alex took a deep breath and lowered his sword as he raised his left hand. “It’s over, Your Grace. Let him go and give me the girl, and I’ll stand for clemency at your trial.”
D’Amiran’s mouth twisted into a leer. “The girl? So you haven’t found her yet?”
She wasn’t here.
Alex tried not to panic at the possibilities multiplying in his head. “Tell me where she is, and I’ll prevent your execution.”
The duke shook his head. “You’d kill me yourself. I can see it in your eyes.”
There was no denying he was right. Alex weighed his next words carefully. The pounding on the outer door resumed and smoke clouded the room. The bottom half of the door suddenly buckled, and the duke jerked toward the bedchamber, swinging his knife hand around to Charlie’s front. Alex resisted the urge to lunge at him. “Don’t make it worse,” he said. “There’s already been enough suffering and death.”
Ice-blue eyes turned back to Alex and the arm around Charlie slackened, lowering the boy back to the floor.
D’Amiran suddenly smiled. “I disagree.”
He pulled his arms back, dragging the knife across Charlie’s throat before shoving him away.
84
THE BEDCHAMBER DOOR slammed shut as Alex dove to catch his brother before he hit the floor. Charlie’s brown eyes frantically sought his as Alex yanked the gag down and pressed it against the gaping wound. Alex held him tightly, begging the Spirit not to take him, promising anything, but he heard the sickening gurgle and knew he could do nothing. His brother’s mouth moved, trying to form words Alex couldn’t hear. The light began to fade from his eyes, and he looked almost confused. Alex had only seconds. Alex searched for something to say that would give Charlie peace, something to tell him how much he loved him, how proud he was to be his older brother. His eyes flooded as he pulled Charlie close and pressed his lips to the dirty forehead.
“I have never known a braver soldier,” he whispered.
Charlie’s back arched with one last choking, wet gasp, spraying blood and spit across Alex’s own throat. The bound hands clutching his jacket slackened as Charlie’s head rolled back, followed by a silence louder than anything Alex had ever heard.
He was gone.
With a sob Alex laid his brother down and pushed himself to his feet, fumbling for his sword. His fingers found and grasped the hilt, and he shook the tears from his eyes and bared his teeth, growling like a wild animal.
Gramwell nearly had the door open, so Alex hurdled over Charlie’s body and slammed against the bedchamber door. It gave a little, but he heard furniture being pushed across the floor against it.
Was Sage in there? He doubted it now, but the only man who knew was. And now Alex wanted blood. Needed it.
He sheathed his sword and backed away as the door behind him burst apart, scattering burning wood across the stone floor. Gramwell and the others stumbled inside, weapons drawn. The lieutenant froze at the sight of Charlie lying in a pool of blood.
Alex was already climbing out the window.
85
CASSECK WATCHED ALEX run around the top of the keep and drop a rope down the side, where it dangled next to the duke’s sitting room window. D’Amiran must be barricaded in his suite. Maybe he should send more help.
Down in the ward, things were going as planned. The sickening smell of burning flesh and hair mingled with the moans of dying men as the Stiller brothers led the effort to finish off the survivors of the barracks explosion. Tim was bleeding from an arm that dangled uselessly as he hacked and jabbed with the other. There were several bodies around Casseck, but only one was dressed in black. It was the only casualty he knew of so far, but with their few numbers, each loss was costly.
His head jerked up at the sound of four horn blasts. “Did you hear that?” he called to Porter.
The sergeant grinned back. “Sounds like the pickets are coming in.”
Casseck gestured for the soldier to take his place at the hall door as he ran toward him. “Inner gate is secure enough. You watch the hall while I let them in.”
He tore through the outer ward to the main gate, swinging his sword to slice off an arm clutching at him from the ground. Through the portcullis he saw four men running at the fortress, though not as if they were being pursued—Ash Carter leading the way. Casseck whistled to the gatehouse above, and his man began raising the heavy wood-and-metal barrier.
The four pounded across the drawbridge without waiting for the gate to be fully lifted, ducking underneath and crawling or rolling inside. Casseck signaled for the lifting to stop and pulled his friend up into an embrace. “Damn, it’s good to see you.”
Ash grinned and thumped Casseck’s back. “Looks like you’re doing just fine without us.” He turned around and pulled the smallest of his companions forward, a battered and bloody man Casseck assumed was the general’s courier. “We found someone you’ll be missing.”
Casseck’s jaw dropped. It was Sage.
She grinned up at him. “How are things going, Lieutenant? Can we help?”
“You made it,” he said, stunned.
“Did you doubt me?”
“We thought—”
She interrupted him. “Where’s Charlie? I saw him on top of the keep, but it looks like it caught fire.”
They looked back to the stone tower just in time to see Alex reach out the window and grab the rope hanging next to it. He pulled the line taut and leaned outward to run across the wall and into the other window.
Without waiting for anyone, Sage sprinted for the inner gate.