Chapter 15
Woodsbrook Manor
Lara
I don’t know why I shouted his name. It was instinctive and unplanned and utterly useless. Lance pulled me up the small stone staircase that led out of the cellar. Dark spots filled my vision. “What did you do to me?”
“You think you’re the only one who can make tonics?”
My stomach made a knot. I should have known, should have seen it coming and now I barely had the strength to stand up, much less fight back.
“If you’re wondering, it wasn’t in your wine, but on the rim of your cup.”
I let out a moan of pain and clutched my bleeding leg once we reached the top of the stairs. This tonic would need to wear off soon if I ever hoped to get out alive.
“It’s in your chambers, correct?” Lance asked, referring to the necklace, and I nodded. Why would Cai tell him?
Why would he give that up, even after knowing that I’m not Eloisa? It didn’t make sense, none of this did.
“Where did you put it, Lara?” Lance shoved open the door of my chambers and pushed me inside.
“In the top drawer.” I gestured to the dresser, watching the knife in his belt with every step he took. I brushed my hair out of my face as he opened the drawer, and I discovered it was wet with tears.
Lance pulled out the necklace and inspected it. I gathered all my strength and will in that moment and leaned forwards to grab the knife. Before he could turn, I jabbed it into his torso as hard as I could manage.
Lance let out a gasp, and once he realised what I had done, he smirked devilishly before dropping to the bedroom floor. I didn’t check to see if he was dying. I pulled open the dresser drawers and grabbed a few things. The world was still blurred, but the adrenaline coursing through my veins was starting to overcome the power of the tonic. I was slowly starting to become more awake, more in control of myself.
I stumbled into the hallway, awkwardly putting on breeches under my shift, but not before I had ripped a piece off to tie around my bleeding upper leg. After tucking my shift into my pants like a shirt, I pulled on a pair of riding boots without caring to fasten the laces.
I was running until it became difficult to breathe and then finally, finally I saw the glass door that led to the gardens and, beyond that, the forest. I stopped suddenly and Cordelia’s words sounded in my mind: “You will have to decide if the gold you’re being paid is worth his life.” I sighed. The gold was completely out of the question now. After all, I might have killed the man who was supposed to pay it to me.
However, Cai’s life might still be worth something, and not in the sentimental sort of sense. That, and the fact that he had stopped Lance from killing or wounding me severely. And I did so hate owing people things.
Clenching my teeth, I ran in the opposite direction, back towards the cellar.
It was dark and cold and smelled of must. I hurried towards the dim light of Cai’s cell. He was lying on the floor, barely conscious. I feared we didn’t have long before Lance’s guards came back.
“Come on.” He looked surprised to see me. I probably would have been too, if I were him.
“What—” He groaned as I helped him sit up. “What are you doing here?” I placed his arm around my shoulders to help him stand.
“Making sure you don’t die, at least not yet.”
We made our way out of the cellar and my leg felt weak.
But complaining about the pain wasn’t going to do me any good now. I was just lucky that Lance hadn’t cut too deep. It hurt, but it wouldn’t kill me. At least now I knew why he was so desperate for Cai not just to trust me, but also to like me. He knew that if his first plan didn’t work out, he would be able to use me to get what he wanted from Cai. If only I knew what his plan was after that. Was he really going to let me go, or simply kill us both?
“Where’s Lance?” Cai coughed.
“Bleeding on the bedroom floor,” I replied curtly.
“You killed him?”
“I don’t think so.”
I headed for one of the doors, hoping they would lead to a fairly secluded spot outside. If Lance’s guards were to see us, neither of us would be able to run away.
“I wouldn’t go that way if I were you.” A voice came from behind us.
It was Rhen. I swerved slightly in panic. I could feel Cai tensing up next to me. Rhen knew exactly who I was, what I was, and I knew how loyal he was to Lance. Our odds weren’t exactly looking good.
“There are guards stationed on the roof that side. Follow me.” I met Cai’s eyes, his questioning whether or not we could trust Rhen. I didn’t think we had much of a choice. He placed Cai’s other arm around his shoulder, easing the weight for me, and together we walked to what appeared to be the servants’ quarters.
He stopped at a small trapdoor in the floor. “This leads out to the woods behind the manor.” He pulled open the trapdoor and helped Cai climb down. I stopped to look at him for a moment as I placed my foot on the ladder.
“Why are you helping us?”
“One day, you’ll find out.” He eased me down and closed the trapdoor above us. It was pitch-black, but I could feel Cai’s heavy breathing next to me.
“Are you okay to walk?” I asked Cai, who muttered “Yes ” . I dragged my hand over the stone wall as we walked through the dark passage, until a small stream of moonlight leaked in at the end. Cai and I climbed out of the passage and, sure enough, we were in the woods behind the manor, just like Rhen had said.
Cai sat against a tree trunk and I placed my hand against it to keep from swaying. “My men are still back there,” Cai said, his voice a combination of sadness and worry.
“I’m sure Rhen will do something to get them out.”
“You seem to have a lot of faith in this man.” I couldn’t sense the tone he was saying it in.
“He did just save both our lives.”
“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Cai said, and I felt my stomach drop. Straight to the cold hard truth it is, then.
“I just saved your life. A ‘thank you’ would do as well.”
“I’m fairly sure you’re the reason it was in danger in the first place.” He let out a chuckle and then a sigh. “I cannot believe Lance has the necklace.”
“Well, it’s your fault you told him where it is.”
“I couldn’t just sit there and watch him hurt you.”
“Why not?” I raised my voice, forgetting for a moment that we couldn’t be too loud, or we might be discovered. “You knew I wasn’t Eloisa, just some stranger, an imposter. Speaking of which, how did you find out?”
“I saw a portrait of Eloisa in one of the studies at the manor house.”
My shoulders fell a little. I hadn’t thought Lance would be stupid enough to forget something like that.
“Not that it matters much now. Lance could be dead for all we know, and the necklace is gone.”
I proceeded to sigh very loudly.
“That’s only if I was silly enough to tell Lance where the real necklace was.”
I pulled the string of jewels out of my pocket and Cai’s eyes filled with relief.
“I didn’t think I’d have to steal it more than once,” I said, more to myself than to him.
“What do you mean you stole it?”
“That’s what thieves do, they steal things. Even Lance should have known better than to trust a thief.”
“A thief?” Cai said in confusion.
“Yes.”
“A thief?” he repeated and my brows furrowed.
“I’m pretty sure that’s what I just said. Why are you looking at me like that?”
Cai’s expression appeared as I imagined it would if I’d told him I was a fairy of some kind.
“Wait, who are you?”
I stuck out my hand towards him. “You may call me Lara. Though some refer to me as the Masked Bandit .”
Cai didn’t shake my hand. In fact, instead, he started laughing.
“There’s no way you’re the Masked Bandit.”
I placed my hands on my hips. “And why ever not?”
“You mean to tell me that the best bandit in Levernia convincingly played the part of a princess?”
“I’m not just the best bandit in Levernia, I’m the best bandit in the kingdom.”
“Then why on earth are you working with Lance?”
“It’s complicated.”
Cai tilted his head questioningly.
“Lance hired me to take the necklace from Eloisa, play dress-up and pretend to be her in order to get you to trust me, so that I could steal the jewel from you — if only we had figured out sooner that it was in the necklace.”
“So Eloisa doesn’t even know about this?”
“No one knows.”
“But why did he hire you ?”
“I just told you, I’m the best bandit in the kingdom.” I held up the necklace. “If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be holding the one thing everyone wants. And I’m a woman, so it worked out well for Lance, well... at least until he got stabbed.” I looked back to Cai, his face as pale as a sheet. “Wait, who did you think I was?”
He swallowed hard. “Just a court lady, I suppose. I didn’t think Lance would go as far as bandits. Guess I was wrong.”
I stowed the necklace away in my pocket again. “We can’t stay here. It won’t be long before they start combing the woods.”
“Then what do you suggest?”
“There’s only one place we would be safe now,” I said.
“And where is that?”
“Home.”