CHAPTER THIRTY ISI
CHAPTER THIRTY
ISI
Ileaped off Trew and while he jumped to his feet, I smoothed my tunic. Pherin moved around from my back to my shoulder. “We…” Heat climbed up my neck, but terror overwhelmed every other part of me.
Water dripped from Trew's clothes and hair, his golden eyes fixed on my father.
“Your hair is wet,” I said.
My father grunted. “I just bathed.”
“Outside?”
“What is going on here?” he bellowed.
“We were caught in the storm,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “The window was open. We sought shelter—”
“Through an open window on the fourth floor?” Father’s voice dripped with disdain. His gaze raked over both of us, taking in our soaked clothing, our disheveled state. I was sure he’d seen the way we were tangled together on the floor. “Do you take me for a fool?”
“Actually…”
The image of Addie’s hair in those restraints flashed in my mind, the bloodstains on that table tying everything to him.
I stopped myself. Drew in a breath. Why was I explaining myself to him?
Why was I making excuses like a child caught stealing sweets?
I straightened my spine and strode right up into his face.
“What I take you for is a man who’s kept secrets.
The kind locked away in towers. The kind that involves torture and restraints. ”
Father blinked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Guards!” His voice cracked like a whip.
Boots thundered in the corridor. Eight guards burst through the door, their weapons drawn. They surrounded us in seconds.
“Take this man to the dungeon,” Father snarled, gesturing at Trew. “Immediately.”
“No. He’s done nothing wrong. I asked him to accompany me—”
“You asked your bodyguard to climb through windows four floors above the ground in the middle of the night?” Father’s laugh came out ugly. “You’ve been compromised.”
Trew’s gaze met mine, saying everything we couldn’t speak aloud.
Father’s arm snaked around my throat before I could blink.
Cold steel pressed against my skin, just below my jaw.
I froze, every combat instinct screaming at me to break the hold, to disarm him. My body knew how. Thorne had drilled the action into me. I could break his grip in three moves and have him on the ground in five.
But shock held me immobile. My own father held a blade to my throat.
“Be still,” Father hissed in my ear, his breath hot against my skin. “Or I’ll order his death this instant. Your bodyguard will die choking on his own blood while you watch.”
I went rigid.
Trew’s eyes met mine, fury and calculation warring in the golden depths.
Father’s arm tightened, making it harder to breathe. “Try anything, Blain, and I’ll hurt her.”
He couldn’t kill me or he’d lose his pawn in whatever nasty game he was playing. But he’d already proven he could cause me considerable pain, and Trew knew it.
“Don’t.” Trew lowered his arms.
My father eased up on the knife’s pressure but kept it close, grabbing my arm hard enough to make my bones grind together. “You’ve disgraced yourself and our house, Amarissa.”
“No more than you.”
“One more word and I’ll gag you.” He addressed Trew. “Drop your weapons. Now. Or I’ll drag her to the dungeon beside you and let my guards beat her first.”
“Don’t,” I whispered to Trew. “Please don’t.”
But I saw the decision in his eyes before his blades clattered to the stone floor. He was choosing me over himself. Over his freedom. Over everything.
The guards surged forward, grabbing his arms, forcing him to his knees. They quickly disarmed him of the rest of his weapons and bound his hands behind his back.
“No!” I lunged against my father’s grip, but his fingers dug deeper into my arm, pulling me close.
They hauled Trew to his feet. He didn’t fight or struggle, just kept his eyes on mine as they dragged him toward the door.
Our gazes locked again. In that moment, a thousand promises passed between us.
Wait for me. I’ll come for you.
I love you.
Don’t give up.
They shoved him through the doorway and he was gone.
Pherin launched from my shoulder with a screech, flying toward the open window.
Get help, her voice rang through my mind.
She disappeared into the storm.
Trew had promised to always find me, but now he was gone, and cold reality pressed in. I fought the tears burning my eyes, refusing to let them fall while my father watched, before the rage pushed me toward planning.
Trew had sacrificed himself to keep me safe and free—for the moment. I wouldn’t waste the opportunity I was given.
I could pretend. I could debase myself. As long as my father didn’t hurt him.
Father dragged me from the room, his grip never loosening on my arm. Guards fell into step behind us as we moved through the corridors. Servants pressed themselves against the walls as we passed, their eyes downcast.
“You're out of your mind,” I hissed.
Something flickered across his face. Not anger, but something rawer. His eyes cut to the shadows in the corner of the room before snapping back to me. “What makes you think that?”
“You are.”
My chambers loomed ahead. Father shoved me inside hard enough that I stumbled, catching myself on the back of a chair.
“Search her rooms for weapons,” he yelled at the guards, and they rushed to do his bidding, collecting every blade and knife I possessed. They took them from the room and removed them from the sheaths on my body while my father glared at me.
“You will remain here,” he finally snarled. “I’ll return shortly.”
A wave of his hand and guards stomped inside to make sure all my windows were locked.
They all filed out and the door slammed closed. A lock clicked.
I stood in the center of the sitting room, dripping rainwater onto the rug, my entire body shaking.
Trew was locked in the dungeon because of me, because I’d asked him to help me find answers about my mother and Addie.
And I had to do something about it, but what?
I pressed my hands against my face, fighting the urge to scream.
A short time later, the door opened again. Father strode inside, his face purple with rage.
“Compromising yourself with hired help,” he spat. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done or what the people will say?”
“I don’t give a fuck.”
“Silence! I should whip you for this.” He started pacing in front of me. “Should drag you to the square and let everyone see what happens to daughters who forget their place. But that would only make the scandal worse.”
My hands curled into fists at my sides.
“You’re pretty much worthless to me now,” he said, his voice dropping to something colder. “Lucky for you, I’ve spoken with Lord Alfred. He’s quite willing to take you off my hands.”
My stomach dropped. “What?”
“He knows about your indiscretion, but he doesn’t care. He says he’ll be happy to tame any wildness in you once you’re wed.” Father’s smile came out cruel enough to make me wince. “You’ll marry him tomorrow at dawn, before you can shame us further.”
“Tomorrow?” The word came out strangled.
“Do you think I’ll give you time to plan an escape? Another midnight tryst with your lover?” He moved closer, looming over me. “You’re my daughter. My property. And I will see you wed to a man who can control you.”
I lifted my chin, done with pretense, done with acting like the daughter he believed me to be. “I won’t marry him.”
“You will or I’ll have your bodyguard executed in the village square. Slowly. And I’ll make you watch every moment of it.”
Something cold and sharp crystallized inside me. I’d spent my whole life being afraid of this man, letting him control me through threats and violence.
No more.
“If you continue to threaten him,” I said, my voice steady despite the terror coursing through me.
“You lose the only leverage you have over me. I’ll stand at that altar and tell Lord Alfred exactly what kind of man you are.
I’ll scream it to every guest. I’ll make such a scene that no lord in the kingdom will want our family’s taint in their house. ”
I stepped closer, ignoring how he loomed over me. “Threaten me all you want, but we both know you need me compliant more than you need me terrified.”
Father’s jaw clenched. “You think you’re clever.”
“I think I’m done being your pawn.”
The threat hung in the air between us.
“Guards will be posted outside your door,” Father said. “Don’t try to leave. Don’t call for help. Your wedding will happen at dawn whether you’re conscious for it or not.”
He left, barking orders in the corridor.
Pherin perched in a tree outside, her small form barely visible in the darkness. A guard shouted and opened the window, throwing something at her.
She took flight, disappearing into the night.
Turning, I stared around the room, wondering what I could do to get us out of this.
I stalked into my bedroom and went behind the screen, stripping off my wet clothing and tugging on a tunic and pants. I sat on my bed and stared at the wall, plotting.
Trew was in the dungeon. Pherin was gone. Lexie and Kerralyn wouldn’t be able to get past the guards. Had they been caught and were they in cells too?
And in a short time, I would be forced to marry Lord Alfred.
I thought of Eva lying cold in her cell. Of Addie’s hair caught in the restraints. Of all the evidence we’d found in the tower, proof of horrors I suspected my father was complicit in.
And I could not fix anything.
The night crawled past with agonizing slowness. I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t.
I paced my chambers like a caged animal, testing every option.
The windows were locked, but fuck that. I forced one open, breaking the catch, and stuck my head out. I’d climb all the way to the ground, storm or not. But guards had been stationed below. One looked up at me and smirked, tapping the weapon strapped to his side.
I moved to the outer door, pressing my ear against the wood.
From the sounds in the hall, there were at least four guards outside, maybe five based on the shuffle of boots and low voices.
They’d change watch every few hours, the new guards arriving well rested while the old ones would leave with yawns stretching across their faces.