Miri settled onto the small rug on the ground, leaving room for Cass at her side. Had he thought their constant nearness could be no more difficult than being alone with Miri had, he was wrong. It seemed Hugh and Ginger would be forcing them even closer than before, newly wed as they were. Cass and Miri would eat with the couple, at least, and spend a single night at most. Then by dawn, they would ride from the trail and into the deeper forest.
Cass had sworn a vow. He would uphold it, even if it cost him everything.
Chapter 19
Miri woke in the hours before dawn to the warm darkness of a small, tattered tent. She’d laughed with Hugh and Ginger, eaten far too much salted fish, and had a bit of a headache from the smoke of a damp wood fire. She was tangled inside two thin blankets, unsure where one ended and the other began. Once Ginger had forced both Miri and Cass inside, her pretend husband had quietly situated himself lying opposite her and facing the fabric of the tent. Miri had removed her boots in the night, and as she lay very still, she felt the warmth of Cass’s palm against her bare ankle as he slept. He would be mortified, and she couldn’t make up her mind whether to attempt sliding her foot away and risk waking him or to leave it there and risk enjoying it. She had never had a man’s hand on her ankle. It was very unlike holding his hand.
She’d just decided to slip it away when she heard the sound of approaching hoofbeats. Cass’s hand tightened on her flesh, the pad of his thumb pressing into the back of her leg. There was a moment of stillness as they listened, then Cass’s hand slid from her skin before a rustle of fabric and the sound of steel indicated he’d readied his sword. It was more of a knife-fight situation, by her judgment, but only because she had every intention of forcing the kingsmen down from their horses. Because she was sure it was kingsmen who were coming. No one else would ride up on a camp in the night.
Miri didn’t bother with her boots. She would rather be caught barefooted than half-laced into either one.
The sound of the galloping horses drew nearer, then the tent was ripped from the ground. The night was dark, but the tent had been darker, and Miri’s eyes adjusted quickly. A shadowed form towered over them. It was the outline of a man on a giant beast. The man’s half helm glinted in the moonlight, and Miri had the realization at the sight of the emblem that she very much felt as if she were being pinned by the threat of a wild bear.
Cass was on his feet, his sword low and his movements disoriented.
“Drop it,” the kingsman said.
Cass tossed the short sword to the ground, and Miri’s mouth tightened as she fought a smile when she saw that it had been hers. The sword had never been his intended weapon at all—he’d held it only as a distraction. Miri stumbled to her feet, untangling her limbs from the warmth of her blankets.
Across the camp rose a shout and a grumble as Hugh shared words with another kingsman. Three sat on horseback near the fire, and two more waited near the trees.
“Aye,” Hugh muttered, stomping closer to Miri and Cass. “I heard ye the first time. We’re going.”
The kingsmen had them corralled in their group of four. Miri had a dagger in the sheath at her hip, and two more waited beneath the blankets at her feet.
“What do you want with us?” Hugh growled. Ginger gave him a swift elbow to the ribs, and he flinched. “Woman, they dragged us out of our beds before dawn. It’s my right to ask why.”
“Search them,” the kingsman ordered.
Another dropped from his horse and stuck a torch into the embers of the campfire. As it flared to life, each had their first glimpses of the others. The torch passed in front of Ginger. Her skin was too dark and her limbs too long for her to be the maid. Hugh’s broad, muscled torso was only covered by a thin shirt, and they were clearly not the pair they were after.
The guard slowed on Cass, but Miri could see the kingsman was not one of the three they’d fought in the alley—should those men have even awoken yet. But on her, small and thin, the kingsman held his light. “Down to your shift.”
Ginger gasped, and Hugh threw his arm out as if to prevent her from acting as Cass stepped between Miri and the torch.
“I don’t know what you’re about,” Cass said coolly, “but perhaps you should reconsider.”
The kingsman gave him a solid backhand to the jaw. Cass didn’t fall but made to stagger back, and Miri’s dagger was out of her sheath and in his hand behind his hip.
“She is my wife,” Cass said.
“She is on king’s land. She belongs first to the king.” The voice came from one of the kingsmen on horseback. He said the words as if they had been said countless times before. “Off with it,” he ordered Miri.
Miri had no idea what precisely they were looking for, but she was certain her ribs and legs were heavily bruised. She did not step from behind Cass.
“What are you after beneath her clothes?” Hugh’s voice sounded like a warning, and Miri suddenly regretted accepting hospitality from a man itching to call out treason.
“A criminal.”
The kingsman’s tone brooked no argument, but that didn’t deter Hugh. “You’ll nay find one here. We’ve been traveling together since Smithsport, up to see my cousin in Ironwood and trade for goods.”
Miri felt her mouth go dry and saw the stillness in Cass’s shoulders. Hugh was lying for them—or possibly to spite the kingsmen.
“Asking a woman in the woods to disrobe.” Ginger tsked.
The kingsman’s gaze snapped to hers. “Do you question an order of the king?”
The stillness spread through the clearing then as each of them understood the threat.
The kingsman with the torch pressed it toward Cass, forcing him to either step back or act against the man. Cass pressed back toward Miri, but she stepped to the side. She would not watch a single one of her group die on her account.
The torch came closer. “Do we have sympathizers among us?” the kingsman purred.
Miri could feel the interest in his tone and his desire to fight. She could taste a thousand more satisfying responses, but all that came was a cold “The queen is dead.”
The kingsman with the torch did not let his gaze stray, but Miri’s words were for the nearest on horseback. He was the head of their little gang, and he would be the one she went for first. If they killed five kingsmen, she wasn’t certain how far they would get. As she stood facing the torchlight, she wasn’t certain she cared.
Cass’s hand shifted on the dagger, as if he knew she was about to cross a line. The kings would discover their missing men. Miri’s time in the shadows was nearly up.
The nearest on horseback stared at Miri, his patience evidently up. He reached for his sword, a deadly-looking thing with a bear-carved pommel, but a sudden sharp call came from the trees. It was followed by shouting, and the kingsmen waiting near the trees drew their animals to face the oncoming threat.
But it was not a threat. From the trees came another kingsman, tall and thin. “The girl,” the newcomer shouted. His hand shifted in an odd gesture, one Miri had seen before. “She’s been found. King’s orders to bring her in.”
Miri’s gaze returned to the kingsman on horseback. He was watching her face. Miri supposed it was fortunate he’d not been watching Cass instead. She waited for the kingsman to say, “Take her,” and it all to be over. He seemed to be considering just such a thing. But he had received an order. The king’s word took precedence.