“At first he looked ready to kill and Trevor shoved me behind him ready to battle. Then Wolf laughed, not a sound often heard from him. He’d known all along what we’d been up to and was glad that I had fallen in love with a man strong and brave enough to keep me safe. And Trevor certainly has done so—to a fault.”
“Then let’s change that. I’ll teach you the skill I learned from one who was a master at it,” Oria said and stood, stretching her hand out to Demelza and going to her side to help her out of the chair when she saw her struggle to stand.
“Finally, I have a sister I can plot with just as Wolf plotted with Trevor,” Demelza said with excitement.
Oria thought how she hadn’t wanted to like Demelza even before she had met the woman. But that had changed quickly and she had found she liked the petite woman who handled her demanding husband with strength and patience. She hadn’t known what to think when she had discovered Demelza was her sister, though anger had reared its head. But for some reason, she continued to like the woman. There was something about her that made her feel like she’d known her longer than the short time since they’d met. Perhaps it was the same blood that ran through them both, that connected them, that made them sisters.
They walked to the door arm in arm, smiling. Oria opened it and quickly rushed Demelza behind her when they were met with a dagger pointed at them.
Chapter 29
“Firth?’ Demelza said from behind Oria.
Oria hadn’t recognized him at first, the scar her husband had left on him red and angry, not fully healed and leaving him difficult to look upon.
“Shocked I managed to escape my guards?” Firth asked with a sneer. “There’s one thing I learned fighting for the Beast. Trust no one and always be prepared for the worst. I’ve built myself a sizeable troop of disgruntled warriors. Ones the Beast himself discarded.”
That alarmed Oria. If the Beast had rejected them there had to be something seriously wrong with them. She couldn’t let him take them out of the keep. If he got them out, they were as sure as dead.
“I heard you talking in there. I wasn’t going to take you,” he said with a nod at Oria. I intended to leave you with your throat slit and your face slashed for your husband to find you.”
The thought turned Oria’s stomach and Demelza’s as well since she heard the petite woman gag.
“I only wanted the Beast’s sister, but now I have his two sisters. That should get his attention,” Firth said, the scar making his grin appear grotesque.
“You don’t want to do this, Firth,” Demelza said. “The Beast will make you suffer horribly for it.”
“I’ll have my revenge and he’ll pay well to get his sisters back,” Firth said. “Though he won’t know until it’s too late how much me and my men enjoyed them.”
Oria felt Demelza’s hand rush to her stomach, concerned for her unborn child.
“Let’s go,” Firth ordered and gave Oria a good poke in the chest with the tip of his dagger. “And if you think to fight like you did the last time, know that as soon as you do, I’ll slice your sister’s stomach open and let the bairn spill out.”
Demelza gasped in fear.
“I won’t fight you,” Oria said, having stifled the pain she’d felt from the jab of his dagger and now feeling the blood soak into her shift and tunic from the wound he’d left.
“Move,” he ordered, stepping away from the open door to let them out.
When Firth pulled his hood up, Oria saw that he wore the brown garment of a monk and surmised that was how he had gotten past everyone. It was how he would make it out of the keep with them, no one paying a monk mind, if she didn’t do something.
Firth stepped in front of them to go down the stairs and ordered Demelza to go behind him.
Oria kept herself protectively in front of Demelza. “She is uneasy on her feet. She may fall into you and then what. Alert everyone to your presence? Let her follow me so I may help her.”
He didn’t argue, but he ordered them to hurry.
They entered the Great Hall and Oria was disappointed no one was about. At least someone would have seen them, but then what did it matter. She had to stop them from leaving the keep. Once outside, he probably intended to take them around back where they wouldn’t be seen and into the woods. His men were probably waiting for him there, and if he managed to get them there, all would be lost.
Oria recalled something she had promised her husband, that she would call out to him if she was ever in danger. She didn’t hesitate. She turned quickly wrapping herself around Demelza, to protect her and the bairn, and screamed out her husband’s name.