The earl, who had been shaking his head at the ground, looked up at that. “He may have been an outcast, but he wasn’t penniless, Your Highness. Far from it. His father had left him everything in his will. And while the main estates were tied up with the title, several smaller properties and a large number of business interests were not. His legitimacy was not a consideration when it came to the inheritance of that wealth.”
I found I wasn’t surprised to learn that Marcus and the Shadow Man were distant cousins of some sort. Now that I understood that piece of the puzzle, the inevitability of their crossing paths seemed obvious. The rebel had merely gone looking for people who felt as cheated by life as he did. I might have even felt sorry for him if he had not been responsible for the death of so many.
Talk turned after that to strategy—to defense and attack and the possible rebel numbers. After some time, my eyes began to droop. It had been a long and intense evening.
“Come on,” said Celine gently, her hand under my elbow. “They’ll probably be at it all night, but there’s no reason for us not to sleep. From what you’ve told us, we have time to prepare.”
I paused at the door and looked back at Frederic. His eyes were fastened on me. I gave him a small wave before slipping out the door. Any conversation about the two of us would clearly have to wait.
I slept late the next morning, but not as late as the princes who had apparently been up most of the night. A new bustle filled the mansion, but otherwise things appeared to be continuing on as normal which confused us until Cassian finally appeared and filled us in on the plan from late the night before.
“We have decided we will be best served by defense. An attack would be foolhardy when we don’t know their true numbers or whether they have other similar bases of operation. But if we are to draw them out in an attack and leverage the advantage of surprise, we need to keep up the appearance of normalcy.”
But behind this appearance, there seemed to be an endless number of preparations to be made. The wall of the governor’s mansion was thick and sturdy—it would create an effective line of defense. Which had led them to the conclusion that the rebels must have a way through it.
In the mid-afternoon, they got their answer, but only after questioning every guard belonging to the mansion. All guards and servants had been put under a temporary house arrest with only trusted members of the Tour permitted to leave the mansion grounds. And one of the guards had seen which way the wind was blowing and turned informant.
He and two others had the night watch that night and were to let the rebels in at dawn.
“But not before a big show of them breaking down the gates,” he said. “He wants the city to see him storming the mansion.”
The three guards were swiftly locked up next to Marcus, and the plans continued apace. Several nobles known for their loyalty, along with the harbormaster, were brought into the mansion only to leave after committing to return and bring their own personal guards back with them. Except they would return through the back way and under cover of night. With the guards who remained loyal to the governor, the Tour guards, the harbor guards, and the new guards pledged by the nobles, Frederic was confident they would be able to hold the wall against almost any number of attacking rebels.
Or so he assured Celine and me in the only five minutes I saw him all day. “And naturally we have sent word to Father already. He will send more troops in haste, I do not doubt.”
When Celine turned away for a moment, his hand reached up to cup my cheek. But when he opened his mouth, no words came out. I understood. This was not a conversation we could have by halves.
Someone called him away after that, and I didn’t see him again but for the evening meal.
Cassian sternly commanded us to get as much sleep as we could, telling us he would send someone to wake us well before dawn.
“Which is all well and good,” said Celine after tossing and turning for what felt like forever but turned out to be only thirty minutes. “But how in the kingdoms are we supposed to fall asleep with this looming over us?
Chapter 30
Somehow, to my amazement, we managed it eventually, and the next thing I knew, I was being shaken awake by a frightened looking maid. Anyone without training as a fighter was to take up a position in a large room in the center of the mansion. A number of guards had been posted to protect the room, and despite Celine’s protests we had both been ordered to wait out the attack there.
The remaining time until dawn passed more slowly than seemed at all possible. Once we had taken our places, Celine silently handed me her second dagger as she had done at the attack on the trader caravan. I weighed the hilt in my hand, glad to have it but hopeful that I wouldn’t need it.
More minutes slowly passed as some around us murmured quietly and others wept. Tillie left us to comfort those traders who had accompanied her to Largo. They all either remembered the raider battle or had loved ones who had fought in it, and the recent memories made the coming attack harder for them to bear. I found my mind circling back to that day in the desert myself and kept firmly pushing it aside.
After the seemingly endless wait, the first sounds of a clash outside fell heavily into the quiet of the room. A startled child screamed and was immediately hushed by those around him.
And then began an entirely new type of waiting, one that turned out to be far more awful than the one that preceded it. The shouts and screams permeated into our inner retreat, and I tried—impossibly—to track the progress of the conflict from the sound alone.
I ran over the plan in my mind, trying to guess how long it all might take. But time moved deceptively, and I couldn’t track the seconds or minutes with any accuracy. The extra guards were to have remained in hiding within the mansion and its outbuildings until the attack began. But by the time the Shadow Man realized his plan had gone awry, and the gates were not opening before him, they would all be at the wall, armed with bows and arrows, ready to cut down the attackers.
As time flowed on, I began to worry. Surely they could have shot half the city by now, if need be. What was taking so long? A moment later a new sound cut through the din of battle. The clash of steel against steel. Celine and I exchanged tense looks. Someone at least had made it past the wall.
“I can’t just wait here,” whispered Celine. “What if they are at our door? If any of them make it in here, these people will be slaughtered.”
I looked around the room, unable to deny her point. If the plan had already gone awry, who knew what might happen now? We had guards outside the room, but would they be enough?
“Perhaps if we just take a look?”
Celine nodded, and we attempted to move through the room as casually as possible. I wasn’t sure how many others had realized something had gone wrong, and the last thing I wanted was to spread panic.
When we reached the door, I fixed stern eyes on my companion. “Just a look, remember.”
She gave me a tight smile. “Don’t worry, I have no desire to die today.”
I eased open the door and stuck my head out into the corridor. For all my fear, I expected to see a handful of alert guards, standing dutifully in place. Instead, at first glance, the hallway appeared empty.
My heart rate sped up as I searched the space with my eyes, Celine crowding behind me.
“What is it? What do you see?”
I moved slightly, making room for her to inch in beside me.
She sucked in a breath. “Where are they? Where are the guards?”
I gave her a worried look. “They should be here. I can’t think of any good reason why they would leave.”
Celine gripped her dagger more tightly, thrusting it out ahead of her. “Then I guess it’s up to us to go see.”
I hesitated. I could only imagine what Frederic and Cassian would think of my leading their sister into danger. “I don’t know…I’m not sure that’s the best idea.”
“Wait! There!” Celine pointed down the corridor. Two legs lay on the floor, the only visible part of whoever was stretched out on the ground around the corner. “Is that one of the guards?”