Page 42 of Hooked

13

Two days later, my head was still halfway in the clouds. Or, more accurately, still floating in a stream surrounded by moonlight. I’d never felt anything like what I now felt for Falstone.

I was straightening Marilee’s room, humming as I put away her night things and made up her bed, when Sir James appeared in the doorway.

“Sir.” I dipped into a curtsey. “The princess is visiting neighbors.”

“Yes, I know.” It was the tone of his voice that made me wary. “I was looking for you, actually. Would you mind coming downstairs? Captain Huckley has returned.”

The world collapsed around me. No. This could not be happening. Not now. All the worry and dread that had dissipated with Falstone’s reassurances came rushing back, fear cramming itself into every corner of my body. I should have run. How could I have been so STUPID? “But…” My protest was weak and defeated. Falstone had convinced me to stay, and now he wasn’t even here to lend me his strength.

Sir James’s stance and expression were pure apology. “I would not put you in the same room with him, but…this time he’s brought Magistrate Phillips from Murrwood village. This is his jurisdiction. I’m afraid we need to hear the captain out and listen to what the magistrate has to say.”

I took a step back, wanting to do anything but go downstairs and see that man again. I looked around, wondering if I could hide, or run right now. Maybe Sir James would even help me. But as I looked at him, at the defeat that coated his face and the regret in his eyes, I knew his hands were tied. I couldn’t ask him to defy the law.

“I’ve not had many opportunities to deal with the magistrate,” he continued. “But he seems a fair and diligent man. I’m certain we can sort this out.” He said the words, but his face told me otherwise. As I stood there, still frozen in my grief and horror, he hesitated for a moment and then gave the tiniest nod of his head, as though he’d made a decision. “I will let them know you will be down soon.”

He left and I heard his footsteps retreating down the hall, shocked that he would trust me to follow after him. What made him think I would voluntarily give myself up? Did he think I was that blindly obedient? I thought he knew me better than that.

The world suddenly pulled itself into sharper focus. Sir James did know me better than that. He wasn’t blindly trusting me…he was giving me an opportunity.

If I left now, without any encouragement from him, then he would not be culpable, but I could still be free.

My feet stayed frozen to the stone floor for one horrible moment of indecision.

And then I ran.

I didn’t grab anything. I took no time to do anything at all; I just fled down the hallway in the opposite direction from where Sir James had gone, and then flew down the servants’ stairs, stepping as quietly as my haste would allow.

Slipping silently into the kitchen, I saw Emeline, her thick blonde braid trailing down her spine as she stirred something on the stove. She didn’t see me, for which I was grateful. I did not want any witnesses. I padded across the stone floor and exited the kitchen without looking back.

My destination was unknown. My direction unclear. The only thought in my head was simply to get away. The sight of the stables off to my right caused me to veer in that direction. I would steal a horse. Or, borrow one. Marilee would lend me a horse, wouldn’t she? My chances of escape were infinitely better if I was not on foot.

The stable bounced in my vision as my feet sped across the ground, fistfuls of skirts clenched in my hands.

I barely had a glimpse of the hulking shadow coming toward me before his arm snagged around my waist, halting my progress and pulling me off my feet.

“Oh, no you don’t,” the man’s voice crowed in triumph even as I fought and kicked. “The captain said you might try to run. Imagine how grateful he’ll be when I return you to him.”

“Let go!” I shrieked, trying to pry his hands from around me.

“No chance of that.” He managed to capture both of my wrists in one hand while keeping his other arm around my middle, half-dragging half-carrying me inexorably back to the house.

When we reached the front of the house, a footman was stationed outside. Had he been ordered there by Sir James?

“Open up, would you?” said the man who was pulling me along. “I’ve got a delivery for the magistrate and the captain.”

The footman, whose name was Simon, looked as though he wanted to do anything but open the door. His eyes held pity and an apology as he reached for the door, swinging it wide.

I dug in my heels one last time, but my shoes simply slipped across the stones and over the threshold, into the chaos beyond.

Sir James stood in the middle of the entry, tall and proud, as Captain Huckley shouted at him, demanding to be let upstairs so that he could find me himself. A third man, whom I recognized as the magistrate only by the uniform he wore, was standing between them, looking weary.

“I’ve got the girl!” the man holding me announced. “She tried to run.”

All eyes turned toward us as he thrust me forward, causing me to stumble into the candlelight of the entryway.

Sir James closed his eyes in defeat. Captain Huckley looked at me with hunger and malice.