Page 64 of The Searching Songbird

A slight hesitation, followed by a head shake no.

“Is she in one of the rooms below ground?”

The man's eyes widened even more, and he swallowed again, his eyes darting off down the hallway. Draven sighed. “If you're not going to answer me honestly, then I really have no reason not to slit your throat open right now...” He started to pull the blade across the man's neck, making a shallow cut. The man let out a muffled cry, and he stopped, leaving the blade in place as he raised an eyebrow. “Well? Is she?”

A reluctant nod.

“Is the baron with her?”

The footman shrugged.

Well, that wasn't very helpful. He growled in frustration. “I'm going to pull down your gag. If you even think of crying out for help, I'll cut your tongue right out of your mouth, you got me?” Without waiting for confirmation, he pulled the scrap of fabric off the man's mouth. “If the baron isn't with her, who else would be? Are there guards?”

“One guard, outside the main door,” the man rasped, beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead. “And Mistress Han, most likely.”

“Who's Mistress Han?”

“He calls her the governess. Not sure what all she does, 'sides from watch over the girls.” Shit, the girls, plural? Fia's not the only person that bastard has locked up down there? “I've never been down there myself, I swear. Only heard whispers and not many at that. The master's real private like.”

Draven studied the man, looking for any signs that he might be lying, but he seemed sincere. Scared, but sincere. He lowered his knife and pulled the gag back into place.

“Lily, can you check the floor plan and see if there are any closets or anything nearby? Someplace we could stash a body?” The man made a muffled noise of distress, but Draven ignored him as he waited for Lily's response. There was a crinkling of paper as she hurried to unfold the layout, then a quiet pause as she looked it over.

“There looks to be some sort of closet four doors down on the right, at the very end of the hallway.”

“Excellent, thank you.”

“You're most welcome.”

Draven smiled at the terrified footman. “This is probably going to hurt like the devil when you wake up...” he murmured as he lifted his dagger and hit the man square in the temple with it. He caught him by the arm as he started to crumple to the floor and began pulling him down the hallway. Lily ran ahead and opened the door to the closet, which thankfully was unlocked. After shoving the unconscious footman inside, Draven stepped back and looked over at Lily.

“Where to now?”

“Take a right here, follow that corridor until we can turn left, and there should be a staircase to our left leading beneath ground.”

“Right then. Let's go.”

Suzu led the way, flying ahead to check around corners, and soon they were descending a narrow, wooden staircase into the semi-darkness. There were a few sconces along the way with lit candles casting their light across the stone wall, but they did little more than prevent a person from tripping over their own feet. They crept along slowly, with Draven holding his dagger at the ready in case the footman had been correct about there being a guard. The stairs ended in a small, stone room, lit only by two candles on opposite walls, with a sturdy-looking door at the center. A guard sat beside the door, half-asleep as he leaned back against the wall, his sword lying on the floor beside him.

Suzu flew at the man's face, distracting him with a flurry of feathers, as Draven dove at the man, his fist slamming into his gut as he simultaneously kicked the man's sword off to the side. A few more hits later and the guard was out cold, with Draven sheathing his dagger and helping himself to the man's sword.

“That one made a fair bit of noise, so be ready. We don't know what we'll find on the other side of this door,” he warned. Lily nodded, pulling out her own small knife in preparation.

“I'm ready,” she whispered.

With a deep breath in, Draven turned the knob before kicking the door open all the way, sword held out in front of him at the ready. His body tensed as he waited for an attack, but none came.

“Excuse me, young man, but what do you think you're doing down here?”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Draven blinked, and his sword dropped an inch as he watched the older woman rise out of her chair at the end of the short corridor. Her long face was twisted in annoyance as she tossed the knitting needles and yarn she'd been holding into a basket beside her chair. “I asked who you were, young man, and I expect an answer.”

“It doesn't matter who I am.” He jerked his head to the side, where four doors with small, barred windows lined the corridor. “Open these up. Now.”

She looked at him aghast. “I most certainly will not,” she huffed.

“You most certainly will,” he countered, waving his sword at the ring of keys that hung from a simple chain around her waist. “Or else I'll be forced to knock you out and take the keys for myself. Or perhaps a blade to your belly would be easier...”