The Lady and the Falconer (26 page)

Logan glanced up at Solace. She was just a shadow against the light from the open door. “Are you all right?” he demanded.

She didn’t answer for a long moment, and he wished he could see her face. When she did answer, he heard the ache, the bitterness in her voice. “I want you to take Beth and leave Castle Fulton.”

“Solace,” he said in a tortured voice. He stood, grasping her arms, pulling her close to him. “Did Barclay touch you? Did that bastard hurt you?”

She eased herself from his grip.

The anguish her silent rejection caused him was worse than anything Barclay could do to him. “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he said quietly.

He saw her turn her head away from him, tried to discern her features in the darkness, but couldn’t. Guilt settled on his shoulders. He had felt guilt for years, but never like this. She had shown him what he had been missing. He had tasted her innocence, basked in her kindness and love. And the only thing he had shown her in return was how to hate. “Solace, it wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he said desperately.

“You didn’t mean to open the gates?” she asked, and there was bitterness in her voice that hadn’t been there before.

“I was supposed to have Fulton. Barclay was to give me the castle, and in exchange I would give him some of the northern lands and a percentage of the crops.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she murmured.

“It does matter.” Again Logan reached out and grabbed her hand. “Had I known what he intended, I never would have brought you to him. You have to believe me. I wanted to protect you. I wanted you by my side.”

She was silent for a long time, and Logan could feel the warring emotions inside her. He could feel her hand trembling. He thought he heard her swallow hard. When she spoke, her voice was thick and strained. “And you thought that once I learned what you had done I would want anything to do with you?”

He dropped her hand. “It appears I hadn’t thought things through.”

“Will you take Beth and leave the castle? Will you do this one thing for me?” she asked.

Logan turned away from her, unable to face her sorrow any longer. “Yes,” he answered quietly.

“There’s one more guard, the dungeon guard, the one that gave us the keys,” Solace told him. “He’s at the entrance to the dungeon.”

Logan glanced past her to the door. “Call to him,” he told her. “Get him to come in here.”

There was a moment of silence before Solace cried out, “Help! Help me!”

Running feet sounded in the dungeon, and a silhouette of a man appeared in the doorway.

An awkward moment of silence stretched on. “He’s got me!” Solace shouted. “Help!”

“Where’s Pavia?” the guard demanded.

“Help!” Solace screamed.

The guard stepped hesitantly toward her voice.

Logan lunged forward, catching the guard around the waist and tackling him to the floor. He plunged the dagger into his stomach and then lurched for Solace’s hand, leaving the guard for dead. He pulled her toward the stairs and stopped just beneath a torch. He quickly wiped the dagger blade clean on his leggings to stop the drips from leaving any trail. Logan chanced a look at Solace. There were rings under her eyes, and her lids were swollen from crying. Her usually bright eyes were dull with sadness.

He looked away from her. All these years he had seen the world through angry eyes. For one brief moment, she had allowed him to see it through her eyes. Now, he had made those once bright eyes as angry and bitter as his own. “Where is she?” he asked.

“This way,” Solace said, and led him up a spiral staircase, then down a hallway. She stopped in the shadows of the staircase when she saw two guards standing outside Beth’s room.

“I’ll distract the guards,” she said. “Get Beth and leave the castle.”

As she began to move away from him, Logan grabbed her wrist and pulled her back against him. “What about you?” he demanded.

She looked into his eyes for a moment and he saw her resolve, her willingness to sacrifice herself for her sister. Finally, she looked away.

“I won’t let you stay,” Logan said. “He was going to rape you just hours ago. You can’t possibly be thinking of staying!”

“And the alternative is trusting you?” she asked bitterly.

“I know how you’re feeling. But you have few other choices.”

“You’re wrong,” she answered and tried to pull away from him.

Logan saw determination burning in those weary eyes. Even after the horrors of the night, she still had spirit. He refused to release her wrist. “What are you going to do, Solace? You can’t marry Barclay.”

“Don’t you mean you won’t let me?”

“He’d have control of Fulton then,” Logan retorted.

“And that would just kill you, wouldn’t it?”

Logan’s jaw clenched. “Fulton is my birthright. I’ve waited thirteen years for my revenge.”

Solace stared at him for a long moment. “Then you must be a very bitter, angry man.” She turned her back on him.

“Solace, sacrificing yourself isn’t the answer.”

“You have a better one?”

“Join forces with me,” he said.

For a moment he swore he saw longing wash over her face, but then it was gone and in its place was a cold anger. “Oh, that’s promising!” she laughed bitterly. “Let’s see. My choices are to marry a man who killed my stepmother or to become allies with a man who betrayed me.”

I deserved that, Logan told himself. “I want to help you.”

“Help me what? Help me betray my people, my family? You’ve done quite enough already.”

“Help you get Fulton back,” he said sincerely.

“Liar!” she hissed vehemently. “You would only help me because you think it easier to steal from a woman. I trusted you before, Logan, and you taught me that there is no compassion in the world.” She yanked her arm free. “It’s a lesson I won’t ever forget.” She whirled, her long hair slapping his face.

Logan stood, watching her. He gritted his teeth against the guilt that suddenly rose in him like bile. I have done nothing wrong! he told himself.

He reached out, clamping a hand around her mouth, and dragged her back into the hallway with him. Then, with her struggling against him, he pushed a rock and a panel of the wall swung open. He pulled her into the darkness. The wall swung shut behind them, sealing them in.

He released her. “You can’t stay here,” he insisted.

“I can get you and your sister out of the castle safely.” He felt her eyes on him, sensed the indecision plaguing her. He knew how she must feel. Betrayed, hurt. But Castle Fulton was his. He would do everything in his power to get it back. She would do the same. He stiffened slightly. Yes. She would do the same. He had turned her into him. The animosity, the bitterness. She now possessed them as he did. He feared he had just created something very dangerous and unpredictable in Solace Farindale.

She turned away from studying the small, hidden walkway she now found herself in and looked at Logan. “Give me the dagger,” she finally said.

“Why?” Logan asked.

“Because if you’re lying to me I want to be able to plunge it into your cold heart.”

Logan grinned. “Fair enough,” he replied. He handed her the weapon.

Logan pushed open the wall just enough so he could see into the room from where he and Solace were lurking in the hidden corridor. It was dark except for the soft glow of a candle that washed over a form in the bed. Logan’s eyes narrowed.

Solace moved to step around him, but Logan’s arm shot out, covering her mouth. When her eyes turned to his, he put a finger to his lips in a motion for silence. Then, he removed his hand from her mouth.

It took only a moment for the form to shift and separate into two bodies, one moving off the other. Torchlight washed over Barclay’s features.

And Beth’s.

Logan heard Solace stifle a gasp and felt her stiffen. She leaned into him for support. He kept a firm hold on her. Had the blackguard raped her sister?

Beth’s hair lay in dark strands across the pillow. Her face glowed. “You see, darling,” Beth cooed, “I can be most accommodating. You needn’t dispose of me. I can make myself most indispensable.” Her hand snaked beneath the blanket toward his manhood.

Barclay chuckled, seizing her wrist and withdrawing it. “What a lusty wench you are.”

Logan jerked forward. Now was his moment. Barclay was defenseless. He could easily strangle the life out of him. Break his neck. Bash his skull into the stone wall. Logan’s eyes narrowed. But Beth would call out for help, and two armed guards lurked just outside the room. He glanced at Solace. He had to see her safely away from the castle. His revenge would have to wait. Again.

Logan slowly pulled Solace from the room, quietly closing the secret passage’s door. He had seen enough. Seen enough to turn his stomach. That woman had no morals. The man had just killed her mother and she was lying with him!

“Why?” Solace asked. “Why would she do that?”

Logan had to admit he didn’t have the answer. He shook his head. “We can’t stay here,” he advised.

For a long moment, Solace said nothing. Logan tried to see her face, tried to read her dilemma. He knew she didn’t trust him. And he knew he should trust her even less. Could he travel with a companion who might turn him in at any moment? Knowing that she might stab him in the back?

He knew he could never leave her here.

Finally, she nodded her head. “Yes. We have to leave.”

Relief coursed through Logan. But it was tinged with something else. Warning. Was she coming with him to seek her own revenge? Did the same vengeance that had consumed him in the past now eat away at her?

He took her elbow and guided her through the dark passages, then down a narrow stairway leading straight into a solid stone wall. He was grateful he and Peter had played games in the hidden tunnels, pretending they were chasing down villainous thugs, because now all the twisting turns easily came back to him.

Peter. Logan hoped he had survived the attack. He thought how ironic it was that he spent months agonizing over his brother’s safety only to find Peter had chosen to work as a soldier in the enemy’s army. Peter has chosen his own path to travel, Logan thought. As have I.

Logan quickly pushed one of the stones set into the wall, and the wall slowly moved away from them, revealing a crack just wide enough for a man to pass. Logan moved through, pulling Solace with him.

His pace increased as he moved through the new set of tunnels. Barclay must know we’re gone by now, he thought. It won’t be long before he has men searching these corridors.

Finally, Logan pushed a wall open an inch, scanned an empty room and shoved the wall open farther. He signaled for Solace to wait, then dashed into the room and quickly grabbed a rope that hung on the wall before rushing back into the corridor.

When they finally emerged from the darkness of the secret passageways, they were in Alissa’s room. Logan quickly tied one end of the rope around the bedpost and fastened the other end around Solace’s thin waist. He couldn’t help but notice the curves of her shapely hips as he secured the rope, but he forced his attention to the window. He grabbed her arm and led her over to it.

“What are you doing?” Solace asked, a note of panic to her voice.

“I’m going to lower you down,” Logan told her. He felt her apprehension as if it were a tangible thing.

“Don’t be frightened. I won’t let go.” He patted the window ledge.

She looked at the ledge, then at him. Her eyes narrowed slightly. Just when Logan thought she was going to protest, she stepped up onto the ledge. “Feet first,” he instructed. “Then just hold onto the rope. And whatever you do, don’t look down.”

The sounds of booted feet in the hallway caught Logan’s attention. He heard doors being opened and closed. “There’s no time,” he said. He quickly untied the rope from her waist. He turned his back to her and pulled her roughly against him. Logan had to fight the jolt that speared his body at contact with hers. He could feel her breasts pressed to his back, feel her small hands clutch his tunic.

“What are you doing?” she demanded.

“Just hold onto me,” he said.

“Why?” she wondered.

“Do it. There’s no time to argue.”

She slid her hands beneath his arms and clutched his shoulders. Logan wrapped the rope around their waists and tied it tight, effectively binding her to him. “Hang on tight,” he advised, hoping the danger would ease the passion that was beginning to stir his blood. He gripped the rope tightly, climbed onto the ledge and turned to face the room.

Solace’s feet hung over the side. She squeezed her eyes closed, whispering, “Don’t fall.”

Every muscle in Logan’s body strained as he lowered himself and Solace over the window ledge. As they descended the wall, Logan felt Solace’s grip tighten. He tried to ignore the scent of roses teasing him as a cool breeze blew a strand of her hair before his face and around his neck.

The rope burned into his palms, and he struggled to keep his grip. He used his feet to guide them down the wall. Halfway down it, the muscles in his arms and shoulders felt as if they were on fire. He paused to glance down at the ground and muttered a curse when he realized how much farther they had to go. His palms began to sweat. In the moat below, he saw rows of logs spanning the brackish waters. He knew that during the siege Barclay’s men had filled in part of the moat with sand and rock and had created a bridge with the logs so they could cross. He never thought he would be thanking Barclay for their escape route.