“How does he know, Jon? Did little Ava have secrets to tell?”
Jon frowned at Rafe. “She’s terrified. They have her sister...”
Rafe snorted. “That’s your problem. You always did have a bleeding heart for anyone, especially when they slept with you.”
Rafe’s gaze shifted to me.
But I was too angry to say anything. My plan, everything I had worked for, was ruined. Everything.
How could I save anyone if King John knew we were coming?
“We have to leave.” The words left my mouth before I could take them back.
“What do you mean, we need to leave?" Aman walked forward, disappointment shining in his eyes.
I felt it to my core. “They know we’re coming.”
I glanced over at Jon, who was watching me with an unreadable look on his face.
“You heard Jon. He practically said Ava has been feeding them our plan from the start.”
“Horse shit.” Cutting his cane through the air, Aman surprised me with his anger and words. Bushy eyebrows furrowed, he looked at the other men with us. “Just because he knows we’re coming, doesn’t mean we let him win. I say let’s save who we can, and if...” His gaze ran back to me. “And if some or all of us die, well at least we tried. I didn't come here to die an old man.”
The others started to murmur and talk amongst themselves, while I tried to tune them out and form another plan. Time wasn’t on our side, and I needed answers, fast. “Guys, remember we’re on the clock. Less than thirty minutes, and we need to be in and out.”
I glanced over at Jon. “Now that we have all the facts, we’re going to need to change it up a bit.” As the words left my mouth, plans slowly started to form in my head. Hopefully they wouldn’t get us killed.
“The same plan we had before, only this time, instead of three teams we only have two.”
And that was the kicker. I was officially saying out loud that we were to leave girls here; to be abused, maybe killed. I didn't truly know and, if I was honest, didn't want to. Because at the end of the day, I had to make the best decision to get the most people out alive, and that included my team and me.
Resigned to my role as a villain—because who else leaves people to die?—I finished telling them my plan. “I’ll take the servants’ corridors. Hopefully the shifters are close by there. James, Mac, and Mark take the dungeon. Claius, Aman, and Rafe come with me.”
Jon lifted his hand up. “And what about me?”
What about him? A part of me wanted to tell him to go home or stay with Fagen. He was the one who had messed up my plans, made me the villain in this operation. It was unfair of me to think that way but, emotions laid out on the table, I was raw with the possibilities of more deaths being on my conscience and I needed someone to blame.
And I blamed Jon
“I vote he comes with us, girl,” Aman spoke up while pointing to his metal leg. “This old nuts and bolts isn’t what they used to be.”
His red hat, now slightly skewed, covered his one good eye. That, with his rough beard, made him look like a mercenary for hire.
I nodded. “Fine.”
I eyed Jon, who had a small smile playing across his face.
If he only realized I blamed him as much as myself. “You listen to me, understand?”
Jon saluted me. “Aye, aye, captain!”
Of course the threat of death and leaving women behind didn't seem to weigh on him, since he wasn’t the one making the decisions.
I was.
I looked at the others. “You know what to do. You remember the map and don't do anything heroic.”
I reached inside my shirt and pulled out the thing I had kept close to my heart since the day I was freed from the dungeon.
The key.
Handing it to James, I prayed everything would go smoothly. “Use this key to get in, get Smite, and then meet us back here. That's it. Okay, everyone know what they’re doing?” When they all nodded, I took a deep, cleansing breath. “All right, let's go.”
20
James
* * *
I couldn’t believe Robin entrusted me with the key. When she handed it to me, for some reason that couldn’t be named, I coveted it. Clutched it to my chest like a lifeline in the darkest night. But at the same time, I looked around for someone to take the responsibility away from me. Begging silently for someone, anyone, to take it.
I was the last person she should trust.
I looked at the key, the metal heavy in my hand, and followed the two identical beasts in front of me. They walked with no fear. And who could blame them? If I was their size, maybe I wouldn’t be scared, either. Though I did have something that could help.
That thing was better left alone, where no one would get hurt. Not like last time.
But in this form, I wouldn’t be able to handle one soldier.
I glanced at the behemoths in front of me. They could handle a few soldiers... or twenty.
“Little man, why are you lagging?”
I’d been so busy clutching the key and darting my eyes back and forth, I had failed to notice the twins had stopped and were staring at me. I didn't know which had spoken as, not only did they look identical, their voices carried the same gruff tone, reminding me slightly of a bear.
And I would know about bears.
After swallowing hard, I answered, “I was just checking for soldiers. One can't be too careful.”
The duplicates smiled simultaneously, making their size more notable.“There are no soldiers down here.”
The one closest to me spoke, then the other added, “And Robin told us not to worry.”
With them still smiling at me, I pressed in front of them. Every step closer to the dungeon I took, my panic increased. Why had I agreed to come?
I knew why. I wanted my own revenge. Only now, I didn't think I had it in me to go through with it.
Sweat gathered on my brow, and the thing that I never let out yearned to push forward and take over.
But he knew I wouldn’t let him.
I never did, not since that night.
I had begun to turn toward the right when a giant hand clasped on my shoulder. My nails lengthened, stabbing into the skin of my palm and breaking skin.
I was okay…
Looking up the hand and then at the bearded face, I waited for whichever large twin to speak. “Robin said to go left.” His voice echoed off the large, stone walls.
Heat filled my cheeks as I tried to loosen my hands, desperate to relax before I let my secret out. “Of course, of course… I was just testing your knowledge. Like I said, one can't be too careful.”
He nodded, but gave a small smile. He wasn’t fooled.
As long as he didn't breathe a word to Robin, I didn't care.
I never claimed to be an actor, but I had been hiding my secret for thirty years, and I wasn’t about to let it slip now, no matter how many memories stabbed inside my brain.
Straightening my back, I let the persona I had crafted for years fall into place. James Wilhelm. Shy, calm, normal James Wilhelm.
“Of course. Now how about we find this Smite person?”
The rusted metal door stood in front of us and, for reasons unknown, I hesitated. “Brother, I believe he is scared.” The deep, baritone voice resonated, but I couldn't move.
He was right, I was terrified. Of what I would find. Of what I would see.
Images blasted through my head of things I wanted to forget. The ironclad grip I had on the key began to slip as my hand trembled. So much for drawing on the persona I had kept so easily in place. I was slowly breaking, and all that would be left was the person that no one needed to see.
“Oh, oh, hold on.” One of the twins pulled me out of my head as he ripped the key from my fingers. “I've got this, Zips.”
Hand still shaking, I looked up at the giant as he placed the key into the lock and turned it. A loud creak rang out.
“Zips?”
He shrugged, opening the enormous door with ease. “You keep your mouth zipped. You don't talk much.” He patted me on the back, pushing me forward. “Now, let's go save this friend of Robin's.”
The brothers entered the dungeons, trusting me to follow, to help. And I would. I just needed a minute to put the nightmares of yesterday back in a jar.
21
Smite
* * *
Bloody Marian and that bastard King John.
I was dirty. Filthy.
And not only from the dry, crusted blood, that ran down my body from the many beatings. It went deeper. Darkness creeping through my skin, causing goosebumps to crawl over me. Making me want to wash everything away.
But I wouldn’t be clean from a dip in a lake. It would take time. Time I didn't seem to have.
The cuffs chafed at my wrists, disturbing the dried blood. My struggles had done nothing to stop her. Rather, they’d excited her and opened up old wounds.
I had tried to hold still, let her get her sick fill, thinking maybe, just maybe, she’d leave me alone. But the minute her hands brushed my chest and edged downward, I lost it.
Someone coughed from two cells down. I might be naked, cold, and the food almost nil, but the other prisoners here had gotten worse. Yesterday a young girl of maybe sixteen or seventeen had been dragged out kicking and screaming and hadn’t returned. There were only so many guesses of what had happened to her.
And I couldn’t help her. Couldn’t help any of them. Weak and chained to the ceiling, I couldn’t even stop myself from being victimized. The same person who had taken advantage of me as a horny sixteen-year-old had gotten her claws into me again. Only this time, the only thing keeping me here were the damn chains that held me up.
She had teased me, fondled me, forced me to rise to the occasion. And I fought, fought so hard not to let her win. To suppress my body's reaction. But she won.
There was victory in her eyes as she dropped to her knees, making my humiliation complete.
The door to the dungeon creaked. I tensed, waiting to see who would be coming down the stairs and for what purpose.
Was I a coward for hoping it was soldiers, rather than her? For preferring to be beaten than to have done what she did to me?
Two shadows played across the wall. I relaxed. They were too big to be Marian. But if not Marian, then who?
Soldiers who had decided to come back and practice their right hook?
Disgusted with myself and the fear I had over a small, malicious, red-haired woman, my eyes narrowed at the approaching shadows.
It soon became apparent that two giants walked down the stairs. Beards covered their faces. They didn't look like any soldiers I had ever known. Of course, that didn't mean anything. This kingdom was now filled with lies, treachery, and hate. The only ones who were spared from most of it were the ones who could play the game. Sadly, unless you had money and status, you couldn’t. Like me and Robin, you became a pawn, to be used on the chessboard of whoever was playing.
And you just hoped you weren’t on the losing side.
The figures grew closer, the dripping of water through the cracks of the stone, almost a cadence in time with their steps. My wrists ached as I tried to push myself forward to better make them out.
The only way I had survived this long in here, was because I knew my tormentors. Knew what to say, what not to say. But these wide-shouldered fellas dressed all in green were a mystery.
“Does he look awake, Mark? I can’t tell with his eyes all swollen like that.”
After Marian had been… satisfied, she had brought me a gift in the form of Ramons. Ramons took pleasure in making his king happy, and what made him happy was knowing he had the power to control everyone around him.
Which led to Ramons reminding me of my place. He needn’t have bothered, though—Marian already made sure of that.
They weren’t wrong about my eyes being swollen, either. Normally I would have started healing by now, but days of being beaten and given no nutrients meant the healing process was halted.
But even through slitted eyes, I could still make them out fairly well.
“I don’t know, Mac. Do you think he can talk, with his jaw all swollen?”
The other one nodded. “I think if Robin could talk when Jon first brought her back, then this guy can.”
They knew Robin.
Hope swelled inside me.
Had she come for me?
I tried to talk, but it took a few attempts before I could get any words out. Even then, they sounded slurred. “Do you know Robin?”
Their outlines and faces became clearer as they moved closer.
Twins. They were twins. And identical at that. They bent down slightly to inspect me. One of them said, “ You Smite? Robin is the one who sent us. She's waiting for us at our meeting point.”
Relief coursed through me as I nodded and sagged against my bonds. After all the things that had happened to me, been done to me, I was finally getting free.
Licking my dry, cracked lips, I blinked furiously at the wetness in my eyes.
I was about to ask them a question when I heard another set of boots on the stairs. Oh no, not now.
Despair hit me head on, and I started to struggle anew. Freedom was in my grasp and I refused to let it go.
The twins jerked their heads in unison to check the stairs, both drawing their swords. Then, as one, they relaxed.
A small man with short cropped white hair came into view.
After re-sheathing their swords, the twins walked to meet the smaller man, who stopped at the bottom of the stairs and stared at me.
Why was he staring at me?
One of the brothers slapped the other on the back. “It looks like James has finally decided to join us.”
The one they called James came forward, his eyes never leaving mine. After a moment, he looked away from me and put on a small smile for his friends. Something was wrong with this guy.
“As much as I enjoy meeting everyone, could we maybe get on to the rescuing?” I shook the chains to prove my point. “These are not exactly comfortable.”
One of the twins laughed, while the other produced a key from within his clothing and passed it to James. “He’s funny.”
The other one raised his eyebrows. “Jon’s funnier.”
I ignored their banter, my eyes never leaving the key as James placed it into the lock and turned it. The door to my cell opened slowly.
All three men stepped inside. Immediately, the twins took ahold of my body weight. James reached up to insert the keys into my chains. Just before they were released, one of the twins caught my eye. “Now don’t worry about letting us have all the weight, we can handle it.”
I looked at his bulging biceps. “I am certain you can.”
A click, and I was free. My arms flopped to the side and dangled uselessly. After days of being held up, the numbness started to sting as sensations crept back into my limbs.
The behemoths caught me, my weight barely causing them to move.
I was weak. Forced to have someone drag me out of this hellhole.
Having heard the commotion, the prisoners started to yell for help, and I tried to push a response out of my mouth, but the words sounded garbled even to my own ears.
Ignoring my attempt to speak, James held open the cell door, while the twins carried me out, the prisoners’ screams following us all the way.
Exhausted and in pain, I closed my eyes as the fresh air from outside hit me for the first time in days.
But those screams still rang in my ears.
I would have to tell Robin about the prisoners. My conscience wouldn’t let me not say anything.
But, for just a second, I could be happy.
I was out of the dungeon and I was going to see Robin.
22
Robin
I had worried about letting just the twins and James go to rescue Smite. But if I was honest with myself, that is to say if I was going to be the le
ader everyone needed and use everyone where they were strongest, I had to admit, the dungeon was my weakness. No matter how much I wanted it to not be. No matter how much I had fought to put those days behind me. If I had to see my cell then memories better left alone would strangle me and I would be useless.
And if I had to see Smite chained up… I was woman enough to admit I would break.
And I wouldn’t just be useless. I would be decimated.
No, I didn't have the luxury of falling apart. At least not right now.
Rafe and Jon whispered angrily behind me, and I glanced back noticing Claius’ eyes glowed an eerie yellow as he walked behind them. It seemed his cat was just below the surface.
I still couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact he was a shifter. All this time and I hadn’t figured it out. But now, all the signs were there. Him knowing when I needed him, his vanishing into the woods. It all made sense.
Aman hobbled along beside me. I didn't know what Rafe and Jon argued about, but it was evident they had a past. A past that wasn’t all flowers, it seemed. Go figure. Neither man was the easiest to get along with.
“Girl, I didn't get to tell you it means a lot to me that we are trying to help the shifters. I know that boy means a lot to you.”
I looked down at Aman, who somehow kept the same pace as me, but his eyes stayed forward. He liked to hide his caring and kind side beneath a gruff exterior.
I was the last person he should be thanking. After all, if it wasn’t for my father, he would still have his leg. His eye. His wife.
“Aman, my father did this. I owe it to you and everyone around to save the shifters.”
My shoulders slumped as we turned a corner. The hallway had grown narrower. If me and Aman could barely fit, it would be an extremely tight squeeze for the two still arguing behind me and the man ready to morph into a cat.
Sure enough, I glanced back in time to see Rafe and Jon bump shoulders as they tried to push each other away.
The Vengeful Robin Page 14
