What the Earl Desires

by Burke, Aliyah

  “What about you?” Jo’s voice shook. “We cannot leave you.”

  “Jo, ride hard. Do not stop for anything. No matter what you hear. Keep going. No horse can catch him. Ride up to the house and get inside. Fineas will be fine, hang on tight, Lady Adrys.”

  “No! I will not leave you!” Jo cried.

  “You do not have a choice.” She kept her voice cold as she switched places with the driver, so she was between him and the men as well. Reins in hand she snapped them hard and the team bolted on. Thankfully Jo stayed with her, on the side as she’d ordered. At the edge of the forest she knew there would be no outrunning them.

  “Go!” she hissed.

  “No!”

  “Damn it, Jo. Go. Protect your mother. Get home and do not stop for anything!”

  Jo gave her one glance before kicking Fineas. Her horse responded immediately, springing away and vanishing into the darkness of the wooded trail. The driver jumped and headed into the woods as well. She sawed on the right rein and the horses answered, veering sharply in that direction. The conveyance began to tip and at the last second, she leaped free to land on the ground.

  Sais in hand, she sliced through the leathers, liberating the equines. As they ran off somewhere, she moved to position herself before the overturned carriage. One of the lanterns that had been burning low on the post ignited the lacquered wood, creating a massive ball of fire. One that blocked the road.

  The seven riders halted before her. “Get after them!” one hollered.

  “How, the road is blocked?”

  “Find another way around, damn you. We cannot let them get away.

  Two men headed off in an attempt, she assumed, to get after Jo and her mother. She breathed easier, confident they would not be able to catch up with them. Besides, there was nothing she could do now. She made her decision based on the options and knowledge at the time. The five men dismounted and faced her in a semi-circle. She was good and trapped. Not that she cared, all that mattered was these men wouldn’t be on Jo or Lady Adrys.

  “This one is a female.” One man pulled the kerchief off his face and she bit back her snarl of rage. This was one of the men from Cornwall. “She has already taken out Robby and Jack.” Dark eyes, full of malevolence, glared at her. “Jack was my brother, you bitch!”

  Najja merely tightened her grip and waited for one of them to make their move. Five sabers were drawn free of their sheaths. Then as one they attacked. Moving with practiced ease, she deflected their blows and worked her way in close to where their sabers were to clumsy to use. With a deft move, she lanced the sai along her nearest opponents throat, the dark blade coated in his blood but she never slowed, only focused on the remaining men.

  They seemed to redouble their efforts. A feint from one to her left hit its mark, slicing through her leather shirt and her skin. She ignored the pain and thrust her other sai deep into the chest of the closest man. He fell soundlessly to the ground, his blood soaking into the snow.

  Two down and three to go. They spread out, keeping her between them. Her arms burned and she dodged the frontal attack only to feel another slash across her back.

  “Ahhh!” she screamed, stumbling to her knees. Reflex sent a sai soaring to another. She regained her feet and used her remaining sai to deflect a blow before she kicked out with her leg and sent the burly man back. Locking away the pain, she bent and grabbed the blade from the dead man’s chest. Breathing a bit easier with them both in her hands again, she held one to guard and the other, to attack.

  “I am going to kill you!” Jack’s brother growled.

  “Do your worst.” She knew he sought to goad her. In her peripheral she saw the final man approach. Moving in a blur of speed, she spun and delivered a powerful kick to his chest. As he fell, she flipped her guard sai to attack position and took his life in the space of a heartbeat. He hit the ground dead.

  “Two against one,” she rasped, the blood from her own wounds staining the snow.

  The anger-infused roar preceded the attack and she countered at the last minute possible, flinging up an arm and deflecting his strike. Steel ground against steel, the noise extremely ominous. Flicking her wrist, she used the prongs to capture the enemy’s blade. Wrenching hard, she jerked the weapon from his hand and sent it through the air.

  Pain poured through her as he punched her in the jaw knocking her back. Instinct had her roll and come up. Her side throbbed and she noticed the man now held a dagger in his hand.

  The afflictions on her person made her nauseous. Her blood loss increased with every beat of her heart. Pain is good, you know you are alive if there is pain.

  She knew she should keep the other in sight but her gaze had honed in on the one approaching. A childish scream rent the air and yanked her attention from the large man. The sight before her made her anger increase through to the bottom of her soul.

  Pug was being dragged toward the fire, his eyes wide with fear. Bastards! Where the hell did he come from? It didn’t matter. She sent the black steel toward the man who’d punched her. He dropped and she ignored him, focusing all on the man holding Pug.

  “Drop your weapon,” he ordered.

  She complied immediately, her remaining sai sinking through the snow. Eyes on Pug, she gave him as much of a reassuring smile as she could muster. His lip trembled and there was a trickle of blood making its way down his thin, dirty face.

  “Who the hell are you?” the captor demanded.

  “No one.” She took a shuddering breath, feeling herself weaken with each tic of time. “Let the boy go.”

  “Step away from the weapon.”

  Najja did. She couldn’t bring herself to be callous toward Pug’s life, not knowing how important he was to Colin. Accepting she was most likely dead, she was pleased to be able to save Pug. A choice of her own, not a job. She closed the distance between them, ignoring the boy and centering on the one holding him. Her hand lowered to rest on the handle of her disguised whip. Gathering her waning strength, she waited for the right moment.

  His grin, a lewd mixture of hatred and rage took on even more of a grotesque look from the fire and fading moonlight. She acted, her wrist flashing with the precise speed learned from years of practice and experience. The whip became an extension of her, bending to her will. It coiled around his neck, the six points from the silver loops embedded deep into his skin.

  “Argh!” he cried eyes wide with surprise and pain.

  Not giving him a chance to hurt Pug, she pressed the switch, releasing the sharp metal hooks, and jerked hard. The exposed teeth shredded with ease into his flesh. Rage lent strength to her weakened limbs and the man’s head separated from his body.

  The knife at Pug’s throat fell harmless to the snow as the body behind collapsed to the ground. Pug’s face had been splattered with blood and the second his eyes began to drift toward the severed head, she spoke.

  “Look at me, Pug. Come to me.” He took a few shaky steps only to begin to look again. “No. Eyes on me.”

  She stumbled a bit and when she regained her balance she saw her sai right beside her foot. Scooping it up, she hurried toward Pug. He ran the rest of the way and wrapped his arms around her. The pressure against her wounds made stars flicker before her eyes. However, she wouldn’t have traded the feeling for anything in the world. He was safe.

  “What are you doing here, Pug? How did you get here?”

  “I…I ’id in da boot. I wanted to see Miss Jo again.”

  Breaths coming shallower and faster, she glanced around for a horse needing to find a way back to Kittle Manor. None in sight. Must save the boy.

  “Are you hurt?”

  He shook his head and she winced. She set him away from her and brushed the blood soaked hair back. The tremulous smile on his face made her eyes prick with tears and the urge to hold him overwhelmed her. Then his face contorted with fear.

  “Najja!’

  She pushed him back unceremoniously and spun to meet whatever the threat.
The pain spiraled through her even before she recognized the man as the one she’d foolishly thought dead.

  “Die bitch!”

  With the last of her energy, she stabbed her sai through his large neck, right up to the hilt. He stared at her with shock and disbelief as together they sank to the ground. When he collapsed on his side, eyes starring sightlessly at her, she expelled her breath, spitting up blood simultaneously.

  Pug. Where is he? Is he okay? With shaking hands, she removed the blade from her belly. Her blood streamed over her hands and she turned to look over her shoulder. Pug stood there, frightened and small.

  One hand and arm pressing against her wounds, she staggered to her feet. “Pug, go to the fire.” She barely made it there before her limbs gave out.

  “Are you okay?” he questioned.

  Her back screamed with pain as well as the rest of her. “Yes,” she lied without opening her eyes. The heat of the fire felt good no matter how slight. Hopefully it will keep him warm for the night.

  “I found this,” he said.

  Najja struggled to open her eyes and saw him there with her cloak. “Good. Sit here and wrap up in it.”

  “What about you?”

  “Do it, Pug.” There was no room for argument in her tone. When he did, she pulled him close and lay him between her and the fire. “Stay wrapped up, Pug. Promise until someone comes you stay protected.”

  “Yes.”

  “Promise,” she reiterated with the last bit of her strength.

  “I promise.”

  I am sorry, Jo. I tried.

  That was the last thing she knew before the darkness breeched her attempts to keep it at bay and overtook her.

  Colin slowed his mount as he left the wooded road and entered the open valley between the properties. The moon, which had been playing hide and seek all night, again hid. Unease slithered up his spine when his gaze landed on the glowing embers spread across the road near the other side of the clearing.

  “What the--?”

  The nearer he came, the worse his uncertainty. There were dead bodies scattered around and splashes of blood. What happened? He dismounted and walked slowly, hands on the reins of the unhappy horse. Stopping by the first man, he felt sick at the sight of what stuck out from his throat. Black steel sai.

  Najja! He dropped to one knee and removed it from where it sat embedded. Where was she? He hurried to each body and only when he had been assured she didn’t reside among the dead did he breathe any easier.

  Not that it was much for the smoldering remains of the carriage increased his unease all over again. He stared at it before swinging back up on the horse. The animal wasn’t built for speed but he demanded all he could from the gray.

  Lights shone through the numerous windows of Kittle Manor when he rode up. He’d leaped from the laboring equine’s back before the horse stopped. Two footmen stood outside the door.

  “See to this horse,” he demanded taking the wide steps three at a time.

  The men looked almost like they wanted to argue but he bounded past them and shouldered his way into the house. Inside teemed with tense quiet. Maids and footmen hustled, their faces somber.

  “Colin!” Pug’s voice yanked him from his reverie.

  Spinning, Colin dropped to his knees and opened his arms. The young lad never hesitated, just ran headlong into his embrace, skinny arms winding tight around his neck.

  “Sorry. I is so sorry. I only wanted to see Jo again. I ’id in da boot, it wrecked and I got throwed. When I woke,” he shuddered and tightened his grip, “she…she was there, fighting them. Then, the big bloke saw me and dragged me near with a knife to…to…”

  “Shhh.” He closed his eyes and held Pug close, grateful he was safe. “Are you hurt?”

  “No. She saved me. This is my fault.”

  “What is?”

  “She got stabbed and made me wrap up in her cloak by the fire.”

  Colin’s heart seized and he longed to run to her. “This is not your fault, Pug.”

  “Colin.” Lord Adrys’ voice penetrated their world.

  “Adrys.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “How is she?”

  The silence spoke volumes. Gaining his feet, Colin retained a hold on Pug. The boy didn’t argue, merely burrowed closer. One arm supporting Pug, Colin reached out to touch Adrys. “Let me see her.”

  “Of course.” Hayworth ran a shaky hand through his hair. “He should not see her like this. His trauma will be enough without reliving it. There is a room readied for him.”

  Dread increasing with each step he took up the stairs, Colin carried Pug to a warm room. He placed him on the bed and pried his arms off. The eyes that met his overflowed with trepidation.

  “I am not leaving, Pug. I am going to see Najja. You wait here, all right?”

  There was no verbal response but the boy nodded and so he gave him a gentle smile then followed Adrys down the hall to another room.

  Sobs were the first thing he heard when he stepped in the well-lit room. Lady Adrys was on one side of the bed and Jo the other. The cries came from Jo. Colin looked at the person lying there and his heart clenched with immeasurable fear. Najja lay as still as death.

  Her beautiful face was pale, cut, and bruised. Her arm had bandages on it and the sheet covering her didn’t hide the presence of more dressings. Lady Adrys noticed him staring and drew the blankets up over her immobile body.

  His feet wouldn’t work. “What happened?” he asked, his voice low and gruff.

  Jo lifted her head, exposing a red-eyed, tear-stained, and puffy face. Her big blue eyes, which he was so used to seeing sparkle with joy, were full of hopelessness. She didn’t speak just put her head back by Najja’s arm while her hand touched Najja’s.

  “Jo,” Lord Adrys said. “Go see how Pug is doing. Colin wants a moment.”

  There was no argument from the young woman, she just murmured something to Najja and left her side. Colin could see her reluctance to do so. She barely glanced at him before she slipped out the door.

  Lady Adrys wiped her hands down her skirts as she approached. Her eyes were also full of sorrow as she laid a hand on his arm. Then she, too, vanished from the room in silence.

  Slow, painstaking steps took him to the bed. He sank to the chair beside her and reached out a hand to her face. Clammy skin met his touch and she never opened her eyes. Colin noticed they had some unique kind of setup for her to lay on.

  “She saved the life of my wife and daughter,” Adrys said, tapping a cloth gently along her forehead. “And the driver, as well as Pug.”

  Colin dragged his knuckles down her cheek, willing her to live. “How bad is it?” He couldn’t remove his gaze from her. All he wanted to do was take her away and hold her, tell her how much he loved her and how he couldn’t live without her.

  “Bad.” Colin’s heart sank then Hayworth continued. “When I got to her, she had Pug wrapped in her cloak between her and the fire. She was unconscious, has not woken since. Many cuts and a serious back and belly wound.”

  Which explained the odd thing she lay upon, it looked like boards, but he realized they were so it didn’t hinder the back injury. You cannot die, Najja. I need you.

  He sat there touching her face as Hayworth recanted the story as much as he knew, including the two men who followed them to the house.

  “So you know who is behind this?”

  A pained expression crossed Hayworth’s features. “Yes. They are locked in the cellar under guard.”

  Part of him wanted to storm down there and rip them apart with his bare hands. However, he also had no desire to leave Najja’s side. That desire was the stronger of the two.

  “You are welcome to stay the night, Colin.” He nodded his thanks, his eyes lingering on his heart’s desire. “You should go see Pug. He needs you.”

  “Najja,” he said still staring at her stone like face.

  “Will always have someone with her. Pug has been through a terrible ordeal. Najja
will not know if you are here or not, Pug will.”

  He wanted to snap at the reprimand yet understood. Rising, he placed a feather light kiss on her lips. “Stay with me, Najja,” he whispered. Then he walked to Pug’s room and entered after a light knock.

  Jo sat by the fire and Pug huddled under the blankets. Still silent, Jo walked from the room and he sat on the bed.

  “Pug,” he said.

  “You came back.”

  “Of course.” He settled against the headboard and smiled slightly as the boy curled up against him. “Sleep now, Pug.”

  “Could…could you stay until I sleep?”

  “I will be right here.” He stayed even longer, after a much needed slumber overtook Pug. Only when he caught himself beginning to doze, did he leave the room.

  “Lord Adrys said to give you a room next to Miss Najja. It is the door right after hers. A fire is burning, if you need anything just pull the rope.”

  “Thank you,” he said to the maid. She curtsied and left.

  On the way to his room, he entered Najja’s one more time. Jo lay on the bed, as close as she could get without touching. She held one sai in a death grip. His initial thought that she slept disappeared when her gaze slid to his.

  “Any change?” he asked, unconcerned with propriety and sitting in the chair beside Najja. He stroked her cheek and glanced across her supine form.

  “No.” Jo shifted closer. “I never should have left her.”

  More anger churned in his gut. He was sick and tired of this. They used her talents but acted shocked when Najja got injured. If only you would let me, Najja, I would protect you forever.

  “She never should have been in that situation,” he bit off, his rage boiling perilously close to the surface.

  “No, she should not have.” Jo’s immediate agreement amazed him. “She is my sister, I love her so much…if…if she dies--”

  “Enough,” he growled, unwilling to have that talk around Najja.

  Teeth clamped on his lower lip, he reached out to the exposed arm and hand lying on the outside of the thick blankets. The white bandages cut through the continuity of dark skin. Sliding his hand beneath hers he tried to will her to come back. Hell, he’d settle for any movement.