Page 4 of The Scarlet Star

“Divinities,” she cursed.

Kai cracked the door open, not far enough for Ryn to see who was outside. A husky voice shouted before Kai could offer a greeting, “We’re here for Lady Estheryn Electus!”

Ryn grabbed the apple, stood, and tossed it into the basket with the rest of the unwashed apples. She wiped her hands on the skirt of her gardening dress, listening to the surprise in Kai’s voice when he asked, “Estheryn? Why? What business does the Folke have with my cousin?”

Ryn’s hands went still against her skirt.

The Folke? The King’spersonalguardsmen?

She peeked through the sheer kitchen curtains, counting six large bodies in navy blue and silver standing outside: the King’s colours. One of them had a sword drawn.

The last time she’d seen Folke at her door with their swords drawn…

“If she won’t come willingly, then move aside. We’ll take her ourselves.”

Ryn’s hand came over her mouth, and she held her breath, not daring to make a sound. Her heel scraped over the floor when she moved back, and she froze.

A second passed where Kai said nothing. Neither did the Folke.

Ryn inched her gaze toward the rear of the house. The turns of the hall obstructed her view of the hidden cellar door that led to the woods. It was at least seven strides and a long staircase away.

She could only think of one reason the Folke would come for her. One terrible, crippling reason.

Kai slammed the door in the Folke’s faces.

Ryn gasped as Kai grabbed her arm and turned her toward the hall. “Hide, Ryn!” he whispered, reaching back into the kitchenand grabbing the parring knife off the counter. The metallic sounds of swords being drawn lifted from outside.

“But—”

“Hide!”

Ryn raced for her bedroom. She yanked the door shut behind her just as a loud crash filled the house, and she dove beneath her bed, dragging herself by her elbows until she was encompassed in shadow.

She went still in the quiet. Her ribs ached from falling against the floor, but she didn’t dare move to get comfortable. She didn’t even blink, fearing she’d miss something. She thought of the parring knife Kai had grabbed, wondering what, by the Divinities, he would do with that. He couldn’t really be planning tofightthe Folke… Kai would never…

Noise erupted in the hallway, and Ryn’s heart doubled over as a muffled shout lifted from Kai, followed by a densethud. She slapped a hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t scream, wouldn’t charge into the hall with a pathetic fist raised and try to rescue her cousin. Her bedroom door swung open, and the thumps of heavy boots filled her room—at least four pairs. She bit her lips together.

For a moment, all Ryn knew was the light squeaking of the floorboards as the Folke crept around.

One second passed. Two.

Her ankles were grabbed. Ryn released the scream she’d been holding, digging her nails into the grooves of the floor as she was torn from her hiding place and wrestled to her feet.

“Jump out, Ryn!” Kai shouted from the doorway, clutching his ribs and pointing to the open bedroom window. Ryn thrust her elbow into a guard’s nose and lunged for the window, but the guard caught her around the waist and dragged her back.

“Don’t be so rough with her!” Kai snapped at them.

“I don’t know what you’ve been told,” Ryn pleaded with the Folke, “but I’m a Weylin noble and whoever says otherwise is—”

“Silence! You’ve been summoned by the King,” the guard stated. “Refusal to obey is punishable by death.”

Ryn glanced at Kai.They had no rehearsed answers for a situation that involved the King.

Kai’s brows pulled together, moisture glossing over his eyes as he slid down the doorframe into a heap of swelling and silence on the floor. “I’ll find out what’s going on. I’ll come for you,” he rasped as the Folke shoved Ryn out the door and down the hall.

Ryn looked back at her cousin, at the bead of blood running down his chin. It dawned on her this might be the last time she would see him. The moment the last two members of their family would be torn apart, and the Cahana family would officially be dissolved.

“Don’t,” she called back. “Don’t come for me.”

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