Page 43 of Gilded Locks

Grace started backing away.

“Where are you going, young lady?” Father demanded.

But she barely heard him.

James was in danger. He wasn’t stealthy, he wasn’t trained, and the sheriff would be searching for him—the sheriff and his wayward blade.

Grace turned and fled.

“Grace Marie Robbins!” Mother shouted.

She ran to her room, the sound of her heart drumming in her ears. She didn’t even stop when Russell peeked his head out of his room to ask why everyone was yelling.

She was shedding her day dress and donning her training attire as her door clicked shut. She braided her hair, not taking time to consider how messy it was, and snatched the extra clasp from the Rogue’s verdure cloak, and used it to secure her riding hood tighter. The clasp was made to be hidden by the cloth it held closed, so its metallic sheen wouldn’t draw attention.

Without a second glance, she climbed out of her window.

Grace hurried up the path from her home to the town square, veering off the cobblestones to pass behind the church ruins and approach the back of James’s home. She had to see him to make sure he was okay. The second she’d exited her window, she’d heard a ruckus coming from the town square—the sheriff gathering men for patrol.

That meant the Rogue had escaped! At least for now. But the fear hadn’t left her completely. She needed to see James for herself, to be sure he was safe. And then she was going to figure out what he knew about the threat her family faced. Targeted taxes couldn’t be the end of it. Especially not now.

Grace kept the manors between herself and the square as best she could to avoid being spotted. At least James lived on the opposite side of town from Sherwood Forest.

She approached his modest cottage located on the farthest part of the Zhong family’s land and pounded on the door. It took a few minutes for Alaina Dahl, a young craftswoman James employed as a servant part-time, to open the door.

“Is James here?” Grace asked, not bothering with formality. She had to speak to him. Now.

The girl shook her head. “No, Miss Robbins. I haven’t seen him in some time. He was at town hall all day. He must be with the others gathering for patrol.”

Grace’s stomach dropped. He wasn’t back. Could the girl be right? Perhaps he’d shed his disguise and joined the patrol so no one thought twice about him being the Rogue. “Thanks, Alaina.” She turned to leave.

“Be careful, Miss Robbins. Mr. Patton has been quite furtive of late, and secretive. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Grace paused and looked back at the young woman. She wasn’t much Grace’s junior, but her almond eyes and smooth skin gave her an especially youthful appearance.

“Have you heard anything?” Grace knew, of course, that James’s increased secrecy could be ascribed to taking up the mantle of Rogue, but perhaps the young woman had gleaned some of what James had hinted at in his letter. Something besides the targeted taxes Grace already knew about.

The girl scanned the night again before responding. “He’s talked of the trees.”

“The trees?”The maple grove?Grace wondered.

“Yes. He… he muttered to himself about something hidden in the grove—I don’t know what grove. He stopped muttering when he realized I’d brought his tea. What do you think he’s hiding, Miss Robbins?”

Grace shook her head, even as she thought of the letters they’d been exchanging. “Anything else, Alaina?”

“I… I don’t think he likes your family much, Miss Robbins. He doesn’t think you’ll be in Fidara much longer. He’s had me set up meetings, always with the staunchest supporters of the mayor.”

Grace nodded. His letter had indicated he would look into the threat to her family. Meeting with those most likely to despise the Robbinses, or at least, to seek the mayor’s favor by acting like they did, might give him more insight.

“Thanks, Alaina. You should head home soon, but be careful. Stay safe.”

The young woman nodded and closed the door softly as Grace dashed away.

It took Grace only a moment to decide on another course of action. She stole along the side of James’s home and peeked out at the square.

The soft gleam of moonlight settled on her face, and she jerked back into the shadows, pulling the hood of her brown ridingcloak tighter around her face and tucking her braid farther back before peering out again.

She saw a handful of men, all huddled near the town hall. The sheriff was handing out blades and bows. Grace scanned the crowd as best she could. Eventually she saw a single head of curly black hair poking up in the middle of the patrolmen. But only the one—Garrick with his father, preparing the search he’d told Willa would happen. James wasn’t there as Alaina had guessed.

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