Page 19 of MidKnight
“Uh-oh, we’ve been spotted.”
Connor shrugged. “It was bound to happen. At least they’re keeping their distance.”
He led me toward his office, which was on the first floor of the palace, so that visiting nobles could easily find it. He whispered in my ear as he carried me, “I’m going to lay you out on my desk. Naked. In the moonlight. And then—”
We passed a darkened hallway and I saw a flash of color where there shouldn’t have been one.
Instantly, I yanked Connor to a stop and dropped my legs from his hold. Some instinct told me that whoever was there in the dark shouldn’t be. I ran into the shadows.
“Don’t!” Connor yelled. I didn’t listen as I scanned the blackness for my target.
My eyes barely had time to adjust before the window creaked open to my left. I turned and darted toward it. I yanked on person’s jacket as they tried to climb outside. A rotund man fell at my feet just as I was surrounded.
“Bloss!” Connor scolded as my guards scooped up whomever I’d captured.
“Don’t ever do that again,” Connor shoved between me and the escape artist, who struggled to break free. Whoever it was, it wasn’t someone particularly strong. Two guards held the man easily. Another brought a torch.
The flame revealed the pudgy face of the noble I reviled most.
Willard had worn a fake beard that was black and curly.
It looks like he glued pubes to his face,Quinn’s voice sounded off in my head.Declan’s been searching for him with some of the guards. He’ll be right there. One of my people thought they saw his fat ass—
I yanked the beard off and scanned the face of the noble who’d talked to Sedara about replacing me.
“Lord Willard. What might you be doing, in disguise, in my castle, this late at night?”
I saw the pits of his shirt grow stained as the fat little rat sweated before me. “I just—I was—meeting a lover!”
A smile stretched across my face. “Oh, really? And who might that be?”
“It’s—it’s—” Willard’s cheeks colored and his face paled as he couldn’t come up with a lie quickly enough.
It was almost sad. To be undermined by a man so stupid.
“Guards, bring him to the mage’s tower. I think it’s time Willard and I had another heart to heart.”
Willard’s bulging fish eyes widened.
I grinned. “Oh, yes, Willard. It’s time for another mage spell. This one, I’m afraid, won’t be for your benefit.”
Declan and another set of guards scrambled into the room just as my guards hauled the protesting pile of flesh off.
“We missed it! Damn. I was sure that fathole would come in through the larder!” Declan grimaced. He hated being wrong.
“You didn’t miss anything,” I ran my hand over my knight’s ink-stained palm and linked our fingers in an attempt to ease his disappointment. “We’re about to question him.”
“Well, you don’t need me for that, then,” Declan backed out of the room. “I was just filling in since Ryan’s out.” My scholar wasn’t interested in all thatquestioningmight entail.
On the other hand, Quinn smirked in my head.Oh, Dove. That’s my favorite part.
Chapter Five
Cerena’s tower room was a disaster. In her search to find the loophole in the engagement contract, it looked like my castle mage had torn through every book she owned.
She was asleep, her head drooped over an open book, drool puddled on the page, when we walked in.
She snorted when she woke. “Wha—what?”
