Page 20 of If The Crown Fits
Clutching the dagger, I started to creep away. I entered the thick brush, believing my escape was successful until a voice came from behind me.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Chapter 6
The Evernean Forest
Cai
She froze, her back towards me, and I sensed she was deciding what to do next.
“I don’t believe that is any of your business.”
Her reply surprised me and so did the tone of her voice. The woman standing in front of me, dressed only in a night shift, with my knife in her hand, was truly very young.
She spun around, her eyes blazing fiercely despite the darkness of the night. Dark hair woven into a messy braid rested on her shoulder, and as I was still taking in the rest of her features, she swung the dagger at my face. But having been trained the way I was since childhood, I had no problem grabbing her arm and holding it in the air.
“Well, it’s my dagger you are trying to steal there, so I do believe that it is, in fact, my business.”
It had been my turn to keep watch for the night and I had grown tired of sitting on the ground. Deciding to stretch my limbs, I had taken a short walk. I hadn’t been far from the camp when I heard her through the bushes. At first, I’d thought her to be something more dangerous, like a wild animal. But upon spotting her figure in a nightdress, I couldn’t help but watch intrigued as she approached my guards. What on earth was a woman in her night shift doing here? I thought she might have been in trouble and was going to ask for help, but instead, she stepped closer and took the dagger the old woman had given me out of the satchel Jack was sleeping on.
I expected him to wake, being a light sleeper. But instead, I stared in shock as she took the dagger without having awoken asmall sleeping army. It was too suspicious. So when she turned to leave, I had no choice but to question the thief.
And now, she stared up at me with those fire-blazing eyes and I wondered if there could be any sort of innocence under all that wild. She kicked me in the shin, hard enough to hurt, before turning to run. So I grabbed her from behind, pulling the dagger out of her grasp. She struggled against me as I took her back to the firelight.
“Look what we have here, gentlemen,” I said, loud enough to wake everybody.
In a moment their eyes were open, hands already reaching for weapons, except for Conner, that is. His hair stood in all directions as he sat up.
“Is that a lady in her shift?” he asked, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
The girl crossed her arms as the lot of them took in her torn hems and dirt-covered feet. She had clearly been running through the woods. The question was... why?
“She stole this, Jack.” I tossed the dagger on the ground before him, partly annoyed that my best man had failed his job so easily. Jack looked half concerned and half impressed at the same time. But I knew the whole lot of us were thinking the exact same thing... who on earth was she?
I let go of her arm, pulled out another knife and held it up. “Who exactly are you?” She backed away slowly towards the fire and there was no doubt that genuine concern was written on her face. She hadn’t planned on getting caught. That was certain. She appeared to be thinking things over. Perhaps deciding whether or not to tell the truth. “A thief?” I continued. “Thieves don’t run about the woods in their nightclothes. So what, then?”
After a moment she squared her shoulders and replied. “My name is Lara. And who might you be?”
“Alcott,” I lied, every inch of instinct telling me not to trust her. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Lara.” My tone was almost mocking. “Sit.” I gestured towards one of the logs around the fire, but she crossed her arms, staring straight at me. “Sit,” I said more sternly and finally she obeyed, plopping down like a child having a tantrum.
“Now, would you care to enlighten us as to why you were running about the woods in the middle of the night, in nothing but your shift, stealing daggers from strangers?”
She tilted her head to the side for a moment before saying, “Not particularly, no.” A few chuckles left my men and I scowled, making them hush.
“Would you care to enlighten me on what exactlyyouare doing in the woods?”
Heads turned in my direction.
“I’m afraid that’s private business.”
“Well then, I gather we’re done here.” She stood up, ready to make her escape, but she backed into Jack.
“What makes you think you’re going anywhere?” Though she didn’t appear entirely at ease, she hadn’t asked for our help, so I wasn’t completely convinced that she was in trouble. In fact, something about her face told me she was the trouble herself. “You’re going to stay right here with us until you prove that you are innocent. Is that clear?”
She started shaking her head furiously. “No, it is not clear. I didn’t do anything wrong. I was robbed. The dagger was just for self-defence.”
I approached her before grabbing her wrist with one hand and wrapping my fingers around her neck with the other. “You’re lying,” I said almost in a whisper. “I was trained to get information from soldiers, and if you were telling the truth, your palms wouldn’t be sweating and your heart wouldn’t have been beating so fast.”
