Page 24 of A Song of Thieves

He bolts away in what I assume is the direction of his own horse, my “Yah!” ringing through the vicinity as I dig in my heels just enough to spur Prue into a full gallop.

The wind loosens strands of hair from my braid as I move toward answers and away from the self-centered man now left in my dust.

12

The Captain

SomehowLadyMargaretandthis thief know each other, and that’s as disconcerting as to why Lady Margaret summoned her in the first place. Less than half a day ago I was trying to arrest her, and now I’ll watch her march onto the palace grounds, invited by the king’s sister herself.

Crisp morning air clings to me as I approach the back entrance of the kitchens, Red trotting through a patchy road of firm dirt interspersed with boggy mud. The thief is dismounting her horse, tying the animal to a small pole off the gate as I approach.

“How does it feel to be beaten by a thief, and a woman at that. Twice?” she quips, a small glint in her eyes.

“You had a head start. It’s wasn’t a fair race.” I keep my features impassive, unwilling to yield even an inch of applause. But it’s hard to deny that I’m impressed.

The girl places her hands upon her hips, her heart-shaped face tilting up to meet my gaze. “Today, perhaps. But I wouldn’t call being unarmed with bound hands a head start.”

“I have a strong feeling only one of those statements is true,” I reply, looking at her boot where she sheathed her dagger earlier. The corner of her mouth twitches up just before she turns to walk inside, her braided hair swinging across her shoulder.

She pays no heed as she passes through the doors. I follow a few strides behind, brows crinkling as I watch her. She seems at home here. How does she know exactly where to go?

The bustle inside the kitchens is the same as any other day. The staff don’t even look up as the thief passes by, completely ignoring her. Does she do this regularly?

The girl turns into a small room. As I follow around the corner, I bump into her after only a few steps inside. She lets out ahumphin my direction as she steadies herself, and I sheepishly sidestep around her.

My chest and arms are thrumming where they touched her, my heart dancing when I notice her looking at me. I twist my fingers back and forth in an attempt to dispel the feeling, straightening my shirt and checking the sword at my side as I ignore her heated gaze.

Lady Margaret is waiting in the corner of this tiny room. She has none of the fanfare and fancy dress that usually accompany her and her self-admiration. Instead, she’s wearing riding pants and a plain tunic. Her light, aging hair is pulled up into a bun atop her head. Bloodshot, drooping eyes confess her clear fatigue.

We stand in an awkward quietness until Lady Margaret takes a deep breath, releasing a dejected exhale before opening her mouth to speak. “I know this is an unorthodox way of going about meeting with you two, and I’m sure you are both, at this point, very confused.”

Isn’t that the understatement of the day. Between being pulled from sleep by a loud, frantic knock at my door within the barracks, a very frazzled first-year telling me I had been summoned to the palace immediately, and a distressed Lady Margaret giving me an order and description to find the girl who very clearly was my thief from last night— I definitely have a few questions.

“I won’t waste any more time.” She hesitates, darting her weary eyes to me briefly before she continues. “The princess… has been taken.”

My limbs freeze at the declaration, trying to make sense of her words. My once dancing heart now hums like a brazen waterfall.

“What do you mean, taken?” I exclaim. I can’t quite take a breath, as if that waterfall has sucked me completely under. All my senses tunnel toward Lady Margaret and the words that surely aren’t real.

No, no. It’s a joke. It has to be. Something to keep me on my toes. An exercise that will end in Lena’s laugh reaching my ears as I find her hidden in a barn across Turin.

But she doesn’t smile or make some demeaning remark about my gullibility. “I mean what I said, Captain Montgomery.” The thief glances sidelong at me with Lady Margaret’s use of my title, but I hardly comprehend the movement.

I can barely think. Barely breathe. My body feels foreign— as if somehow I’ve managed to completely separate from it and am watching myself from somewhere else entirely. “Why am I just learning of this now? I’m Captain of the Guard! I should’ve been alerted the minute—”

Lady Margaret holds up a hand, halting my building voice. “Because I knew you’d be upset. And I didn’t want you compromised when I sent you in search ofher.” Her gaze now rests on the thief.

Again I don’t move, or follow her eyes to the girl beside me. I keep my full focus planted on Lady Margaret. But instead of her face I see nothing except Evander’s soulless eyes staring back.

I blink away the image. “I don't care who you wanted me to find. This is unacceptable. I'm Lena's—” I look to the thief, then back to Lady Margaret, my words dissolving in my throat.

“Stop your rampage, Captain. I understand how you feel about how I handled things. And nothing can be done about it now,” Lady Margaret says calmly.

The tiniest bit of air escapes me, my mouth forming the only words that will come as my fire ices over. “Who took her?” I whisper, my voice raspy and almost unrecognizable.

“We don’t know.” Lady Margaret’s words are quiet but firm, her eyes briefly glazing over as she stares off into the wall. A handkerchief is squeezed between both her hands, the cloth beginning to thin at the area of repeated movement as she twists it in her grasp. It’s Lady Margaret’s distress more than anything that finally proves to me the legitimacy of what she’s saying, and my nerves unravel the more I realize she’s truly not toying with me.

“What we do know,” Lady Margaret continues after clearing her throat, eyes snapping between my shaking hands and the unmoving thief, “is that she was taken sometime after last night’s affairs. After you walked her to her room. When her lady’s maid arrived early this morning, the bed and room lay untouched. Princess Adalena nowhere to be found. I still have Palace Guards scouring the city. But as far as my sources have told me, she’s gone.”

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