Page 37 of My Noble Disgrace

Within a few fatal seconds, the Enforcer’s weapons found their targets. With a bullet to his heart, Pete dropped his gun and stumbled back, landing dead on the rocks. A bullet ripped into a second man and wrenched his body back, his arms grasping at the air before tilting off the rocky shore and into the waves.

“Enough!” Keane growled from where he lay on the ground. “We surrender!”

“Drop your weapons!” Cael shouted. “All of them!”

Keane tossed his pistol away. The surviving four men followed.

Cael stepped over to Keane and pointed a pistol at his head. “Is there anyone else with you?”

“N—No!” Keane stammered. “This is all of us.”

Cael peered around, and I knew he had to be looking for me. I ducked behind the rock.

“And who are you exactly?” Cael asked Keane.

“My name is Kenneth Pearce,” he said.

Cael was silent for a moment, and I wished I could see his face. “Kenneth Pearce? Thelateson of Sir Cardiff Pearce?”

“Yes,” Keane breathed. “But spare me. Spare us. I swear we will comply.”

“Where’s our boat?” Cael asked. “You can start complying by telling me what you did to the Enforcers whose boat you commandeered, as well as our prisoners!”

I looked out to sea. The ocean was so dark, I could see hardly anything, but I wondered if the boat might already be too far bynow. The thought made me relieved for the men on board, but not for Dominic. Maybe he wouldn’t get free after all.

“I’ll tell you everything you want to know,” said Keane, his voice shaky, none of his usual confidence remaining.

“Tie them up!” Cael yelled. “And search the area for others!” His voice quieted as addressed Keane again, and I could barely make it out. “And I swear to you, we will find out every last detail of what happened on that boat, one way or another.”

Chapter

Eleven

Cait tugged on me.“Let’s go,” she whispered in my ear.

Though my legs had felt frozen to the spot only moments earlier, I didn’t have to be persuaded. We scrambled in the dark, desperate to get out of the rocky outcrop before the search began.

We rushed through the dark, hoping the rustle of our footsteps in the grass would be drowned out by the ocean waves. Through night and wind and exhaustion, we ran. Only when we’d run as far as we could and were sure we were free enough, we collapsed under a tree in an apple orchard, clutching our ribs while we breathed. The moonlight shone through the tree’s leaves and branches, and the night was quiet, with only the sound of our breath and the wind in the leaves.

“Do you think Keane will be okay?” I asked, breaking the silence. Leaving him didn’t feel right to me, even if it was the reason we were still free.

“His surrender likely kept him alive,” said Cait. “But you know where he’s going and how I feel about it. I won’t sugarcoat the experience.”

“Was it worth it?” I asked. “Not telling him like that? I keep imagining how it could’ve gone differently if I was honest with them.”

“Your instincts told you to run, so maybe it was for a reason,” said Cait. “I, for one, support your choice.”

“Thanks,” I whispered, but I didn’t have the same confidence in my instincts. Whatever certainty I’d once felt in them was long gone, leaving me questioning my every move. I couldn’t claim to know right from wrong anymore.

What would happen to Keane? Would he end up telling Cael that we’d swum to shore? Would he help them search for me to save himself? I couldn’t expect him to be loyal, especially when I hadn’t stayed loyal tohim. Whether I’d been wise or cowardly by leaving him, I felt like a traitor all the same.

After catching our breath, we left the orchards and headed northeast through the wheat fields, making our way toward the city. The dark shadow of Cambria’s wall loomed in the distance. I’d have to hope the aqueducts could get us inside and that they wouldn’t drown us. With less rainfall in recent days than usual, the water wouldn’t be flowing as heavily as it had the day I’d been forced to escape Quarter C through the tunnels.

Cait and I continued toward the wall. As we walked, I couldn’t help but ask myself why I felt so driven to get to my father after he’d played me like a fool.

The answer was simple: I really was a fool.

As dawn brokeacross a sky studded in pink clouds, we arrived under the cold, familiar shadow of Cambria’s wall. My eyes traveled upward, noting the gaps between the stones where I’dwedge my knives if I intended to climb. But if there were guards at the top, as I suspected there would be, I wouldn’t get far.

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