“’Tis all right, lass,” Douglas murmured. “You are safe now. I am here. Sweetheart, did he hurt you? Is the blood yours?”
She looked down at herself as if only just noticing that she was covered in blood. Unsteadily, she shook her head.
“I do not know,” she said. “I tried to run from him but I slipped on the steps and hit my head. It must have knocked me senseless for a time because when I awoke, Raymond was trying to lift my skirts. I could not let him, Douglas. I could not let him touch me.”
“I know, love.”
“He grabbed me and pulled me down to the ground. I had to protect myself.”
“I understand,” Douglas said steadily. “It was not your fault. But… but you said that Astoria told you to come down here?”
Mira blinked, struggling to remember that part of the conversation. “Aye,” she said after a moment. “She told me that she was sorry she broke the necklace you gave me. Then she told me that I must go to the vault because rot had been found on the grain. When I came down, Raymond was here. He grabbed me and tried to smother me!”
She reached out and grabbed on to Douglas for safety as panic swept her again. He held her hand tightly, seeing madness and terror in her eyes. She’d been frightened so badly, and had evidently been knocked silly, so she wasn’t thinking clearly. Not in the least. Very, very carefully, Douglas stood up and pulled her with him, swinging her into his arms because she couldn’t seem to stand up.
“I have you now,” he murmured, getting Raymond’s blood on his arms and chest because it was rubbing off her. “I have you and I shall never let you go, not ever. I will protect you, Mira, I swear it.”
Her arms were around his neck, her unsteady eyes gazing back at him. “What will you do with Raymond?” she asked. “He will tell his father to punish me!”
“You do not have to worry over him,” Douglas assured her steadily. “He will not tell his father.”
“Will you tell him what happened?”
“Aye… I will tell him.”
“And Raymond will be punished?”
He hesitated to answer because, clearly, she didn’t realize he was dead. “Aye, love,” he said quietly. “I will punish him.”
That seemed to bring her great relief. She buried her face in Douglas’ shoulder and wept quietly. Douglas turned his head away from her, catching Jonathan’s attention.
“Find Eric,” he said. “Bring him here. Tell no one else. Do you understand?”
“Aye, Douglas.”
“Go.”
Jonathan went on the run.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“What you didgot a man killed. Was that your intention?”
It was dawn after the feast that saw the death of Raymond de Honiton. It the dim solar of Axminster, where phantoms crawled in the shadows and the smell of smoke was heavy in the air, Isabel was questioning Astoria. The young woman was a weeping mess. She had been for hours. Tied up in a chair in the solar of Axminster, because she’d tried to run off twice, she was sobbing so hard that she’d swooned.
But Isabel wasn’t in a forgiving mood.
“Tell me what your intention was,” she said angrily, kicking the leg of the chair to rouse Astoria. “Your petty persecution of a woman who never did you any harm has ended in a man being killed. Is that what you hoped for? Someone’s death? I can only imagine it was Mira’s death from the way you manipulated both her and Raymond, but instead, Raymond is dead and Jerome de Honiton has declared war on us all.”
Astoria burst into fresh tears. “I… I did not mean for anyone to be killed,” she sobbed. “I only meant… I only…”
“Onlywhat?”
“I only meant to discourage Douglas from Mira!”
“By sending her to the vault where Raymond was waiting for her?”
“Aye!”
